When a powerful Chinese force surrounded Taiwan in a record-large display of force prompted by a fiery speech from Taiwan’s new president Lai Ching-te on October 14, Taiwanese troops responded in kind.
Taiwanese jets launched to meet Chinese jets. Taiwanese warships put to sea and tailed Chinese warships. And Taiwanese army anti-ship batteries, equipped with mobile launchers for Hsiung Feng (“Brave Wind”) anti-ship missiles, rolled out from their bases and took up firing positions along the Taiwanese coast.
The missiles might matter most if a Chinese military drill ever turns into an actual invasion of Taiwan. The Chinese air force and navy outgun the Taiwanese air force and navy by an order of magnitude. No one expects Taiwan’s roughly 400 fighter jets and 70 warships to last long against China’s thousands of fighter jets and hundreds of warships.
But those Taiwanese missile batteries, tucked into hard-to-spot hillside redoubts, could ride out the devastating Chinese bombardment that would surely precede any invasion attempt – and then target the invaders when they’re most vulnerable: while crossing the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait, aiming for the handful of beaches that are suitable for a large landing force.
Sink the invasion fleet, save the island. That’s the thinking behind Taiwan’s emerging “porcupine” defence strategy. Instead of meeting bigger and better-armed Chinese forces on the high seas and in mid-air, certain Taiwanese forces would lie in wait. A growing arsenal of anti-ship missiles, soon to be organised into a separate coastal defence force, could be the spines of the porcupine.
When a powerful Chinese force surrounded Taiwan in a record-large display of force prompted by a fiery speech from Taiwan’s new president Lai Ching-te on October 14, Taiwanese troops responded in kind.
Taiwanese jets launched to meet Chinese jets. Taiwanese warships put to sea and tailed Chinese warships. And Taiwanese army anti-ship batteries, equipped with mobile launchers for Hsiung Feng (“Brave Wind”) anti-ship missiles, rolled out from their bases and took up firing positions along the Taiwanese coast.
The missiles might matter most if a Chinese military drill ever turns into an actual invasion of Taiwan. The Chinese air force and navy outgun the Taiwanese air force and navy by an order of magnitude. No one expects Taiwan’s roughly 400 fighter jets and 70 warships to last long against China’s thousands of fighter jets and hundreds of warships.
But those Taiwanese missile batteries, tucked into hard-to-spot hillside redoubts, could ride out the devastating Chinese bombardment that would surely precede any invasion attempt – and then target the invaders when they’re most vulnerable: while crossing the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait, aiming for the handful of beaches that are suitable for a large landing force.
Sink the invasion fleet, save the island. That’s the thinking behind Taiwan’s emerging “porcupine” defence strategy. Instead of meeting bigger and better-armed Chinese forces on the high seas and in mid-air, certain Taiwanese forces would lie in wait. A growing arsenal of anti-ship missiles, soon to be organised into a separate coastal defence force, could be the spines of the porcupine.