Taiwan drills with U.S. rocket system, firing in China’s direction
A rocket is launched from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) during a military live-fire shooting training in Taichung City, Taiwan, Wednesday, June 10, 2026.
Chiang Ying-ying/AP
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Chiang Ying-ying/AP
TAICHUNG, Taiwan — Taiwan’s military fired rockets in China’s direction from “shoot-and-scoot” mobile launchers on Wednesday in a demonstration of how it might try to repel a Chinese attack.
While the U.S.-supplied system known as HIMARS has been tested before, the latest live-fire exercise was the first time its rockets were fired into the waters of the narrow Taiwan Strait that separates the self-governing island from China.
“Due to the current enemy threat, we will continue HIMARS training with unwavering determination to protect Taiwan as the nation’s strongest force,” army Sgt. Wang Ming-hui said.
The military said it used reduced-range practice rockets that don’t fly very far from the coast before falling into the water.
China views Taiwan as a renegade province and says it must come under its control at some point in the future. It sends warships and planes into the skies and waters near the island almost every day and has held major military exercises in its vicinity in recent years. The United States does not recognize Taiwan as a country, but it opposes any change to its status by force and is its main supplier of weaponry for its defense.
The HIMARS, which stands for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, is part of a U.S.-encouraged shift in strategy, toward an asymmetric approach designed to keep China at bay rather than trying to go head-to-head with big-ticket weapons purchases. The truck-mounted pod of rockets can be driven out from a hidden position to fire its missiles, then quickly taken to a new hiding place in what are called shoot-and-scoot tactics.
They were fired on the second day of exercises on Taiwan’s west coast, which faces China. The drills, which also included 155 mm howitzers, simulated a response to a Chinese invasion and were designed to test rapid deployment and precision-strike capabilities.
The HIMARS was the centerpiece of the drill. After receiving a firing order, the vehicles maneuvered into position and launched their rockets with bright flashes within three minutes, demonstrating their mobility.
The U.S. announced plans in December to sell 82 more HIMARS systems to Taiwan as part of a major arms deal, but that package appears to have been put on hold after President Donald Trump met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing last month.
Reading that the military said it used reduced-range practice rockets that don’t fly very far from the coast before falling into the water — hard to argue with the logic there.
Artillery Rocket is in a tough spot here, curious how they navigate it.
On one hand a rocket is launched from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) during a military live-fire shooting training in Taichung City, Taiwan, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. But at the same time tAICHUNG, Taiwan — Taiwan’s military fired rockets in China’s direction from “shoot-and-scoot” mobile launchers on Wednesday in a demonstration of how it might try to repel a Chinese attack.
The detail about tAICHUNG, Taiwan — Taiwan’s military fired rockets in China’s direction from “shoot-and-scoot” mobile launchers on Wednesday in a demonstration of how it might try to repel a Chinese attack is something people should sit with.
If the military said it used reduced-range practice rockets that don’t fly very far from the coast before falling into the water, then the bigger picture starts to look very different.
Basically the military said it used reduced-range practice rockets that don’t fly very far from the coast before falling into the water. What matters is whether anything changes because of it.
Reading that a rocket is launched from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) during a military live-fire shooting training in Taichung City, Taiwan, Wednesday, June 10, 2026 — hard to argue with the logic there.
Taichung City has been vocal about this, good to see them staying on it.
A rocket is launched from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) during a military live-fire shooting training in Taichung City, Taiwan, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. Meanwhile tAICHUNG, Taiwan — Taiwan’s military fired rockets in China’s direction from “shoot-and-scoot” mobile launchers on Wednesday in a demonstration of how it might try to repel a Chinese attack.
What stands out is tAICHUNG, Taiwan — Taiwan’s military fired rockets in China’s direction from “shoot-and-scoot” mobile launchers on Wednesday in a demonstration of how it might try to repel a Chinese attack. That is the part worth paying attention to.
The bigger issue here is tAICHUNG, Taiwan — Taiwan’s military fired rockets in China’s direction from “shoot-and-scoot” mobile launchers on Wednesday in a demonstration of how it might try to repel a Chinese attack. That changes the calculation.
When you look at they were fired on the second day of exercises on Taiwan’s west coast, which faces China, the implications are hard to ignore.
Taichung City has been pushing this agenda for a while now.
The fact that the military said it used reduced-range practice rockets that don’t fly very far from the coast before falling into the water really puts things into perspective.
The bigger issue here is the military said it used reduced-range practice rockets that don’t fly very far from the coast before falling into the water. That changes the calculation.