Taiwan Begins Live-Force Military Drills Deploying US Tanks in Counter to China's Live-Fire Exercises

Amid escalating military tensions across the Taiwan Strait following large-scale live-fire exercises by China, the Taiwanese military has also launched live-force military drills deploying its state-of-the-art US-made M1A2T Abrams tanks.

According to Taiwanese media outlets such as the Liberty Times and the United Daily News on the 14th, the Taiwanese Army announced that it is conducting the "Lusheng No. 2" tactical confrontation drills to prepare for potential cross-strait contingencies.

The exercises are taking place from today through the 23rd over a 10-day period in key strategic areas of Hsinchu and Miaoli, regions where Taiwan is creating a wide-area Silicon Valley to strengthen its semiconductor capabilities.

The Army's 269th Combined Arms Brigade from Yangmei, Taoyuan in the northern region and the 564th Combined Arms Brigade from Alian, Kaohsiung in the southern region will serve as the defending force (Blue Force) and the simulated enemy force (Red Force / opposing force), respectively.

Combined arms brigades are an integrated military operation system of the Taiwanese Army that began organizing in September 2019 based on the US military's joint force concept.

The Taiwanese military plans to conduct tactical verifications using M1A2T tanks, reconnaissance and attack via unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), and new communication equipment for the 3rd-generation Field Information Communications System (FICS), into which NT$7.81787 billion (approx. 324.9 billion won) is being invested through 2027.

The Taiwanese military will execute six key scenarios, including brigade- and battalion-level operational command, fire support coordination, phased counter-operations, ground-air multi-dimensional operations, drone operations, and special forces operations.

In particular, the military plans to test the Blue Force's defense capabilities against the mobility-based offensive of the Red Force through live-fire drills conducted continuously for 24 hours without rest.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.