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HIMARS firing set to be closely watched part of drills

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US-supplied weapon can reach Chinese coastal ports

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Concealment vital in wartime deployment, military says

By Ann Wang

TAICHUNG, Taiwan, July 12 (Reuters) - Taiwan's military

began deploying one of its newest and most precise strike

weapons on Saturday, ahead of live-fire drills meant to showcase

the island's determination to resist any Chinese invasion.

Two armoured trucks with HIMARS - High Mobility Artillery

Rocket Systems - were seen manoeuvring around the city of

Taichung near Taiwan's central coast on the fourth of 10 days of

its most comprehensive annual exercises yet.

The live-fire portion of the Han Kuang drills is expected

next week.

In wartime, said Colonel Chen Lian-jia, a military

spokesperson, it would be vital to conceal HIMARS from enemy

aerial reconnaissance, satellites "or even enemy operatives

behind our lines" until the order to fire was given.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own and

has intensified military pressure around the island over the

last five years, staging a string of intense war games and daily

naval and air force patrols around the territory.

Taiwan rejects China's sovereignty claims, with President

Lai Ching-te saying only Taiwan's people can decide their

future.

China's defence ministry said this week the Han Kuang drills

were "nothing but a bluff" while its foreign ministry said its

opposition to U.S.-Taiwan military ties was "consistent and very

firm".

Regional military attaches say the HIMARS deployment in a

warlike exercise will be closely watched, given that they have

been used extensively by Ukraine against Russian forces.

Australia has also purchased the Lockheed Martin ( LMT )

systems.

Taiwan took delivery last year of the first 11 of 29 HIMARS

units, testing them for the first time in May. With a range of

about 300 km (190 miles), the weapons could strike coastal

targets in China's southern province of Fujian on the other side

of the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwanese military analysts say the weapon would be used

with its locally developed Thunderbolt 2000 launchers so Chinese

forces could be targeted as they left port or attempted to land

on Taiwan's coast. A Thunderbolt unit was also seen in a park

near the HIMARS units.

Senior Taiwanese military officials say the Han Kuang drills

are unscripted and designed to replicate full combat conditions,

starting with simulated enemy attacks on communications and

command systems, leading to a full-blown invasion scenario.

The drills aim to show China and the international

community, including Taiwan's key weapons supplier the U.S.,

that Taiwan is determined to defend itself against any Chinese

attack or invasion, the officials say.