Taiwan has quietly built up its missile stockpile at full speed, a sign it is racing to arm itself against a possible China attack.

• Taiwan made 2,577 missiles over the past five years, hitting near-maximum production to fill a big military buildup order.
• The weapons include anti-ship missiles, air-defense missiles, and attack drones — the core of Taiwan's plan to defend its coast and skies.
• A key breakthrough was building a large missile-fuel mixer entirely at home, since other countries block Taiwan from buying such gear.
• New X-ray gear also sped up quality checks, and factory lines were reworked to handle the flood of orders.

Outlook: Taiwan's arms maker can now churn out hundreds of missiles a year, so expect its homegrown weapons stockpile to keep growing as China tensions stay high.