Taiwan wants to train an effective reserve force. Will live-fire drills do the job?
Challenges in forging conscripts into fighting force range from inadequate training facilities to eroding public will to defend the island
The Taiwanese cabinet’s latest policy report states that, starting this year, conscripts will be organised into full battalion-level units and attached to combined-arms brigades taking part in the high-intensity Lien Yung three-service live-fire exercises.
Conscripts will experience realistic battlefield conditions alongside professional soldiers equipped with advanced weapons in the drills, which integrate air force strike aircraft, army attack helicopters, naval gunfire and ground forces into a single combat scenario.
Officials said the shift marked a break from Taiwan’s past practice of treating conscripts mainly as static garrison manpower, turning them instead into an integral part of its war-fighting architecture.
“This is about turning garrison units – usually made up of conscripts – into something that can actually fight with the main force,” a defence official familiar with the programme said.
“We are no longer preparing conscripts just to hold ground. They have to be able to operate inside a combined-arms battlefield.”