The Sky Sword I, Tien Chien I, or TC-1 (Chinese: 天劍一; pinyin: Tiān Jiàn Yī; Wade–Giles: Tʻien1 Chien4 I1) is a short range infrared guided air-to-air missile. The missile has fire and forget slave-by-radar capabilities. It consists of an imaging infrared seeker, a high explosive warhead, a solid propellant motor and a guidance control unit. The seeker uses dual spectral IR and has a detection range of 18.5 km. The Sky Sword 1 is also used as a surface-to-air missile by the Antelope air defence system.
== Development == The Sky Sword 1 was developed in the mid-1980s and revealed in May 1986, as Taiwan's first indigenous air-to-air missile. The production of the missile started in 1991 and the air-to-air version entered ROCAF service in 1993. It bears a striking similarity to the American AIM-9 (also in Taiwanese service) and fulfills a similar role on the Indigenous Defense Fighter to the AIM-9 on the F-16. In 2017 NCSIST exhibited a variant of the TC-1 with a larger diameter motor.
== Service history == TC-1 missiles were employed during a 2019 training exercise off Taiwan’s east coast.
Variants
TC-1L
The TC-1L is a ground-launched variant for use with the Antelope air defence system.
=== Sea TC-1 === Developed for use with the Sea Oryx system, the Sea TC-1 variant has an improved seeker, data-link, and rocket motor.
== See also == Republic of China Air Force Sky Bow Sky Sword II
=== Similar weapons === AIM-9 Sidewinder – (United States) RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile – (United States) AAM-3 – (Japan) AAM-5 – (Japan) R.550 Magic – (France) MICA – (France) MAA-1 Piranha – (Brazil) A-Darter – (South Africa) Fatter – (Iran) R-73 – (Soviet Union) PL-9 – (China) Python – (Israel)
References
== External links == TC-2 info on Global Security TC-2N test video:[1]