Two Mirage 2000-5 jet fighters yesterday landed on the Sun Yat-sen Freeway, refueled, loaded up with ammunition and took off within 40 minutes during the annual Han Kuang military exercise in Tainan County.
The landing on the Jenteh section of the freeway was the climax of the military exercise, which began yesterday and involves the air force, army and navy.
The Mirages practiced landing, refueling and reloading as part of a scenario in which the air force's major airports were assumed to have been destroyed.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Three Mirages, a single-seat fighter and two two-seaters, took off from the Hsinchu air base at 5:42am and arrived at the "Jenteh Runway" around 6:20am. The single-seat Mirage patrolled the skies while its wing mates carried out the freeway mission.
The first Mirage, flown by Major Chang Wei-kwang (
The air force introduced the four pilots who took part in the landing drill to the media at a press conference at the base later yesterday.
The 28-year-old Chen received the most attention, not only because he is the youngest pilot in the group, but also because of his younger brother, Chen Chien-chou (陳建洲), a famous TV personality and former member of the national basketball team. Their father, who had been an officer in the air force and a China Airlines pilot, died in the Nagoya crash in 1994.
"This is quite an experience. But I did not do anything fancy. We just followed the drill and did what we were trained for. I am quite sure every air force pilot can do this," Chen Chien-liang said.
"I will definitely pass my experience on to my fellow junior pilots. That is the spirit of the air force," he said.
Meanwhile, retired army general Shui Hua-ming (
"Landing on the freeway is no different from landing on a regular runway. The only difference is, well, it is the freeway, not an airport," Shui said.
"The idea behind landing on the freeway is to use it in case major airports are destroyed. But if the enemy can destroy your airports, why can't they destroy the freeway as well?" he asked.
"What pilots actually need to practice is landing the aircraft safely on a runway at any time whenever necessary," he said.
Shui said that yesterday's exercise was more useful as propaganda to warn China that "We are capable of doing this, although we haven't done anything like it for the past 25 years."
SCHEDULE: The delegation is due to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen this morning and witness the signing of an MOU on bilateral health cooperation in the afternoon US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar yesterday arrived in Taipei aboard a US government plane at the head of a delegation that is the highest-level visit by a US official since Washington switched diplomatic recognition to China in 1979. Azar’s flight landed at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) at 4:48pm, nearly one hour earlier than scheduled, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The apron where it landed is reserved for military aircraft, the Songshan Air Force Base Command said. The members of Azar’s delegation included HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Robert Kadlec, HHS Chief of Staff Brian
CHINESE FIGHTERS: Beijing marked the US Cabinet member’s visit by briefly sending two warplanes across the median line of the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday met with US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar in the highest-level official meeting between the two nations since 1979. “It is a true honor to be here to convey a message of strong support and friendship from [US] President [Donald] Trump to Taiwan,” Azar said during the open portion of his courtesy call to the Presidential Office, which was streamed live online before Tsai and Azar held a closed-door meeting. “Taiwan’s response to COVID-19 has been among the most successful in the world, and that is a tribute to the open, transparent,
‘CROSS-STRAIT CONSIDERATIONS’: Groups said that the Ministry of Education’s policies excluded Chinese and students should not be blocked over political issues The Taiwan International Student Movement yesterday said it would protest today outside the Ministry of Education in Taipei against a policy that excludes some Chinese students from returning to Taiwan amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Since June 17, the ministry has allowed foreign students from 19 “low risk” and “medium-low risk” countries and regions to enter Taiwan. On July 22, it announced that it was relaxing restrictions to include students from all countries and regions who are graduating this semester and on Wednesday it further expanded entry to students enrolled in degree programs. A letter sent by the ministry on Wednesday to universities did
PARTNERSHIP AND LEARNING: A Princeton University health policy researcher said that the nation would be a ‘treasure trove’ of information for the US health chief US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar on Friday said he wants to learn about Taiwan’s “incredibly effective” response to COVID-19, even though the nation did things that the US has fumbled, such as having a unified strategy and citizens willing to wear masks. Azar leads a US delegation arriving today for a three-day visit to Taiwan. They are to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and health system leaders, and Azar is to give a speech to public health graduates. “The message of this trip is about Taiwan,” Azar said in an interview, deflecting a question about China.
RSS