Taiwan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

FORBIN

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
The difference between the European mountainous countries and Chili's landscape vs Taiwan is they are all dry. Taiwan is hot and humid with swampy (rice paddy) lands. Heavier tanks like M1 will for sure get trapped in the mud.
Indonesia have also Léopard 2 ;) and branches with germination to exit...

I think tracked vehicles remains very intersting actualy less " fashion " but better for terrain you mention.

Russians especialy for Siberia with swamps like much BTRs ofc old and to replaced.
 
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TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
@FORBIN Taiwan is more likely to be on the defensive, in the event of ground combat operations the main threat would likely be an amphibious assault. As such heavy MBTs would likely be "late to the party".
Abrams has done Okay in a number of terrain types but the weight is an issue. As Taiwan is an island and it's geostrategic position is such that it's armed forces are a Defence force in a literal sense. As such they need there mainline tank to be able to traverse the length and breadth of the landmass. A lighter tracked armored vehicle could do that more easily then the Abrams or Leopard 2.

@plawolf the Taiwanese aren't very likely to get those PRC light tanks, now are they? And if those light tanks arrived on Taiwan they wouldn't be turned over to Taiwanese crews...

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optimally the Taiwanese would need something like the Japanese type 10 tank but at the moment seems not possible. Although the Japanese have opened up export options for there indigenous technologies, they seem to be targeting aviation and some degree of maritime, and even then they seem to pick and choose under strong protective provisions.

The M60A3 is still the mainline MBT of a number of nations and there are a number of comprehensive upgrade programs. Increasing both armor, fire power, hourse power and technology to a near match of modern machines. Including regunning up to a 120mm main gun. It's just a question of getting the technology. Which I am sure a nearby power will do everything conceivable to prevent.
 

Skywatcher

Captain
I doubt they'll uparmor those M60A3s too much (those Israeli/Turkish Patton mods push in at over 60 tons).

Tsai did the right thing, even if the apparent reason of domestic pork was mostly wrong.

Might makes sense to turn some of the hulls into a HIFV mod.
 

plawolf

Lieutenant General
@plawolf the Taiwanese aren't very likely to get those PRC light tanks, now are they? And if those light tanks arrived on Taiwan they wouldn't be turned over to Taiwanese crews...

They will if they agree to a peaceful reunification. ;)

But my point was more that the primary reason the PLA indicted the new light tank was more about Taiwan than India.

Even the 96 might be a little on the heavy side operating on Taiwan, and would be overkill against M60s. Which might explain why the PLA has been slow inducting it’s sino-LCAC in numbers, and why it pressed ahead with the new light tank. Which would be massively under-gunned and under-armoured against Indian main line tanks if it was really primarily aimed at India.

M60s with 120mm guns would be glass cannons, able to punch above their weight but won’t be able to take any sort of hit unless they get ERA or active protection as well (but seems unlikely for the prices quoted).

Even paratroopers will be able to easily knock them out with RPGs never mind modern ATGMs.

As I said earlier, this minimal upgrade budget is most likely about moral rather than operational realities.
 

Skywatcher

Captain
Indonesia have also Léopard 2 ;) and branches with germination to exit...

I think tracked vehicles remains very intersting actualy less " fashion " but better for terrain you mention.

Russians especialy for Siberia with swamps like much BTRs ofc old and to replaced.
I got the impression the Indonesians were going to use their tanks in either jungles, or in the urban areas that could conceivably hold the weight of a NATO MBT.

A ROCA Abrams would need to go off the beaten path, since if the PLA has landed, the PLAAF is probably reigning supreme in the skies above and staying on the highways isn't an option. The problem is that Taiwan has a lot of irrigation canals and riverside roadways... so if you take an Abrams there, there's a pretty good chance it'll collapse the embarkment and rollover right into the water.*

*That's one of the reasons why the Arjun MBT wasn't more widely fielded, there are a lot of irrigation canals (and often with no or little structural reinforcement of the canal sides) in Punjab- you wouldn't need a brave man to drive and Arjun there, you'd need a crazy man (the Punjabi canals might be another reason why Pakistan didn't buy the Abrams in the 1980s).
 
I start with a disclaimer: I read many things, they may be unrelated to China, pro-China, or anti-China, as the article I'll link below, so consider if you want to read it, but don't quote me
China’s Secret Military Plan: Invade Taiwan by 2020
October 3, 2017
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Figaro

Senior Member
Registered Member
I start with a disclaimer: I read many things, they may be unrelated to China, pro-China, or anti-China, as the article I'll link below, so consider if you want to read it, but don't quote me
China’s Secret Military Plan: Invade Taiwan by 2020
October 3, 2017
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
So much nonsense. Looks like Bill Gertz and his neo-con cohort are working overtime to hype up the Chinese threat. Even if the Chinese were planning to invade Taiwan by 2020, surely they wouldn't disclose it in public??????? These "internal documents" are pure BS and probably are open sourced material ... so much for the 2049 "think-tank". I'm surprised that some people still believe that the PLA's primary objective is to invade Taiwan; no wonder why they've been caught so off guard over the past two decades. This China-is-definitely-going-to-invade-Taiwan mindset really needs to be flushed down the toilet ...
 
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Skywatcher

Captain
Ian Easton? He's the schmuck who's sincerely managed to apply the Italian Fascist fallacy (our enemies are decadent and weak and so predestined to failure, but we must take extraordinary measures to counter them!) to neoliberalism.

That's quite an accomplishment, despite him being the most gullible person in the DC Metro area.

If someone told him that the PLARF was building a Death Star, he would write a cloying earnest post on the Asia Eye blog about how it threatens (but not really) Taipei in the next hour.
 
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