A group of conscripts doing one-year mandatory military service yesterday fired domestically made portable rocket launchers during a media event in Tainan.
In the live-fire exercises at the Southern Taiwan Military Training Center, conscripts who spent several weeks training with portable Kestrel missile launchers fired several rounds from the domestically built weapon system.
Each conscript carried the launchers on their backs before firing them in kneeling positions from their shoulders under the supervision of instructors.
Photo: CNA
Most of the rockets hit targets about 200m away, but one of the launchers did not fire, reportedly due to a malfunction.
The exercises were also meant to test conscripts’ ability to deal with weapon malfunctions.
The training center’s deputy commander, Colonel Yu Shao-jui (余紹睿), said that the launcher that failed to fire would be given to its developer, Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, Taiwan’s top military research institute, for further examination.
The 110cm-long Kestrel weighs 5kg, fires 67mm rounds and has a range of 220m.
The launcher is made from fiber-reinforced plastic and features an optical sight as well as a mount for a night vision scope.
The conscripts were part of the first group that began their one-year compulsory service earlier this year after Taiwan extended military service to one year from four months.
The decision to lengthen the period of compulsory military service for Taiwanese men was aimed at strengthening the nation’s combat readiness in the face of threats from China, the government said.
Other steps have been taken on that front, including updating training regimens, providing conscripts with new helmets and bulletproof vests, and purchasing new mortars, cannons and machine guns.
The military is mainly a volunteer force of about 215,000 people, with conscripts serving in a supporting role.
As of June, there were 152,885 active-duty voluntary military personnel in the armed forces.
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man