DEFENSE/Taiwan Navy holds drills to test combat capabilities

Kaohsiung, Jan. 31 (CNA) Taiwan's Marine Corps. conducted a maritime exercise at the Zuoying Naval Base in Kaohsiung Wednesday, which featured a mine-laying ship and a locally-made assault boat carrying out maritime surveillance and combat missions in order to practice defending against a Chinese attack.

The objective of the drills, held in waters off Zuoying Harbor, was to test the ability of the Marine Corps. to rapidly detect Chinese military activities and to test their combat readiness and ability.

During the exercise, the naval forces made an emergency departure from the harbor with a minelayer and the indigenous M109 Assault Boat and carried out several tasks, including surveillance and using radar systems and drones to provide battleship forces with an early warning of approaching hostile forces.

Officers and soldiers told CNA on the M109 assault boat that during the drills, the M109 assault boat played a key role in the operation, bringing sea and land forces together to respond to China's "gray zone" operations near Taiwan and maintain maritime safety.

The minelayer is equipped with GPS tracking technology that enhances the effectiveness of maritime minelaying operations and delays enemy attacks.

The exercise also featured demonstrations of mobile missile launcher vehicles carrying Hsiung Feng II and Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles, engaging in maritime control and combat missions.

Commander Chu Chun-yin (朱俊穎), an executive officer of a squadron affiliated with the Haifeng Brigade, the Navy's ground-based anti-ship missile unit, said the unit has transformed since its establishment in 1987 from a fixed position equipped with Hsiung Feng II and III missiles to a mobile missile vehicle group also equipped with missiles capable of destroying both land-based and naval targets.