More US attack submarines such as USS Asheville are planned to call in Australia under the AUKUS agreement. (US Navy)

US, UK, and Australian leaders noted their AUKUS agreement Pillar 1 milestones and plans on 1 December, even as the US struggles to reach its own desired submarine production rate.

“There has been an enormous amount of progress, particularly in respect of Australia acquiring a nuclear-powered submarine capability, with the help of the United States and United Kingdom under Pillar 1 of AUKUS,” Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said on 1 December during a press conference to provide AUKUS updates.

“Since the AUKUS announcement in March, Australia has stood up the Australian Submarine Agency,” he noted.

“We have seen the commitment of infrastructure work, we have seen Australians undertake, both submariners and defence industry workers, here in United States, the nuclear power school, but also in the United Kingdom,” he added.

“We've seen the frequency, as we promised back in March, of visits of the United States nuclear-powered submarine happen to Australia,” he said. “In the last 12 months, we've seen the [attack submarine] USS Mississippi (SSN 782), the USS Asheville

A mock-up of the Sky Sword II missile – locally known as the TC-2 land-based missile – is pictured at TADTE 2023. The missile structure consists of the active radar seeker, followed by the electronics section, proximity fuze, warhead, and rocket motor, ending in the exhaust. (Janes/Kapil Kajal)

Taiwan's state-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) has started the mass production of its land-based short-to-medium-range air-defence capability known as the Sky Sword II (locally termed Tien Chien II), a Republic of China Army (RoCA) officer told Janes on 27 November.

The mass production has begun in order to meet the RoCA requirement for six Sky Sword II systems, the officer said.

A Sky Sword II system comprises one CS/MYS-951 Battle Management Center (BMC), one CS/MPQ-951 radar unit (RU), and four to five missile firing units (MFUs), the officer added.

The MFU can carry up to four Sky Sword II missiles, and the RoCA procurement of six Sky Sword II systems comprises six BMCs, six RUs, 29 MFUs, and 246 missiles, according to the officer.

The Kestrel rockets are free-flight and fin-stabilised. In the above picture, a Kestrel rocket launcher is shown with the HEAT (on the left) and HESH (on the right) munitions. (Janes/Patrick Allen)

Taiwan's Republic of China Army (RoCA) has ordered an additional 5,962 Kestrel individual shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon systems (ATWSs) from state-owned National Chung‐Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST), a RoCA officer told Janes on 7 November.

The new order of 5,962 brings the total number of Kestrels to be procured to 10,962, including 5,000 Kestrels ordered in late 2022, the officer said.

The systems will be delivered by November 2025, the officer added.

According to the officer, each Kestrel system costs around USD3,000 and the systems are intended to replace ageing 66 mm M72 (Type 1) light anti‐tank weapon systems in-service with the RoCA.

The system is “similar to [the] FGM-148 Javelin ATWS but it doesn't have a fire control subsystem, which makes it much lighter”, the officer said.

The RoCA has ordered Kestrel to train the troops on such systems, the officer added. “Kestrel lacks a target tracking mechanism, therefore, troops need to undergo extensive training to manually track targets.”