A live-fire demonstration is to be held in late May in Ilan as part of the Hankuang No. 19 exercise joint-operations drill, defense sources have announced.
The demonstration is to involve the best weapons in service, ranging from artillery to various missiles. Two types of unmanned aerial vehicles -- the Chung Hsiang No. 2 and the Kestrel II -- will participate in the demonstration for the first time.
The demonstration will be the largest of its kind in a decade and will take place shortly after May 20, the third anniversary of President Chen Shui-bian's (
Chen will be invited to watch the demonstration, the first to be held in Ilan since he took office.
Ilan has special meaning to the DPP, since it is home to quite a few government leaders, including Premier Yu Shyi-kun.
The selection of Ilan for the location of the live-fire part of the exercise is unprecedented, although the annual Hankuang-series drills were held in Ilan once before -- 1986.
Since they began in 1984, the annual exercises have been the most important drills of the year. They have been held in various venues around the country -- including Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien and Penghu.
Not every Hankuang exercise has live-fire demonstrations. They are usually held only every two or three years. The last one was held two years ago in Pingtung and featured armed helicopters such as the AH-1W and OH-58D shooting against surface targets.
Last year's Hankuang No. 18 focused on the computer-assisted simulation of a war in the Taiwan Strait in 2005. That drill was memorable because of the results of its computer-simulation -- Chinese troops landed on Taiwan after disabling the air force and navy with intensive missile attacks.
In the simulation, the four Kidd-class destroyers that the navy is to buy from the US were seriously damaged or sunk under saturation attacks from China's fighter planes.
The computer-assisted war simulation portion of this year's exercise is being held at the military's strategic command center in Taipei's Tachih district.
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