Taiwan carried out Monday (May 12, 2025) its first live-firing of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) bought from the United States, because the self-ruled island upgrades its capabilities to repel a possible Chinese assault.
China claims Taiwan is an element of its territory and has threatened to make use of power to carry the island underneath its management.
Taiwan can be massively outgunned in any warfare with China and for many years has been shopping for U.S. army weapons and gear as a deterrence towards Beijing.
The first batch of 11 HIMARS have been delivered to Taiwan in November.
The truck-mounted models can launch a number of precision-guided rockets on the similar time, and has been utilized by Ukraine towards Russia of their ongoing battle.
AFP journalists watched Monday as Taiwan’s Army launched rockets from the HIMARS on the Jiupeng base in southern Pingtung County.
Colonel Ho Chih-chung advised reporters that U.S. technical personnel have been current throughout the live-fire and helped to resolve a “signal error” throughout the first spherical when the three launchers failed to fireside concurrently.
“We believe this exercise provides an opportunity to enhance our troubleshooting capabilities, allowing us to better demonstrate realistic combat readiness in the event of war,” Ho stated.
Washington severed official diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979 in favour of Beijing, however has remained Taiwan’s most essential backer and arms provider.
In the previous 5 many years, the United States has bought Taiwan billions of {dollars} value of army gear and ammunition, together with F-16 fighter jets and warships, angering China.
Published – May 13, 2025 02:21 am IST
