Since Defense Minister Wellington Koo took office, Taiwan’s military has undergone numerous reforms and restructuring. This is all part of efforts to turn Taiwan into a modern fighting force, centered on asymmetric warfare, and able to conduct a defense in depth.
This week, we got to see a new exercise showcasing what I think is the most modern and advanced military exercise Taiwan has ever carried out.
For 7 days, 6 nights, Taiwan’s Army has been conducting force-on-force exercises in Northern Taiwan. It was the Armored 542nd Brigade (Team A) vs. the 234th Mechanized Infantry (Team B). Each side was supported by one Army Aviation division (601st & 602nd), consisting of AH-64E Apache and AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters as well as special forces. By in large, this was one of the biggest and most realistic joint and combined arms exercises, with both sides travelling more than 200km or 125 mi. Blank rounds and smoke grenades were used.
This year, the military used a new “firepower value” (火力值) system to keep track of how effective each side was. When two forces engage, reference data like distance, force size, and equipment are computed to judge how lethal an attack would be. The “firepower value” is being compared to a batting average or ERA in various Taiwanese news reports. For example, if a military vehicle suffers a malfunction and its forces do not repair it within a certain timeframe, that vehicle is considered a loss.
For the first time, Taiwan’s military also used Tactical Awareness Systems (TAK) to monitor simulated injuries, casualties, and movements from both sides.
Taiwan’s Army pointed out that the Lu-Sheng exercise is organized into phases: The drills start with a tactical concentration of forces, maneuvers into the battlefield, various encounter battles, offense-defense battles, and finally shifting between offensive/defensive advantage.
Below is a map produced by my team at Taiwan Security Monitor that shows some of the major movements seen during the exercises. The map was pulled together using open-source materials such as news articles and photos from official sources.
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