The Republic of China Armed Forces has declared fully operational its new "Wan Chien" long-range cruise missile designed to destroy invading troops, aircraft, and equipment with a torrent of deadly cluster munitions.
Wan Chien looks remarkably similar to the American's low-observable air-launched cruise missile, the AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW, and its British, French and Italian equivalent, the Storm Shadow. Wan Chien, which translates into "Ten Thousands Swords," is also a low-observable air-launched cruise missile.
Wan Chien is Taiwan's longest-ranged cluster munition. It arms the Republic of China Air Force's (ROCAF) AIDC F-CK-1 Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF). This was made possible following a mid-life upgrade program of the IDF.
In 2014, ROCAF upgraded 71 IDFs in the 443rd Tactical Fighter Wing based in Tainan to be able to deploy Wan Chien. Upgrades of a further 56 IDFs of the 427th Tactical Fighter Wing in Taichung were completed in 2017.
The upgrades focused on enhancing the IDF's ability to accurately attack ground targets with Wan Chien. This missile's range of 200 kilometers means it can be launched outside the range of mainland air-defense systems deployed along the southeastern coast of China. Wan Chien uses a GPS-inertial navigation system to zero in on its target.
The main targets for the cluster bombs carried by Wan Chien are airfields and airstrips operated by the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). Other lucrative targets for Wan Chien are radar sites and ballistic missile bases.
Wan Chien is the newest offensive weapons system in the ROCAF arsenal. The improved Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) land-attack cruise missile and the submarine-launched Harpoon UGM-84L cruise missile of the Republic of China Navy (ROCN) are offensive weapons capable of attacking targets on mainland China or on the Taiwan Strait separating both countries. The Harpoon UGM-84L will be used to attack littoral targets such as port infrastructure, power grids, and military staging areas.
In 2017, Taiwan boasted about its new capability to attack military positions of the People's Liberation Army on the Chinese mainland.
"We do have the capability and we are continuing to reinforce such capability," said Defense Minister Feng Shih-kuan. "Should the enemy insist on invading, we will weaken their capabilities by striking enemy troops at their home bases, fighting them at sea, crushing them as they approach the coastlines and wiping them out on the beaches."
