The military is now better prepared and its combat skills are “more mature” after repeatedly scrambling to see off Chinese forces during their recent drills, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
She was speaking to air force personnel at Hualien Air Force Base, including the 613 Battalion and Fifth Tactical Composite Wing, while touring military bases ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival to present holiday bonuses.
She also visited the navy’s Hai Feng Seventh Squadron’s Guhai Base.
Photo: Chen Yun, Taipei Tmes
The Chinese threat persists, Tsai said.
Over the past month, the Fifth Wing has been on standby night and day, and has flown 36 sorties in response to Chinese aggression, she said.
“In the face of challenges, our military has calmly responded to the enemy’s attempts at intrusion and has tenaciously defended the nation’s security,” the president said, according to a transcript of her remarks released by the Presidential Office.
Photo: CNA
“I believe that after this period of combat-readiness missions, our military’s combat skills are more mature and its combat power is more powerful,” she said.
Giving special recognition to Captain Chou Wan-chun (周婉淳), Tsai said that she flew several sorties, demonstrating that regardless of gender, military branch or position, every soldier and officer shoulders the responsibility to protect their country.
Tsai added that she was “extremely proud” of the armed forces and people can enjoy the Mid-Autumn Festival because of their service.
Photo: CNA
During her speech, Tsai stood in front of an image of a Block-20 F-16 painted like a shark — the same design that was the trademark of the Flying Tigers, the US volunteer force during World War II.
The jet was painted during the 2015 celebration marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Tsai also inspected the “simulated combat situation gunnery training” program being trialed at the Huadong Defense Command’s Nanpu Base in Hualien, which the military plans to implement nationwide in January.
The program is far more challenging than previous shooting exercises, said Chu Ke-yen (褚克彥), captain of the Mechanized Infantry Battalion’s Second Company.
Soldiers during exercises usually remain stationary in set stances, but the program requires them to seek cover and alternate between shooting upright, on one knee and in a prone position.
Chu said that all soldiers received one “dummy” round in their magazine to simulate jamming to test if they remember how to deal with malfunctions and eject the faulty round.
Yesterday’s training simulated firing when closing in on an enemy position, requiring soldiers to shoot at 175m and 75m respectively, Chu said.
The military is also holding two days of drills, which started late yesterday, around Hengchun Peninsula. Apache attack helicopters, Ching-kuo Indigenous Defense Fighters, artillery and drones are to be used in the drills.
The president’s tour came as three more Chinese fighter jets crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, the Ministry of National Defense said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
RSS