Defense experts have called for more focus on counterdrone drills in Han Kuang exercises, saying last week’s edition lacked preparation for a potential large-scale drone attack by China.
Extending the drills to 10 days gave troops a taste of wartime stress, while mobilizing a record 22,000 reservists aimed to gradually boost reserve combat readiness, said defense expert Yang Tai-yuan (楊太源), deputy director of the Research Project on China’s Defense Affairs at the Secure Taiwan Associate Corp.
However, the drills, which ended on Friday, lacked a clear focus on counterdrone operations, despite the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s large-scale use of strike drones, he said.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
Although mesh cage coverings over armored vehicles are common in foreign battlefields, such anti-drone measures were not seen in last week’s exercises.
Yang said that low-flying drones could pose a serious threat if China were to attack.
Institute for National Defense and Security Research adjunct researcher Chieh Chung (揭仲) said that most ground troops, apart from special forces, still lack drone deployment capabilities.
Anti-drone measures were rarely seen in the exercises, he said, suggesting that they become a focus of live-fire drills, once drones are more widely deployed and doctrines are formalized.
The exercises also showed a lack of joint operations, with branches and theater commands largely conducting drills independently, which might have stemmed from the exercise’s scenario design, he said.
The Ministry of National Defense could consider releasing simulated wartime information after each phase of the exercises, Chieh said.
That could improve communication with the public and is an area for improvement, he said.
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