March 3, 2025: Taiwan is upgrading their Ching Tien 2,000 kilometer range supersonic missile to upgrade it into a hypersonic missile also called Ching Tien. Taiwan began producing this hypersonic missile in 2024. Some were delivered to the Taiwanese Air Force and Missile Command for examination and testing.

A year ago the U.S. Air Force tested its new AGM-183A ARRW Air launched Rapid Response Weapon hypersonic missile. The test took place from the Pacific base on the island of Guam. The missile was launched from a B-52 bomber that took off from an air base on Guam. ARRW is a three ton air-launched ballistic missile that is 6.7 meters long with a range of 1,600 kilometers. The Mach 5+ high speed of the ARRW enables it to hit its ground target within twelve minutes of launch. The ARRW guidance system enables the missile to hit its designated target within a meter of the aim point. Each missile costs about $17 million.

Work in developing the ARRW began in 2018 and progress was slow. The project has been threatened with cancellation several times but successful tests of various aspects of the missile kept the program alive. Several times the air force considered abandoning the ARRW and using what had been learned as the basis for developing HACM Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile using different propulsion technology. Many Air Force weapons developers wanted to stick with the ARRW, which was now consistently passing tests and is ready for mass production. The HACM requires a lot of development and testing before it can be ready for production by the end of the decade.

Taiwan has gone ahead with production of their Ching Tien hypersonic missile as well as several different launch platforms. First there is the underground bunker with a function similar to an ICBM silo. While the bunkers can be identified and targeted by the Chinese, the mobile launchers cannot. Taiwan is placing two missiles on each 12x12 wheel truck and constantly moves the trucks around. When the truck stops, it can launch its first missile within minutes.

Taiwan plans to produce up to 500 such missiles. This would enable Taiwan to hit targets through portions of China containing most of the industry and key military facilities. China is aware of what hypersonic missiles can do and how difficult it is to intercept them. In theory, you cannot intercept a hypersonic missile, but the Ukrainians found a way to do it when Russia began using these missiles against Ukrainian targets.