William Lai wants a ‘T-Dome’ missile shield for Taiwan. Will it remain a pie in the sky?

Name: Taiwan kicks off its largest and longest-ever annual military exercise
Uploaded: 2025-10-19T04:01:09.000Z
Duration: 1 min 23 s
Description: Taiwan kicks off its largest and longest-ever annual military exercise

Proposal seen to underscore Lai’s resolve to show loyalty to US strategic agenda, but critics question whether idea is workable for Taiwan

Reading Time:5 minutes

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Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets in October 2023. Analysts have noted that Taiwan faces far more complex threats than Israel. Photo: Reuters

Lawrence Chungin Taipei

Published: 12:01pm, 19 Oct 2025Updated: 12:37pm, 19 Oct 2025

Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te wants the island to build a “T-Dome” missile shield – modelled after Israel’s Iron Dome. But his proposal has sparked debate over feasibility, given Taiwan’s disparate missile systems.

Lai unveiled his “T-Dome” plan during a Double Tenth Day address marking the 114th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China – Taiwan’s official title.

He described it as a “multilayered air defence network” to protect critical infrastructure and population centres from potential missile and drone attacks by Beijing.

Apparently borrowing from Israel’s Iron Dome and America’s proposed “Golden Dome” anti-missile systems, but offering few technical details, Lai pledged to speed up the T-Dome’s development with bigger defence spending and advanced technologies including artificial intelligence (AI).

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Taiwan kicks off its largest and longest-ever annual military exercise

The announcement caught Taiwan’s defence establishment by surprise. The Taiwanese defence ministry’s latest National Defence Report, released just a day before Lai’s speech on October 10, made no mention of a T-Dome. Next year’s government budget also includes no allocation for such a project.

Analysts said the proposal underscored Lai’s determination to demonstrate loyalty to Washington’s strategic agenda – but whether the idea was workable for Taiwan remained to be seen.

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William Lai wants a ‘T-Dome’ missile shield for Taiwan. Will it remain a pie in the sky?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Proposal seen to underscore Lai’s resolve to show loyalty to US strategic agenda, but critics question whether idea is workable for Taiwan

Proposal seen to underscore Lai’s resolve to show loyalty to US strategic agenda, but critics question whether idea is workable for Taiwan