The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force recently expelled foreign aircraft threatening China's territorial airspace with J-20 fighter jets, giving full play to the aircraft's stealth capability. Experts said on Tuesday that PLA forces are well-equipped and well-trained in dealing with all sorts of threats.
As the first combat unit of the PLA Air Force that is fully equipped with J-20 fighter jets, the Wang Hai Air Group under a brigade of the PLA Eastern Theater Command carried out missions that safeguard China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity, including combat alert patrols in the East China Sea and the Taiwan Straits, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Tuesday.
In an emergency sortie mission, the leader of the air group Yang Juncheng and pilot Wei Xin took off with two J-20 fighter jets to intercept two foreign aircraft. The two closely coordinated, took advantageous positions and resolutely safeguarded China's airspace security, CCTV reported.
"The J-20's stealth capability is its biggest advantage. It means that the enemy radar can see nothing, but we can already launch attacks," Wei told CCTV.
"You can imagine how much psychological pressure the enemies would have. They can only take hasty evasive maneuvers to avoid our threats. If we push forward, they would fall back," Wei said.
With an outstanding combat history of downing and damaging 29 hostile aircraft in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53), the Wang Hai Air Group has recently completed key missions including the routine management of control of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone, combat alert patrols in the South China Sea, and patrols around the island of Taiwan, flying across the Bashi Channel, the Miyako Strait and the Tsushima Strait in the process, according to CCTV.
"When I look down on the motherland's precious island [of Taiwan] from the cockpit of my warplane, I could clearly see the island's entire coastline and mountain range," Yang was quoted by CCTV as saying.
"I told myself at the time, I will come again, as [the island of Taiwan] is our country's territory, and [the Taiwan Straits] have no line [dividing us]," Yang said.
The defense authority on the island of Taiwan releases its monitoring of PLA aircraft activities around the island on a daily basis, but it had failed to report a spotting of a stealth-capable J-20 as of press time.
A brigade under the PLA Western Theater Command, which is the first unit to receive delivery of the J-16 fighter jet, also carried out combat alert patrol missions that saw foreign warplanes expelled.
In a recent nighttime patrol, pilot Li Chao was approached by two foreign fighter jets. Li had to break away from the pursuit by shutting off all active electronic devices and flying low, before closing in on one of the foreign aircraft from its tail, gaining the upper hand, CCTV reported on Saturday.
Equipped with advanced warplanes of different types and well trained, PLA units deployed across the country are ready at all times to take measures against unidentified aircraft flying into their watch, including expelling such planes when necessary, Fu Qianshao, a Chinese military aviation expert, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
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