Taiwan is developing a potent missile system that can strike airfields and harbours on the mainland, in a bid to nip a Chinese invasion in the bud, local media said on Tuesda November 2, 2010.
The 'Wan Chien' or 'Ten Thousand Swords' missile system, which so far has cost nearly three billion Taiwan dollars (97 million US), passed an initial operating test earlier this year, said Defence Technology Monthly.
Each missile carries more than 100 cluster bomb warheads capable of blowing dozens of small craters in airport runways, making them impossible to use, the magazine said.
The missile is also designed to target harbours, missile and radar bases, as well as troop build-up areas prior to an invasion of the island, the magazine said.
The defence ministry is planning to invest 15 billion Taiwan dollars (S$634 million) in 2011 and 2012 to equip its Indigenous Defence Fighters (IDFs) with the new system, it said. (Source: AF, Straits Times, Nov 2, 2010).