The Ministry of National Defense is proposing a special budget totaling NT$200 billion (US$7.14 billion) to boost the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s missile manufacturing capabilities, a source said.
The military hopes that the institute can use the funds to expedite the mass production of missiles with precision and long-range capabilities, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
They said that the budget is in line with President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) instructions when visiting the institute in January 2019 to increase production of Tien Kung III (“Sky Bow III”) and Hsiung Feng III (“Brave Wind III”) missiles.
Missiles developed in Taiwan that are fielded by the military have a range of 250km to 600km, including the surface-to-surface Hsiung Feng II-E, the Sky Bow II-B and the Wan Chien air-to-ground cruise missile.
The military uses these missiles to complement its Patriot-III systems and Harpoon anti-ship missiles to provide anti-air and anti-surface capabilities, the source said.
The institute is developing an air-launched version of the mid-range supersonic Hsiung Feng III, a hypersonic missile program that has not yet been named, a Sky Bow III missile with augmented range and a mid-range air-launched cruise missile program under the name Yun Feng, the source said.
There are plans to extend the Hsiung Feng II-E to a range of 1,200km, while the Yun Feng (雲峰) missile is expected to have a range of more than 2,000km, they said.
Institute deputy director Leng Chin-hsu (冷金緒) in March said the institute had one land-based missile ready for mass production and three projects under development.
The institute recently held multiple tests trialing a missile’s maximum or “infinite” altitude, indicating that it might be testing a new missile, the source said.
The land-based missile ready for mass production is the Hsiung Feng II-E missile: the basic version with a range of 600km and the surface-to-surface cruise missile version with a range of 1,000km, they said.
Source: Taipei Times - 2021/08/22
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