Taiwan is to build 12 new indigenous Tien Kung or Sky Bow III (TK III) land-based surface-to-air missile sites by the end of 2026 to counter the threat of China’s ballistic missiles, according to a Ministry of National Defense (MND) report.
The report, sent to the Legislative Yuan on Oct. 20 for a defense budget review, said the new sites were needed based on the advice of Taiwan’s top military research unit, the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology.
It said the institute has found that older generations of TK missiles it built, the TK IIs, could no longer counter the threat of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s advanced ballistic missile systems and needed to be modernized.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
Consequently, the MND decided to upgrade its existing MIM-23 Hawk missile system sites and TK II missile sites and turn them into 12 new missile sites for the more advanced TK III land-based surface-to-air missiles, the report said.
It did not disclose how many TK III land-based surface-to-air missile sites Taiwan already has around the country.
The first phase of the project, the upgrading of six old missile sites into sites compatible with the TK IIIs, began last year and is expected to be completed before the end of 2025.
Work on the remaining six TK III missile sites began earlier this year and should be completed before the end of 2026, the MND said in the report.
According to the institute’s Web site, the TK III system is designed to engage different threats, including aircraft, cruise, anti-radiation and short-range tactical missiles.
The system can also launch older versions of missiles in the TK family, including TK I and II missiles.
The TK III system is being operated in conjunction with the US-bought PAC system as the backbone of Taiwan’s low-altitude air defense system, the institute said on its Web site.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
RSS