TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan will commence its annual precision ammunition firing exercise at the Jiupeng Military Base (九鵬基地) in Pingtung on Tuesday (Aug. 20).
The exercise will test various anti-aircraft missiles, including the Hsiung Feng II (雄風二型反艦飛彈), Hsiung Feng III (雄風三型反艦飛彈), MIM-104 Patriot (愛國者飛彈), and Tien-Kung III (TK-3, 天弓三型), alongside the Chien Hsiang drone (劍翔無人機) developed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science & Technology (NCSIST, 中科院).
The Chien Hsiang drone can strike targets up to 1,000 kilometers away. Chieh Chung (揭仲), a researcher at the Taipei-based Association of Strategic Foresight (中華戰略前瞻協會), analyzed, "In addition to being able to strike across the sea to target China’s mainland and its air defense missile radar systems, the Chien Hsiang drone can also attack the radars of warships around Taiwan, rendering them combat ineffective."
The TK-4 missile (天弓四型), which will also undergo live-fire testing soon, aims to counter the DF-17 hypersonic missile from China. However, military enthusiasts detected the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) reconnaissance ship near Wushibi (烏石鼻) in Yilan on Sunday (Aug. 18), likely monitoring the upcoming drills.
Chieh Chung commented that these electronic reconnaissance ships may be attempting to collect signal records to analyze and find ways to defend against or electronically counteract Taiwan's systems.
Additionally, flight path maps from Sunday indicated two PLA helicopters 60 nautical miles from Taitung, suggesting the presence of at least two PLA vessels.
As the PLA has increasingly tested Taiwan’s defenses in recent years, Taiwan’s ammunition firing exercise serves as a deterrent against China's potential aggression.