Taipei, May 18 -- Taiwan has completed the initial operation evaluation and limited field testing of its military's new Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles, as reported by Taipei Times on Sunday.

Citing a defence official, Taipei Times said that the Tien Kung IV missile is expected to be mass-produced from next year.

The missiles, which have been created by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology's Strong Bow program, is a new air defence weapon with a maximum altitude of 70km, a source told Taipei Times on condition of anonymity.

Notably, this marks a significant improvement over the previous Tien Kung III and the PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement systems, which have maximum altitudes of 45km and 60km respectively, the source...