TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Two Chinese military planes entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Thursday afternoon (April 15), marking the 12th intrusion this month.

Two People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Shenyang J-16 fighter jets flew into the southwest corner of Taiwan’s ADIZ, according to the Ministry of National Defense (MND). In response, Taiwan sent planes, broadcast radio warnings, and deployed air defense missile systems to track the PLAAF planes.

Since September of last year, Beijing has stepped up its gray zone tactics by regularly sending aircraft into Taiwan’s ADIZ, with most instances taking place in the southwest corner of the zone and usually carried out by one to three slow-flying turboprop planes. However, in recent weeks, China has begun sending larger incursions that include fighter jets (J-10s and J-16s) into Taiwan’s identification zone.

An ADIZ is an area that extends beyond a country’s air space where air traffic controllers ask incoming aircraft to identify themselves. Gray zone tactics are defined as “an effort or series of efforts beyond steady-state deterrence and assurance that attempts to achieve one’s security objectives without resort to direct and sizable use of force.”

According to MND data, Chinese planes were tracked in Taiwan’s identification zone 18 times in March, 17 times in February, and 27 times in January. Last year, they were observed 19 times in December, 22 times in November, and 22 times in October, including a drone on Oct. 22.

The J-16 is a tandem-seat, twinjet, multirole strike fighter based on the Russian Sukhoi-30 and built by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. It is armed with a 30-mm cannon and can be outfitted with air-to-air missiles, rockets, satellite-guided bombs, and anti-ship and anti-radiation missiles.



Flight path of Chinese planes on April 15 (MND image)