The Wan Chien is an air to ground cruise missile developed and produced by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) of Taiwan.

Design and development

It partly resembles the AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon and the Storm Shadow. Serial production was expected to start in 2015. Full operational capability was declared in 2018. It is functional in both a ground strike role and a naval strike role. The codename for the development and initial production of the Wan Chien was "Project God’s Axe" (神斧). After the completion of initial production NCSIST began working on a long range variant with a 400km range.

Service history

The Wan Chien entered service in 2011. The primary launch platform is the AIDC F-CK-1 C/D. In 2022 annual production was approximately 50 missiles a year. Production was expected to end in 2024 but in 2023 funds were allocated to extend production of the improved version through 2028.

General characteristics