Taiwan's Military: A few (heh) Problems

Whaddaya know. I blog that Taiwan's equipment is in worse condition than everyone thinks, and lo and behold, the Taipei Times hands me a great article on the condition of the local war stuff:

"The quality of weapons and equipment used by the military was so poor, and I think this has eroded the military's combat capability," Jung added.

For example, Jung said, there were about 40 armored vehicles in his unit. While the unit told its supervisors that all vehicles were combat-ready, military personnel in the unit knew that just half of the vehicles were operational.

and don't miss this:

The indictment of former Armed Forces Reserve Command vice commander Lieutenant General Hsieh Kang Chien (謝抗建) last month revealed why the armed forces' weapons and equipment are so bad, and that corruption in the military is still rampant.

According to Taipei prosecutors, Hsieh and former army rear admiral Yao Kai-lin (姚凱林) became advisers to a military equipment company immediately after retiring, helping the company to win a large number of military contracts through illegal means.

What? High-ranking military officials working for companies the contracted with as military officers? It's good to see the Taiwanese learning from the US again.

Now imagine it is wartime. About a third to half of the island's equipment is not operational. All that hardware counting is now irrelevant.....because there is no hardware.

Folks, we're worse off than we think. We need about 300 fighters, parts, pilot training, and ammo, and we need them now. Today.

[Taiwan] [China]