Overview
- Taiwan's military fired U.S.-supplied HIMARS rockets into the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, using reduced-range training rounds that fell into nearby waters rather than crossing to the mainland.
- The exercise, staged from Taichung on the island's west coast, was meant to simulate attacks on an invading force and demonstrate 'shoot-and-scoot' mobility that lets launchers fire then relocate to avoid counterstrike.
- Officials and commanders said this was the first live-fire of HIMARS into waters facing China, building on earlier east-coast tests and showing operational use from likely landing-zone approaches.
- HIMARS has a reported range of about 300 km, which could reach coastal Fujian province, and Taipei pairs the system with domestic Thunderbolt-2000 launchers and growing anti-ship stocks as part of an asymmetric 'porcupine' defense.
- Washington's December plan to sell 82 additional HIMARS to Taiwan now appears on hold after a recent Trump–Xi meeting, a development that raises near-term questions about resupply and the wider regional signal and economic risks tied to Taiwan's security.