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Taiwanese military set to carry out live-fire drills

Live-fire artillery exercises set for Aug. 9 and 11 in Pingtung County

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Taiwan artillery. (Military News Agency photo)

Taiwan artillery. (Military News Agency photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taiwanese Army is scheduled to carry out live-fire artillery drills in southern Taiwan on Tuesday (Aug. 9) and Thursday (Aug. 11) to assess combat readiness.

The drills will take place at the Fenggang training grounds in Pingtung County, according to CNA. The Army’s 43rd Artillery Command, 333rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade, the defense commands in Taitung and Hualien, and the Coast Guard will take part in the exercises.

The exercises will include 78 155mm self-propelled howitzers and six 120mm mortars, the report said.

The military is also set to carry out another set of drills in Pingtung on Sept. 5, involving snipers from different battalions, combat vehicles, Clouded Leopard armored vehicles, and mortars. AH-64 Apache attack choppers and AH-1W Super Cobra will also participate in the drills.

The Pingtung drills come after China just completed four days of live-fire drills from Aug. 4-7 in six large swaths of waters located around Taiwan, which included Chinese missiles launched over Taipei and People’s Liberation Army warplanes and warships in and around the country’s air defense identification zone. Beijing launched the unprecedented show of force in response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last week.