A pre-Lunar New Year holiday military exercise was held in Taichung yesterday to simulate a landing by Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) amphibious units, with the nation’s first female attack-helicopter pilot participating in the drill.
The exercise simulated a PLA naval formation of destroyers, amphibious vessels and escort ships conducting a training drill in the Taiwan Strait, but abruptly crossing the median line between Taiwan and China, with ship-borne helicopters launching an attack to seize key military infrastructure in Taiwan.
The exercise came a week after China’s first and only aircraft carrier sailed through the Taiwan Strait.
Photo: CNA
The exercise saw coordinated operations by the army’s tank battalions and aviation units, while the 10th Army Command dispatched M109 howitzers, M60A3 main battle tanks, CM33 Clouded Leopard armored vehicles, AH-1W Super Cobras and UH-60M Black Hawks to repel the mock enemy units and retake occupied facilities.
The Clouded Leopards displayed their ability to mount steep slopes, with M60A3 tanks rumbling over a car used as an enemy barricade.
Special forces troops were dropped from helicopters to engage the mock enemy, while paratroopers performed precision jumps to land at designated locations.
First Lieutenant Chen Pin-fen (陳品棻), the nation’s first female attack-helicopter pilot, was controlling an AH-1W Super Cobra during the exercise.
Chen, a graduate of Virginia Military Institute in the US, completed her flight training at the end of last year and was assigned to the Republic of China Army’s Aviation and Special Forces Command.
Compared with general helicopters, which are used in search and rescue missions and transportation, attack helicopters are difficult to manage and have complex weapons systems, she said, adding that she had spent a considerable amount of time mastering the machine.
“My dream was to become an attack-helicopter pilot. It is a unique challenge. I like challenges and coping with them,” she said.
Chen was trained as a pilot at the Republic of China Military Academy and was selected to study in the US, where she broke records in swimming and graduated with distinction.
Her decision to train as a combat helicopter pilot was motivated by US soldiers’ aspirations to fight on the front lines, she said.
Women rarely choose to fly the AH-1W SuperCobra because it involves intense physicality to control the aircraft in an emergency situation when the hydraulic system fails, but she mastered the skill, Chen said.
Chen said her next goal is to pilot Apache helicopters, one of the nation’s most advanced combat aircraft.
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