Taiwan to begin mass production of Tien Kung IV missiles

Taiwan is expected to start mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the island's Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) said, Report informs via Taipei Times.

The ministry said that the island's armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that.

The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems.

A defense source said that the number of pods the Taiwanese military is procuring would be identical to the total number of missiles it plans to order, as each pod contains one projectile.