• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Taiwan to receive 7 anti-tank mine-laying systems by end of 2023

ROC Central News Agency

09/01/2023 05:07 PM

Taipei, Sept. 1 (CNA) Taiwan will receive seven of 14 anti-tank mine-laying systems that it had ordered from the United States by the end of this year, according to the Ministry of National Defense (MND).

Based on details of the MND's 2024 annual budget proposal delivered to the Legislative Yuan on Thursday, the remaining seven systems will arrive in 2026.

The total budget for the M136 Volcano Vehicle-Launched Scatterable Mine System will be about NT$4.89 billion (US$153.53 million), which is to be allocated through 2029, according to the MND.

The budget will be slightly over the NT$4.5 billion deal that Taiwan signed with Washington earlier this year, which the proposal revealed is to cover the cost of the hardware and local logistics.

According to a U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announcement last December, the arms package for Taiwan includes the M136 Volcano, the M977A4 HEMTT 10-ton cargo trucks on which those systems would be mounted, the M87A1 Anti-Tank (AT) munitions, the M88 canister training munitions (practice dummy ammunition rounds), and the M89 training munitions (test ammunition rounds).

In the proposal, the MND explained that the mine-laying systems are important for Taiwan, as the primary objective would be to effectively deter and repel a potential invasion by enemy forces.

The systems are effective at dispersing mines over a wide area quickly, while providing armored protection which maximizes the chances of operational success in battles, the proposal read.

Procurement of the vehicle-launched automated mine dispensing systems has also sparked concerns from opposition parties and academics in the country that they would turn Taiwan into an "island of landmines."

At an MND news conference in January, then Taiwan Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Chang Yuan-hsun (章元勳) said the Republic of China (Taiwan) military knows where hostile forces will be landing, it can use the system to lay landmines swiftly on certain parts of a beach rather than on the entire beach.

(By Huang Ya-shih and Ko Lin)

Enditem/ASG