The Taiwanese Military has test-fired a long-range variant of its domestically manufactured Hsiung Feng III missile, a month after China inducted its first aircraft carrier into operational service.
Test-firings were conducted by Taiwan’s primary research and development organisation, Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), in October 2012.
The new missile possesses an operational range of 400km and cruises at a speed of Mach 3.0, which is almost equal to triple the speed of sound.
An undisclosed military official said to United Daily News: "No ship is capable of withstanding its high-velocity impact."
However, Taiwan’s Ministry of national Defence (MND) spokesman major general Luo Shou refused to comment on the report.
Hsiung Feng III, developed by CSIST, is a short-range, surface-to-surface cruise missile designed to intercept a wide range of enemy ships and land-based targets at ranges of up to 130km in all weather conditions.
Powered by a rocket-ramjet propulsion system, the missile features a single 225kg self-forging fragment warhead, which can be launched from both ship and surface platforms, and can travel at speeds of Mach 2.0 at an altitude between 20 and 200m.
The missile is equipped with an X-band monopulse planar array active radar seeker to meet shorter reaction time requirements of a supersonic anti-ship missile, and also provides resistance to range gate pull-off (RGPO) techniques.
Hsiung Feng III missiles entered operational service in early 2008 and are currently installed onboard the Taiwanese Navy’s Perry-class frigates and other missile boats.
Image: A Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missile being displayed in Chengkungling. Photo: ???.
