Does Taiwan Army need an MBT?

[Big-E]

That's true enough. But then, those Marines that would be attacking would also be supported by a terrifying selection and numbers of proven strike weapons and force multiplyers. Basically they can do more with less.

Not to mention the 101st and 82nd airborne divisions. Just by seizing one of the outlaying islands would make for staging areas to launch their assault. With Navy Seal Teams, Army Rangers and Green Berrets causing all kinds of mayhem ROC forces wouldn't know what hit them. IMO the only way China will ever have a chance of taking Taiwan by force is to mirror the assualt capabilities of US forces. Taiwan is a tough nut to crack but to say the US can't do it means China might as well give up right now.3

 

[chinawhite]

Does taiwan needs tanks or armoured vehicles?. Considering that there wouldn't be a difference betweena M-60 with a 105mm and a armoured vechicle with a 105mm getting hit with a ATGM like the H-8, i would consider the more mobile armoured vehicle. But if those armoured vechicles take away money from more essential forces like the navy or the airforce than armoured vechicles would have a lower priority

The most important event is not whether the taiwanese or chinese will win the beachhead or the airwar but what happens elsewhere. The war will not be dictated by the actual batles being fought

Taiwan doesn't need more tanks, planes or submainres, their policy is not for an actual war but merely a hold their ground for the calulated US intervention. It would surprise me very much if any taiwanese plan doesn't constitute some type of US backed action.

What changed from the offical plans is the change of government. In the 1960s-1980s you had a government that knew a war with china was going to turn into a world war. They were not planning something stupid and that was shown in the equipment they had. They were planning a war without US aid which shows in the number of indgenious weaponary they were making.The government in taiwan nowdays wants to do something stupid and knows that the world is a different place and governments wont bend backwards to fight a long drawn out war.

But back to the original question, which army in the world doesn't need some type of strike force?. What would you be planning then?. Infantry with portable anti-tank missiles?

 

[Gollevainen]

The Red Army that finished off the Germans in the East could have taken Finland. I don't say easily but it would have been accomplished.

A few key factors:

• Size of Red Army and Airforce (how many tank divisions did Finland have? Vs Soviet Union)
• Industrial base (how many tanks did Finland churn out? Artillery? Munitions?) Could Finland sustain for a lengthy period weapons/munitions/fuel production greater than the losses incurred and feed its soldiers?
• Willingness of Stalin and Generals to sacrifice soldiers
• Red Army incorporating the lessons learn't fighting in years since the disastrous Winter War campaign. Clearly it wasn't the same army that Finland brought to a standstill in 1939
• Small population of Finland = limited pool of able soldiers/limit to acceptable losses before Armed Forces become non viable entity.
• Raw numbers. In every quantifiable measurement, the Soviet Union dominates Finland.

What Finland achieved was remarkable and a testament to the martial prowess of its Armed Forces and of course to the Generalship of Mannerheim but don't let national pride distort a plain truth. Finland would not have survived the full enslaught of the Red Army.

As for a Taiwanese survival scenario. Are the majority of citizens of Taiwan inclined to defend their sovereignty with the same vigour as the Finns? Does common ethnicity play into this? Does mainstream Taiwan see itself as eventually being incorporated into a Greater China? If the answer to that is yes, then an invasion scenario is really academic. China will probably absorb Taiwan by default and by virtue of its own economic/political/social/cultural power. (Anyone who's played Sid Meier's Civ knows the power of cultural et al influence). Factor in lack of international recognition of Taiwan's status and from where I sit, things don't look good for continued Taiwanese independence.

Eventually, the forces for an independently assertive Taiwan could be sidelined through a strong China and and see Taiwan quietly incorporated into its large neighbour.

well if they could have, why didn't they? Becouse they knew that braking our defences wasen't worth of the effort + face the very hard partizan phase of the war after occupation. And thats the key of all small nations defences, factor that is so easily forgotten when citizens of superpower states begun to play war games. All the things you listed atop there, but the fact remains, Finnish army whit small nazi contignent stopped the attack in summer of 44, as well as the attacks were stopped in winter 40. Soviets put all of their possiple forces against us, but it wasent sufficent.

But then we comes to Taiwan. Foreing finnish sympathisers usually forgets that back in 1918, we fougth bloody civil war between the white and the reds and 30,000 workers where massacured directly commanded by Mannerheim. Yet, when soviet invasions begun, only handfull of our communist defected to the Stalins army or needed to be inprizoned by the finnish white governement. National pride is amazing thing that cannot be so easily overwieved. Soviets certainly counted in for larger dissent and acceptance to their liberation, but get kicked to their balls, largelry becouse everyone knew how marvelous place the 'workers heaven' would have been....as does the current Taiwanese know what sort of fate waits them under PRC rule.

But one of the most frustrating and useless thing that one can do in militaryforum is to try to convice a finn that Rusians can invade us, so please, no more finland in Taiwan topic...at least as long as I am standing on guard, no russian can get trough:kar

 

[tntsas]

What are you going to do... detonate a nuclear blast in the atmosphere? Your just asking for WWIII.:mad3

The Electromagnetic pulse bomb i talked about is a kind of Non- nuclear electromagnetic pulse bomb.It produces the power electromagnetic pulse by using the blasting explosive detonation compressing magnetic flux .
China will not use nuclear weapon on compatriot.
Maybe my words mislead you.I think i should say this again.My english is poor,very very poor.

 

[tntsas]

Out goes WWIII in comes WWI.:lol2

Yes, it is the best method for a backward army to fight against a advanced army.