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Energy concerns won’t stop drills

“The bottom line is we will not avoid using [gas] just because we want to save energy.”

— Lee Yueh-chang, MND Warfare Planning Department deputy head

The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) drive to save energy in line with government policy will not affect the annual Han Kuang military exercises scheduled for September, officials said yesterday.

“We will save as much energy as we can, but the exercises have already been planned and scheduled. There will not be any changes,” Lee Yueh-chang (李嶽章), deputy head of the ministry’s Warfare Planning Department, told a press conference at the ministry yesterday morning.

Lee said that the military would follow the government’s energy policy by decreasing the use of transportation and limiting the use of gas guzzlers such as the air force’s Mirage 2000-5s jet fighters and the navy’s Kidd-class destroyers.

MND Logistics Management Director Cheng Chen-huan (程振寰) said the army’s CH-47SD helicopters use about NT$50,000 (US$1,645) in gas during a one-hour flight, while Kidd-class destroyers use around NT$230,000 in gas for one hour of full-speed sailing.

The Mirages use at least NT$1.15 million for a 60-minute flight, Cheng said.

The ministry’s annual budget for gas last year was NT$9.3 billion, Cheng said.

Lee said the ministry would try to combine missions or exercises to save fuel.

In addition to shortening or combining missions that require use of vehicles, ships or planes, Lee said the ministry would make use of simulators as much as possible.

“But the bottom line is, when a specific mode of transport is needed in a crucial situation, we will not avoid using it just because we want to save energy,” Lee said.
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