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The Taiwan military's large-scale Han Kuang 40 exercise will be held from July 22 to 26. This is the Taiwan military's largest annual exercise, with troops from all over the island deployed and open displays of firepower, etc.

This year, the Taiwan military claimed that the Han Kuang No. 40 exercise would be significantly improved, closer to actual combat, and more reasonable.

On July 22, the first day of the exercise, the Clouded Leopard armored vehicles of the Taiwan Army's 333rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade were lying on the street.

Although Taiwanese media forcibly defended themselves, saying that it was a good opportunity to train the Taiwan military's ability to respond.

But if we look at the photos, we will know that this failure is really outrageous.

Clouded Leopard repairs on the street

From the photos, we can see that the Clouded Leopard armored vehicle broke down at the entrance of a company called Wanji Shiguang.

I searched and found that it was in Pingtung County, Taiwan Province of my country. After verification, I found that it was indeed a real estate agency, and the style of the sign matched that in the photo.

The location of the Taiwan Army's 333rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade can be found from open-source information on the Internet:

The 333rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade is headquartered in Wanluan Township, Pingtung County.

The 3rd Mechanized Infantry Battalion of the 333rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade is in Longquan Township.

Regardless of whether this Clouded Leopard armored vehicle belongs to the brigade headquarters or the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Battalion, it is less than a 20-minute drive from the fault location, Wanji Shiguang, and the distance is less than 10 kilometers.

See the analysis chart

This means that the Clouded Leopard armored vehicle broke down just ten minutes after leaving the military camp, raising a huge question mark about its logistical support capabilities.

In addition, the 333rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade is very famous in the Taiwan military. It calls itself the "No. 1 Division in the World" and was developed from the teaching corps of the Whampoa Military Academy. In fact, it was formed after the 52nd Army fled to Taiwan and underwent several reorganizations.

The 52nd Army successfully escaped by sea by boat during the Liaoshen Campaign and the Battle of Shanghai Liberation. It can only be said that it was stronger than those troops that were surrounded and annihilated.

This unit has been highly valued since Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan. However, now its armored vehicle broke down less than 10 kilometers out of the camp. I wonder if its training level and logistical support level have declined.

Or has the Taiwan military's top-ranked combat-effectiveness units always been at this level?

Judging from previous Han Kuang exercises, many parts of the Han Kuang exercises are more like weapon shooting performances, a bit like the Japan Self-Defense Forces' annual Mount Fuji comprehensive firepower exercise.

I don’t know if it’s because Chiang Kai-shek hired the “White Group” composed of former Japanese officers to guide the training of the Taiwan army for a long time.

These links may have certain viewing value, but they are of little help in improving the army's combat effectiveness.

The so-called new improvements to the Han Kuang 40 exercise are hilarious if you take a closer look.

Let me pick out a few key points to talk about:

Cancel the imaginary enemy

In previous Han Kuang exercises, although the imaginary enemy forces followed the script, the result was always that the Taiwan military defeated the imaginary enemy.

The red helmet covers and red baseball caps they wear are particularly confusing - would the People's Liberation Army also wear such conspicuous symbols during wars?

imaginary enemy

Shouldn’t the normal response be to have the imaginary enemy simulate the opponent as closely as possible to actual combat, so as to better hone the exercise troops?

As a result, the Taiwan military said that the previous imaginary enemy was composed of special forces and marines, so it would be better to let them participate in the exercise with their original troop functions.

It is indeed a waste to use special forces and marines with slightly better training levels and equipment to play the role of imaginary enemies that are bound to fail.

But it is even more speechless that you directly canceled the imaginary enemy.

Once this imaginary enemy was cancelled, many new changes to the Han Kuang exercise seemed to be of little significance.

Decentralized Command

Some famous commentators on the island also believe that the Taiwan military's decentralized command will improve its combat effectiveness to a certain extent.

Specifically, even if the Taiwan military loses contact with its superiors and friendly forces, it can still fight according to the combat principles listed on the combat cards previously distributed.

But the biggest question is, can the Taiwan military troops really continue to fight if they lose contact with their superiors and friendly forces?

Especially the garrison brigade, they are poorly trained, and their strongest weapon is onlyMortar, no field air defense capability, no electronic warfare capability, and no anti-UAV capability.

How long can these troops hold out on their own?

Live-fire shooting changes

The exercise troops on the main island of Taiwan canceled their live-fire exercises.

Live-fire exercises are only conducted on the outlying islands (Kinpeng and Matsu).

The safety factor is higher, but the opportunities for live-fire training are suddenly reduced a lot.

One-year recruits participate

Some netizens who are concerned about the military situation in the Taiwan Strait should know that the Taiwan military’s four-month military service has been officially extended to one year starting this year.

One-year recruit

This time, the Taiwan military claimed that the participation of one-year soldiers in military exercises was a major step forward.

However, after checking, I found that the new recruits who were restored to one-year military service only joined the army at the end of January this year.

In other words, the training time has only been about half a year.

What can a half-year soldier do?

What can a one-year soldier do?

Many veteran friends should be very clear about this.

I think the most important improvement may be this:

The rate of people seeing the military has increased

The Taiwan military will deliberately drive various military vehicles and combat vehicles onto the streets and through residential areas.

The Taiwan military has actually been doing this in recent years.

Perhaps this is a form of "desensitization training"?

Make the people of Taiwan Province of my country numb to possible armed conflicts?

Judging from various signs of the Han Kuang No. 40 exercise, the Taiwan military's exercises are increasingly becoming a show.

From the perspective of honing combat effectiveness, the Taiwan military does lack opportunities for military exercises:

The Taiwan military’s infantry-tank coordinated training bases are located in Hukou, Hsinchu and Baihe, Tainan.

Each unit has the opportunity to conduct infantry-tank coordination training only once every year and a half.

There is only one base for multi-service joint training, which is Baolishan Base in Pingtung County.

For each unit at this base, the rotation training interval is longer, with each unit only taking a turn every two years.

This means that many first-year soldiers will never get a turn in their entire service career.

The only chance may be the annual Han Kuang Exercise, but the Han Kuang Exercise now does not even have a simulated enemy force, and is basically just a show of weapon shooting.