Image - From the net
Taiwan has completed the final operational test of its
indigenous Wan Chien air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) on Sept. 25.
After being released from a AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-kuo fighter
jet, commonly known as the Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF), the missile flew
for 80 minutes and circled off Pingtun for 200km.
The Wan Chien is a 3.5 m long aircraft launched subsonic
cruise missile produced by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and
Technology (NCSIST). The conventionally armed weapon resembles the MBDA
SCALP/Storm Shadow ALCM and the Raytheon AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW).
Powered by a turbojet engine, the Wan Chein (means Ten
Thousands Swords in Chinese language) missile reportedly has a range of 240km.
The 650 kg missile is guided by INS/GPS and may have a
terminal seeker. The payload is approximately 350 kg with either a high
explosive, semi-armor piercing, or submunitions warhead. The submunitions
warhead can reportedly be equipped with as many as 100 secondary bomblet
warheads.
The missile is designed to enable the Republic of China
Air Force (ROCAF) to conduct long-range suppression attacks against coastal
inland military targets, whilst operating from the Taiwan Strait airspace.
Primarily intended to strike runways at enemy military
airports, the Wan Chien missile is fired from a distance, which is adequate for
attacking personnel to dodge defensive fire from the target locations.
Original post: defpost.com
Wan Chien air launched cruise missile
The Wan Chien is an air-to-ground, subsonic cruise
missile developed by Taiwan. The missile program first came to light in 2005
and is currently operational in small numbers.
Development of the Wan Chien
is believed to have started around 2000, led by Taiwan’s National Chung-Shan
Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST). Taiwan reportedly began
developing its own guided munitions after the United States – Taiwan’s main
arms supplier – declined to sell it such systems. The program became known publicly in
November 2005, and the missile entered service in 2011. Full
production was expected to begin in 2015, but former Taiwanese President Ma
Ying-Jeou chose to reduce the quantity to be produced. In June 2017, however, a
Taiwanese report claimed that current President Tsai Ing-wen’s government had
plans to restore production of the Wan Chien to above 100 weapons.
The missile was
first publicly displayed on January 16, 2014 at a ceremony held at Tainan Air
Base in Southern Taiwan.
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