Sky Bow I / Tien Kung I
Tien-Kung, a surface-to-air missile system designed for air defense against intensive aircraft attack,equipped with a single stage dual thrust solid propellant rocket motor and guided by mid-course inertial reference and radar in the terminal phase, is capable of multi-target tracking and automatic multi-target engagement. In 1993 Taiwan bought surface-to-air missile (SAM) system components from Raytheon of the USA, at a cost of $1.1 billion. There were direct offsets - joint development and technology transfers. Taiwan is to develop and produce this Tien Kung (Sky Bow) SAM system, a derivative of the Patriot system. The missiles are deployed in underground cells, each housing four missiles protected by a concrete wall a meter thick. Raytheon is to provide the missile forebody, ground support equipment, training, maintenance and technical support. Patriot was sold to Taiwan in 1993.
Taiwan's overall air defense architecture consists of three sets of US-made Patriot missile systems [200 Patriot missiles total] primarily intended to intercept guided missiles, deployed at three locations Nankang, Linkou and Wanli around heavily-populated Taipei. Six sets of Tien Kung I and Tien Kung II missile systems are responsible for medium- and high-altitude targets. The 20 Hawk missile bases are responsible for targets in the low- to medium- altitudes.
Taiwan has placed Tien Kung long- range ground-to-air missiles and "Hsiung Feng" long-range shore-to-ship missiles on the Jinmen and Matsu islands, only 10 km from the mainland, bringing the whole of Fujian Province and some airspace and important ports in Zhejiang and Guangdong within range of the missiles.
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| Maximum effective range | 100km | |
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Sources and Methods
- Army opens five missile bases to media China News [Taiwan] 27 August 1999 -- The five Sky Bow missile bases in Taiwan are located in Penghu, Taichung, Sanchih, a northern coastal township, and Kaohsiung, which has two.
- ROC ARMY UNVEILS SKY BOW MISSILE BASE IN KAOHSIUNG China News [Taiwan] 26 August 1999 -- The Republic of China Army unveiled its Sky Bow surface-to-air missile base in Linyuan in the southern Taiwan county of Kaohsiung County. The five Sky Bow missile bases in Taiwan are located in Sanchih, a northern Taiwan coastal township; Penghu, an offshore island county off southwestern Taiwan coast; Taichung in central Taiwan; and two bases in the southern Taiwan county of Kaohsiung. Sky Bow missiles have been deployed in Tungyin, a small islet of the Matsu island group. All of the six Sky Bow missile bases are equipped with highly advanced phased array radar systems.
- ROC COMPLETES MISSILE DEPLOYMENT ON OUTLYING ISLANDS Central News Agency [Taiwan] 11 August 1999 -- Tungyin, an islet belonging to the Matsu group, is the only outlying island to have deployed the highly advanced surface-to-air Sky Bow missiles.
