Military to hold drills at Taitung river next monthWAR GAMES: The drills along the Taimali River are a continuation of the military’s shift to live-fire exercises that emphasize realistic, location-specific trainingBy Lo Tien-pin and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe military is to hold live-fire drills along the Taimali River (太麻里溪) in Taitung County’s Taimali Township (太麻里) next month for the first time in three decades, a source said yesterday. Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei TimesThe main focus of the Tianma Exercise would be live-fire training with anti-armor missiles, primarily the new TOW-2B RF systems, the source said. The military broke with tradition in August last year by conducting live-fire drills for the first time as part of a combat-oriented defense exercise at Taichung’s Dajia River (大甲溪), underscoring an increasing emphasis on realistic, location-specific training. The Harpoon missiles carried by the Feng Chia are evidently the RGM-84L Harpoon Block II variant, military analyst Mei Fu-hsing (梅復興) said. “The RGM-84L Harpoon Block II offers enhanced target discrimination in complex geographic environments,” he said.

Source: Taipei Times February 18, 2026 17:13 UTC