TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology has made significant progress in developing a long-range subsonic anti-ship cruise missile, according to a defense researcher familiar with the project.

The new missile has a range of between 900 and 1,000 kilometers and is launched from a mobile vehicle, Liberty Times reported. It has precision-strike capabilities and has been dubbed the “Taiwanese AGM-158.” The project has already made significant progress, with operational testing planned for later this year.

If the missile passes evaluations, it will become Taiwan’s third domestically developed long-range strike system and significantly enhance its ability to counter threats from the Chinese military, Liberty Times said.

Taiwan currently fields several long-range strike systems exceeding 500 km in range. These include the Sky Spear hypersonic cruise missile, with an estimated range of up to 2,000 km, the Hsiung Feng IIE, and its extended-range variant, with ranges of approximately 600 km and 1,000 km, respectively.

The successful development of the missile could influence US considerations on potentially selling the AGM-158 to Taiwan, according to Liberty Times.