TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – On Monday (Sept. 12), the Ministry of National Defense (MND) announced that the Air Force Missile Defense and Command won its bid to begin a new construction project at the military base in Yilan County’s Paotaishan (砲台山) or "Fort Mountain."

There is speculation the construction site will become a station for Tiangong III anti-aircraft missile systems, which may prove crucial to protecting Taiwan's eastern coast in the event of an attack from China.

Previously, the Air Force Missile Defense and Command developed a plan called the Fei-hao No. 2 (飛鎧二號) for the modernization of Taiwan’s missile defenses. The plans call for the construction and renovation of six different sites to house the Tiangong III missiles, reports UDN.

The new construction project in Yilan is most likely one of those sites. The MND expects that construction of the facility will be completed by 2025. The cost of the project is expected to total more than NT$800 million (US$26 million), per UDN.