Name: Satellite Images Indicate China Is Upgrading Its Air Bases for War
Uploaded: 2023-11-24T05:01:00Z
Duration: 6 min 38 s
Description: Air bases along China’s southeastern coast facing Taiwan have undergone significant infrastructure upgrades in recent years. Analysts say these changes are a sign of Beijing’s preparations for a conflict over Taiwan. Photo Illustration: Adam Adada

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Air bases along China’s southeastern coast facing Taiwan have undergone significant infrastructure upgrades in recent years. Analysts say these changes are a sign of Beijing’s preparations for a conflict over Taiwan. Photo Illustration: Adam Adada

https://m.wsj.net/video/20231124/4b734c55-1423-4c3b-ae85-a381da68a5ba/2/hls/manifest-hd-wifi.m3u8

Satellite Images Indicate China Is Upgrading Its Air Bases for War 

Narrator: On China's southeastern coastline facing Taiwan is the Huian military airbase. Since 2020, the airbase has been significantly upgraded with new hardened shelters, an extended runway, and a new apron for jet fighters. Huian is just one of at least a dozen Chinese airbases in southern China that have seen infrastructure upgrades in recent years. Defense analysts say these changes are part of China's preparations for conflicts over Taiwan. The self-governing island that Beijing claims and has pledged to take by force if necessary. Here's how China has been upgrading its airbase to strengthen its military capabilities and what challenges that poses for Taiwan and its allies in the events of a conflict. The Wall Street Journal asked security analysts to study satellite imagery of over a dozen air bases within 500 miles of Taiwan. Alex Neill is a former defense analyst for the British government and specializes in Asia Pacific security.

The modernization and the upgrades of these air bases has been specifically focused on the ability to move air assets to these airfield, which are close to the theater of of battle.

Narrator: In its biannual defense report, Taiwan warned China's recent construction at airfields along the coastline is designed to seize air superiority in the events of war across the Taiwan Strait. .

Narrator: China's air force has been expanding its spaces to accommodate a wide range of military aircraft ready for different types of combats. These upgrades can be seen in the Longtian airfield, one of China's closest base to Taiwan.

Longtian airfield is quite a special example of the PLA'S modernization because it not only has an array of helicopters and fighter jets, at one end of the airfield, you can make out camouflaged hardened shelters, which are housing UAVs. So large drones, which can be in the air reconnoitering the battle space.

Narrator: China has developed supersonic drones such as the WZ-8, capable of penetrating deep behind enemy radar systems. A leaked paper from the Pentagon suggests that WZ-8 drone is based here at the Lu'an airbase, and satellite imagery shows significant upgrades have taken place in recent years. The leaked paper suggests the upgraded basis on China's southern coast would operate as potential landing fields for the drone during reconnaissance missions over Taiwan. China has been working on the so-called survivability of its air assets in the face of a retaliatory strike by hardening the bunkers where aircraft are stored with layers of reinforced concrete and steel.

If we look at a closeup of this airfield here, you can see hardened shelters in this area, so aircraft on the apron would be able to advance quite quickly into these hardened shelters to refuel them to arm them.

Narrator: The purpose of hardening shelters is to ensure aircraft can survive direct strikes on an airbase, allowing jet fighters to keep flying once a conflict has started.

If there were an immediate threat to the airfield itself through missiles launched at sea or indeed Taiwanese or U.S. aircraft, it would be to able to withstand a preemptive strike or to have a second strike capability.

Narrator: A number of the airbases like Anqing also have runways with direct access to mountain bunkers.

Under this mountain, there will be munition storage facilities as well as fuel and potentially accommodation for military personnel sheltering during an attack on the airfield.

Narrator: The satellite images show workers been undertaken to harden the entrances to these bunkers, replacing exposed entrances with what appear to be reinforced structures topped with a camouflage layer. Analysts say these changes are part of China's preparations to maintain its air force in the event of a conflict. The chinese military is also enhancing the survivability of its air bases by constructing new air defense units.

If you look at this, you can see this cog type configuration, which has a perimeter fence its own accommodation, hardened sheds for the missile batteries and radar capabilities, which would rapidly deploy onto this cog to provide air defense.

Narrator: Surface to air defense systems are designed to protect ground positions from air attacks. These systems are capable of protecting airfields from multiple threats, including high altitude bombers.

So these air defense facilities are not just for the airfield, but they're more broadly speaking a joined up chain of air defense.

Narrator: China's Ministry of Defense didn't respond to a request for comments on the recent upgrades of its air bases. U.S. officials say China's military is rapidly catching up to Western air forces.

Neill: It's clear that there's been a saturation of this whole area with airbases. The united states and its allies are also needing to use their own geographical reach in order to counter this saturation.

Narrator: If China were to invade Taiwan, Beijing knows it could spark a wider conflict in the region.

There's no doubt as demonstrated by the hardening of these bases, that the PLA military leadership is aware that they will be big targets for the United States and Taiwanese forces if there were to be across straight invasion.

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