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Military tests air-defense, command transfer on 2nd day of Han Kuang

ROC Central News Agency

07/25/2023 04:43 PM

Taipei, July 25 (CNA) Taiwan's military on Tuesday held a series of air-defense drills, including an evacuation and relocation of the Air Force's Taipei command headquarters, on the second day of the live-fire phase of the annual cross-branch Han Kuang exercises.

Due to the approaching Typhoon Doksuri, the scale of warplane deployments and air raid drills has been adjusted, according to military personnel familiar with the exercises.

The primary purpose of these exercises was to test cross-branch air defense capabilities, several unnamed military sources told CNA.

The joint operation saw the Air Force and Navy deploy truck-mounted anti-air missile defense systems, including Hsiung Feng, Patriot PAC-2, and Tien Kung or Sky Bow, to conduct anti-aircraft and ballistic missile drills around the country, the sources said.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday morning, the Air Force completed a round of exercises simulating the relocation of the Joint Air Operations Command Center from Toad Mountain in Taipei in the event of an attack, according to these sources.

To ensure there would be no interruption in the chain of command in terms of air defense, military personnel stationed at Toad Mountain, commonly known as "the nerve center of Taiwan's Air Force," were relocated to an undisclosed alternative location to continue to carry out their mission, the sources added.

According to these unnamed sources, the military has at least three alternative command center locations in northern, southern and eastern Taiwan in this chain of command transfer scenario.

On Tuesday, the military also simulated the defense of critical infrastructure across the country in cooperation with local police forces, firefighters and Coast Guard as part of the second day of the Han Kuang exercises.

The live-fire component of this year's Han Kuang military exercises kicked off early Monday with the focus of the first-day drills on testing the military's preservation and maintenance of combat capabilities in the event of a full-scale Chinese invasion.

The annual Han Kuang exercises, which have served as Taiwan's major war games since 1984, consist of live-fire drills and computerized war games and are meant to test Taiwan's combat readiness in the face of a possible Chinese invasion.

This year's tabletop exercises were staged in May.

(By Matt Yu and Joseph Yeh)

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