Recently, a Taiwanese media said that it received internal information that a total of 400 Chinese and U.S. warplanes were in the vicinity of Taiwan and faced off for 3 days and 3 nights. Among them, mainland China sent 300 warplanes, while the United States sent 100.
In this regard, Taiwan media “China Times” interpreted that during the entire air standoff, as the Chinese and American air forces are too powerful, Taiwan’s air force has absolutely no bottom line to intervene, and can only be monitored from a distance. Furthermore, according to the observation of the Taiwanese pilots who monitored the situation, during this standoff between Chinese and U.S. fighter groups, the U.S. Air Force fighter formations, which came from afar, did not seem to have any advantage. Not only that, they also exposed the flaws of the U.S. Air Force in the Asia-Pacific to the PLA.
According to the Taiwanese media, the problems exposed by the USAF this time are mainly reflected in three aspects. First, the total size of the U.S. Air Force in the Asia-Pacific region is not as large as the PLA Air Force; second, the U.S. Air Force has huge problems with its logistical support capabilities; and third, the U.S. Air Force has no advantage in electronic warfare engagements.
As for why such a large-scale confrontation will break out, some informed sources revealed that the United States wants to use training as an excuse to test the bottom line of China on the Taiwan issue. If China does not take measures, the United States is likely to have other actions.
He also said that since Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, China’s attitude toward Taiwan has become increasingly tough. It will never allow any U.S. military aircraft or warships to appear around the Taiwan Strait. As soon as they see it, they will respond immediately.
The reason why the situation in the Taiwan Strait broke the news after the US-China meeting is that Joe Biden did not make any “commitment” to the Taiwan authorities at the press conference held after the meeting. Not only did he not mention the so-called “troops to protect Taiwan”, but he also did not tell the Taiwan authorities about the details of the meeting between the US and China.
This makes Tsai and others feel that they have been “abandoned” by the U.S., so this is the time to come out and remind the U.S. government not to forget Taiwan, and also to undermine Sino-U.S. relations.
According to the number of Chinese fighter jets revealed during the recent Zhuhai Airshow and the speed of the Chinese Air Force’s fighter jet change in recent years, the number of J-20 stealth fighters, J-16 heavy twin-engine fighters and J-10C fighters equipped by the Chinese military so far is no less than 200, 245 and 300 respectively.
In addition, together with more than 220 J-10A, 50 J-10B, hundreds of Su-27/J-11 series fighters, 100 Su-30MKK/Su-30MK2 and 24 Su-35S fighters imported from Russia, the number of main fighters currently equipped by the Chinese military is definitely not less than 1500. The number of J-20, J-10C, J-16 and J-11 series fighters equipped by the six air brigades under the Eastern Theater Air Force, which is mainly responsible for the Taiwan Strait direction, is more than 400. This is precisely why, in the three-day and three-night standoff in the Taiwan Strait, the Chinese Air Force responded to the provocations of the U.S. Air Force’s F-16 fighter fleet with more than three times the superior force, which also reflects that the PLAAF has formed an overwhelming advantage in the number of advanced fighters against the U.S. Air Force in the Asia-Pacific region.
According to the Taiwanese media, despite the technical differences between China and the United States in terms of aero-engine technology, the PLA’s main fighters have a slightly shorter stall time and range than the USAF’s main fighters, however, because the USAF reinforcements in the Taiwan Strait mainly come from hundreds or thousands of kilometers away from the U.S. bases in Japan, South Korea, Guam Anderson Air Force Base, which directly leads to the USAF F-15, F-16 fighter aircraft fleet having to mount more fuel tanks to perform long-range running operations. In contrast, since the Chinese air bases are closer to the Taiwan island, PLA fighters can carry more air-to-air missiles to deal with the long-range U.S. fighters during operations.
Although the U.S. Air Force has a large number of KC-135 refueling aircraft deployed in Japan, South Korea and Guam bases, these refueling aircraft can accompany the U.S. fighter fleet to the Taiwan Strait, but considering that the Chinese military has prepared a large number of KJ-500 early warning aircraft, but also in service with a range of more than 200 km PL-15 air-to-air missiles, so some U.S. experts believe that these large refueling planes may become the focus of the PLA’s J-20 fighter jets. And because of the presence of the PLA’s Dongfeng missile family, the runways, fuel depots, and ammunition depots of U.S. bases are also likely to be key targets during wartime. Therefore, in this context, the logistical support capability of the U.S. Air Force fighter fleet going to Taiwan during wartime will also be a huge problem.
On the last hand, according to the observation of Taiwanese pilots, during the confrontation between the Chinese and American fighter fleets, the Chinese and American militaries are likely to have confronted in the field of electronic warfare, and during the entire confrontation, the PLA Air Force has a completely dominant position. The reason is that during this period, the PLA Air Force did not have any fighter jet malfunction problems, nor a fighter jet’s electrical signals have appeared abnormal. This situation is reminiscent of the three mega air incidents that occurred in the southeastern coastal region of China from 1994 to 1997. As China’s military electronic warfare capabilities were very weak at the time, the U.S. Navy EA-6B electronic warfare aircraft repeatedly launched large-scale intensive false target deception interference on the Chinese ground alert radar, so that China’s military coastal alert radar displayed at a time hundreds of intrusion targets, and when China sent fighter jets to check the airspace of the target, they found nothing.
After entering the 21st century, with the development of China’s electronics industry, China began to move toward the field of military electronic warfare aircraft and has developed the KG300/600 series of electronic warfare pods and YJ-92 anti-radiation missiles mounted on the electric warfare type JH -7A fighter, with electronic jamming capabilities of the Y-8 electronic jammer and Y-9 communication jammer and the J-16D electronic warfare fighters. Among them, the J-16D fighter is mounted with China’s newly developed KG-800 type airborne electronic jamming pods, similar to the AN/ALQ-218(V)2 tactical reconnaissance warning system receivers equipped on the U.S. EA-18G electronic warfare aircraft.
According to relevant information, the receiver adopts China’s most advanced short baseline interferometer principle, with high-precision positioning capability of electromagnetic emission sources, and can monitor, manage and control the airborne electronic jamming pods within 180 degrees to carry out “tracking-targeting interference” on multiple radar electronic signal sources. In addition, the fighter also carries YJ-91/CM-102 anti-radiation missiles with a range of over 100 km.
As the maximum takeoff weight of the J-16D platform is more than 34 tons, compared to the EA-18G electronic warfare aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight of 29 tons, the J-16D also has a considerable mount and range advantage. In addition, from the pictures, the size and power of the electronic jamming pods mounted on the J-16D are also larger than those of the electronic warfare pods mounted on the U.S. Roarer.
According to the South China Morning Post, on the night of Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, the Chinese J-16D electronic warfare aircraft conducted a brief electronic warfare confrontation with an EA-18G “Growler” electronic warfare aircraft from the Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier in the South China Sea. In the end, the U.S. EA-18G electronic warfare plane quickly returned to the mothership because it could not take advantage of any advantages. Therefore, in terms of electronic warfare, with years of technology accumulation, the Chinese military can now also be on par with the U.S. military.