The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26.
During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued.
Photo: CNA
Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s largest airport is to close its airspace from 10am to 11am on July 25.
The purpose of implementing such a measure is for the “annual military exercise and training involving the use of helicopters,” with a flight altitude below 1,500 feet, the bulletin states.
The same drill would be performed at Songshan airport on July 23.
Similar exercises would also be conducted at Guandu Plain B (關渡平原) on July 23, the Port of Taipei (台北港) on July 24, and at Guandu Plain A, Jiben Beach (知本海灘), Beipu Beach (北埔海灘), Penghu Beach (澎湖海灘), Siahusi (下湖西), Tainan Airport and Jianan Beach (甲南海灘) on July 25.
Training on Guanyin Beach (觀音海灘) would last from July 23 to 25, it said.
The military stated that although this was an unscripted exercise, the airspace control range must be announced in advance for the sake of safety.
Details of the training are confidential.
This year’s exercise would be different from those in the past, as troops stationed on Taiwan proper would have “unscripted, actual combat” without real ammunition, while those stationed on outlying islands would have live-fire exercises, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said.
The troops would be trained to operate with a “decentralized command” and would no longer be asked to make a display of the training, he said.
The tradition of having Special Operations Forces and the Marine Corps play the role of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army or imaginary enemy during the Han Kuang exercise has also been canceled, he said.
They would instead assume their own defense roles and return to their basic duties of combat training and familiarizing their tactical positions in wartime, he said.
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