TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan received the final batch of 28 M1A2T main battle tanks from the United States on Sunday (April 26), completing a landmark armor modernization program. The NT$40.52 billion (around US$1.29 billion) procurement spans fiscal years 2019 to 2027. Military officials say the 108-tank fleet could achieve full operational capability by year's end, marking Taiwan's first acquisition of top-tier main battle tanks.
The tanks arrived at Taipei Port aboard a cargo vessel on Sunday evening. Civilian flatbed trucks began transporting the vehicles shortly after midnight Monday. Military police and regular police provided escort and traffic control along the route to the Army Armor Training Command (陸軍裝甲兵訓練指揮部) in Hukou, Hsinchu County.
Reporters observed more than a dozen flatbed trucks departing Taipei Port starting at 12:10 a.m. Monday. Each truck carried a tank wrapped in black waterproof covering. The vehicles traveled via the Western Coastal Expressway toward Hsinchu, with military police vehicles positioned at the front and rear of the transport convoy.
A military official told local media the final 28 tanks will be allocated to Combined Arms Brigade 584 (聯兵584旅), completing that unit's full conversion to the new platform. The brigade is responsible for beach counterattack operations at Linkou's Baodao Beach and for defending Taipei Port, according to United Daily News reports.
The 108 tanks are distributed among three Army units concentrated in northern Taiwan. The Armor Training Command receives 10 tanks for training and doctrine development. Brigade 584 receives 84 tanks across six companies. Combined Arms Brigade 269 (聯兵269旅) receives 14 tanks for anti-air assault operations in the Linkou area.
Brigade 269's tank company is temporarily stationed at Jinlong Camp (金龍營區) near the Linkou-Guishan border, adjacent to a highway interchange. The unit is tasked with countering enemy air assault operations in Linkou and blocking hostile forces from using the highway to advance northward into Taipei, according to United Daily News.
The M1A2T, widely described as one of the world's most capable main battle tanks, features a 120mm smoothbore gun capable of penetrating 850mm of homogeneous steel armor at effective range. The tank incorporates a Hunter-Killer targeting system, digital command and control systems, and an Inter-Vehicular Information System for real-time battlefield data sharing among vehicles.
The first batch of 38 tanks arrived in December 2024 and completed live-fire verification in July 2025. Four tanks fired 19 rounds during the exercise at Hsinchu's Kengzikou training ground, with all rounds hitting targets designed to simulate the frontal profile of Chinese tanks. The unit achieved operational status in October 2025.
The M1A2T replaces Taiwan's aging fleet of approximately 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger tanks and M60A3 tanks that have been in service for more than 20 years. In addition to the 108 tanks, the procurement package includes 14 M88A2 armored recovery vehicles, 16 M1070A1 heavy transport vehicles and 16 M1000 transport trailers.
Defense analysts have raised questions about whether Army training and doctrine have evolved to match the new hardware. Hsu Chih-hsiang (許智翔), an assistant researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research (國防安全研究院), said the Army should observe whether it has improved corresponding operational doctrine and tactics.
Hsu noted that Russia's advanced T-80 tanks suffered repeated destruction on battlefields in Ukraine and Chechnya due to a lack of compatible tactics. He said the M1A2T's enhanced protection could improve the effectiveness of combined infantry-tank operations in urban combat scenarios, where older tanks would be quickly destroyed.
Last year, military writer Huang Jun-min (黃竣民) also said publicly released M1A2T training still focuses on traditional field terrain. Taiwan's defense strategy has shifted toward urban resilience, and the Army should strengthen urban warfare, field air defense and ground-air coordination training, Huang said. The status of such classified training programs, if any, was not immediately clear.
The Ministry of National Defense did not comment on the operational timeline for the new tanks. U.S. and Taiwanese personnel are expected to conduct joint inspection and handover procedures before the tanks enter service, though details of that process were not immediately available. ◼ (At time of reporting, US$1 equals approximately NT$31.44)