The armed forces yesterday held large-scale air, land and sea exercises throughout the nation, with eight fighter jets from Hualien Air Base conducting simulated long-range and duration intercept missions.
Units from all branches of the military took part in the Joint Air Exercise from 5am to 8am in response to a simulated Chinese invasion.
The drill put into practice air and anti-air components of the war plan, which the armed forces had drawn according to experience derived from past Han Kuang military exercises, an official said on condition of anonymity, adding that the exercise coincided with and tied into the Joint Electronic 107-2 Exercise.
Photo: Yu Tai-lang, Taipei Times
The aerial component of the drills was unusual in the number of aircraft and the amount of equipment involved, as six Lockheed Martin F-16s and two Dassault Mirage 2000s flew with a full load of missiles, ALQ-184 electronic attack pods and double drop tanks, the official said.
Ground crew began preparations at 4am and the fighter jets took off at 5:40am.
Additionally, four Indigenous Defense Fighters simulated an emergency landing from Taichung’s Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base to Hualien Air Base, sources said.
The navy deployed Kidd-class destroyers, and Cheng Kung and Kang Ding-class frigates in anti-air maneuvers at multiple zones, while the army fielded anti-air units to assist in the defense of air bases.
The Joint Air Exercise is a combination of routine drills that are conducted in a way that is simultaneous and coordinated according to a specific military scenario whose details are classified, the official said.
While simulated fighter interception is commonplace, the air drills that took place yesterday were much larger than previous joint air exercises, the official said.
In response to the rising military threat from China, Southeast Asian nations and the US have been bolstering their defenses with joint military exercises and Taiwan should not be an exception, the official said.
The armed forces are to increase the frequency and realism of the nation’s military drills through the institution of an operational preparedness month and other measures, the official said.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
RSS