Military Wiki
Military Wiki

Sky Horse (天馬飛彈, Tian Ma) is a ballistic missile developed secretly by Taiwan in the late 1970s, with a considerable number being produced.[1]

Development[]

Sky Horse was developed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), and was associated with the country's then-secret nuclear weapons program. With a range of 600-950 kilometres,[2] it would have been capable of striking pre-emptively at ports, airfields or missile bases on the Mainland in an arc from Shanghai to Zhanjiang.[3]

Project cancellation[]

The Sky Horse project was cancelled partly due to pressure from the USA, and partly so that the CSIST could concentrate on the Sky Bow missile.[4] There were calls to revive the program in response to China's missile threats during 1995 and 1996.[5] A senior Taiwanese official admitted that Taiwan was 'taken aback by China's moves', and there were fears that these could lead to an arms race.[6]

General characteristics[]

  • Length: > 20 metres
  • Propellant: Solid fuel[7]
  • Range: Estimated 600 – 950km
  • Guidance: Inertial
  • Launch platform: Land-based
  • Payload: ~ 350kg[8]

References[]

  1. "Lien says Taiwan needs new long-range missile". Taipei Times. 2017-02-11. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/local/archives/1999/12/09/0000014179/1. Retrieved 2017-02-17. 
  2. Thad Cochran (1 June 1997). National Missile Defense and Prospects for U.S. - Russia Abm Treaty Accommodation: Hearing Before the Committee on Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate. DIANE Publishing. p. 141. ISBN 978-0-7881-8304-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=7bBALxxwpX8C&pg=PA141. 
  3. Gary Klintworth. "9. CHINESE DEFENSE MODERNIZATION AND THE SECURITY OF TAIWAN" (PDF). http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/conf_proceedings/CF137/CF137.chap9.pdf. Retrieved 2017-08-09. 
  4. Dinshaw Mistry (20 June 2013). Containing Missile Proliferation: Strategic Technology, Security Regimes, and International Cooperation in Arms Control. University of Washington Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-295-80252-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=d9gTCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA97. 
  5. Martin Edmonds; Michael Tsai (23 November 2004). Taiwan's Security and Air Power: Taiwan's Defense Against the Air Threat from Mainland China. Routledge. p. 101. ISBN 978-1-134-35053-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=69t_AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA101. 
  6. "China's Missile Launches Threaten to Trigger an Arms Race in Asia - Page 2 - latimes". Articles.latimes.com. 1996-03-21. http://articles.latimes.com/1996-03-21/news/mn-49672_1_theater-missile-defense/2. Retrieved 2017-02-17. 
  7. Technologies underlying weapons of mass destruction. DIANE Publishing. p. 208. ISBN 978-1-4289-2110-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=B4zSFd8DRWYC&pg=PA208. 
  8. "Design Characteristics of Taiwan’s Ballistic Missiles" (PDF). http://www.nti.org/media/pdfs/design_characteristics_taiwan_ballistic.pdf?_=1366413773. Retrieved 2017-08-09. 
All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Sky Horse and the edit history here.