TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of Defense has announced runways are being extended and widened at a number of air bases around the country.

The upgrades are to ensure that tarmacs in the country remain resilient and usable if bombed by enemy forces so that Taiwan’s fighters can continue to take to the skies to do battle, per a UDN report. By increasing the width and length of the runways, fighter jets have more room to take off and land at the margins, even if parts of the strips are damaged.

The ministry says airfields are prime targets during wartime and that it is pushing to finish scaling up the combat-ready tarmacs as soon as possible. In addition, anti-aircraft missiles and defense personnel will be deployed at airfields to defend them during a conflict.

The ministry also said that during an invasion, national and county-level highways may also be used by the Air Force as makeshift runways.