Eighty-four military personnel who have been trained in the US to operate the M1A2T Abrams tanks are slated to return to Taiwan in November to become instructors in the training next year, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in its budget report to the Legislative Yuan.
The 84 people were sent to the US for a 350-day training after Taiwan procured 108 M1A2T Abrams tanks, with the first batch of 38 tanks scheduled to arrive by the end of this year.
Instructors would administer the educational training in February next year and compile the training’s guidelines and curriculums, the ministry said.
Photo: Reuters
The procurement of M1A2T battle tanks, which cost about NT$40.5 billion (US$1.27 billion), was intended to bolster the nation’s defense capabilities in northern Taiwan.
The addition of M1A2T battle tanks to the military’s armored vehicle fleet would greatly enhance its protective power, mobility and combat efficiency, the ministry said.
The MND is reconstructing facilities in Hsinchu County’s Changan (長安) and Kengzikou (坑子口) areas for training on M1A2T battle tanks.
In other news, the MND said it is to test the 6.8mm-caliber rifles developed by the Armament Bureau by the end of the year.
The bureau last year developed the rifle as part of the US military’s “Next Generation Squad Weapons” program, and 10 of such rifles would be handed over to the armed forces to be tested by the end of the year, a military source said on Saturday.
Specifications of the new rifle have not been made public. The program was created by the US Army in 2017 to develop small arms fire-control systems with a 6.8mm cartridge to replace the 5.56mm M4 carbine, M249 SAW light machine guns and 7.62mm M240 machine guns.
The Taiwanese military follows NATO standards and uses 5.56x45mm bullets for T91 and T112 assault rifles, 7.62mm bullets for light sniper rifles and 12.7 mm bullets for heavy sniper rifles and machine guns.
The caliber of a firearm is directly proportional to its power and shooting range. However a rifle with greater caliber adds to the weight that military personnel must bear and therefore limits their mobility.
According to the US Army, a 6.8mm-caliber rifle weighs about 3.7kg and can accommodate 20 bullets in the cartridge, the army told the Legislative Yuan in a written report earlier this month.
By contrast, a T91 assault rifle weighs 3kg and can contain 30 rounds, the report said.
The ministry has budgeted about NT$8.1 billion from this year to 2029 to procure XTS112 assault rifles, an upgrade from T112 rifles, the report showed.
Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) on Thursday said that the ministry plans to procure 86,114 XTS 112 assault rifles to be used by the army, the military police and the reserve forces.
They would be given optical sights, internal reflector sights and laser sights to be added to the rifles based on their respective tasks, he said.
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