- Chinese media has taken aim at Taiwan's new long-range cruise missile.
- It reportedly has an estimated range of up to 930 miles and could reach as far as China.
- If Taiwan can attack the mainland, it will be difficult for China to invade Taiwan.
Chinese media have reported that Taiwan's new long-range cruise missile is slow and easy to shoot down, but the truth of this report depends on many unknowns.
However, this shows that Beijing is paying close attention to Taiwan's development of advanced weapons that could counter invading forces and even destroy some of the mainland's command centers and missile launchers. It shows.
This article, published in the late November issue of Ordnance Industry Science Technology, focused on a new long-range version of the weapon. Yumine IIE A ground attack cruise missile similar to the US Tomahawk. The new variant has an estimated range of 620 to 930 miles, potentially reaching wide areas along China's coastline as well as inland targets in central China.
A Chinese magazine criticized the missile for its “relatively large size, subsonic speed and lack of stealth technology, making it easy to detect.” South China Morning Postfirst published this article.
Taiwan has kept a low profile about its missile program, and details are somewhat elusive. What is known in Taiwan is 6 different types According to the Missile Threat Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., the number of cruise missiles, including ground-attack and anti-ship weapons, until recently were mostly short-range defensive weapons meant to deter invasion; “CSIS said it has begun developing and fielding missile systems better suited for strike missions, including longer-range land-attack cruise missiles.
“In a report to the Taiwanese legislature in 2022, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense stated that the missile could be equipped with two warheads: one high explosive that could target command centers or shelters; warhead, and the other is a dispersion warhead that can attack airfields,” the Morning Post reported. However, it was not until August 2023 that Taiwanese media reported that test launch Hsiung Feng IIE. There are also reports that Taiwan is developing it. Chin Tian (Formerly known as Yunfeng) A supersonic cruise missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles).
Several us experts I want Taiwan to buy more missiles instead of expensive ones. F-16 fighter jet and M1 Abrams Tank. In their view, a Chinese invasion would be preceded by a massive missile bombardment that would destroy Taiwan's air bases and armored vehicles. It would be better to invest in relatively inexpensive anti-aggression weapons such as missiles, drones, and mines.
Missiles launched by Taiwan and the United States played an important role. war gamesThis is a simulation of China's amphibious invasion of Taiwan, which CSIS conducted last year.
“U.S. and coalition teams focused on ports and airfields, attacking them with long-range cruise missiles, typically JASSM.” [Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile],” CSIS senior advisor Mark Cancian told Business Insider.
In the game, Taiwan used missiles against the Chinese invasion fleet in the Taiwan Strait rather than attack ports. But “the sensitive issue is whether Taiwan will preemptively attack the anchored invasion fleet,” Kang-hsiang said. “Taiwanese people say they don't do that, but there's a lot of literature that shows that Taiwanese people don't take it seriously.”
Can Taiwan's long-range cruise missiles penetrate China's defenses? As the Ukraine war showed, subsonic cruise missiles can be intercepted by anti-aircraft missiles such as the US Patriot and Russia's S-300.There are many things in China missile defense systemincluding the Russian S-400, HQ-15 (Chinese version of the Russian S-300), and HQ-16 (based on the Russian Buk).
However, details about China's air defense posture, including the integration of missiles, radars, and command systems, are scarce. And China would need to defend a lot of territory, including about 9,000 miles of coastline.
In any case, Taiwan's cruise missile technological capabilities may not be the biggest problem. Taiwan lacks sufficient ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) capabilities to ensure missiles can hit targets 1,000 miles away.
“Taiwan needs improved ISR capabilities against long-range missiles, especially moving targets,” said Masao Dahlgren, a missile defense expert at CSIS. China's rocket forces rely on truck-mounted launchers that can be moved to avoid pinpoint detection.
Taiwan, in particular, lacks a military space program capable of developing reconnaissance satellites and relies on targeting data from U.S. satellites. “They announced a contract with private industry to produce reconnaissance drones,” Dahlgren said. “But we have a long road ahead of us in building end-to-end target detection and attack capabilities.”
Taiwan may use data from commercial satellites, but civilian spacecraft may not have the same capabilities as military spacecraft. “When you're talking about an out-and-out attack on China, there will certainly be some fixed strategic objectives. I expect Taiwan to rely on its commercial capabilities to know where it is.” doing.”
Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy Magazine, and other publications. He holds a master's degree in political science.follow him twitter and linkedin.
