The Republic of China Army on October 31 operationalised its first battalion of M1A2T Abrams major battle tanks, with the brand new unit based mostly at Hukou base in Hsinchu County at a ceremony attended by senior political and defence officers. The third Mixed Arms Battalion of the 584th Armoured Brigade has transitioned to the tank from the CM-11 Courageous Tiger, variant of the M48 tank which dates again to the Fifties. Abrams tanks have been first delivered in December 2024, and subsequently underwent ten months of integration and coaching. A second batch delivered in July 2025 introduced the fleet measurement to 42 autos. The Abrams is the primary post-ColdWar kind of latest battle tank the Army has been in a position to convey into service, largely because of the Republic of China’s lack of worldwide recognition and its present state of civil warfare with the Folks’s Republic of China authorities based mostly on the Chinese language mainland, which has resulted in severe difficulties gaining permission to acquire navy gear.
Coaching for M1A2T crews on the Hukou Armor Coaching Command started in early 2025, whereas in July 4 of the tanks participated in a live-fire train on the newly constructed Kengzikou Vary as a part of the Han Kuang 41 navy drills. Commenting on the efficiency of the brand new tanks, Captain Cheng Yu-chun noticed on the time that their procurement was a “main leap ahead in firepower, mobility and safety” in comparison with the ageing M60A3 tank beforehand relied on to equip elite items. Commander of the 584th Armoured Brigade Main Normal Chou Kuang-i noticed the tank’s superior “hunter-killer” system, observing: “It permits the gunner to have interaction a goal whereas the commander makes use of an unbiased thermal sight to find the subsequent one.” “This drastically will increase engagement effectivity and situational consciousness in comparison with older-generation tanks.”
Though representing a serious leap ahead in capabilities, the M1A2 Abrams’ suitability for circumstances on Taiwan Island the place the Republic of China’s floor forces are based mostly have repeatedly been dropped at query, as has its viability at a time when the necessities for major battle tanks have modified quickly as a result of technological advances. The Abrams has confirmed extremely weak to assaults utilizing even comparatively fundamental anti-tank weapons when deployed by the Iraqi Army and the Ukrainian Army. By early June 2025 the Ukrainian Army was assessed to have misplaced 87 % of the American sourced autos, with 27 of the 31 Abrams tanks destroyed or captured, regardless of prior Western expectations that the autos might signify a recreation changer within the theatre. As a part of a a lot smaller tank fleet dealing with mainland China’s a lot bigger array of extra superior anti-tank belongings, the M1A2T fleet is anticipated to face a lot greater attrition charges if utilized in fight.
Assessments of the efficiency of the Abrams and different Western tank sorts within the Ukrainain theatre has cemented a consensus amongst analysts that present U.S. and European tank designs, that are by far the heaviest on this planet, are constructed round a design philosophy that’s now out of date. As noticed in early October by former British Army officer and outstanding defence commentator Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Crawford, the “present technology of Western major battle tanks, Leopard 2, M1A2 Abrams, and now CR3, are more and more seen as too massive, heavy, expensive, and weak to justify additional growth alongside conventional strains.” “The normal three-crew turret structure is outdated when autoloaders and distant turrets are broadly accessible,” Crawford noticed on the time, with the brand new a lot greater configuration pioneered by mainland China’s Sort 100 major battle tank anticipated to be emulated throughout a lot of the world to constructed tanks nicely suited to the period of drone warfare and loitering munitions.
With the Abrams tanks having been ordered earlier than the outbreak of warfare in Ukraine shifted the consensus on their efficiency, whereas Taipei has confronted appreciable U.S. strain to maintain defence orders, it stays unsure how the Army will reply to rising questions concerning the autos’ obsolescence. The U.S. Army has itself responded to new developments by scrapping plans to incrementally modernise the Abrams, and as a substitute prioritising the funding of a radical redesign below the M1E3 program. The brand new variant will see the tank’s crew minimize to a few, an autoloader put in, and crew safety elevated, whereas weight is decreased by roughly 25 %, narrowing the hole with the most recent mainland Chinese language advances. The likelihood stays important that the M1E3 will probably be marketed to the Republic of China Armed Forces in future.
