Every year, Taiwan’s military organizes an open day at CCK Air Force Base in Taichung to showcase the inventory of the air force and ground forces. Following photos were taken on July 19, 2014.

This was one of the first opportunities for public to see the newly acquired AH-64E Apache Guardian, making Taiwan the first foreign operator of the most advanced version of these iconic attack helicopters. From the ground forces inventory, two domestically developed platforms deserve attention: multiple rocket launcher system (MLRS) Thunderbolt-2000 and CM-32 Cloud Leopard armored personal carrier/infantry fighting vehicle (APC/IFV). The former with mission to attack enemy forces attempting amphibious landing, the latter ensuring troop mobility. Taiwan’s most powerful main battle tank, the M60A3 TTS, was also on display. Although M60A3 TTS is not as dashing as more advanced MBTs such as M1 Abrams, Leclerc, or Leopard 2, it is still formidable weapon and the upgrades are keeping it fairly competitive (besides being much more economic).

Air force was naturally well represented on one of its major air bases, including all types of fighter jets: F-16A/B Fighting Falcon, F-CK-1C/D IDF, Mirage-2000EI/DI, and F-5E/F Tiger II.

Navy was represented by S-70 helicopter and S-2T maritime patrol plane.

AH-64E Apache Guardian (USA)

Thunderbolt-2000 MLRS (Taiwan)

M48H/CM-11 (USA/Taiwan) & CM-32 Cloud Leopard (Taiwan)

See also:

• Taiwan’s Military Flexes its Muscles, Photo Essay from Han Kuang 29 annual exercise by J. Michael Cole (The Diplomat)
• Flickr Account of Youth Daily (青年日報), magazine published by the military, has great collection of photos.

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All photos by Michal Thim, re-use possible under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.