Taiwan’s planned development of a “T-Dome” missile defense system would enhance its multilayer air defense capabilities, military experts said yesterday, a day after President William Lai (賴清德) in his Double Ten National Day speech pledged to bolster air defense capabilities by building the system to provide a safety net amid growing military threats from China.
Lai did not provide details on plans for the system.
Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a division director at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the name “T-Dome” was inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome and a similar system being introduced in the US called the “Golden Dome.”
Photo: Screen grab from the Web site of Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace
In May, US President Donald Trump announced plans for a new space-based missile defense system intended to detect and destroy foreign threats, including ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles.
The Israeli and the US systems integrate multilayer air-defense capabilities, Su said, adding that Taiwan’s system would similarly shield the country from missiles, fighter jets and drones at any altitude.
Kuo Yu-jen (郭育仁), director of National Sun Yat-sen University’s Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies, said that the development of the T-Dome follows the playbook of defenses used in the US and in regional allies.
Like the US, South Korea and Japan, Taiwan is seeking an integrated system that can detect and intercept incoming missiles and enemy aircraft, providing a multilayered defense to protect the nation against increasingly sophisticated threats, Kuo said.
China during a military parade on Sept. 3 showcased hypersonic and ballistic missiles capable of reaching the US mainland, highlighting the threat Beijing poses to Taiwan, said Chen Shih-min (陳世民), who teaches political science at National Taiwan University.
At a time like this, Lai’s announcement of plans to build a T-Dome might provide psychological reassurance to the public, signaling that Taiwan is not defenseless against China’s missile threat, Chen said.
Missile defense systems are a crucial part of national defense for nations around the world, as highlighted by the first day of the 2022 Russia-Ukraine war, when hundreds of missiles were launched at Ukrainian targets, Kuo said.
Chou Yu-ping (周宇平), a retired air force colonel, said that Taiwan currently uses an integrated network as its air defense command-and-control platform to consolidate radar data from ground stations along with information detected by Patriot and Tien Kung III (天弓, “Sky Bow”) battery systems deployed across the nation.
The T-Dome would likely adopt a sensor-to-shooter system, a defense technology that rapidly links detection of a target to a weapon system that is to engage it, similar to the US’ Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS), Chou said.
The IBCS is designed to link radars and shoot down short, medium and intermediate-range ballistic missiles as they approach, he said.
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