Army conducts Stinger missiles firing drill in southern Taiwan
ROC Central News Agency
07/04/2023 03:18 PM
Taipei, July 4 (CNA) Taiwan's Army held a drill in southern Pingtung County on Tuesday to train soldiers on firing Stinger missiles and test its troops' asymmetrical warfare capabilities.
Called Shen Kung, or Mighty Bow exercise, the military drills were open to the media and involved troops from 11 Army units, including the 21st Artillery Command, the Kinmen and Penghu defense commands and the Marine Corps Air Defense Garrison Group.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Chen Yu-wen (陳郁文), chief military instructor of the Army's Artillery Training Command, those participating in the drill had never fired Stinger missiles before and were there to get acclimated to the weapon system's operations.
That was why some of the fired missiles missed their targets, he said.
During the Tuesday morning drill, soldiers fired Stinger missiles from an Avenger air defense system at target drones from a coastal drill area in Pingtung's Jiupeng area.
The missiles were mounted on wheeled vehicles and had sighting devices to help spot the targets, Chen said.
Military personnel were required to acquire, identify, track and engage with targets within 7 to 12 seconds, he said.
According to the Ministry of National Defense, the United States-made Avenger is a fully automated, short-range air defense system and is the Army's premier shoot-on-the-move air defense weapon.
It is a lightweight, highly mobile, easily transportable surface-to-air missile fire unit with eight Stinger missiles in two missile pods.
Aside from the standard vehicle-mounted Stingers, Taiwan's military has also bought FIM-92 shoulder-fired Stinger missiles from the U.S., with the first batch delivered to Taiwan in May.
(By Matt Yu and Joseph Yeh)
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