The 38 Abrams tanks recently delivered to Taiwan represent the first sale of a new kind of tank to the Republic of China in 30 years (“Taiwan gets its first US Abrams tanks as it prepares for a possible invasion by China,” Business Insider, December 16. 2024).
The more prepared Taiwan is to fight a war against China, the more likely it is to deter it. The People’s Republic of China professes undying determination to “re”-unite with Taiwan, which the PRC has never governed.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense shared pictures of tanks being moved on cranes, with the message: “Heavy Armors Have Arrived!”
The M1A2 Abrams is an advanced and heavy battle tank and is considered among the best tanks in the world.
Their arrival is likely to anger China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory.
According to Taiwan’s semi-official Central News Agency, the last tank delivery from the US to Taiwan began in 1994.
However, the US approved the possible sale of 108 Abrams tanks to Taiwan in 2019.
CNA reported that in addition to the 38 tanks already delivered, 42 are due to arrive next year, and 28 in 2026….
Meanwhile, Lin Jian, China’s foreign ministry spokesman, urged the US on Monday to “stop arming Taiwan” and said the US should stop “supporting Taiwan independence forces,” per AFP.
In October 2024, the ROC conducted a nighttime training exercise using flares, machine guns, and tanks—M60A3 tanks—to prepare “for a scenario in which Chinese forces launch an attack with drones and boats in the darkness…. Infantry were primarily aiming for imaginary drones in the sky, while the tanks fired lower in the air, toward imaginary ships.”
A December 7, 2024 piece in the Taipei Times says that the M1 tanks “would be a great improvement…. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have designs dating to the 1980s, retired major general Kuo Li-sheng said.”
In Kuo’s view, the M1A2T has better firepower and mobility and offers better protection than the other tanks the ROC has on hand.
With respect to firepower, the M1A2T is more advanced than the tanks in Taiwanese service by multiple generations, Kuo said.
Most significantly, the M1A2T demonstrates “impressive target acquisition capabilities” due to being equipped with a 40-power magnification thermal imager capable of distinguishing a human face at 2km, he said.
M60A3 and CM-11 tanks are equipped with far less capable devices that have 6-to-8-power magnification, Kuo said.
The Warzone opines that although the upgrade “is obvious,” the Abrams may be too “big and heavy…for the island’s very particular defensive requirements.”
The Abrams “is a big, heavy, expensive, and maintenance-intensive machine. Even sustaining these tanks in combat is a big ask, with their gas-turbine engines placing significant demands on fuel specifically.” And this tank is “arguably not best suited to the kinds of urban warfare that the ROCA might have to engage in if it meets a PLA invasion…..”
Book the Booker
TWZ quotes an unidentified armor expert to make a pitch for the M10 Booker as a better match for Taiwan’s terrain.
“The Booker would prove a valuable platform in a Taiwan ground fight…. About two-thirds of the island is mostly rugged mountains. It features flat to rolling plains in the densely populated west, which faces mainland China. The M10’s smaller size…would allow it to better maneuver [than the Abrams] through the tight, restricted urban areas where much of the fighting would take place.”
On the other hand, says The Warzone, “the M1A2T Abrams at least offers a much higher level of capabilities than the tanks otherwise in Taiwanese service.”
