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Building Taiwan’s Shield: Strong Bow Missiles Added to 2026 Budget and This Year’s Supplemental Plan

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Taiwan’s Executive Yuan approved a supplemental budget that includes NT$13 billion for seven defense projects, including the Strong Bow medium-range anti-tactical ballistic missile system.
  • The proposal also allocates NT$55.9 billion for initial purchases of coastal surveillance and attack drones and small suicide unmanned boats.
  • The government says the measures address projects omitted from a previously reduced special defense budget, but the Legislative Yuan must review the proposal within a limited timeframe.

Taiwan is moving the Strong Bow missile system into both its regular defense planning and this year’s supplemental budget, presenting it as a key part of the island’s air-defense shield. The Executive Yuan approved the supplemental package after the Defense Ministry had already listed Strong Bow in its proposed 2027 public budget.

The move follows a dispute over how to fund Taiwan’s defense and unmanned-vehicle programs. The Legislative Yuan passed a law requiring NT$240 billion a year for six years, or NT$2.4 trillion in total, for defense self-reliance and the unmanned-vehicle industry. But the funding would cover not only military equipment, but also mass production, maintenance, training, testing sites and support for companies, which could dilute the amount available for military construction.

The Defense Ministry’s portion of the supplemental budget totals about NT$145.7 billion. It includes NT$4.1 billion in personnel costs linked to recruitment, operating expenses for ammunition replenishment and tactical-network integration, NT$13 billion for seven projects including Strong Bow, and NT$55.9 billion for more than 600 coastal surveillance drones, more than 40,000 coastal attack drones and more than 100 small unmanned boats. Two classified projects account for another NT$64.5 billion.

The government is also trying to recover projects excluded from an earlier special defense budget. Those projects include an AI-assisted intelligence and command module, battlefield networking equipment, two types of surveillance drones, portable counter-drone systems, production lines, general ammunition, mobile obstacles and joint Taiwan-US development. Defense officials have warned that delays could affect air defense, battlefield awareness, digital command systems and ammunition reserves.

The Strong Bow system is scheduled to receive NT$36.04 billion through 2032 under the regular budget. Missile and weapons-system deliveries are expected to begin in 2028. The system is intended to intercept tactical ballistic missiles with ranges of up to 1,000 kilometers within the atmosphere. The supplemental budget still needs Legislative Yuan approval before the end of the fiscal year, leaving limited time for review before local elections.

All will be included

· Hsieh Chi-hsienTaiwan’s Defense Ministry comptroller said the 10 remaining projects omitted from the special defense budget would be included in the year’s supplemental budget.
About this summary

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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