《TAIPEI TIMES》 Marines join Taipei defense exercise

CROSS-SERVICE: The exercise focuses on integrating the capabilities of separate military branches, i...…

Service members participating in a joint defense exercise operate tanks on the streets of Taoyuan yesterday.  Photo: Screen grab from the Internet

CROSS-SERVICE: The exercise focuses on integrating the capabilities of separate military branches, improving joint operations and testing decentralized command structures

The military yesterday began a joint defense exercise featuring Marine Corps units mobilizing to reinforce the Taipei metropolitan area.

The five-day exercise simulates scenarios including the detection of hostile vessels entering Taiwan’s territorial waters, focusing on integrating the capabilities of the separate military branches and improving joint operations, testing decentralized command structures, and command-and-control mechanisms.

A key component of the exercise involved Marine Corps units conducting mobile reinforcement operations, with dozens of military vehicles, including trucks, field ambulances and communications vehicles deploying from southern Taiwan to Taipei’s Nangang District （南港） and New Taipei City’s Sijhih District （汐止） to establish temporary command posts and conduct reconnaissance.

The exercise is designed to test whether operation commands can maintain independent operations while using distributed and decentralized command mechanisms, said Su Tzu-yun （蘇紫雲）, a research fellow at the government-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research.

It requires a higher level of engagement than regular combat readiness drills conducted separately by individual services because it is cross-service, although it is less expansive than the annual Han Kuang exercise, he said.

The Marine Corps has significantly modernized and broadened its capabilities, including the use of uncrewed aerial vehicles and portable Stinger surface-to-air missiles, while upgrading individual equipment and improving interoperability with partner countries, Su said.