M3 amphibious rig could defend Taipei against river attack from China

M3 amphibious rig could defend Taipei against river attack from China

2022-07-18

Reports say the military is planning to conduct drills in the Tamsui River in Northern Taiwan to strengthen its asymmetric warfare capabilities. The drills would feature the M3 amphibious rig, which could impede the passing of enemy vessels into the capital. Experts say using this kind of preexisting equipment in new ways is a type of asymmetric warfare that could prove effective at keeping Chinese attackers away.

China claims to have the world’s largest hovercraft, the Zubr, which it has repeatedly shown off for the cameras in combat training missions. The vessel has a full-load displacement of 555 tons, and a range of up to 500 kilometers. It can transport a fully armed amphibious warfare company consisting of three main battle tanks, 10 armored vehicles and 140 soldiers, or 500 fully armed soldiers. If such a vessel were to enter Taiwan via the Tamsui River in the north, it would be a significant threat to Taiwan’s political and economic center, Taipei.

To defend against such an invasion from China, Taiwan’s military is reportedly planning a training drill with M3 amphibious rigs at the mouth of the Tamsui, following exercises in the area in recent days.

The M3 amphibious rig is a self-propelled amphibious bridging vehicle. It creates a large platform on the water to project tanks and other vehicles across river obstacles.

According to reports, the Army plans to use the M3 amphibious rig as a sort of minelayer to defend the river. The rig can be used to block access to the river but also to lay down explosives and detonate them when the Chinese hovercraft passes by the area, destroying the target. This would be an example of the military’s innovative approach to asymmetric warfare.

Hsu Chih-hsiang
Institute for National Defense and Security Research
When we talk about asymmetric warfare, we usually talk about two things. One is asymmetric equipment. For example, we can use smaller rocket missiles, which are cheaper high-precision ammunition to fight high-cost payloads. The other is asymmetric strategy. This latter one refers more to using the equipment we already have and finding ways to use it effectively in asymmetric warfare, making the most of its combat effectiveness. Because compared with us on numbers alone, our opponent is very powerful. So we need to have unique approaches to maximize our combat power.

Strengthening the defenses at the Tamsui estuary has long been an important mission for the military. During the Chen administration, the strategy was to deploy the Marine Corps with assault amphibious vehicles to defend the area. Now, the Tsai administration plans to station amphibious reconnaissance and search battalions with the M3 amphibious rig. Military experts believe such a strategy is highly effective against enemy attempts to remove Taiwan’s leadership.

Hsu Chih-hsiang
Institute for National Defense and Security Research
Having enough units deployed near the capital is crucial to prevent attempts at taking out our leadership, or attempts to take over our political and economic center. There could be Marine Corps troops in Linkou and the Military Police in Taipei, carrying out exercises every now and then to drill combat scenarios. From the war in Ukraine we saw that the Russian army dispatched airborne troops in an attempt to take over Kyiv International Ariport. It was an attempt to take control of Ukraine’s political and economic center as fast as possible.

Amid the disparity in military strength between Taiwan and China, the military continues to refine its asymmetric warfare capabilities.