Taiwan's M1A2T tanks fire in the military's joint live-fire evaluation for the first time

Taiwan's new M1A2T Abrams tanks have taken part in the military's tri-service joint live-fire evaluation for the first time. Crews from the army's 584th Combined Arms Brigade fired the tanks' main guns and coaxial machine guns on Wednesday, 4 November, at the Joint Training Base in Pingtung County, according to the defence ministry's Youth Daily News.

The shoot was the branch qualification stage of the joint live-fire evaluation exercises numbered 115-5 and 115-6, and the military newspaper said it opened a series of qualification firings for the units taking part. It was the first time the M1A2T had joined the joint evaluation since the tanks came home from the United States, entered service and passed demanding base training.

What the crews had to show

The qualification had two parts: a review test of the 120 mm main gun using high-explosive tank rounds, and a zeroing shoot for the 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun. Before any live round was fired, crews ran a boresighting routine with an alignment device to confirm that the gun sights, ballistics and fire-control system were working to standard.

The test checks people as well as hardware. Each crew member, whether commander, gunner, driver or loader, has to complete the qualification before the crew may move on to the later live-fire evaluation, the newspaper said. The Liberty Times defence channel reported that the 120 mm rounds struck the target area accurately.

A deputy platoon leader in the brigade's 1st Combined Arms Battalion, Master Sergeant Ko Sheng-chieh, who trained on the M1 in the United States and became one of the army's seed instructors, told the military newspaper that his main task was to help crews meet every requirement of the base evaluation. He said the strongest lesson from his American training was the emphasis on standard procedures and safety discipline at every step, from pre-firing checks to fault clearance.

A fleet now fully delivered

All 108 M1A2T tanks that Taiwan bought from the United States have now been delivered, the Liberty Times said. The 584th and 269th brigades, the main combined-arms units defending northern Taiwan, have taken them over and are running platoon-level live-fire and tactical manoeuvre training at ranges across the island.

The tank carries a 120 mm smoothbore gun, a digital fire-control system with hunter-killer and night-fighting capability, and composite armour. It is linked to a brigade-level and below command system that shares a picture of the battlefield, and it is expected to be used for beach defence, protection of critical infrastructure and counterattacks in urban areas.

The brigade prepared for days before the firing. The ministry's Military News Agency said its 1st and 2nd combined-arms battalions inspected, lubricated and adjusted the tanks' components, tested weapons, vehicles and radios, and practised setting up a brigade command post. Troops were also briefed on range safety and told not to photograph, transmit or leak sensitive information. The brigade commander, a major general surnamed Chou, described the evaluation as an important test of the military's joint operations capability.

Why the exercise matters

The firing forms part of the annual Lianyong exercise, the military's combined-arms battalion drill held with live troops and live ammunition at the Hengchun range, in which attack helicopters, armoured vehicles and field air-defence missile units usually take part. FTNN reported in October that the brigade had loaded its tanks onto heavy trailers early that month to move them south, and that one-year conscripts would train alongside the regular crews this time.

For the army, bringing the M1A2T into the joint evaluation is a sign that the tanks are moving from unit conversion into joint operations. The military newspaper presented it as a milestone for joint firepower and ground strike capability, with the remaining evaluation shoots still to come.