Mon, Jan 22, 2024 page1

• Air base runways to be widened, source says

  DEFENSE MEASURE: Six missiles would give China an 80% chance of destroying a runway, a source said, adding that widening air bases’ runways would make them more resilient

  • By Yu Tai-lang and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  Runways at seven airports are to be widened to make them more resilient to a potential missile attack from China, a source from the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.

  Ministry officials and US advisers made the decision after reviewing data from Han Kuang military exercises, the source said, adding that runways would be widened to 60m.

  The adjustment would allow runways to more quickly be repaired so that fighter jets could take off and land, and would make the runways usable by B-52 bombers and large transport aircraft, the source said.

  

  F-16V jets taxi on a runway during a drill in Chiayi on Jan. 5, 2022.

  Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times

  In a combat scenario, China would likely target Taiwan’s air bases, so the ministry is preparing by widening runways and performing annual repair drills, the source said.

  The runway of the Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base in Taichung, which was originally built with the assistance of the US military, is 60m wide, as it was built to accommodate B-52 bombers. It was decided that runways at Taiwan’s other bases, which are 45m to 50m in width, should be widened to match that of Ching Chuan Kang, the source said.

  “If runways are hit by surface-to-surface missiles or other weapons during wartime, takeoff and landing operations might be paralyzed — so we need to be prepared for that,” the source said.

  Assuming that a runway is struck by Chinese ballistic missiles with an accuracy of less than 50m and a destruction radius of 25m, six missiles would give China an 80 percent chance of destroying the runway, the source said.

  Potentially, China could destroy a runway with two missiles fired in short succession at a target with a radius of 100m, the source said.

  “It’s not guaranteed that China would hit its target, but we must be ready to restore a runway should it be hit, and widening runways is the best way to accomplish that,” the source said.

  The main runways of air bases have shoulders and buffer zones about 7.5m to 15m in width, which could be quickly reinforced by widening them, the source said.

  Air force personnel have undergone runway repair training in the US, as well as at Ching Chuan Kang, the source said.

  “During the last drill, the army’s unexploded ordinance disposal team used 18kg of TNT to blast holes in the base’s taxiway, simulating an enemy attack,” the source said. “The blast created a 2m-deep hole with a radius of 20m that teams used for the drill, which involved removing foreign objects, laying fiberglass repair kits, backfilling the crater and compacting it.”

  During the drill, a minimum operating strip with a length of 1.5km and a width of 15m was opened to allow the resumption of aircraft takeoffs and landings in the shortest possible time, the source said.

  Air force personnel have shortened runway repair times from four hours for one or large crater repair operations, down to 2.5 hours, the source said.
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