Fighter jets test roads-to-runways strategy in Taiwan war games
- Dramatic landing on makeshift runway is latest in the island’s annual week-long war games
- There are five highways which can be converted quickly into landing strips in case of possible attack on Taiwanese airbases
The jets – an F-16, a French-made Mirage and a Ching-kuo indigenous defence fighter – landed on the highway strip, one of five specially designed for rapid conversion from road to runway, as part of annual drills aimed at preparing for a possible attack from mainland Chinese forces. They were accompanied by an E-2 Hawkeye early warning aircraft.
Tsai, who was re-elected by a landslide last year on a pledge to stand up to Beijing, has made modernising Taiwan’s mainly US-equipped military a priority, turning it into a “porcupine”, both highly mobile and hard to attack.
“Such splendid combat skills and rapid and real actions come from solid everyday training and also demonstrate the confidence of the Republic of China Air Force in defending its airspace,” Tsai wrote on Facebook, referencing Taiwan’s formal name.
The emergency highway runways across the island can be pressed into service in the event a Chinese attack takes out air force bases, meaning the air force will still be able to operate.
Most of Taiwan’s airbases are on its flat west coast, facing the mainland, and would be likely to come under almost immediate heavy missile and aerial bombardment in case of war. The emergency highway runways are intended to keep the air force operating in these circumstances.