Taiwan tests new anti-ship and anti-aircraft carrier missile

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TAIPEI: Taiwan tested its longest range ship-to-ship missile within a month of China putting its first aircraft carrier into service, a report said Monday.

Dubbed an “aircraft carrier killer”, the missile has a range of 400 kilometres (250 miles) and is capable of achieving Mach 3.0, or triple the speed of sound, the Taipei-based United Daily News said.

“The Chung-shan Institute of Science and Technology finished a series of tests off Taiwan last month,” it said, in reference to Taiwan’s arms development unit. “No ship is capable of withstanding its high-velocity impact,” the paper quoted an unnamed military source as saying. Taiwan’s defence ministry declined to comment on the report.

The missile was described as a long-range variant of the Hsiung Feng III, already installed on Taiwanese frigates and missile boats and designed to achieve Mach 2.0 with a range of up to 130 kilometres (80 miles). China put its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, into service in late September.