The Third Combat Zone implemented live firing of towed 2B missiles in Yilan in June this year. (Provided by Military News Agency)
[Reporter Luo Tianbin/Reporting from Taipei] The National Army's anti-armor troops have ushered in a new generation of combat capabilities. The purchase of "towed 2B radio frequency missiles" and new launch vehicles from the US military that have attracted much attention in the past have been fully installed, and training intensity is being fully increased. The situation in the past that was often ridiculed by the outside world as "missiles are expensive, so we can only save them by shooting them" has become a thing of the past. According to the latest shooting bulletin released by the government department, the Sixth Army Corps (Third Combat Area) responsible for northern defense will conduct live-fire shooting in the Hsinchu area again in mid-September after conducting large-scale drills in late August, setting a rare record of conducting "Tianma Exercise" for two consecutive months.
In order to take anti-armor firepower to a higher level, the Ministry of National Defense has launched the "High-Efficiency Anti-Armor Missile" project since 2018 (107th year of the Republic of China), investing a total of NT$11.815164 billion in expensive economic projects. It spent money to purchase 1,700 of the latest "towed 2B radio frequency" anti-armor missiles from the United States, including 100 launch systems (ITAS) and 100 new M1167 armored Humvees. This batch of high-end asymmetric combat weapons, which was once delayed due to US production capacity, was immediately put into intensive combat readiness after they were all shipped to Taiwan and distributed to the troops. This has also become a solid foundation for the Chinese military to carry out large-scale and high-frequency live ammunition firing in the near future.
Pegasus exercises sometimes also include live ammunition shooting by gray manned aircraft. The picture shows an Altius-600M drone firing live ammunition into the sea during the "UAV Live Fire Shooting and Tianma Exercise" implemented in June this year. (Provided by Military News Agency)
The "Tianma Exercise" is the most important anti-armor live-fire exercise of the year for the National Army. It mainly uses towed missiles and javelin missiles to fire live ammunition, and sometimes also adds attack drones newly transferred to the troops. In the past, in order to take into account shooting safety and target area restrictions, troops usually moved to the southern beaches of Pingtung such as Fangshan, Jiupeng or Jialutang. However, in order to implement the "actual combat" training requirements of the Ministry of National Defense, this tradition will undergo major changes starting in 2026, and each combat zone will officially conduct drills at on-site tactical positions in their respective jurisdictions. To put it simply, it means that it will no longer be concentrated in the south, but will be "spread everywhere" in the respective theaters, allowing officers and soldiers to conduct on-the-spot, actual equipment and live ammunition tests directly in the defense areas where they may fight in the future.
According to the latest firing notification announcement, the Sixth Army Corps of the Army has submitted a training site notification for the "Pegasus Live Fire Exercise in the Second Half of 2015". The document clearly stated that the Sixth Army planned to conduct live ammunition firing at Fengkeng Beach in the Xinfeng area of Hsinchu for three consecutive days on September 16, 17, and 18, from 8:00 to 12:00 every day. Since the Sixth Army had just completed a wave of Pegasus exercises at the Kengzikou training ground around August 27, and was personally supervised by the commander of the army, this meant that the northern anti-armor troops had to fire live ammunition twice in a row in less than a month, showing their determination to conduct large-scale troop training.
In fact, the 2026 Tianma exercise has been lively since the beginning of the year. The first one to start was the Eastern Second Combat Area. In March, it restarted the Taimali Creek outlet target area in Taitung after 30 years; The district implemented the "UAV Live Fire Shooting and Pegasus Exercise". Today, the anti-armor platoon of the 584th Brigade of the Army Alliance conducted a towed 2A missile detection shooting and a towed 2B missile verification shooting. Through actual combat training courses, the troops' anti-armor combat capabilities and training results were reviewed.
In late August, the 10th Army Corps in the center, the 8th Army Corps in the south, and the 6th Army Corps in the north took over for intensive training. Among them, the 564th Brigade of the Southern Fourth Combat Area (Eighth Army Corps) used the new towed 2B missile in a sea firing on August 26, setting an impressive record of 100% hits. In the past two years, the national army has officially test-fired the towed 2B for the first time in 2025, and it has been flying everywhere in all combat zones in 2026, showing that the new equipment has formed combat effectiveness and the troops are becoming more and more comfortable in operation.
The performance of this newly handed over to the troops "Towed 2B missile" is very powerful, completely overturning the shortcomings of traditional towed missiles in the past. The old Towed 2A relied on "pulling wires" for guidance. If the missile flew over the sea or an obstacle, it could easily lose control due to the breakage of the copper wire. The new generation of Towed 2B uses advanced radio frequency guidance, and its maximum range extends to 4,500 meters. The most powerful thing is that it has the ability to "top attack". The missile will fly over the enemy tank above the line of sight, detonate directly above, and penetrate the most vulnerable roof armor downwards. This time, the Sixth Army Corps conducted an intensive top attack drill on Fengkeng Beach, which has extremely high tactical significance for consolidating the northern beach and countering enemy landing armored vehicles.
