The air force yesterday began its annual Tien Lung (“Sky Dragon”) drills, which involve aerial combat exercises and ground-based support operations over five days, a military source said.
The Tien Long exercises are divided into competitive testing of pilots’ and fighters’ air-to-ground, air-to-sea and air-to-air combat skills, as well as ground-based logistical support drills, the source said.
The air force’s Indigenous Defense Fighters, F-16Vs and Mirage 2000 jets are to participate in the drills.
Photo: Yu Tai-lang, Taipei Times
As in previous years, the air force is to select aces in different categories, including aerial combat and precision.
The drills are being staged amid rising tensions across the Taiwan Strait and routine incursions by Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.
The military has responded by sending aircraft to issue radio warnings until the PLA planes leave the area. It also on Sept. 17, 2020, started publishing information on the intrusions.
Taiwan’s air defense identification zone — a self-defined area in which a nation states it has the right to identify, locate and control approaching foreign aircraft — is not part of territorial airspace as defined by international law.
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