The Yun Feng ( zh, t=雲峰, l=Cloud Peak) is a supersonic land-attack

cruise missile A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Design and development

The missile was developed by the

Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST; ) is a Taiwanese state owned corporation, formerly part of the Republic of China Ministry of National Defense's Armaments Bureau, which is active in the development, manufacturi ...

and has a range of about 1200-2000 kilometers. It has a

ramjet A ramjet, or athodyd (aero thermodynamic duct), is a form of airbreathing jet engine that uses the forward motion of the engine to produce thrust. Since it produces no thrust when stationary (no ram air) ramjet-powered vehicles require an ass ...

engine with a

solid rocket booster A solid rocket booster (SRB) is a large solid propellant motor used to provide thrust in spacecraft launches from initial launch through the first ascent. Many launch vehicles, including the Atlas V, SLS and space shuttle, have used SRBs to give ...

capable of a speed of 1,030 m/s. It can carry a semi-armor piercing high explosive and fragmentation warhead. The missile is one of the few assets within Taiwan's arsenal which can reach targets in north and central

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Development may have been started as far back as the

Lee Teng-hui Lee Teng-hui (; 15 January 192330 July 2020) was a Taiwanese statesman and economist who served as President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) under the 1947 Constitution and chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) from 1988 to 2000. He was the fir ...

administration but official reports of its existence did not surface until 2012. Test flights of the Yun Feng were concealed within the

HF-3 The Hsiung Feng III (HF-3; , "Brave Wind III") is a medium range supersonic missile with capabilities to destroy both land based targets and naval targets developed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) in Taiwan ...

supersonic anti-ship missile test flight program. In 2016,

Ministry of National Defense {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

(MND) denied reports that the missile program was terminated. This speculation was based on a belief that the project would be cancelled as a goodwill gesture towards China. The missile was publicly acknowledged for the first time by defense minister

Chiu Kuo-cheng Chiu Kuo-cheng (; born 12 April 1953) is a Taiwanese politician and retired general of the Republic of China Army. He is the current Minister of National Defense. He was the Director-General of the National Security Bureau from 24 July 2019 to 22 ...

during a

Legislative Yuan The Legislative Yuan is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for 4-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a parallel v ...

joint committee hearing in October 2021.

Variants

In 2018, it was announced that NTD 12.4 billion (~ USD 390 million) had been allocated by the Ministry of Defense under the "Qilin Project” to both extend the range of the missile as well as to adapt it for satellite launch.

Enhanced Yun Feng

In August 2019, mass production of the enhanced Yun Feng cruise missile commenced with an initial order for 20 missiles and 10 mobile launch vehicles. The enhanced variant has been described as a high altitude ramjet powered cruise missile.

Satellite launch vehicle

The missile is being upgraded to function as a satellite launch vehicle by

National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST; ) is a Taiwanese state owned corporation, formerly part of the Republic of China Ministry of National Defense's Armaments Bureau, which is active in the development, manufactur ...

. This vehicle will be capable of delivering satellites between 50 and 200 kilograms at a

low earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

of around 500 kilometers. It is suspected that the upgrade program will extend the range of the missile to 2000 km, which puts Beijing within its striking range.

References

{{National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) aircraft Ramjet-powered aircraft Cruise missiles of the Republic of China Space program of Taiwan Military equipment introduced in the 2010s

Design and development

Variants

Enhanced Yun Feng

Satellite launch vehicle

See also

References