🏹 Taiwan’s “Strong Bow” and Theater Ballistic Missiles in IADS: The Game

Love to see it -- The War Zone published an article titled, "Taiwan Just Unveiled Its Own High Altitude Anti-Ballistic Missile System". From the article:

"Taiwan has officially rolled out a new anti-ballistic missile system called Chiang Kung, or Strong Bow, which it says is now in production. The system features a two-stage interceptor and includes the first active electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar domestically produced on the island. Taiwanese armed forces would face huge barrages of ballistic missiles as part of any future invasion from the mainland."

🎯 Long-Range Fires in IADS: The Game

When cracking open a new box of the Advanced Capabilities, one of the first strategies that players gravitate towards is the Intelligence unit card into some long-range fires. And why not! It’s a good strategy! (Strong recommend Christian Brose’s The Kill Chain if you haven’t read it already!)

And what could be longer range fires than the Theater Ballistic Missile (TBM) Unit Card? TBM takes both actions to impact, but it can reach anywhere in the battle space. What reach! If only there was some way to defend against it...

🛡️ TBM Defense Special Capability

Enter the TBM Defense Special Capability. The Long Range SAM, Advanced SAM, Distributed Missile Launcher, Distributed SAM RADAR, and Destroyer all come rocking this ability. It allows a Self-Defense Shot against any TBM fired at a friendly target within the TBM Defense Unit Card’s Range. The defending player makes a TBM Defense roll and it’s subtracted from the Attack roll of the TBM.

🌏 Real-World Context

Taiwan is an island fortress with a 100NM moat. The PRC will need to do some real damage to Taiwan before the PLA can launch a successful invasion -- TBMs will be a big part of that strategy. If Taiwan can mitigate enough damage in the PLARF’s initial salvos, the PLA might be forced to re-think its approach.

From the article, Chiang Kung is road-mobile, which should make it more difficult for the PRC to knock them out. The IADS: The Game Losing Target Custody House Rule (Annex A, 1.3) demonstrates opportunities provided just by being able to drive around. For the Chiang Kung, the article points out that setup and tear-down times are unclear.

✅ Final Thoughts

Either way, more capable systems and greater numbers will be a step in the right direction for deterrence. Here’s to Taiwan and the Taiwanese!

防衛台灣!

Defend Taiwan!

– Ric

The capabilities described in this board game are generic and notional; they do not accurately reflect any real world capabilities. The views expressed on this page and in the game are those of the author and do not represent the official policy or positions of the United States Air Force, the Department of the Air Force, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government