news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

[text/observer.com wang shichun] according to a taiwan media report on august 28, the taiwan army once again made mistakes in the annual anti-tank weapons live-fire shooting exercise. the 269th brigade of the taiwan army deployed four newly arrived m1167 "hummer" chassis "tow" anti-tank missile launchers, using the vehicle equipped with the m41a7 "itas" launch system, and fired 17 old-fashioned "tow-2a" anti-tank missiles in a row to attack various targets at sea.

however, the shooting results were not satisfactory. among the 17 anti-tank missiles fired by the taiwan military, only 8 hit the stationary target, with a hit rate of only 41%. the hit rate of the ship-shaped target 2 kilometers away was only 25%. this embarrassing shooting result also triggered criticism from taiwanese netizens. some taiwanese netizens accused the united states of providing "defective products", and some retired taiwanese veterans said that the shooters were of poor quality and would "all miss the target" in a tense wartime environment.

regarding the result of this shooting, some taiwanese veterans argued that this phenomenon occurred because the bullets fired were "old bullets" that had been stored for at least 15 years and had a high probability of failure. in addition, the exercise scene was designed unreasonably and the shooter did not have enough time to aim.

taiwan's military's humvee missile launcher fired live ammunition, but the missile exploded in the water just after it was fired. taiwan media

since this year's "han kuang" exercise was cancelled due to the typhoon, the annual live-fire shooting subjects of many units of the taiwan military have been delayed until now. the taiwan military carried out the "tianma exercise" at the pingtung fangshan shooting range from august 26 to 27. the taiwan military invited the media to visit the new "tow-2b" launcher for live-fire training. this is also the first live-fire exercise after the 100 us-made m1167 "hummer" chassis "tow" anti-tank missile launchers purchased by the taiwan military arrived in taiwan.

the weather at the fangshan shooting range was cloudy and rainy on the afternoon of the 26th, but the 269th brigade of the taiwan army still deployed four newly arrived m1167s, using the m41a7 "improved target acquisition system" (itas) "tow-2b" anti-tank missile launch system to fire live ammunition. since the united states has not yet delivered any "tow-2b" anti-tank missiles, this exercise plans to launch 17 old-fashioned "tow-2a" anti-tank missiles in stock to attack various targets at sea.

however, the live-fire shooting went wrong: the first two missiles accurately hit the target ship 1,500 meters away. but when the third launcher aimed at the target ship 2,000 meters away, it fell into the sea early. after that, only the 8th, 10th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 17th missiles hit the target. the wave shot by the media had a hit rate of 41%, of which the hit rate of the 2-kilometer target ship was 25%.

the "mistakes" in this exercise surprised all sectors of taiwan, because compared with the two types of tow launchers that the taiwan military already has, the hit rate of this batch of new tow-2b launchers should theoretically be higher. the m41a7itas carried by this batch of new tow-2b launchers integrates a new day and night aiming system, has a higher-resolution thermal imaging system, and the shooter can use the "auxiliary automatic tracking system" (track gate) to automatically lock the target. in theory, the stability and hit rate of this system will be better than the old system.

this embarrassing shooting result also triggered criticism from taiwanese netizens. some taiwanese netizens accused the united states of providing "defective products", saying "look at what kind of broken stuff the americans sold us... one problem after another! the tv promotional videos were all edited." or they accused the taiwan military shooters of "not being able to hit the target even when standing still at such a close distance. what can we do in the tense wartime situation?"

regarding the result of this shooting, a retired veteran who was in charge of missile business in taiwan argued that this phenomenon occurred because the bullets fired were "old bullets" that had been stored for at least 15 years and had a high probability of failure. in addition, the exercise scene was designed unreasonably and the shooter did not have enough time to aim.

the retired officer said that generally speaking, the launch site of the tow anti-tank missile should be at a high place, because the missile will only spray fire for 3 to 4 seconds after ignition, and then glide towards the target, so it must be fired from top to bottom; moreover, the missile range can reach 3 kilometers, so the traditional "tianma exercise" has problems in the design of the sea-based shooting exercise scene.

he said that because the scenario was designed with the target distance being too close, and the tow missile's initial trajectory was very unstable after launch, the closer the distance, the more difficult it was to hit the target because the shooter did not have enough time to aim.

the taiwan military has not yet responded to this.

it is worth mentioning that due to the delay in the delivery of new "tow-2b" missiles by the united states, the taiwan military's anti-tank missile inventory is currently in a "difficult situation" of one less missile per shot.

according to a report by taiwan's china times electronic news on june 17, the latest report submitted by taiwan's defense department to the legislature shows that due to factors such as tight u.s. military production and the failure of new batches of missiles to pass tests, the 1,700 "tow-2b" anti-tank missiles that the taiwan military finalized for purchase in 2017 were not only not delivered, but not even a single missile was shipped to taiwan.

according to reports, the contract was finalized in 2018 with a total price of nt$11.815164 billion. the original plan was to deliver it in two batches, with the first batch of 460 missiles in 2022 and another 1,240 missiles in 2024. however, as of june 2024, the delivery quantity was still 0.

the tow-2b aero rf anti-tank missile purchased by the taiwan military is a wireless extended-range version of the tow-2b anti-tank missile. it uses an explosively formed warhead and a top-skimming attack method with a maximum range of 4.5 kilometers. the tow-2b anti-tank missile is also an active equipment of the us army, equipped on infantry fighting vehicles and anti-tank missile launchers of the us army. since the outbreak of the russian-ukrainian conflict, the us military has provided a large number of tow-2b anti-tank missiles to the ukrainian army. =