Taiwan Reveals Budget for Strong Bow Missile, With Deliveries Set to Begin in 2028

Taiwan has disclosed a NT$36.03714 billion budget for the domestically developed Strong Bow missile system, ending uncertainty over whether the project would rely on special or supplementary funding. The Air Force plans to continue building the system through 2032, with deliveries of missiles and weapons systems beginning in 2028.

The Defense Ministry’s budget documents describe Strong Bow as a medium-tier anti-tactical ballistic missile system. Its mission will be to intercept tactical ballistic missiles within a range of 1,000 kilometers during the midcourse or exo-atmospheric phase. The system will be linked with Taiwan’s existing lower-tier anti-missile defenses to create a layered interception network.

The documents do not disclose the number of missiles or systems to be purchased because those details are classified. They state that deliveries will take place from 2028 through 2031. Strong Bow will use a mobile configuration, which the report says can improve battlefield survivability and allow the system to operate under the military’s wider air-defense command structure.

The missile uses a two-stage design, comprising an interceptor vehicle and a booster. Composite materials form its outer shell, while thrust-vector control adjusts its trajectory during the terminal flight phase to improve interception at medium and high altitudes. Its seeker uses an active high-frequency millimeter-wave system to detect and lock onto targets.

The associated fire-control radar is Taiwan’s first domestically produced active electronically scanned array radar. It can search, track, classify and identify targets, then guide the missile toward the interception point. Military personnel cited in the report said the radar’s detection range exceeds that of the Patriot and Tien Kung III systems, making Strong Bow a planned middle layer in Taiwan’s ballistic-missile defenses.