Taiwan's 2027 defense budget documents reached the Legislative Yuan on Aug. 31, moving the Air Force's Strong Bow missile system from a classified to a public budget. The Air Force set aside NT$36.04 billion from 2026 to 2032 for Strong Bow, a mid-tier anti-tactical ballistic missile system, with deliveries of missiles and weapon systems starting in 2028, CNA reported. Quantities were withheld as classified.
What is Strong Bow meant to do? Citing China's growing ballistic missile threat, the Air Force said the system would intercept tactical ballistic missiles with ranges of up to 1,000 km inside the atmosphere, linking with lower-tier defenses into a layered interception net. Military sources said it is a mobile, land-based system developed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology that would work alongside Patriot and Tien Kung III missiles.
What is the Army buying? The Army budgeted NT$57.07 billion from 2027 to 2033 for 178 wheeled vehicles mounting 105mm guns, whose D3 prototype has passed Army evaluation, CNA reported. It also plans NT$10.7 billion for 4,647 light off-road tactical vehicles. Because CM21 tracked armored personnel carriers have been in use for more than 40 years, the Army said, it budgeted NT$79.54 billion from 2027 to 2034 for 175 wheeled combat vehicles with 30mm cannons, 101 wheeled combat vehicles with 40mm grenade machine guns and 134 command vehicles with 40mm grenade machine guns. A NT$10.73 billion program would buy 41,000 monocular and 10,778 binocular night-vision goggles, which the Army said units lacked for wartime missions.
What is in the Navy's request? The Navy budgeted NT$18.28 billion for a follow-on next-generation fuel and ammunition replenishment ship, as the Wu Yi, commissioned in 1990, ages, CNA reported. Another NT$21.16 billion would fund two follow-on rescue ships, since its current rescue vessels are all more than 80 years old, the Navy said, along with NT$13.85 billion for a submarine rescue ship tied to the domestic submarine program.
