Military drill at civilian airport will use F-16V, C-130H: Source
ROC Central News Agency
06/23/2023 09:18 PM
Taipei, June 23 (CNA) An emergency landing and takeoff drill to be held for the first time at a civilian airport in eastern Taiwan's Taitung County in July will involve the use of the F-16 fighter jets and C-130H Hercules transport aircraft, a military source told CNA on Friday.
The drill, to be staged at Taitung Fengnian Airport, will be part of the live-fire component of this year's Han Kuang military exercises from July 24-28. It will be the first time this type of drill has been staged in the history of the airport, which opened in 1981.
The purpose of the drill will be to test Taiwan's civilian airports and emergency landing strips to make sure they are capable of handling takeoff and landing missions during wartime, the source said.
The Hualien Jiashan Air Base and Chihang Air Base could be subjected to attacks by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) during wartime, hence civilian airports will play a critical role for the military, retired Air Force Lieutenant General Chang Yen-ting (張延廷) told CNA on Friday.
Chang said the Taitung airport was ideal for the exercises since it would be difficult to practice such drills at Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei Songshan Airport and Kaohsiung International Airport due to their busy and heavy passenger traffic.
Moreover, the Taitung Fengnian Airport has a 2,438-meter runway, which is more than enough for an F-16 or C-130 to takeoff or land, he said, indicating that the strip is only 400m shorter than the one at the Air Force Academy in Kaohsiung's Gangshan District.
Citing foreign information sources, research fellow at Taiwan's Institute for National Defense and Security Research Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said the takeoff distance of a fully armed F-16V Block 20 is 535m, while it is 450m for a F-16V Block 70.
Meanwhile, the takeoff distance for a Mirage 2000 is roughly 503m, 500m for Taiwan's Indigenous Defense Fighters (IDF), and 1,090m for a C-130, Su said.
He added that landing distance for a F-16V Block 20 and Mirage 2000 is 810m and 610m.
Taiwan's only emergency provincial highway landing strip at present is a 2.26-kilometer section of Provincial Highway No. 1 near Jiadong and Fangliao in southern Pingtung County.
The other emergency landing strips are located on sections of Freeway No. 1 in Madou and Rende in Tainan, Huatan in Changhua County, and Minsyong in Chiayi County.
The exercises involving the upgraded F-16V Block 20s have been planned because the 66 F-16Vs Block 70s that Taiwan has ordered from the United States will be stationed at Taitung Chihang Air Base, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous.
The Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan's major war games, have been held annually since 1984, in the form of live-fire drills and computerized war games, to test Taiwan's combat readiness in the face of a possible Chinese invasion.
This year's tabletop drills were staged in May.
(By Matt Yu and Ko Lin)
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