Taiwan conducts first Land Sword II drills

A mock-up of the ground-launched variant of Sky Sword II missile is displayed at the Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition 2023. (Kapil Kajal)

Taiwan has conducted its first live-fire drills with its locally developed Land Sword II surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, the island's Ministry of National Defense (MND) has announced.

The MND said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on 13 May that the system is capable of “countering diverse aerial threats, and significantly enhances force protection for [the] Republic of China Army (RoCA)”.

Land Sword II is likely the ground-launched variant of Taiwan's Sky Sword II, developed by the island's state-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST). The baseline Sky Sword II is a medium-range air-to-air missile (AAM) integrated onto Taiwan's Ching‐Kuo fighter aircraft.

21st and 43rd Artillery Commands of the RoCA test-fired the ground-launched variant of the Sky Sword II for the first time in April 2024.

According to Janes Land Warfare Platforms: Artillery & Air Defence, the land-based Sky Sword II, also known as Lujian II or Land Sword II, is a semi-mobile anti-aircraft SAM system. The missile has a length of 3.59 m and a diameter of 0.19 m, and its maximum range and altitude is 30 km and 20 km respectively. The missile weighs 184 kg.

Images published by the MND in its post on X appear to show the missile being launched from a 4×4 launcher vehicle with two rocket containers for four Land Sword II missiles.

Taiwan's MND had not responded to Janes queries at the time of publication.

For more information, please see Taiwan test-fires Sky Sword II air-defence system .