Kina ser ut til å benytte sivil flyplass som utgangspunkt for flyginger inn i Taiwans ADIZ - DefenseNews

Nok en gang leser jeg om overflyging av Taiwan. Det riktige er at flyene har fløyet inn i Taiwans Air Defense Identification Zone som ligger et godt stykke fra øya, noe jeg har redegjort for her tidligere. ADIZ er en sone som ikke er anerkjent internasjonalt.(Red.)

Satellite images show China may be using closed civilian airport to launch Taiwan overflights

By Mike Yeo

 Oct 28, 10:32 PM

The Chinese KQ-200 is the most common aircraft reported by Taiwan crossing into its air defense identification zone, as of late October 2021. (Courtesy of Japan's Defense Ministry)

MELBOURNE, Australia — China is likely using an unused civilian airport just across the Strait of Taiwan to conduct its overflights near the island, with satellite imagery on different occasions showing military aircraft parked on the ground that correspond with Taiwanese military reports.

Shantou-Waisha airport, less than 220 miles across the strait from the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan, has played host to rotating detachments of People’s Liberation Army aircraft since at least October 2020, according to satellite imagery provided to Defense News by Planet Labs.

The mixed civilian and military airport, which used to service the city of Shantou, ceased commercial operations in 2011 when the nearby Jieyang-Chaoshan airport opened to become the city’s civilian airport.

The October 2020 imagery showed two Shaanxi KQ-200 anti-submarine warfare aircraft on what used to be the civil parking apron, with the type’s distinctive tail-mounted anomaly detector boom clearly visible.

1. Resident Chengdu J-7 interceptors seen on multiple occasions. 2. Shaanxi KQ-200 anti-submarine warfare aircraft seen May 7, 2021. 3. Shaanxi KQ-200 aircraft seen May 7, 2021. 4. Six Sukhoi Su-30, or Shenyang J-11/J-16, seen Sept. 2, 2021. 5. Shaanxi KQ-200 aircraft seen Oct. 27, 2020. (Planet Labs)

Two similar aircraft were seen May 7, 2021, with one of these seen taxiing toward the runway in another satellite photo that has been published on Google Earth.

According to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, two KQ-200s — which it described as “Y-8 ASW” because the KQ-200 is based on the Y-8F airlifter — entered the southern part of its air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, on that day, flying from and returning in the direction of the city.

That type of area is airspace over which the identification and location of aircraft operating in it is monitored for national security purposes, and is separate from and may extend beyond a country’s territorial airspace to give the country more time to respond to aircraft of interest.

China’s KQ-200s have been the most common aircraft reported by Taiwan crossing into its ADIZ. The type is operated by the PLA Navy’s air arm; the nearest known units operating the platform are regiments based at Dachang in Shanghai to the north and at Qionghai on the southern Chinese island of Hainan on the fringes of the South China Sea.

In addition to the above occasions, low-resolution images of the old civil apron showed between one and three aircraft there since the middle of 2020, suggesting these deployments began at least that early.

Planet Labs also provided Defense News with photos of the airport taken Sept. 2, which showed six Sukhoi Su-27/30 Flanker aircraft, or its Chinese Shenyang J-11/16 derivatives, on the northern apron. This was followed by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense reporting four and two Su-30s entering its ADIZ on Sept. 5 and 6, respectively, from the direction of Shantou.

While not definitive, the reports by the ministry and the presence of similar types at Shantou-Waisha on corresponding days as well as their flight tracks in and out of the zone suggest the air base is used as a convenient jumping-off point by PLA aircraft into Taiwan’s ADIZ.

The use of the base not only shortens transit times into the zone but also enables the PLA to attain faster access to and conduct training and/or patrols over the southern part of the Taiwan Strait, the northern part of the South China Sea and the Bashi Channel.

The channel lies between Taiwan and the Philippines, and it provides direct deep-water access to the northern part of the disputed South China Sea from the Pacific Ocean. It is also one of the several strategic chokepoints of the so-called First Island Chain.