2nd edition of Army's national brigade-level drill extended to 10 days

Taipei, Sept. 6 (CNA) The second edition of the Army's nationwide brigade-level force-on-force exercise next month will take place over 10 days instead of seven, a military source said Sunday.

According to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, this year's Lu Sheng (陸勝) Exercise will involve the Taoyuan-based Army 269th Mechanized Infantry Brigade and the Kaohsiung-based 564th Combined Arms Brigade and take place from Oct. 14 to 23.

As with the inaugural edition in 2025, this year's drill will focus on testing 24-hour combat readiness, dispersed command-and-control operations, unscripted and realistic war scenarios, and rules of engagement (ROE) to assess the two key combat units' defensive capabilities in the event of a Chinese invasion, the source said.

Last year's Lu Sheng exercise lasted seven days and six nights, while this year's drill has been extended to nine nights and 10 days, the source added.

Another key feature of Lu Sheng is the deployment of the U.S.-developed Team Awareness Kit (TAK), which allows Army commanders to track friendly forces, mark enemy units and receive real-time updates.

The Army also uses a new "firepower value" system during the exercise to assess the combat effectiveness of different military units or weapons systems, according to the source.

Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR) told CNA that "firepower value" is a fundamental metric used during military exercises or tabletop war games, similar to a batter's batting average or a pitcher's earned run average in baseball.

Using the system, the Army can calculate which brigade has the upper hand in a force-on-force confrontation based on factors including distance, troop strength, and military equipment, Su said.

Another INDSR scholar, Shu Hsiao-huang (舒孝煌), told CNA that the force-on-force Lu Sheng exercise would make it easier for the Army to identify potential vulnerabilities within each brigade, including in fire support integration, target acquisition and logistics, and make adjustments accordingly.

Lu Sheng was first held in 2025, when the Army integrated regional brigade-level drills into a single exercise.

Previously, brigade-level exercises were held under the names Chang Ching (長青) in central Taiwan, Chang Tai (長泰) in northern Taiwan, and Chang Sheng (長勝) in southern Taiwan.