Republic of China Army Deploys U.S. M60 Tanks and Javelin Missiles For Drills on Key Frontline Island

The Republic of China Army has deployed M60A3 main battle tanks and infantry equipped with Javelin anti-tank missiles under the Penghu Defence Command for a "Frontier Defense Exercise” on April 10, which simulated an enemy amphibious assault. The live-fire exercises verified the coordinated defensive combat effectiveness of infantry, artillery, and mechanised units. Units equipped with Javelin missiles simulated the destruction of enemy armoured landing vehicles, strengthening coastal defence capabilities. Penghu is a key frontier island between Taiwan Island and the Chinese mainland, with its strategic location making it likely to be targeted in the event of a new Taiwan Strait war. 

The Republic of China based in Taipei and the People’s Republic of China based in Beijing remain in a state of civil war, with the latter fielding a much larger and more sophisticated ground force that has left the viability of the former’s ground units in serious question. While the Republic of China Army’s M60 tanks are considered decades past obsolescence, the service relies particularly heavily on handheld anti-tank missile systems to asymmetrically counter superior adversary armour. The first order for Javelin missiles to equip the Republic of China Army was placed in 2002, with the missiles using an electro optical infra-red sensor to provide a ‘fire and forget’ capability. The system was designed to strike targets beyond line of sight, impacting on their top armour. 

The Javelin gained particular prominence for its utility in the Ukrainian theatre, where in early-mid 2022 Ukrainian Army units used the missiles to great effect to inflict outstanding losses on Russian armour. Russia subsequently procured missiles with similar capabilities from North Korea, however, which have also been used to great effect in the theatre. The utility of these types of missiles has also been demonstrated both by the Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah when targeting Israeli positions at long ranges, and by Israeli-backed anti-government militants in Iran which used them destroy a number of high value targets in June 2025.

The Republic of China Army is one of the world’s last operators of the M60 tank, which first entered service in 1960, and even in the 1970s and 1980s was considered comfortably outmatched by new generations of Soviet tanks such as the T-62 and T-72. The tank’s crew protection levels are poor by 21st century standards, with efforts to address this by integrating explosive reactive armour having failed. Facing the Republic of China Army’s tank units across the Taiwan Strait, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has introduced multiple generations of overwhelmingly superior tanks into service. The new Type 100 main battle tank was revealed in September 2025 to be in active service, and has widely been assessed to be the most advanced tank design in the world.