The army is to take possession of an additional 42 US-made M1A2T Abrams tanks before the end of the month, and would hold live-fire drills with its existing Abrams tanks from June 18 to 27, a source said yesterday.
The army received 38 of the tanks last year, and would hold drills with them at its shooting range at Kengzihkou (坑子口) in Hsinchu County this month before their formal commissioning in the second half of the year, the source said.
The estimate on the tanks’ arrival this month is based on a budget report sent by the Ministry of National Defense to the Legislative Yuan, which indicated that 42 of the tanks would arrive this quarter, and that another 28 tanks from the same procurement are expected to arrive in the first quarter of next year, the source said.
Photo: Reuters
The exact date of the drills became clear when a notice was posted by the Fisheries Agency warning fishers to stay clear of waters near the coast of Kengzihkou.
The post indicates a danger zone with a minimum radius of 3 nautical miles (5.56km) and a maximum projectile altitude of 610m, the source said.
The details in the notice match those of previous live-fire exercises with M60A3 and CM11 tanks, as the parameters set for those tests are safe for the M1A2T’s 120mm tank gun, which has an effective firing range of about 4km, they said.
The army has been making “tangible progress” to its readiness reforms, specialized personnel deployment, upgrades to training grounds and improvements in unit training, the ministry-affiliated Youth Daily News yesterday cited Commander of Army Headquarters General Lu Kun-hsiu (呂坤修) as saying.
The army last year also took delivery of the first 11 of 29 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System packages it ordered from the US — with which it has completed live-fire drills — and would acquire various types of drones for different divisions of the military, he said.
Reforms in reservist training, the Han Kuang military exercises and integrated joint brigade drills have also yielded gradual results, he said.
“The army would continue to follow the operational guidance of Chief of the General Staff Mei Chia-shu (梅家樹), staying ahead of evolving threats and changes on the future battlefield,” he said. “We must continue to adapt military strategy, integrate new weapon systems, and steadily improve the army’s overall combat effectiveness.”
The government is continuing efforts to improve service conditions under the military’s “Hsing-an Project” (興安專案), which aims to enhance the living environment of military personnel.
Addressing public concern about the progress of training facilities for the Abrams tanks, Lu said that while only about 30 percent of the main facilities at the Kengzihkou training range had been completed last month when a report was made to the legislature, the primary firing platform had been completed.
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