Domestically developed Land Sword II (陸射劍二) missiles were successfully launched and hit target drones during a live-fire exercise at the Jiupeng Military Base in Pingtung County yesterday.
The missiles, developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), were originally scheduled to launch on Tuesday last week, after the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday long weekend, but were postponed to yesterday due to weather conditions.
Local residents and military enthusiasts gathered outside the base to watch the missile tests, with the first one launching at 9:10am.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
The Land Sword II system, which is derived from the Sky Sword II (天劍二) series, was turned over to the army in May last year to replace its MIM-72A/M48 Chaparral surface-to-air missile system.
Three missiles were launched during the live-fire training.
A Ministry of National Defense report submitted to the Legislative Yuan last month showed that the army has leased target drones from the institute.
Starting this year, the Land Sword II missiles would be test-fired once each year, including the firing of three missiles and one target pursuit, the report said.
The Sky Sword system consists of an engagement control vehicle, a CSIST-developed Bee Eye radar system, a launch vehicle and an ammunition carrier, with an effective range of up to 15km, it said.
With the system, the vehicle crew can perform a 360o search, tracking and monitoring within the detection range, it said.
The system can detect enemy fixed-wing aircraft, rotary-wing aircraft, uncrewed vehicles and cruise missiles, and it can also be integrated with active Avenger missiles and twin-mounted Stinger missiles to bolster regional air defense capabilities, it said.
In other news, 11 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or its extension in the 24-hour period starting at 6am on Sunday, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
Eight of the aircraft crossed the median line, while three crossed the extension and entered Taiwan’s southwestern air defense identification zone (ADIZ).
Both groups consisted of an unspecified number of fighter jets and drones, flight paths and information released by the ministry showed.
Some of the aircraft flew as close as 41 nautical miles (76km) from the northern city of Keelung, the information showed.
In total, 18 PLA aircraft were detected in Taiwan’s ADIZ during the same period, while six PLA Navy vessels were also found to be operating in waters around the country, the defense ministry said.
The ministry said it deployed combat air patrol aircraft, navy vessels and coastal missile defense systems in response.
The ministry has stopped its practice of identifying the types of PLA aircraft detected in Taiwan’s ADIZ since Jan. 16.
Considering the changing security situation and threats, identifying the types of PLA aircraft could play into the hands of China, which could exploit this information to wage cognitive warfare campaigns against the Taiwanese public, military spokesman Major General Sun Li-fang (孫立方) said at the time.
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