Taipei, April 2 (CNA) Taiwan’s largest-scale annual military drills, the Han Kuang exercises, will be lengthened this year to include two weeks of computerized tabletop wargames and 10 days of live-fire drills, the nation’s armed forces announced on Wednesday.
The Han Kuang exercises are held annually in two stages. This year’s 41st edition will kick off with tabletop war games, conducted from April 5-18, said Major General Tung Chi-hsing (董冀星), director of the joint operations planning division under the Ministry of National Defense (MND), at a Taipei news briefing.
The 14-day computer-aided wargames are reportedly the longest ever. Last year the tabletop war games were held for eight days, while in previous versions computerized exercises usually lasted 5 days.
According to Tung, the computerized wargames will be conducted using the United States-built Joint Theater Level Simulation (JTLS) platform.
Those simulations will be held around the clock for two weeks to test the ability of military personnel to coordinate and respond to a Chinese invasion, he said.
The wargames will simulate a scenario whereby the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) unexpectedly pivots military exercises or “gray zone” activities — provocative or aggressive actions that fall just short of an open conflict — near Taiwan into a real attack, the one-star general said.
Meanwhile, the live-fire component of the Han Kuang exercises will run from July 9-18, featuring personnel from all branches of the armed forces on Taiwan and its offshore islands, he noted. The 10-day live-fire exercises around the country will also be longer than earlier iterations which previously lasted five days.
As in 2024, this year’s live-fire segment of the exercises will again be unscripted to test troop emergency response capabilities, with a focus on testing troop responses to decentralized command and 24/7 operational scenarios, Tung added.
The wargames and live-fire segments of the Han Kuang exercises will also include newly acquired unmanned aerial vehicles, M1A2T tanks, M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems, to test these new additions to the nation’s defensive capabilities, Tung added.
Defense Minister Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said last month the decision to significantly lengthen this year’s Han Kuang exercises is meant to more thoroughly test the armed forces’ “joint operation planning and execution.”
The live-fire component will see the culmination of months-long Urban Resilience Exercises that are being held from April to July, which combine the Wan An air raid drills and Min An disaster response drills, in 11 counties and cities around the country, according to Tung.
The Urban Resilience Exercises allow central government ministries and agencies and local governments to coordinate and work together to enhance overall local resilience and response capabilities, he said.
Such efforts were launched under the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee, an advisory group established by the Presidential Office.
The committee has pledged to enhance Taiwan’s resilience by training civilian forces, securing strategic and critical supplies, reinforcing energy and key infrastructure, and ensuring the continued operation of medical, transportation, information and financial facilities.
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 seek to test Taiwan’s combat readiness in the face of a possible Chinese invasion.
