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Channel News Asia reports that Taiwan has given the go-ahead to produce the Hsiung Feng IIE cruise missile. Expected production is pegged at 300 missiles, though its in-service date in uncertain.
The HF-2E variant is derived in part from the Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missile that equips its surface vessels, but it nearly quadruples the missile’s range from about 160 km to almost 600 km. The HF-2E is designed to be fired from land-based emplacements as well as ships, and GPS guidance is expected given its use in some modernized HF-2 missiles. The HF-2E’s range brings some of China’s southern ports within range of Taiwanese missile strikes against key staging areas, or even against retaliatory targets, if the PRC should invade.
On Jan 1/08, Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian said that China had 1,328 short range ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan, up from 200 when he took office in 2000. A 2005 Pentagon report had placed the number at 730, and that number has continued to rise. See also NTI’s 2002 brief “Taiwan’s Response to China’s Missile Buildup.”