An observation group comprised of retired US military generals attended the five-day tabletop war games phase of the annual Han Kuang military exercises this week, a source said yesterday.
They came as observers to provide suggestions on the tabletop war games, which simulated the armed forces’ defensive response to different attack scenarios, the source said, without giving details.
As in previous years, this year’s Han Kuang exercises are being held in two stages.
Photo: Taipei Times file
The tabletop war games phase was held from Monday to Friday, and the live-fire exercise is scheduled for July 24 to 28.
Institute for National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said that although the Ministry of National Defense has never confirmed the presence of observation groups, retired US military personnel have watched war games in Taiwan for many years.
With the US becoming more open about arms sales and its friendly policies toward Taiwan, it was not a surprise that the group’s members this year consisted of many high-ranking retired officers, Su said.
At the end of last month, a defense official said that the computerized war games would be conducted using the US-built Joint Theater Level Simulation platform to simulate joint, combined and coalition civil-military operations.
The simulation platform is highly informative because it incorporates data from the actual combat experiences of the US and NATO, Su said.
The parameters obtained from the recently concluded tabletop war games would be put into practice in the live-fire Han Kuang drills in July, he said, adding that this would refine future exercises.
The Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s major war games, have been held annually since 1984, in the form of live-fire drills and computerized war games, to test the nation’s combat readiness in the face of a possible Chinese invasion.
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