Fighter jets carry out drill on freeway

‘CHINESE ATTACK’: The drill was based on a scenario in which airbases had been destroyed, forcing the air force to use alternative locations for landing and takeoff

By Rich Chang / Staff Reporter, with AFP





The Republic of China Air Force yesterday used a closed-off motorway as a runway in a rare drill simulating a surprise attack from China that had wiped out its major airbases.

In all, six fighter aircraft landed and took off from Freeway No. 1 in an emergency landing and takeoff exercise, under the watchful eye of hundreds of spectators.

The one-hour drill anticipated a scenario in which runways at airbases in Greater Kaohsiung’s Gangshan Township (岡山), Penghu’s Magong (馬公), Pingtung and Greater Tainan were destroyed by three waves of missile attacks by China, forcing the air force to use alternative locations for landing and takeoff, the Ministry of National Defense said.

Plane spotters watch an F-16 fighter touch down on Freeway No. 1 in the Madou area of Greater Tainan yesterday. A 2.7km stretch of the freeway was temporarily closed off for the exercise. Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times

“In today’s scenario, we assumed most of Taiwan’s military air bases were severely damaged in an attack by missiles from the People’s Liberation Army, and fighter jets could not return to their home bases,” 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,” he said.

In the exercise, which began at 7:26am in heavy fog, two Indigenous Defense Fighters (IDF), two F-16A/Bs and two Mirage 2000s landed on a 2.7km stretch of Freeway No. 1 in the Madou area of Greater Tainan. More than 1,300 members of the armed services participated in the exercise.

An armed French made Mirage 2000-5s fighter takes off from a highway in Tainan, southern Taiwan, during the Han Kuang drill yesterday. Photo: AFP

The IDF fighters took off from Tainan Air Base, while the F-16s and Mirage 2000s took off from Chiashan Base (佳山) in Hualien County.

To ensure the planes could land safely, a large number of soldiers were ordered to carry out a meticulous search for stones or other small objects on the road.

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.

As the six combat aircraft landed on the freeway, an army OH-58D scout helicopter carried out surveillance and an AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopter provided protection for a CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter carrying bombs and missiles for the fighter aircraft.

Security checks, refilling and missile reloading on the six aircraft were accomplished within one hour. Each IDF aircraft was loaded with six Mk 82 bombs, while each F-16 was fitted with AGM-65 Maverick and AGM-84 Harpoon missiles and the Mirage 2000s were loaded with MICA missiles.

At 8:26am, the six combat aircraft took off at intervals of one minute.

The Madou section of the freeway was closed from 4am until 10am yesterday.

The drill was part of the five-day Han Kuang 27, an annual series of exercises that began on Monday and end on Friday.