This year’s Han Kuang military drills would maintain last year’s 10-day, nine-night schedule, focusing on decentralized command and control, operations in designated “kill” zones and urban resilience, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said.
Since last month, the military has also fully adopted 14-day reservist training, phasing out the old five-to-seven-day system, Koo recently told reporters.
The army’s modernized base resistance training has been extended from five days and four nights to 10 days and nine nights, with one-year compulsory service conscripts set to participate, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
In response to enemy threats, the military’s 41st annual Han Kuang exercises in July last year were extended to 10 days and nine nights, compared with previous drills that lasted seven days and six nights or five days and four nights, making them the longest ever.
The armed forces would continue to uphold a mission-oriented, training-for-war principle, substantially advancing training reforms to enhance “high readiness” at all levels, Koo said.
The completion of immediate readiness drills and branch-specific tactical evaluations last year effectively supported the nation’s joint operations plans, he said.
From April to November, the military plans to conduct immediate readiness drills, joint defense exercises, the Han Kuang exercises and joint resistance drills to further improve key combat capabilities, he said.
The 42nd Han Kuang drills would emphasize decentralized operations, battlefield management, anti-drone measures and personnel mobilization, while incorporating urban resilience drill modules in coordination with local governments, he said.
The drills would adhere to "real troops, real locations, real equipment and real-time" scenarios to meet the requirements of modern combat, Koo said.
The army has drawn on US military training and testing experience and models, with units this year to begin implementing modernized branch base training, divided into three phases: preparatory training, tactics and combat capability evaluation, he said.
The tactical phase, which previously lasted five days, would be a 24-hour continuous resistance drill lasting 10 days, with operational plans designed to validate ground coordination and test troops’ combat will and battlefield stress tolerance, he said.
While one-year conscripts who graduate from university are expected to enlist next year, an infantry battalion, composed mainly of high-school graduates, would this year train with the army’s 584th Combined Arms Brigade in a tri-service joint live-fire evaluation, he said.
The focus would be on defensive positioning, communication and fire support coordination, he added.
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