The military yesterday held a series of air defense drills, including an evacuation and relocation of the air force’s Taipei command headquarters, on the second day of the live-fire phase of the annual Han Kuang exercises.
Due to Typhoon Doksuri, the scale of warplane deployments and air raid drills has been adjusted, military personnel familiar with the exercises said.
The primary purpose of the exercises was to test cross-branch air defense capabilities, several unnamed military sources said.
Photo: CNA
The joint operation saw the air force and navy deploy truck-mounted anti-air missile defense systems, including the Hsiung Feng (“Brave Wind”), Patriot PAC-2 and Tien Kung (“Sky Bow”), to conduct anti-aircraft and ballistic missile drills nationwide, the sources said.
The air force yesterday morning also completed a round of exercises simulating the relocation of the Joint Air Operations Command Center from Toad Mountain (蟾蜍山) in Taipei in the event of an attack, the sources said.
To ensure there would be no interruption in the chain of command in terms of air defense, military personnel stationed at Toad Mountain, commonly known as “the nerve center of Taiwan’s air force,” were relocated to an undisclosed alternative location to continue carrying out their mission, the sources added.
The military has at least three alternative command center locations in northern, southern and eastern Taiwan, they said.
The military yesterday also simulated the defense of critical infrastructure in cooperation with local police forces, firefighters and the Coast Guard Administration.
Meanwhile, the army’s attention was focused on a temporary coastal fortification system near a northern port that could be critical in repelling a Chinese attack.
Part of a response to a simulated invasion by China’s military, the 150m-long trench near the Port of Taipei in New Taipei City’s Bali District (八里) was built by reservists from the army’s 109th Infantry Brigade with help from civilian contractors, a military spokesperson said at the site.
This year’s trench system was significantly larger than the 100m-long trench system built a year ago for the Han Kuang exercises in Bali, the spokesperson said.
Similar to last year, it is located under a section of the elevated Provincial Highway 61 to take advantage of a forest surrounding the Port of Taipei.
The forest and the elevated expressway make the defensive stronghold less likely to be detected, giving infantry positioned inside the trench system a better chance of eliminating invading enemy forces using anti-armor weapons, the spokesperson said.
The location also has strategic significance, serving as a key defensive position for fending off a potential People’s Liberation Army invasion of Taiwan by sea, the spokesperson added.
Defending the area near the mouth of the Tamsui River has always been a priority for the military because if enemy forces were to take it, they could easily advance into Taipei and important political and economic facilities.
The trenches are big enough to be stocked with ammunition and supplies, artillery, rockets, machine guns and rifles, but because this year’s fortification is bigger, it can also house M60A3 battle tanks, providing more offensive power with which to deter or repel an enemy invasion.
The live-fire component of this year’s Han Kuang military exercises began on Monday with the focus of the first day testing the military’s preservation and maintenance of combat capabilities in the event of a full-scale Chinese invasion.
This year’s tabletop exercises were staged in May.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
RSS