Taiwan is arming more of its fleet with its new ‘carrier killer‘ anti-ship missiles as the mainland conducts further sea trials of its first aircraft carrier, local media in Taipei said Monday.

Five of the Taiwanese navy’s eight Perry-class frigates have been armed with the supersonic Hsiung Ffeng (Brave Wind) III weapons, the Taipei-based China Times said.

Some of its smaller patrol boats have also been equipped with the missiles, which are designed to cruise at a speed of Mach 2, or twice the speed of sound, with a range of up to 130 kilometres, the newspaper said.

The defence ministry declined to comment on the report.

The China Times said the navy plans to deploy 120 such missiles – dubbed ‘aircraft carrier killers’ by their developer – in a project costing an estimated Tw$12 billion (US$400 million).

The missiles were first unveiled by Taiwan in August…