Taipei City (Agencies): Taiwan has initiated the deployment of its Sky Bow III surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems, known locally as Tien Kung III, at existing MIM-23 Hawk and Sky Bow II air-defense system sites.
The move follows a budgetary report submitted by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) to the Legislative Yuan in October 2023, which said that it will transform 12 existing MIM-23 Hawk and Sky Bow II sites into facilities that can deploy the newer and more capable Sky Bow III systems by the end of 2026.
The project is a response to growing Chinese ballistic missile capability. The MIM-23 Hawk and Sky Bow II have been in RoCA service since the 1960s and 1996 respectively.
The reconstruction work is expected to include establishing new facilities such as garages, training grounds, component warehouses, munition depots, maintenance and control centers, and radar and firing unit installations to enable the deployment of the Sky Bow III systems 1.