Indigenous land-based version of Sky Sword II makes Han Kuang debut

Taoyuan, July 13 (CNA) Taiwan's domestically built land-based version of the Sky Sword II missile made its Han Kuang debut on Sunday as the Army tested the emergency deployment capability of the surface-to-air missile in Taoyuan during the fifth day of the live-fire phase of the annual military drills.

During a round of exercises that simulate Chinese missiles targeting Taiwan's military bases and key infrastructure, the Army's 21st Artillery Command responded by deploying the ground-launched variant of Sky Sword II missiles to designated locations in Taoyuan's Zhongli District within 15 minutes.

The variant of Sky Sword II missile, also known as the Land Sword II surface-to-air missile system, built by the military's top research unit, National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, was deployed to designated locations on ground vehicles.

Each vehicle has a length of 8.3 meters and a width of 2.6 meters and can carry four Land Sword II missiles at a time with a maximum range of 15 kilometers.

The missile can be fired remotely or from inside the vehicle, and can be operated by three people, according to the Army.

Chieh Chung (揭仲), a researcher at the Taipei-based think tank, Association of Strategic Foresight, who was at the drill site to observe Sunday's exercises, told CNA that the round of drills is intended to simulate defending the nearby Army Command Headquarters in case of a Chinese long-range rockets and missiles attack.

Preserving the integrity of the command headquarters is important because the Taoyuan location serves as an alternative command center for Taiwan's armed forces, once the main Hengshan Military Command Center, Taiwan's tri-service command center located in the capital city of Taipei, is damaged, Chieh said.

Similar air defense drills were held around Taiwan on Sunday, the fifth day of the longest-ever 10-day, nine-night live-fire component of the Han Kuang exercises from Wednesday to July 18.

In Taipei, Defense Minister Wellington Koo (顧立雄) inspected a similar drill featuring United States-imported Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) and PAC-3 air defense missile systems in a Taipei riverside park on Sunday morning.

According to Chieh, the PAC series of missiles and land-based version of the Sky Sword II together represent a comprehensive anti-missile air defense system to protect northern Taiwan.

In the offshore islands of Matsu and Penghu, a round of live-fire exercises featuring Thunderbolt-2000 wheeled multiple launch rocket systems, and an anti-airborne invasion drill, were conducted, respectively as part of the Han Kuang drills on Sunday.

Since 1984, the annual Han Kuang exercises have served as Taiwan's major war games, combining live-fire drills and computerized tabletop simulations to test combat readiness against a possible Chinese invasion.

This year's tabletop war games were conducted from April 5-18.