TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Monday afternoon (Dec. 7), marking the 6th intrusion since the beginning of December.

A single People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft entered the southwest corner of the ADIZ. Taiwan, in response, dispatched fighter jets, issued radio warnings, and deployed air defense missile systems to monitor the Chinese plane.

In November, PLAAF planes were detected entering Taiwan’s identification zone a total of 22 times; in October, Chinese military aircraft were spotted in the nation's ADIZ on 22 different occasions. Beijing has been regularly harassing Taiwan’s identification zone for almost three months, with most instances occurring in the southwest corner.

China’s Y-8 is a turboprop-powered plane based on the Soviet-era Antonov An-12, with the anti-submarine version first appearing in 2012. The ASW plane includes an air-to-surface radar located in a fairing at the chin position, a side-looking Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR), and a Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD) tube protruding from the aft-end of the fuselage.

Inline antenna protrusions for various sensors are also located along the dorsal and ventral fuselage spines. In addition to ASW missions, the Chinese military plane can also monitor and patrol strategic waters and carry out target acquisition.

Flight path of Chinese Y-8 on Dec. 7 (MND image)