PLA air operations in westpac region

Temstar

Temstar

Brigadier
Registered Member
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
Update on the aircraft that overflew Dong Yin Island. This aircraft, likely a Y-12 took off from a civilian airfield and entered blind spot of radar installed on Dong Yin Island. The aircraft was intermittently tracked by radar but was manually marked by radar operator as "noise" and thus removed from tracking, and thus the command to man anti-aircraft guns was never given.

Dong Yin's air defence is carried out by ROCA which are armed with T82 20mm anti-aircraft guns and Stinger missiles, guided by PSTAR radar. These radars are turned on three times a day keep them warm but are not otherwise turned on and searching. Upon detecting possible threat ROCAF is meant to notify ROCA and have the air defence go into 3 minute battle ready status. But since this aircraft was misidentified as noise the notification never came. ROCAF also have visual spotters but due to bad visibility on the day they did not notice the aircraft until it overflew them and the engine noise gave it away.
 
Temstar

Temstar

Brigadier
Registered Member
These two incursions seems to have created quite a stir in Taiwan with media been talking about it for a few days now. There's a general feeling of distrust with the ROC MND, reasoning are as follow:

  • the incursion on the 7th, the MND took ages to respond, only doing so after the video taken by civilians going to the media and causing a stir. One wonders if they would have done anything at all if the video did not surface
  • after the incursion on the 12 with the radio conversation going to the media and causing a stir, MND did not respond for about 24 hours. Afterwards they they came forward and said the radio call was a mistake and PLAAF did not actually enter ROC airspace
Given this, it sure feels like the event on the 12th is MND trying to cover up rather than honest mistake by ROCAF on the radio. What else in the past has MND been hiding? There's now a sense of doubt about DPP's stance on independence and defending ROC with force. If you can't prevent a slow transport plane from overflying your island, and when a PLAAF fighter enter your airspace the best you could do was to tell him to turn around over the radio (which I might add the PLAAF pilot immediately answer back with the military equivalent of "get fucked"), then should the people really trust that you are serious when you say you will defend ROC with broomsticks if necessary?

I think after the Olympics are over we should expect to see more such incidents as PLAAF continue to apply pressure.
 
Temstar

Temstar

Brigadier
Registered Member
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
What in the world, ROC MND issued a new statement today about the incident with Y-12 over Dongyin Island:

對於此案，空軍參謀長黃志偉中將今日於國防部例行記者會中表示，對於此機的確實軌跡，因為事涉我方的偵蒐能力，不便公布，但這架飛行器「並沒有侵入重要區域」，也沒有進入到領空。
Click to expand...
From Lieutenant general Chih-Wei Huang, Air Force Command Headquarters: the flight track of this aircraft concerns our detection capabilities so it cannot be disclosed. However this aircraft did not enter any critical areas or our airspace.
 
Blitzo

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
Temstar said:
These two incursions seems to have created quite a stir in Taiwan with media been talking about it for a few days now. There's a general feeling of distrust with the ROC MND, reasoning are as follow:

  • the incursion on the 7th, the MND took ages to respond, only doing so after the video taken by civilians going to the media and causing a stir. One wonders if they would have done anything at all if the video did not surface
  • after the incursion on the 12 with the radio conversation going to the media and causing a stir, MND did not respond for about 24 hours. Afterwards they they came forward and said the radio call was a mistake and PLAAF did not actually enter ROC airspace
Given this, it sure feels like the event on the 12th is MND trying to cover up rather than honest mistake by ROCAF on the radio. What else in the past has MND been hiding? There's now a sense of doubt about DPP's stance on independence and defending ROC with force. If you can't prevent a slow transport plane from overflying your island, and when a PLAAF fighter enter your airspace the best you could do was to tell him to turn around over the radio (which I might add the PLAAF pilot immediately answer back with the military equivalent of "get fucked"), then should the people really trust that you are serious when you say you will defend ROC with broomsticks if necessary?

I think after the Olympics are over we should expect to see more such incidents as PLAAF continue to apply pressure.
Click to expand...

I think your interpretation of this (and your posts on Reddit, including in r/lesscredibledefense) are touting this with a bit more significance than it deserves.

The passage of a PLA small transport aircraft through the de facto territorial airspace of Dongyin island (basically on the mainland's doorstep) is really so minor in significance, that actually yes, from a defense standpoint, raising a fuss over this is not really worth it. Innocent passage is a thing in air transit as well, and a Y-12 passing through the airspace of Dongyin is so minor and insignificant in both geographical location and geopolitical significance, that no military force would really raise hell over it.
Certainly it would not be a good use of resources to reinforce Dongyin and force the ROCAF to deploy there to expel PLA aircraft, and trying to brush it off to avoid awkward questions is quite reasonable.


Putting it another way -- I don't think anyone would interpret the ROC military's response to a Y-12 passing through Dongyin island's airspace to be the same as how they would react, if say, the PLA launched a 30 strong aircraft sortie that flies within 12nmi of the airspace off the coast of Taipei.


I seriously do not think using this event as a way of questioning the ROC military's commitment to their defense, is a reasonable argument to make.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top