The Ministry of National Defense plans to purchase more than 200 Xiongfeng missiles to strengthen anti-ship combat capabilities

The Naval Littoral Combat Command fired Xiongfeng III missiles during this precision ammunition shooting exercise. (Photo: Provided by Military News Agency)

[Reporter Luo Tianbin/Reporting from Taipei] Taiwan’s anti-ship missiles are supported by the special budget of the "Sea and Air Combat Power Improvement Plan" and combined with US-made shore-based Harpoon missiles. In the future, the total number of anti-ship missiles will exceed the 1,400 mark, and the density of anti-ship missile deployment is already among the top in the world. However, in the face of the increasingly severe gray zone threats from the Communist Army and the advance of new warships, the military has assessed that "the quantity is still not enough." The Ministry of National Defense has planned to prepare an annual regular budget of up to 22 billion yuan for eight years starting from 2027 (2016), and purchase more than 200 "performance-improved" Xiong 2 and Xion 3 anti-ship missiles from the Chinese Academy of Sciences to make the overall sea control ammunition arsenal more threatening.

Senior military officials revealed that the addition of more than 200 missiles this time is not just about numbers. The core mission is to "increase the first-time kill rate in high-intensity battlefields." The Type 055, Type 052D warships and amphibious assault ships that have been in service in recent years are equipped with extremely powerful electronic jamming and close defense systems. Although the appearance of this batch of advanced Xiongfeng missiles planned to be put into mass production has not changed much, they are all equipped with the latest advanced chips developed internally, significantly upgrading their "anti-electronic interference capabilities." In the future, no matter how enemy ships release interference noise, the advanced missiles will be able to filter out and lock onto the target firmly, ensuring that the missiles can "survive and penetrate through strong interference", greatly improving the penetration of one-hit kills.

The Coast Guard's Cijin ship also fired Xiongfeng III missiles. (Photo: Provided by Military News Agency)

Senior military sources said that in addition to making missiles more accurate, another strategic consideration of this project is to fill the "inventory gap caused by the ongoing war of attrition" across the Taiwan Strait. Judging from the bloody experience of the Ukraine-Russia war, ammunition consumption in modern high-intensity conflicts far exceeds the imagination of the outside world. The military’s actuarial analysis found that 1,400 anti-ship missiles may seem astonishing, but if we deduct the losses caused by early enemy strikes during wartime and the tactical reality of facing a saturation attack, each enemy ship often needs to launch 2 to 4 missiles to ensure sinking. After the first wave of firepower is fired, an ammunition vacuum is very likely to occur. This additional batch of more than 200 Advanced missiles can be used as reloading ammunition for each mobile squadron, providing a steady stream of sustaining firepower.

He said that this construction project also takes into account the invisible resilience of maintaining Taiwan's national defense independence. In order to cooperate with the special budget, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has built a highly automated missile production line in recent years. If the special budget for the "Sea and Air Combat Power Enhancement Plan" is implemented at the end of 2026, the production line will be shut down directly, which will lead to the loss of technical talents and production capacity. After the annual normal budget is taken over and allocated 22 billion yuan, it will not only ensure that the production pulse of this asymmetric combat power continues to beat. If Taiwan needs to urgently expand production due to actual combat consumption in the future, this production line can be transformed into an uninterrupted military industrial locomotive at any time, becoming a solid backing for Taiwan's long-term resistance to the enemy.

The Navy's Xujiang warship fired Xiongfeng II missiles. (Provided by Naval Fleet Command)

The Navy's "Littoral Combat Command" was established in July this year. As the Advanced Hsiung Feng missiles are gradually added in the next eight years, more than 1,600 anti-ship missile groups composed of domestic Hsiung Feng and US-made Harpoons will be dispersed and deployed on the defense lines of Taiwan's main island and outer islands such as Penghu through a hybrid attack mode of supersonic and subsonic speeds of "high and low combination, fast and slow". This overwhelming, multi-layered sea control saturation strike network will allow the Communist landing fleet to face an unbearable and devastating blow when crossing the Taiwan Strait, giving full play to Taiwan's "hedgehog island" asymmetric deterrence strategy.