Anti-landing drills were held at beaches across the country on Thursday during day four of the live-fire component of the Han Kuang exercises, to test the ability of local armed forces to repel an enemy invading by sea.
The drills were held in New Taipei's Bali District in the north, two beaches in central Taichung City; one beach each in eastern Hualien and Taitung counties, southern Tainan City and Pingtung County, according to the Ministry of National Defense (MND).
The largest drill was held in Pingtung County's Fenggang Township, involving the use of heavy artillery and machine guns in a simulation of efforts to prevent an invading enemy force with a large number of vessels from landing troops.
A total of 150 rounds were fired from 50 M110A2, M109A2 and 155mm self-propelled howitzers in 20 minutes by troops of the 43rd Artillery Command and 564th Armor Brigade under the 8th Army Corps, during the Pingtung drill.
CNA photo Sept. 16, 2021
Thursday's drill was part of the postponed live-fire component of this year's Han Kuang military exercises being held from Monday through Friday.
The Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan's major war games, have been held annually since 1984, in the form of live-fire drills and computerized war games, to test Taiwan's combat readiness in the face of a possible Chinese invasion.
This year's tabletop drills were held from April 23-30. The live-fire exercises were scheduled to start July 12 and run for five days.
Due to a domestic COVID-19 outbreak that started in mid-May, however, the military in mid-June decided to postpone the live-fire part of the drill to a later date.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel