Taiwan's army demolished a bridge in Yilan County as part of a push to make training more realistic — a sign the military is preparing for a scenario where it has to destroy its own infrastructure to slow an invading force.

• The 53rd Engineer Group blew up the Xizhou No. 3 Bridge in Yuanshan Township, timed to coincide with a planned rebuild of the bridge.
• Since last year the army has been working with local governments to find bridges already slated for demolition, so engineers can practice real bridge-blowing instead of classroom exercises.
• This was the second attempt this year — the first fell short, so the unit reviewed the bridge structure, the explosive amounts, placement, and safety steps before trying again.
• The army says skills like this cannot stay theoretical, comparing it to requiring live-fire practice when troops get new equipment.

Outlook: Expect more of these demolition drills as the army keeps pairing up with local governments on bridges already due to come down.