Retired after 63 years of service, Taiwan's Eagle missile once set the world's first record of "zero deductions" in US military inspections

The Eagle missile, which has been in service in Taiwan for 63 years, was decommissioned on June 29, 2023. In the global on-site inspection by the US military, it set the world's first perfect record of "zero points, no defects".

[Reporter Luo Tianbin/Reporting from Taipei] The Patriot missile system purchased by our country from the United States was urgently introduced after the Taiwan Strait missile crisis in 1996 (Republic of China 1985). It has served in Taiwan for exactly 30 years. The Patriot missile unit has repeatedly set the proud record of being among the best in the global actual combat capability assessment of the US military and the original manufacturer. Although the Eagle missile system, which has been in service in Taiwan for 63 years, has been completely decommissioned, it has set a perfect record of "zero points and no defects" in the global field test of the US military.

According to data previously disclosed by the Air Force Command on the combat readiness of the Eagle missile and the effectiveness of its participation in live-fire shooting exercises, the Eagle missile system participated in a total of 41 Divine Arrow exercises from 1954 to 106, firing a total of 324 live-fire missiles, successfully intercepting 293 missiles, and the interception hit rate was as high as 90.4%.

The U.S. government used to dispatch a professional inspection team composed of military experts and equipment engineers every year to tour all allies around the world that operate U.S.-made Eagle missiles (including the United States, the Republic of China, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Spain and other countries at the time) to conduct extremely strict combat capabilities and equipment maintenance inspections. In a certain field test, the Chinese Army's Eagle missile battery was rated as "Zero Defects" by the US military. Ranking first among all user countries, this is an extremely rare and almost impossible unprecedented record in the history of U.S. military air defense inspections. The platoon leader who set the world's first record in Taiwan's missile company that year was Li Xiangzhou, who was later promoted to general and served as Army Commander and Director of National Security.

Data released by the Air Force Command on the combat readiness of the Eagle missile and the effectiveness of its participation in live-fire shooting exercises show that the Eagle missile system participated in a total of 41 Divine Arrow exercises from 1954 to 106, firing a total of 324 live-fire missiles, successfully intercepting 293 missiles, and the interception hit rate was as high as 90.4%.

The Eagle Missile Force has been responsible for the air defense of the Taiwan Strait since 1949. In order to strengthen the regional air defense capabilities, it has successively implemented projects such as "Nanning", "Lianshi" and "Scorpion". Major battle drills such as troop verification, Lianxiang engagement and interception, Tianlong air defense emergency and mobile operations, all successfully completed their tasks. In 107, in response to the long sea voyage of the Communist Army, they advanced to Green Island and defended the Republic of China for more than half a century.

In the later stages of its service, my country's Hawk missile used the newer model "Hawk Phase III", which had better performance than earlier models, with a range of about 40 kilometers and an altitude of about 20 kilometers. Since the air defense mission was taken over by the state-made Tiangong II and III missiles, they were completely eliminated. However, the Eagle missile system is still a simple and reliable anti-aircraft missile system internationally. This is evident from the fact that the United States also included the Eagle missile system in the list of military aid to Ukraine.