Taiwan just wrapped its largest annual military exercise, and this year it was designed to make ordinary people feel how close war really is.

• The 10-day Han Kuang 42 drills ended, running through real-combat stages from defense setup to fighting off a beach invasion and prolonged war.
• For the first time, two full reserve brigades were mobilized — over 20,000 reservists — signaling reserve forces are being taken more seriously.
• A new navy coastal combat command and drone units joined for the first time, showing a shift in how Taiwan plans to fight.
• Civilians felt it directly: blank-round gunfire in public areas, military vehicles on regular roads, and mobile networks deliberately slowed for 30 minutes during air-defense drills.
• The network slowdown was the point — it showed people that if key infrastructure is hit in a war, mobile payments and messaging everyone relies on would break down too.

Outlook: Taiwan looks set to keep merging military, civil, and psychological defense, pushing more decentralized command and public readiness for a possible conflict.