The military yesterday displayed how its fighter jets can land, refuel and rearm on the nation’s highways for the first time in five years as part of the annual Han Kuang military exercises simulating defense against a Chinese invasion.
On Monday, the streets across northern Taiwan were briefly deserted as authorities carried out an annual missile drill, with text messages sent to every mobile phone and air raid sirens wailing.
Yesterday, 1,600 soldiers were mobilized in central Taiwan as aircraft practiced landing on a closed section of highway for the annual exercises.
Photo: Military News Agency
Three fighter jets, as well as an early warning aircraft, practiced refueling and loading missiles and other ammunition before taking off again.
An F-16V jet, a Mirage 2000-5, an Indigenous Defense Fighter and an E-2K airborne early warning aircraft landed on the Huatan section of the Sun Yat-sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1) in Changhua County at about 6am.
It was the first time an F-16V took part in the exercises.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The military is upgrading its 144 F-16A/B jets to F-16Vs as part of a US$3.68 billion project launched by the government in 2016.
The retrofit program involves installing advanced equipment on the fighters, including the AN/APG active electronically scanned array radar system used in the US’ F-22 and F-35 jets.
The comprehensive upgrade of the air force’s entire F-16 fleet is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, the air force has said.
Photo: CNA
“There are only a few military air bases [in Taiwan], which would become prime targets in the event of an attack. The highway drill is necessary, as highway strips would be our priority choice if the runways are damaged during a war,” air force Colonel Shu Kuo-mao (許國茂) told reporters.
Taiwan would be massively outgunned in terms of troop numbers and firepower in any war with China, but it has developed sophisticated asymmetric tactics to hold out for as long as possible and make any invasion of the nation very costly for Beijing.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who inspected the drill, commented on increased Chinese naval and air force patrols around Taiwan over the past few months.
“They have caused a certain degree of threat to regional peace and stability. We should maintain high vigilance,” Tsai said.
The exercises aim to test combat capabilities of all branches of the armed forces in the face of a continuing military threat from China.
They came after the US, Japan, South Korea and Australia last week launched operation “Pacific Vanguard” near Guam, bringing together more than 3,000 sailors from the four countries.
Beijing has also been angered by warming relations between Taipei and Washington since Tsai came to power in May 2016.
On Monday, Beijing reacted frostily to photographs showing a rare meeting between uniformed Taiwanese officers and their US counterparts earlier this month.
Last week, China lodged a protest with Washington after two US warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait.
Additional reporting by CNA
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RSS