Taiwan is setting up facilities to train personnel for the 108 M1A2T Abrams tanks the US is to start delivering in 2023, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
Early this year, the ministry began preparing for the tanks by training seed instructors, setting up training grounds and bunkers, and purchasing simulators, an army report presented during a legislative session said.
Experts from the US visited Taiwan from Feb. 18 to 25 and surveyed several sites, while discussions for building additional bunkers in different camps are also ongoing, the report said.
A total of 168 army officers with foreign language skills and 72 young officers who had been studying in US military schools have also been placed on a reserve list for training in the US, the report said.
A budget of NT$40.52 billion (US$1.35 billion) has been allotted to purchase the advanced tanks and deliveries are expected in four batches from 2023 to 2026, it said.
The army is also planning to send 84 personnel to the US in 2023 to train for six to nine months as seed instructors, the report said.
In addition, Taiwan is to purchase shooting and driving simulators from the US, which would be delivered with the first batch of M1A2T tanks, it said.
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology is to develop Taiwan’s own simulators and install other training facilities at military camps where the tanks are to be deployed, the report said.
The new tank would be assigned to the Sixth Army Corps, which is responsible for the security of northern Taiwan, where most central government agencies are located, the ministry said.
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