Taiwan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

supersnoop said:

You missed the 135 SLAM-ER mentioned in the article (135 cruise missiles), as you previously posted "confirmed"

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Yeah sorry you're right I forgot that part of the article.

So the revised version is this:
Official arms sale includes:

1. 11 HIMARS systems
2. 64 ATACMS
3. 6 sets of MS-110 targeting pods
4. 135 SLAM-ER

So this leaves several more items on the previous list:

1. M109A6 Paladin
2. Land-based Harpoon AShM
3. MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance variant
4. an unspecified type of naval mine

From what I've heard while it's almost certain that land-based Harpoons and naval mines are part of the next arms sale, there has been some noise saying that Taiwan may no longer be buying MQ-9s for undisclosed reasons. As for the M109A6 Paladin it is only a popular speculation and whether it will be sold or not hasn't been confirmed yet.

I can't believe that big news regarding Taiwan's reserve forces hasn't been posted here yet. It has been all over the news over here for over a week already and to be honest it's been quite a nasty shitshow.

Related news:
Taiwan military mulls increasing frequency of reservist call-ups

Taiwan's military is considering increasing the frequency of calling up reservists to beef up the combat readiness of the country's reserve forces, a source told CNA on Wednesday.

Under an initial proposal, reservist call-ups would occur every year for two weeks rather than the current every two years for five to seven days training, the source said.

Also, the Reserve Command currently in charge of reservist affairs is expected to be scrapped in 2023 and merged into the Republic of China (ROC) Army Command Headquarters, the source said.

These upcoming changes are still in the planning stages and have yet to be finalized, the source said.

The source's comments were made after Defense Minister Yen De-fa (嚴德發) told media a day earlier that his ministry is taking measures to make Taiwan's military reserve force a more reliable backup for the regular forces in protecting the country amid increased Chinese military maneuvers around Taiwan.

These measures include increasing the frequency and duration of each call-up as well as providing better equipment and scaling up the training for reservists, Yen said.

At present, reservists are called up every two years for training at a military base near their residence to maintain their basic combat skills. They can be called up no more than twice within eight years after being discharged from their military service.

According to the Defense Ministry, reservist training includes specialty re-training, firearms training, combat training, combined training, and disaster prevention and relief training, which are all necessary for combat operations and disaster relief.

I'm not posting any Google translate here because Google translate has been doing an atrocious job, but here's the Chinese version of what's going on (you can post the article to Google translate yourselves):

Basically in order to fulfill the lack of manpower in the military, reservist callups have been changed from the previous 1 callup per 2 years, no more than twice within 8 years (after 8 years one won't be facing any more callups) to 1 callup every year, no more than 4 times within 15 years (after 15 years one won't be facing any more callups) . The time of each callup has also been extended from 5 days to 14 days per callup.

However this change only applies to previous conscripts who have served in the military for a year before Taiwan abolished its conscription. Current soldiers (non-conscripts) which goes through 4 months of "Military Training Courses"(that's literally what it's called) aren't subject to this change. This is significant because it raises questions about unfairness within the system. While men above their late 30s are subject to the new burden, young men in their 20s and early 30s are exempt from it.

Some extra interesting information regarding Taiwan's reservist force expansion and reservist call-ups


(First paragraph not important, basically some reservist stats)

The report pointed out that the expansion and mobilization of the National Army’s reserve forces mainly included the first, second, and third types of troops (I'm not sure what those types stand for. There is also very little data about them online). The original total force was about 210,000. Due to the lack of existing training institutions, reservists facing call-ups have to be trained in two separate batches. The number of training days for each call is 5 to 7 days. After the reform of the "Enhanced Reserve Forces" project, the reserve force will be expanded from the original 210,000 to more than 268,000, and the training organization will be expanded to 8 (5 Type A brigades [again I don't know what Type A brigades are] and 3 training centers), the total training energy has been increased to 290,000, which can fully meet the reserve mobilization requirements for emergency combat operations. Within one year, more than 268,000 people under management can be trained, and with the number of training days has increased to 14 days, the overall teaching ability and quality can been greatly improved. The whole case is planned to be promoted in different stages, and it is scheduled to start in 2022.

The report pointed out that in order to improve the reserve force, the training intensity and curriculum are comprehensively reviewed and refined. During the teaching period, reservists are subject to two stages of training, which is "basic combat readiness training" and "combat readiness task training". The focus is on combat skills and weapons expertise, combined forces training, combat task familiarization and implement combat readiness drills. Reservists will also be trained in scenarios such as "coastal defense", "urban warfare", "anti-paratrooper landing", and "strategic target protection" based on the mission characteristics of various types of troops.

tupolevtu144 said:

Some extra interesting information regarding Taiwan's reservist force expansion and reservist call-ups

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(First paragraph not important, basically some reservist stats)

The report pointed out that the expansion and mobilization of the National Army’s reserve forces mainly included the first, second, and third types of troops (I'm not sure what those types stand for. There is also very little data about them online). The original total force was about 210,000. Due to the lack of existing training institutions, reservists facing call-ups have to be trained in two separate batches. The number of training days for each call is 5 to 7 days. After the reform of the "Enhanced Reserve Forces" project, the reserve force will be expanded from the original 210,000 to more than 268,000, and the training organization will be expanded to 8 (5 Type A brigades [again I don't know what Type A brigades are] and 3 training centers), the total training energy has been increased to 290,000, which can fully meet the reserve mobilization requirements for emergency combat operations. Within one year, more than 268,000 people under management can be trained, and with the number of training days has increased to 14 days, the overall teaching ability and quality can been greatly improved. The whole case is planned to be promoted in different stages, and it is scheduled to start in 2022.

The report pointed out that in order to improve the reserve force, the training intensity and curriculum are comprehensively reviewed and refined. During the teaching period, reservists are subject to two stages of training, which is "basic combat readiness training" and "combat readiness task training". The focus is on combat skills and weapons expertise, combined forces training, combat task familiarization and implement combat readiness drills. Reservists will also be trained in scenarios such as "coastal defense", "urban warfare", "anti-paratrooper landing", and "strategic target protection" based on the mission characteristics of various types of troops.

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they dont want young people to leave the country

so i guess this is just summer camp for middle aged men who have no prospect of leaving

localizer said:

they dont want young people to leave the country

so i guess this is just summer camp for middle aged men who have no prospect of leaving

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What makes you think so?? To me it sounds more like that they don't want to push away the young voting population which are almost universally pro-DPP.

tupolevtu144 said:

What makes you think so?? To me it sounds more like that they don't want to push away the young voting population which are almost universally pro-DPP.

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The military is a waste of time and overall shitty experience according to most my south korean and tw (also a couple singapore) friends who have done it. They leave for the US and other places just to avoid the mandatory service.

All my SK friends who finished college and military service came over to the US at 28-29 yo. That’s a huge delay. By the time they become a “young” post doc, they’re 40.


Then there are those who immigrated to study in the US without doing the military, they refuse to go back because of it.


I mean look at the extent to which Israeli families go to avoid the military.

tupolevtu144 said:

From what I've heard while it's almost certain that land-based Harpoons and naval mines are part of the next arms sale, there has been some noise saying that Taiwan may no longer be buying MQ-9s for undisclosed reasons. As for the M109A6 Paladin it is only a popular speculation and whether it will be sold or not hasn't been confirmed yet.

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That's interesting, because the articles I read said that it was the RGM-84s and UAVs that had been put in the second notification. There was no mention of the mines. Still, I guess we'll find out soon enough.

tupolevtu144 said:

The report pointed out that in order to improve the reserve force, the training intensity and curriculum are comprehensively reviewed and refined.

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It might not be in that report, but I read elsewhere that there had been an announcement the reservists would get new equipment - the same that is used by the front-line professional service. That would be useful, as I'm sure I've read some complaints from reservists that they weren't getting the best weapons to train with.

Overall it seems that Taiwan is looking seriously at reforming the reserves now.

If anyone in the ROC Armed Forces has any brains, they'll use the ATACMS for counter landing ops, rather than vaingloriously attacking Mainland targets (hint: modern missile defenses are a thing, and the ATACMS, to the best of my knowledge, do not hit hypersonic speeds).

tupolevtu144 said:

Yeah sorry you're right I forgot that part of the article.

So the revised version is this:
Official arms sale includes:

1. 11 HIMARS systems
2. 64 ATACMS
3. 6 sets of MS-110 targeting pods
4. 135 SLAM-ER

So this leaves several more items on the previous list:

1. M109A6 Paladin
2. Land-based Harpoon AShM
3. MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance variant
4. an unspecified type of naval mine

From what I've heard while it's almost certain that land-based Harpoons and naval mines are part of the next arms sale, there has been some noise saying that Taiwan may no longer be buying MQ-9s for undisclosed reasons. As for the M109A6 Paladin it is only a popular speculation and whether it will be sold or not hasn't been confirmed yet.

Click to expand...

Looking at all these offensive US military sales to Taiwan. I wonder why the US have not already offered F-35s to Taiwan. Or Taiwan asking to buy F-35s. Taiwan's currently most capable combat aircraft are their more modern F-16s. Not as glamorous or as formidable as the F-35s in this day and age. Since Japan, and South Korea are already flying F-35s, wouldn't it make sense for Taiwan to join the F-35 club just like their fellow 'gangs of democracy'? Taiwan should have the budget to get a small fleet of 24-48 planes. Besides, Taiwan buying F-35s would surely be a huge statement for Taiwan and Uncle Sam to make against China.

Sardaukar20 said:

Looking at all these offensive US military sales to Taiwan. I wonder why the US have not already offered F-35s to Taiwan. Or Taiwan asking to buy F-35s. Taiwan's currently most capable combat aircraft are their more modern F-16s. Not as glamorous or as formidable as the F-35s in this day and age. Since Japan, and South Korea are already flying F-35s, wouldn't it make sense for Taiwan to join the F-35 club just like their fellow 'gangs of democracy'? Taiwan should have the budget to get a small fleet of 24-48 planes. Besides, Taiwan buying F-35s would surely be a huge statement for Taiwan and Uncle Sam to make against China.

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Taiwan would love it, but the US is not ready to sell it to Taiwan just yet. There is, of course, the small matter of how China would react. There has been a long observed practice that the US refrains from selling offensive weapons to Taiwan. As it is now, the US is salami slicing and has increased the offensiveness threshold of the weapon. F-35 would be really a red line or likely the straw that broke the camel's back.

The current US administration has shown that it is "willing to take more risks" when it comes to dealing with China. We just don't where it would stop and how it would stop - or would be stopped.