UPDATED: Massive China Air/Sea Exercise Probing Taiwan - Updated on 15 July.
Despite the Fighters and Bombers, Operation Appears EW Collection
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12 July 2023 (Wednesday)
Massive China Air/Sea Exercise Probing Taiwan
Despite the Fighters and Bombers, Operation Appears EW Collection
By Wendell Minnick (Whiskey Mike) 顏文德
TAIPEI - It has been quiet since the Spring when the lunar calendar made air and sea exercises around Taiwan perfect for China’s preparations for a future invasion.
So the massive airpower and seapower display on 11 July by China begged some questions, particularly with the thunder storms in the area and rough seas.
There have been suggestions that the Chinese military was preparing for the upcoming Wan An air defense drill to be held in four regions from 24-27 July:
6th Army (Northern Taiwan) from 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. on 24 July.
8th Army (Southern Taiwan) from 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. on 25 July.
Huatung Defense Command (Eastern Taiwan) and Outlying Islands, same time, on 26 July.
10th Army (Central Taiwan), same time, 27 July.
The upcoming Wan An would make it the perfect time for China to collect electronic data on a variety of systems: radar, signal intelligence, electronic counter-measures, electronic counter-counter measures, etc.
Consider it a buffet of electronic warfare; a rare opportunity for China to gorge itself with tasty frequencies.
On the maps below, you will note there were H-6 bombers, Su-30, J-10, and J-16 fighter aircraft, it was the reconnaissance aircraft that unnerved me.
1x BZK-005 UAV Recce
2x Y-8 Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW)
1x Y-8 Electronic Warfare (EW)
1x KJ-500 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEWC)
1x Z-9 ASW helicopter
Be warned that the H-6 has EW and AEW variants (H-6G and HD-6), so these might not be “bombers”, per se. Also the Su-30, J-16, and J-10 can all be equipped with reconnaissance electronic collection pods (see Chinese Air-Launched Weapons and Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Targeting Pods (2019) and Chinese C4I/EW Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (2022).
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Wan An #46 Air Defense Drill:
Above: NPA LINK for Civil Defense
VIDEO MND Press Conference for Wan An:
Those interested in Air Defense issues in Taiwan, please see this Toad Mountain Hopping and GPS Jamming in Taiwan.
What might be deeply disconcerting is the projection of EW collection to the south of Taiwan, particularly as Pratas is the northern most island in the South China Sea and of strategic interest to China for its air base. Though Taiwan’s 99th Marine Regiment defends the island, it is largely flat with little in the way of defensive weaponry.
If China should take this island, it would greatly extend north its collection of South China Islands that it has militarized in a spider web of radars, signals intelligence (SIGINT), air defense, anti-ship missiles, air bases, port facilities, etc.
Future patches like the one below, might be a thing of the past.
