According to Taiwan media reports on January 19, the Taiwan Army Command confirmed today that it will buy a vehicle-mounted "Volcano" land-based mobile mine-laying system for the U.S. military under the name of the "Nine Array Project". Some experts reminded that the production of this equipment has been discontinued for many years, and there are no new products to purchase. They can only buy refurbished products that have been in service for 20 or 30 years. The problem of disappearing commercial sources is likely to cause a headache for the Taiwan Army.
Mei Fuxing, director of the Taiwan Strait Security Research Center in the United States, said through a Facebook post today that the plan to build a mobile minelaying system can be regarded as a relatively low-cost asymmetric defense capability. However, the M136 "Volcano" system was developed in the United States in the 1980s and entered service in the 1990s. It has been discontinued for many years. Whether it is still possible to buy new products now, or even reopen the production line for manufacturing, even if the cost can be ignored, I am afraid it is very doubtful.
Mei Fuxing further said that, of course, the Taiwan military may also intend to purchase stock from the U.S. military in order to quickly obtain and build up its combat power. However, for equipment that has been in service for 20 or 30 years, the problem of disappearing commercial sources is likely to cause an extremely headache for the Taiwan Army. In fact, in order to unpack and redeploy the M136 system in stock a few years ago, the U.S. military had to renovate it first to restore it to a proper condition.
Mei Fuxing reminded that although Taiwan’s military should have taken these things into consideration when constructing the case, I would like to remind them here in good faith, hoping that public opinion organizations can get a deeper understanding of the budget before approving it.
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