Hsiung Feng II

The Hsiung Feng II, also called Brave Wind II and abbreviated HF-2, is a Taiwanese subsonic anti-ship cruise missile and the second missile in the Hsiung Feng series. Taiwan began developing it in 1983 after foreign governments declined to sell it longer-ranged anti-ship missiles such as the French Exocet, the American Harpoon or the Italian Otomat. The state-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology built it as a domestic improvement on the Hsiung Feng IA. The missile entered service around 1990 and was first shown publicly at a parade on 10 October 1998. It is 4.9 m long, 0.40 m in diameter and weighs about 695 kg at launch, with a 225 kg high-explosive fragmentation warhead, a solid booster, a turbojet and inertial guidance. Reported range is 100 to 120 km, with an extended-range version of about 250 km planned. It can be fired from ships, ground launchers and aircraft, and it has been deployed on Cheng Kung and Kang Ding class frigates and several classes of patrol and fast attack craft. Coastal, air-launched and torpedo-tube variants were also developed.