Download Hsiung Feng III, illustrative photo
Taiwan Armed Forces Complete Deployment of Advanced Version of Hsiung Feng-IIE Missile (Xiongfeng 2E) ground-to-ground class – Hsiung Sheng. The Eurasian Times writes about this, citing its own sources.
According to the Taiwanese military department, The Hsiung Sheng missile has an increased range and can hit targets at a distance of up to 1200 kilometers. It means, that it may well reach objects on the territory of mainland China. Firstly, we are talking about military bases in the Shanghai area and in Zhejiang province.
The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense emphasizes, that the missile can be used to strike command posts, I'm bunkering, runways of enemy airfields. However unknown, Does the Taiwanese Army have the capabilities to effectively identify targets?. However, this issue can be resolved through active assistance from the United States, having a wide range of reconnaissance means, including space.
The rocket was put into production in 2022 program year, for the implementation of which more than 534 million dollars. One of Taiwan's Defense Ministry officials compared the new version of the missile to the American Tomahawk..
However, even Taiwanese military experts are skeptical about the new missile. According to The Eurasian Times, they highlight several shortcomings of the new rocket. At first, Missiles of this type lack stealth, which will allow China's effective air defense to easily destroy them when approaching the mainland. Secondly, it has a low flight speed, which also facilitates the work of China's air defense.
by the way, other versions of the HF-IIE missiles are already in service with the Taiwan Air Force. We are talking about Type A and Type B missiles, which have a range 500 km and 1000 km respectively. The Type A missile was tested in 2004 year, a Type B – c 2007 year. Since then, both missiles have been in service with the Taiwan Air Force Missile Brigade..
