No fewer than 20 Chinese People’s Liberation Army aircraft flew within Taiwan’s southwest air defense identification zonetoday, in a significant expansion of activity within this area, which covers most of the highly volatile Taiwan Strait. In what seems like a deliberate escalation over other recent incursions, today’s mission included bombers and airborne early warning platforms, as well as the more familiar fighters and surveillance aircraft.
According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft that entered the air defense identification zone (ADIZ) today comprised four H-6K bombers, 10 J-16 multirole fighters(Chinese-made derivatives of the Russian Su-30 Flanker), two J-10 fighter jets, two KQ-200 anti-submarine patrol planes, one Y-8 reconnaissance aircraft, and a KJ-500 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft.
Today’s incident appears to involve the largest number of PLA aircraft to have entered the southwest ADIZ since January 24, when 15 planes were involved in a major incident that The War Zone reported on in-depth at the time. That particular incursion involved six J-10s, four J-16s, two Su-30 multirole fighters, two Y-8 anti-submarine patrollers, and a Y-8 reconnaissance aircraft.
In both cases, Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense announced that “Airborne alert sorties had been tasked, radio warnings issues, and air defense missile systems deployed to monitor the activity.” Photos of the PLA aircraft types involved today were released by Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense, but all were archival images, including some from previous intercepts.
As well as the sheer number of PLA aircraft involved today, the route they took also appears to be significantly modified, compared to previous occasions. During the major incursion on January 24, for example, the PLA aircraft headed out into the northeastern reaches of the South China Sea, in more or less a straight line, before turning around heading back to the mainland.
Today, however, some of the bombers, as well as one of the anti-submarine Y-8s, continued their flightpaths further out into the South China Sea, before hooking around further behind Taiwan and then returning. This would seem to demonstrate the ability to approach the island on attack runs from the opposite flank. Currently, Taiwan’s defenses are focused mainly on repelling an attack from the southwest approach the island, closest to the mainland.
Beijing views Taiwan as a rogue province and the PLA is prepared to invade and seize control of the island by force if necessary, including if the island declares full independence.
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