The US CL-604 reconnaissance aircraft often refueled at Clarke Base in the Philippines when it was reconnaissance in the South China Sea.
The U.S. Coast Guard patrol ship Bosoff moved in the West Pacific last year. Z2z
CL-604 flew at low altitude when it arrived near China, from the usual 20,000 feet. It dropped to only 1,825 feet (more than 500 meters).
[Great Military News] The think tank "South China Sea Strategic Situational Awareness Program" released a report on its English official website on November 18, mentioning that the United States has dispatched reconnaissance aircraft operated by private defense companies to frequently conduct reconnaissance and surveillance flights to China. The
report mentioned that since March this year, the US has deployed three such reconnaissance planes in the Western Pacific to assist the US military in reconnaissance.
Bombardier CL-604
's first Bombardier CL-604 maritime surveillance aircraft, belonging to Tenax Aerospace (Tenax, a partnership of Bombardier), can be called a simplified version of the P-8A patrol aircraft, with a wingspan of 19.8 meters, It is 21 meters long, 6.4 meters high, has a cruising speed of 459 knots (850 per hour), and has a cruising time of 8 hours. The crew includes 2 pilots and 3 to 5 mission operators. The aircraft arrived at Kadena Base, Okinawa, the largest U.S. air force base in the Far East, on March 31. As of November 11, the aircraft had travelled to the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea and the airspace north of the Taiwan Strait for 139 times and to the South China Sea for 17 times. Due to the lack of air refueling capability, the aircraft will refuel at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines when it travels to the South China Sea.
Bombardier CL-650
, the second Bombardier CL-650, belongs to Lasai Aviation. As of September 15, the aircraft had traveled to the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea and the northern part of the Taiwan Strait for 9 reconnaissance and 4 trips to the South China Sea.
Beechcraft King Air 350
The third Beechcraft King Air 350 low-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, from Meta Special Aerospace (Meta Special Aerospace), was deployed to the Philippines on August 18 and was active nearby.
Why does the US military use private company aircraft for reconnaissance? First of all,
is to strengthen the capabilities of military-civilian joint operations. The United States has the world’s highest level of military-civilian integration. Private defense companies have been deeply integrated into US military operations that are active around the world.
The second is to deal with the so-called "gray area challenge." In recent years, the United States has complained that China’s maritime police and the so-called “maritime militia” are frequently engaged in “gray zone” competition. Compared with the air reconnaissance forces of the US Navy and Air Force, the aircraft of private defense companies have greater flexibility and size. It is half smaller than the P-8A, and the airframe is painted like a civil aircraft, which is very inconspicuous, which reduces the diplomatic pressure caused by direct military confrontation. The United States sent two Coast Guard ships to the South China Sea in 2019, and this year it sent reconnaissance aircraft operated by private defense companies to conduct frequent reconnaissance activities. This undoubtedly shows that the United States is rapidly expanding its toolkit to deal with the so-called "gray zone challenge." .
The third is to alleviate the problem of insufficient reconnaissance capabilities of the US military in this area and reduce costs. Although there are many types of reconnaissance models of the US military, such as RC-135, E-8C, U-2S, RQ-4B, P-8A, P-3C, EP-3E, MQ-4C, they cannot support high-density and high-intensity reconnaissance. operation.
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