The record What this system is, where it comes from, who operates it and which of Vigil’s modules it is relevant to — with the evidence each of those rests on.
Record
Conflict relevance
This is the catalogue's single record for this system. It is relevant to the module below; each module's Force Atlas shows how it is used there.
Operators
United States and the Taiwan Strait: Supplied through Taiwan Relations Act arms sales
Battlefield role
Ground-launched anti-ship strike, complementing indigenous Hsiung Feng systems in a sea-denial concept.
Strengths
A mature and widely operated system, purchased in quantity, and precisely the asymmetric capability class US advisers have urged Taiwan to prioritise.
Limitations
Delivery timelines have been the persistent issue. The order forms part of a substantial and publicly discussed backlog of US arms sales to Taiwan, and 2026's slowdown in transfers has made the gap between contracted and delivered capability a central analytical question. Vigil records the existence of the backlog and does not attempt to quantify delivery status, which is not reliably public.
Campaign relevance
Derived: a participant organisation in these campaigns carries a typed equipment association with this system. That is not the same as documented use of the system in the campaign itself.
- Sustained pressure below the threshold Intensifying since 2020
via ROC Navy (Documented, moderate confidence)
- Coercive maritime interdiction — quarantine to blockade Assessed contingency
via ROC Navy (Documented, moderate confidence)
Visual identification
Truck-mounted launcher vehicles carrying angled box canisters — the coastal-defence configuration rather than the ship or air-launched one. The missile itself has a distinctive fixed cruciform wing set at mid-body and a solid booster that separates after launch; it is most often photographed in its canister rather than in flight.
Documented conflict use
Contracted by Taiwan in a large coastal-defence purchase notified to the US Congress in 2020, with deliveries running across the middle of the decade. The order is one of the most-cited items in the publicly tracked backlog of US arms sales to Taiwan, and the 2026 slowdown in transfers made the gap between contracted and delivered capability a central question rather than an administrative one. Vigil records the contract and the existence of the backlog and does not attempt to publish delivery status, which is not reliably public.
Branch & service operators
- ROC Navy Documented
Assessed as of — 2026-09 Last reviewed — 2026-09-09