Taiwan’s Air Force Tests Homegrown Sky Sword II Missile

Taiwan successfully carried out a preliminary test of domestically built Sky Sword II missiles over the weekend, local media reports.

Domestically produced by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCIST), the new missile system was tested on June 24 resulting in over 100 seconds of successful flight for the missile systems. According to Taiwan News, after some final specifications, the system will be readied for service sometime next year, after a full test in simulated combat conditions.

The Sky Sword II missile’s previous test in May was proved unsuccessful due to various anomalies involving delayed ignition resulting from issues with the internal control system, according to Up Media.

The Sky Sword II missile, also known as Tien Chien II, or TC-2, was originally developed as a family of air-to-air missiles that could be launched from army, navy and air force platforms. The new TC-2C missiles have an extended effective range of 100km, up from 60km, as well as increased precision.

The missile’s maximum speed amounted to Mach 6, or six times the speed of sound.