TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taiwan military is set to conduct live-fire drills for its new land-based Sky Sword II missiles (Land Sword II) for the first time.
The military will test fire three Land Sword II missiles on April 9 at Jiupeng Military Base in Pingtung, CNA reported. Additionally, it will carry out other live-fire drills including the Lei Ting, Shen Ying, and Shen Gong exercises this month to test its Hellfire missiles, Javelin missiles, and Thunderbolt-2000 multiple launch rocket systems.
The Land Sword II air-defense system, which was developed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, will soon replace the Chaparral air-defense and the Laizi radar system. They were commissioned in 1987 and are facing the end of their service life.
The Land Sword II system consists of a combat control vehicle, a phased-array radar vehicle, a missile launch vehicle, and a missile transport vehicle. The combat control vehicle is responsible for target detection, tracking, threat assessment, and target allocation.
The system has an effective range of up to 15 kilometers and can target enemy fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, and cruise missiles. It can also be integrated with the Avenger missile system and dual-mounted Javelin missiles to enhance regional air defense capabilities.
