Taiwan fields a new ARM (no, not the appendage)

Date Posted: 10-Mar-2004

JANE’S DEFENCE WEEKLY – MARCH 17, 2004

——————————————————————————–

Taiwan set to field new anti-radiation missile
ROBERT HEWSON Editor, Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons
Singapore

A previously unknown air-launched anti-radiation missile (ARM) will soon boost the armoury of Taiwan’s air force.

The weapon has been developed by the Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), Taiwan’s specialist organisation charged with producing a range of guided weapons, including several classified programmes.

While work on a Taiwanese ARM for the air force (ROCAF) has been an open secret for some time, only now are a few details emerging.

The ARM, known as Tien Chien IIA, is a derivative of the Tien Chien (Sky Sword) II active-radar air-to-air missile (AAM) that already equips Taiwan’s F-CK-1 Ching Kuo fighter aircraft.

Speaking to JDW during February’s Asian Aerospace 2004, a CSIST representative confirmed that the Tien Chien IIA will enter service “very soon”. The missile is understood to have already undergone extensive ground and airborne testing after many years of clandestine development.

The existence of a Taiwanese ARM is a sensitive subject because it is an overtly offensive weapon that will incur the wrath of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Taiwan is intensely concerned about the PRC’s growing air power dominance over the Taiwan Strait. An effective ARM capability would be one key way for the ROCAF to carry any future conflict back to the PRC and hinder its ability to conduct air operations from secure bases on the mainland.

The Tien Chien IIA takes the proven Tien Chien II airframe design and mates it with a new seeker assembly and guidance package. The seeker is housed in a reprofiled, notched fairing, giving rise to speculation that it may use a dual-mode design, incorporating both passive RF and infra-red sensors.

The new missile may also be fitted with an improved extended-range rocket motor, although the 60km (air-to-air) maximum range of the current Tien Chien II is probably sufficient for the ARM’s role. The CSIST has confirmed that it is also developing advanced ramjet motors; several chamber test firings have already been completed.

The Tien Chien IIA will equip the ROCAF’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation F-CK-1 Ching Kuo fighters.

According to the CSIST, any Ching Kuo can carry the new ARM because it requires no modifications to the launch aircraft. A new smart pylon has been designed for the Tien Chien IIA, which will be carried under the wing. This is unlike the Tien Chien II variant, which is currently carried only on the F-CK-1’s recessed ventral stations.

The CSIST understands that the ROCAF does not intend to field a dedicated defence suppression force armed with the Tien Chien IIA. Instead, the capability will be introduced across the front-line fleet. Up to four Tien Chien IIAs can be carried by one aircraft on individual pylons without losing the existing hardpoints for two Tien Chien IIs plus two wingtip-mounted Tien Chien Is.

*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. It is being made available without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance their understanding of arms trade activities, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml