Like what I always say, practise makes perfect.
Taiwan jets practise landing on motorway
AFP
Tue, Apr 12, 2011
The Taiwanese air force used a closed-off motorway as a runway on
Tuesday in a rare drill simulating a Chinese surprise attack that
had wiped out its major airbases.
The scenario for the exercise, which involved more than 1,300
soldiers, was a conflict with China in which aerial bombardment had
paralysed major military airports, the air force said.
The exercise is part of a series of war games stretching over a
five-day period and codenamed "Han Kuang 27", or "Han Glory
27".
"In today's scenario we assumed most of Taiwan's military airbases
were severely damaged in an attack by missiles from the People's
Liberation Army, and fighter jets could not return to their home
bases," Colonel Lee Wen-yu, an air force spokesman, told
reporters.
"Because of that we needed to convert some sections of the freeway
to serve as emergency runways... and for that purpose, we need to
check the standard procedures, like clearing up the road surface,
setting up communications networks and installing plane arrest
cables."
Six jets - two F-16s, two Mirage 2000-5s and two Taiwan-built
Indigenous Defence Fighters - landed on a motorway near Tainan
city, where they refuelled and loaded with missiles and other
ammunition before taking off again.
The drill kicked off in the pre-dawn hours amid heavy fog and mist,
but the officers overseeing the exercise eventually decided
visibility was acceptable.
To ensure the planes could land safely, large number of soldiers
were ordered to carry out a blanket search for stones or other
small objects on the road. (Just like what we are doing)
Several cars also drove along the motorway, releasing
high-frequency sounds to scare away birds that might be sucked into
the turbines of the jets.
The backbone of Taiwan's air force consists of 60 ageing F-5s, 126
Indigenous Defence Fighters, 146 F-16A/Bs and 56 Mirages.
An AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopter, an OH-58D Kiowa Warrior
scout helicopter and a CH-47 Chinook transportation helicopter from
the army were also mobilised for the manoeuvre, Lee said.
Taiwan conducted the first such exercise in 2004 and a second one
in 2007, both while the anti-China Democratic Progressive Party was
holding political power in the island.
Taiwan regularly stages war games simulating possible attacks by
China, which still claims the island as part of its territory and
refuses to renounce the use of force to take it back, prompting the
island to continue its military modernisation.
Ma, the initiator of detente with the island's giant neighbour,
said last week Taiwan was unlikely to engage in an arms race with
China, but stressed that the island still needs a small and
powerful deterrent to offset the mainland's military might.
Taiwanese experts estimate that China has more than 1,600 missiles
aimed at the island and has recently deployed a new type of
ballistic missile despite improving ties.
Taiwan has ruled itself since the end of a civil war in 1949.
Tensions between the two former arch-rivals have eased markedly in
recent years under the island's Beijing-friendly government.