Taiwan’s ground forces are undergoing a shift that’ll make it easier to work with new weapons like drones and artificial intelligence, capabilities expected to be necessary for tough future fights.
The restructure is aimed at equipping troops with the tools to better deter or defeat a Chinese invasion. It’s the latest way Taiwan is modernizing its military as it buys more new technologies and changes how it trains its troops.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense reclassified its four armored brigades and three mechanized infantry brigades into combined arms brigades earlier this month. The Army told CNA, the national news agency, that the change was in response to enemy threats and future warfare scenarios.
They are intended to be flexible for rapid response. The units retain their original designations, but the focus is no longer singular. In some ways, it mirrors the concepts of the US Army’s Brigade Combat Team, which is a self-contained, self-sufficient, mobile fighting force for higher-level warfare.
A graphic shared by the Taiwan Security Monitor, a research initiative at George Mason University, shows the renaming of those brigades, as well as their locations on Taiwan.
Taiwan’s military recently reclassified its 7 mechanized and armored brigades as combined arms brigades to better align its force structure reform efforts.
Our visualization highlights the distribution of those brigades, along with their new titles and unit patches. pic.twitter.com/uDzMRbIb5I— Taiwan Security Monitor (台灣安全觀測站) (@TaiwanMonitor) January 20, 2026
The creation of combined armed brigades isn’t creating new units, and the old brigades were already working with tanks, infantry, artillery, and support and technical elements. So why did Taiwan’s military leadership change them?
Mick Ryan, a retired Australian army major general, strategist, and defense expert, told Business Insider the change could better serve troops as they adopt and embrace new weaponry.
“It does provide a foundation for the integration of new technologies, not just drones, but the use of AI in digital command and control systems, probably more air defense systems,” he said.
Ryan described the change as a mindset shift. Combined arms brigades in other militaries, like Western countries, are constantly working with different organizations and systems.
It makes ground forces more flexible and self-sufficient with capabilities across units, which Taiwan has been pushing its military toward in recent years, with a focus on rapid response, mobility, and adaptability should China attack Taiwan. It also allows units to cover weaknesses; infantry, for example, can help counter anti-tank weaponry, while heavy armor can provide infantry with more firepower.
Some defense experts have assessed that the introduction of new MIA2T Abrams tanks could also be influencing the restructuring decision.
Taiwan ordered 108 of the Abrams, a customized variant, in 2019 and received 80 tanks late last year. It’s expected to receive the rest early this year. These are Taiwan’s first new tanks in over 20 years, marking a major capability upgrade in firepower, armor, and survivability.
More Taiwanese weapons purchases — including High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, various types of missiles, and drones — as well as increased investments at home in domestic defense technologies, may ultimately give troops experience with a wide range of weaponry that could be crucial.
Combined arms brigades, by design, make it easier and faster to integrate new weapons and technology by bringing more capabilities under one command, reducing friction between units. That structure allows quicker experimentation, smoother training and doctrinal changes, and easier absorption of new platforms.
Taiwan’s defense ministry didn’t respond to Business a request for comment from Business Insider.
While the recent restructuring marks an evolution in Taiwan’s military, other efforts are also underway to keep its forces ready.
Earlier this month, for instance, Taiwan opened a new artillery training center — the Tangshan base — in Tainan on the southwest coast. The facility is designed to support more modern, high-tech training on systems such as HIMARS and Land Sword missiles.
Taiwan has also expanded training areas and exercises geared toward preparing troops for asymmetric warfare, including the use of drones, coastal defense operations, and urban combat.
The military sees asymmetric warfare — a network of mobile, dispersed, and survivable weapons and tactics — as central to its self-defense strategy, but that isn’t the sole focus.
Taiwan is acquiring and producing large quantities of munitions needed for sustained, high-intensity fighting, including systems used to blunt or slow a larger invading force.
This month, the US and Taiwan announced plans to co-produce 155mm artillery shells, with Taiwan’s defense ministry citing the war in Ukraine as evidence of how quickly such ammunition can be consumed in combat. The head of Taiwan’s arms bureau said that if the effort ultimately proves successful, it could be expanded to other weapons and munitions.
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