The Combined Services Force (CSF), which is responsible for the military's conventional weapon development and production, demonstrated yesterday a series of new weapons, including a would-be next-generation automatic rifle.
The rifle has already been adopted by a Middle East country for use by its first airborne forces, sources said.
The demonstation was held at an armament factory in Taipei's suburban Nankang district. The CSF held a live-fire test of the T-86 assault rifle, which it developed on its own, aiming to replace the 65-K2 rifle, now widely used in all of Taiwan's services.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
In spite of the rifle's outstanding performance, however, no order has yet been received, officials with the 202nd armament factory of the CSF said.
The rifle has a lighter weight and less recoil than the 65-K2, as well as a new optical sight.
Although no order has been placed so far, the government has secretly decided to buy around 500 of the rifles from the CSF for Jordan, which has maintained strong unofficial ties with Taiwan, sources said.
Defense officials would not confirm the deal, skirting the question.
"We don't want to say that we have not received any orders yet. We would rather say that it is not time yet," said Lieutenant General Wang Yi-tien (
Sources said the rifles are to be used by the first airborne forces of the Middle East country, which has been sending its troops to Taiwan for paratroop training in recent years.
An official with the CSF, who declined to be identified, said the reason the T-86 rifle has not yet generated a response from the other services is not because it does not meet their requirements, but because no ground-level combat units have put in requests for a resupply of rifles.
"The real situation is that even if there is a need for a resupply of rifles, leaders of ground-level combat units would rather not report it as long as the shortage is not significant," the official said.
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