How mainland Chinese transport plane highlighted ‘serious weaknesses’ in Taiwan’s air defences
- A transport plane approached the small island of Dongyin earlier this month, but the Taiwanese initially failed to detect it
- A former naval instructor says human error and a weakness in the radar system were the cause
Last week Taiwan’s defence ministry confirmed that “an unidentified fixed-wing twin-propeller aircraft” that flew close to Dongyin earlier this month was a Y-12, a small transport plane, from the Chinese mainland.
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Residents on the island, which is just 16km (10 miles) from the mainland, reported details of the incident on social media but the local garrison initially failed to detect the plane.
Dongyin, part of the Matsu chain of islands, hosts anti-aircraft missiles and an AN/FPS-117 radar system imported from the United States.
Lu Li-shih, a former instructor at Taiwan’s Naval Academy in Kaohsiung, said human error may also have been a factor, but added the three-dimensional radar system was “designed to search and detect long-distance targets between 120km to 470km away”.
“But the ‘far-sighted’ long-range radar system has a serious weakness – its regular operations automatically take out short-range signals, putting the area within a radius of 120km under a dead zone,” Lu said.
This suggests radar systems on Dongyin cannot detect civilian aircraft taking off from airports in Shuimen, Yixu, Changle and other parts of Fujian province.
Taiwan’s defence ministry has refused to detail the Y-12’s flight path or say whether the island’s air force had taken action to warn or expel the plane, saying only that the mainland aircraft “did not enter Taiwan’s airspace or invade other important areas”.
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Citing sources, Taiwan’s United Daily News reported that the Y-12 was firstly detected by low-altitude radar, but was ignored by a duty officer who dismissed it as a “noise wave”.
Lu said the error may have been the result of a lack of training or bad weather.
“Air-defence troops stationed on the frontline outposts should know how to regularly switch between long-range and short-range waves when monitoring radar systems, because any problems will happen right under your nose,” Lu said.
“The intrusion of the Y-12 in Dongyin indicated the mainland is trying to test Taiwan’s air defences to detect approaching missiles and aircraft and give response, and I believe they will come again.”
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The latest incident happened at a time when the People’s Liberation Army has been stepping up its activities around Taiwan – which Beijing regards as a breakaway province – including a series of flights into its air defence identification zone in recent months.
Taiwanese media have reported a mainland aircraft flew close to Dongsha Island, Taiwan’s most southerly outpost, on February 12. The defence ministry did not confirm the reports.
Macau-based analyst Antony Wong Tong said the Y-12 had been testing the “fatal weakness” in Taiwan’s air-defences, which had not been updated to deal with new challenges from the mainland side.
“The Taiwanese military’s low-altitude [short-range] radar system is weak. The island is unable to deal with the PLA’s unmanned aerial vehicles in the near future,” Wong said.
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Taiwan bought seven AN/FPS-117 radars and four AN/TPS-117 tactical transportable radars from the US in early 2000. These are also deployed on Quemoy – another island close to the mainland – and Taiwan island itself.
“Taiwan’s defence ministry needs to plug the air-defence loophole as soon as possible, because another new airport, Xiangan International Airport in Xiamen, is going to enter service [in 2025], surrounding the radar system on Quemoy with countless civilian flights, and more challenges and tests are coming,” Lu said.
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Former PLA instructor Song Zhongping said mainland China was aware of the weakness of Taiwan’s air-defence radar systems and was developing new combat strategies.
“Taiwan’s military strategy and concepts are still caught in the World War II period, while the PLA’s military modernisation has tried to catch up with the new military modernisation wave driven by computerisation, unmanned vehicles and artificial intelligence,” Song said.
