The air force yesterday began its annual Tien Lung (“Sky Dragon”) drills, which involve aerial combat exercises and ground-based support operations over six days, a military source said.
The exercises are divided into the competitive testing of pilots’ and fighters’ air-to-ground, air-to-sea and air-to-air combat skills, along with ground-based logistics support drills, the source said.
Indigenous Defense Fighters, F-16Vs and Mirage 2000 jets stationed at Jiashan Air Force Base are participating in the first stage of the drills, they said.
Photo: Yu Tai-lang, Taipei Times
The competitive testing component of this year’s exercises run through Saturday, followed by logistic support drills.
The annual exercises are being staged amid rising cross-strait tensions and routine incursions by Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.
The military has responded by routinely sending aircraft to issue radio warnings until the PLA planes leave the zone, and it has also published information on the intrusions since Sept. 17, 2020.
The air defense identification zone — a self-defined area in which a country states it has the right to identify, locate and control approaching foreign aircraft — is not part of territorial airspace as defined by international law.
Rain is to increase from Wednesday morning as Severe Tropical Storm Kong-Rey approaches, with sea warnings to be issued as early as tomorrow afternoon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. As of 8am, Kong-Rey was 1,050km east-southeast of the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) heading in a northwesterly direction toward Taiwan, CWA Forecast Center Director Lin Po-tung (林伯東) said. Rainfall is to increase from Wednesday morning, especially in northern Taiwan and Yilan County, he said. A sea warning is possible from tomorrow afternoon, while a land warning may be issued on Wednesday morning, he added. Kong-Rey may intensify into a moderate typhoon as it passes
A former member of the US Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), formerly known as SEAL Team 6, said in an interview with Business Insider that the elite unit’s role in a Taiwan Strait conflict would be more limited than some might expect. The report follows an earlier one in September by the Financial Times, which said the “clandestine US Navy commando unit” has been training for missions to help Taiwan if it is invaded by China. “You don’t use a scalpel for a job a hammer can do,” the former Navy Seal said to Business Insider on condition of anonymity.
‘CHINESE BLOCKADE’: Preparations include securing rice stockpiles and fish feed inventories, and storing food across the nation to lower attack risks The government yesterday offered rare details of its wartime food plan, saying it is taking monthly inventories of crucial supplies such as rice and making sure they are properly stored across the nation in case of a Chinese blockade. China has over the past five years staged almost daily military activities around Taiwan, including war games that have practiced blockades and attacks on ports. China’s latest war games around Taiwan, carried out last week, included mock blockades of key ports and areas, and assaults of maritime and ground targets, Beijing said. In a report to the Legislative Yuan about preparations in case of
Tickets to pop star Jay Chou’s (周杰倫) Taipei Dome concerts in December sold out within five minutes this afternoon for all four shows. The pop star is holding concerts for his Carnival World Tour at the new arena from Dec. 5 to 8, the first time he is to perform in Taiwan in years. Tickets went on sale at noon today on the tixCraft Web site for the event, set to be the largest indoor solo concert ever held in Taiwan. A total of 890,583 users visited the site at once to purchase a total of 150,000 tickets, JVR Music said. All