TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) tracked 29 Chinese military aircraft and five naval vessels around the country between 6 a.m. Tuesday (Oct. 3) and 6 a.m. Wednesday (Oct. 4), including the first incursion by a dual-purpose attack and reconnaissance drone.

The defense ministry said that 29 People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) military aircraft and five People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels were detected. Of the detected aircraft, 16 crossed the median line or entered the southwest sector of Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

The aircraft tracked in the ADIZ included one BZK-005 Reconnaissance (RECCE) drone, four Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets, six Chengdu J-10 fighter jets, two Shenyang J-16 fighter jets, one Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft, one Shaanxi Y-9 communication countermeasure aircraft (Y-9 CC), and one Chengdu GJ-2 RECCE drone.

The BZK-005 drone and Su-30 fighters crossed the northeastern end of the median line. Meanwhile some of the J-10 fighters crossed the northeastern section of the line and flew along a long southwesterly route on the Taiwan side of the line, before crossing back over into the Taiwan Strait.

The J-16 fighters and the rest of the J-10 fighters crossed over the southwest section of the median line and entered the southwest ADIZ before crossing back into the strait.

The Y-8 and Y-9 aircraft flew in the southwest sector of the ADIZ. The Chengdu GJ-2 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flew in the far southwest corner of the southwest ADIZ just to the northeast of the Dongsha Islands.

This marked the first time that a Chengdu GJ-2 UAV was reported to have entered Taiwan's ADIZ, per Liberty Times. The Chengdu GJ-2, also known as the Wing Loong 2, is produced by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group and is capable of both reconnaissance and ground attack missions.

The UAV first appeared at the 2015 Beijing Air Show, with China claiming that it was the Chinese version of the American MQ-9 Reaper UAV. Like the MQ-9, China said the Chengdu GJ-2 is a long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance UAV with both reconnaissance and strike capabilities.

The MND said it monitored the situation with its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system and, in response, scrambled combat patrol aircraft, dispatched naval vessels, and deployed land-based air defense missile systems.

Since September 2020, Beijing has increasingly employed the use of "gray zone tactics" in the form of deployments of military aircraft and naval vessels over the median line and inside Taiwan's ADIZ.

According to CSIS, gray zone tactics are “an effort or series of efforts beyond steady-state deterrence and assurance that attempts to achieve one’s security objectives without resorting to direct and sizable use of force."

Flight paths of 16 PLAAF aircraft detected in ADIZ on Monday and Tuesday. (MND image)