TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan will include the new M1A2T tanks in live-fire exercises next week.

According to a Fisheries Agency notification, the Army's Armor Training Command will begin exercises at the Kengzikou range in Hsinchu County on Monday. Sources confirmed to CNA that drills include the M1A2T tanks. 

The notification said training will run from mid-June to mid-July, with some drills at night. The weapons used are classified under “surface weapons,” with a maximum trajectory altitude of 2,000 feet (609 meters) and radius of 3 nautical miles (5.55 km).

With the tanks in the pre-commissioning training phase, live-fire drills will progress gradually. The training will not begin with the main 120mm tank gun but will start with the 7.62mm M240 coaxial machine gun. 

Lieutenant General Huang Wen-chi (黃文啓), director of the Ministry of National Defense's Department of Strategic Planning, previously said the M1A2T tanks will not be commissioned until the end of the year. They will not take part in the live-fire component of the 41st Han Kuang exercise in July.