Taiwan hides Hellfire missile system in civilian truck for stealth defense.

On August 14, 2025, Taiwan’s official Military News Agency revealed in a YouTube video titled 《國防線上-國防自主軍備研製》打造更堅韌有力的防衛力量 that the armed forces had developed an AGM-114 Hellfire missile launch system concealed inside what appears to be a civilian truck. Designed by the 209th Arsenal of the Ministry of National Defense’s Armaments Bureau, the system is intended to increase operational flexibility in the event of a Chinese invasion, particularly for coastal defense. Until now, Taiwan had employed Hellfire missiles exclusively from its AH-1W Super Cobra and AH-64E Apache attack helicopters, whose survivability is increasingly in question on battlefields saturated with air defense systems.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link

The Hellfire missile itself is a precision strike weapon guided by semi-active laser and equipped with a multi-purpose warhead capable of neutralizing armored vehicles, fortified positions, light craft, or moving targets. (Picture source: National Defense Online)

The system consists of a twin-rail launcher installed inside the truck’s cargo body, with roll-up doors allowing missiles to fire from the right side while the exhaust is vented in the opposite direction. A telescopic mast emerges through a sliding roof hatch, carrying a small radar and an electro-optical/infrared sensor turret likely equipped with a laser designator. While official footage shows laser-guided missiles, the tests featured the radar-guided AGM-114L Longbow variant, demonstrating the system’s ability to employ multiple Hellfire types already in service.

The Hellfire missile itself is a precision strike weapon guided by semi-active laser and equipped with a multi-purpose warhead capable of neutralizing armored vehicles, fortified positions, light craft, or moving targets. Its range extends up to 8 km depending on trajectory, with the option of lock-on before or after launch, increasing platform survivability. Its modular electronics and optimized trajectory design allow it to remain effective in challenging environments such as dust, smoke, or rain. This explains its deployment across a wide variety of platforms including helicopters, drones, vehicles, naval craft, and ground launchers. In Taiwan’s case, adapting an air-launched weapon for concealed ground use reflects the need to adjust to combat conditions on a small, vulnerable territory.

In comments released by the Military News Agency, Colonel Su of the 209th Arsenal explained that the system was intended for asymmetric warfare. He noted the difficulties of acquiring and designating targets from the ground compared to helicopters, which benefit from elevated sensors. He added that modifying the firing logic remains a technical challenge. Footage nonetheless showed the truck deployed on a beach, successfully engaging a floating container target—an illustration of its potential role against landing craft during an amphibious operation. This scenario underscores that, in a territory as constrained as Taiwan, warfare would likely take the form of urban and guerrilla-style engagements, where mobility, concealment, and surprise are more decisive than large conventional assets exposed to Chinese strikes.

Camouflaging weapons inside civilian vehicles is not new. Similar systems have been displayed in North Korea, Iran, Russia, and the United States. Ukraine, for its part, introduced a comparable concept in 2022 with the Brimstone missile, supplied by the United Kingdom, to counter Russian advances. The Ukrainian example demonstrates how a smaller force can preserve resilience and multiply ambush opportunities through improvised and mobile launchers, offering a model for Taiwan. Such approaches complicate enemy intelligence efforts, as any truck could serve as a potential launcher, and they enable shoot-and-scoot tactics. In a conflict on the island, where the adversary would aim to quickly strike infrastructure and command centers, the dispersion of light, camouflaged assets could provide a strategic advantage by turning urban areas into potential battlegrounds.

Ground-based Hellfire systems are also not entirely new. The Swedish RBS-17, derived from the Hellfire and known as the Hellfire Shore Defense System, has long been used in coastal defense roles, including by Ukrainian forces. In addition, the radar-guided AGM-114L has increasingly been considered as an anti-air option against low-flying drones, which could give Taiwan’s truck-mounted system a dual role. This development reflects a doctrinal shift: rather than preparing for a direct confrontation, Taiwan is equipping itself for a dispersed, urban, and guerrilla-style defense, in which every vehicle, building, and corner of the island could become a firing position capable of slowing a Chinese advance.