Taiwan’s military is conducting two days of live-fire exercises employing various weapons systems. With additional U.S. weapons on the way, the country faces the challenge of integrating them effectively into its defensive deployment.
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00:00Taiwanese army helicopters firing live ammunition at this mountainside in southern Pingtung
00:06County.
00:09The military here is conducting two days of exercises, focusing on defense through combined
00:14arms warfare.
00:16That means using a combination of different weapons and vehicles from different services
00:20to maximize firepower on a single point.
00:24Keeping that ability of the different branches and troops in different parts of the battle
00:29space and different equipment to effectively coordinate is really difficult.
00:34It's essential for effective modern combat.
00:37So the more practice you can have doing it, the better.
00:41Taiwan is working to increase the frequency and complexity of its various military drills,
00:46pushing for more realistic combat training in the face of threats from neighboring China.
00:52Taiwan is reforming its training and has purchased over 20 billion U.S. dollars worth of weapons
00:57from the U.S., its largest security partner.
01:00It's set to receive the first batch of 38 U.S.-made Abrams tanks by the end of December.
01:06But some say the military will have a tough time using them in some of Taiwan's dense
01:10urban environments.
01:11Those tanks are heavy and slow in terms of maneuver.
01:17Moreover, they will face a huge challenge due to Taiwan's terrain.
01:23The Taiwanese military will need to figure out how to use them smartly in order to maximize
01:32their functions and lower their shortcomings.
01:37Taiwan is expected to receive an influx of U.S. systems after lengthy delays, and there
01:41are concerns about how effectively the military can integrate these weapons into its training.
01:46Some analysts in the U.S. say Taiwan should take advantage of the time between weapons
01:50deliveries to learn how to master these systems.
01:54The fact that they're also coming in in tranches means that you can have that time in between
01:57the tranches to learn how to get those theories of operations and sort of tactical level understanding
02:04of the equipment.
02:05It's really in the hands of MND and the services in Taiwan to, you know, figure out the best
02:10way to use these.
02:12And there will be growing pain.
02:14As Taiwan continues to adapt its military, new hardware should provide a much-needed
02:19boost to the country's defense.
02:21But without proper training and exercises, even the best weapons may prove ineffective.
02:26Andy Hsieh and Jaime O'Connor for Taiwan Plus.