Barracuda-500: US-Taiwan Co-Produced Missile Built To Bite China

2025-09-22 03:11:21

(MENAFN- Asia Times) This month, multiple media outlets reported that Taiwan unveiled its first missile jointly developed with a US defense firm, underscoring deepening military cooperation with America as China ramps up pressure on the self-governing island.

The government-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) displayed a prototype of the land-mobile cruise missile, adapted from Anduril Industries' Barracuda-500 , at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition.

Capable of hitting sea and land targets, the missile is expected to cost about US$216,000 per unit, with mass production planned locally within 18 months, NCSIST president Li Shih-chiang said. Li stressed that Taiwan would build the entire supply chain on the island and sign agreements with US and Canadian companies during the three-day expo.

The announcement comes as Taiwan boosts defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2030, up from 3.3% next year. The spending will expand investments in drones, unmanned vessels and AI-enabled systems to counter China's growing military activities near its shores.

China, which views Taiwan as a renegade province that must be incorporated with the mainland, condemned the US collaboration, with Defense Minister Dong Jun vowing in typical rhetoric to thwart“external interference” and warning that attempts to use Taiwan to contain China are“doomed to fail.”

Rena Sasaki, in a June 2025 article for the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR), highlights Taiwan's struggle to independently produce equipment, citing US transfer restrictions, Chinese diplomatic pressure on potential partners and domestic structural limits as reasons.

She notes that restrictions on US technology transfers-such as the US's long-standing demand, mentioned by Tianran Xu in a 2021 Open Nuclear Network article , that Taiwan not develop ballistic missiles with ranges of over 300 kilometers-constrain Taiwan's access to advanced technology.

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