In October 2022, the US military website "War Zone" column published an article, which gave strong attention to the island and reef military base , which was built by China in South China Sea .
The author of the article mentioned that in recent months, the People's Liberation Army has built a large number of concrete artillery towers on the three islands and reefs that built large airports, namely Yongshu Island , Meiji Island and Zhubi Island , among which 76mm automatic artillery and 30mm near-defense artillery were deployed, which seems to be facilities specially provided for airport security.
Nanhai Airport New Artillery Tower
In addition, the "War Zone" column also mentioned that some special buses of appeared at the South China Sea Airport in China. They seem to act as obstacles and are used to block runways. In this regard, the US media believes that China's approach is "very unprofessional". Do these comments from the US media make sense?
The importance of South China Sea Airport
Since the South China Sea arbitration case occurred in 2016 and the South China Sea confronted China and the United States, the People's Liberation Army has accelerated its pace of building a defense system in the South China Sea. In 2018, Yongshu Island, Meiji Island and Zhubi Island, which are larger in Nansha Islands, became the main targets of land reclamation in China, and the area of each island and reef has been greatly expanded, and the conditions are met to build large airport .
Airport on the South China Sea Islands and Reefs
2022, when the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, John Aquilino, flew over the South China Sea on a military plane, he was surprised to find that the People's Liberation Army had established large airports on the three major islands and reefs. According to the US military's calculations, the airport runway on the three major islands and reefs in the South China Sea is 3 kilometers long and has a width of 60 meters, far exceeding the take-off and landing requirements of general military aircraft .
Bird view of Meiji Island, South China Sea, China
US military believes that the reason why the People's Liberation Army built this giant runway is mainly because the US military may destroy the island's airport runway when the war breaks out. When the airport runway itself has great redundant space, even if some runways are blown up, the PLA fighter jets can still take off and land with the remaining part.
China's South China Sea island reef satellite map
I have to say that the US military's ideas are not bad. In the eyes of the People's Liberation Army, these three islands and reefs in the South China Sea almost have the nature of "unsinkable aircraft carrier" . At the airports of each island and reef, the People's Liberation Army has deployed a fighter brigade, with about 40 tactical aircraft, including J-11B, J-16, etc.
In addition, large transport aircraft Y-20 and early warning aircraft air police-500 are also frequent visitors to these island and reef airports, providing logistical support and alert assistance to the island troops.
Airport security is the focus of guarding islands and reefs
Although the airports established on the three major islands and reefs in the South China Sea have made them "unsinkable aircraft carriers" and have the characteristics of being difficult to completely destroy, the airports built here may become the springboard for the enemy's attack , which is a risk that the People's Liberation Army must consider in advance.
The giant runway of the South China Sea island and reef airport
History, US and Russian troops have used the special tactics of "airport beheading" . In August 1968, Soviet special forces airborne the Prague Airport and cleared the airport security forces within just half an hour. Subsequently, a large number of An-12 transport aircraft arrived directly, sending tens of thousands of elite Soviet troops to the airport, laying the foundation for the Soviet army's lightning operations to "occupy Czech for 6 hours".
The US military is also a special combat force. In 1983, the US special forces airborne the Salins Airport in Grenada and captured this important place with the strong combat power of the Ranger . Then the US military force arrived at the airport on the transport plane and controlled the entire territory of Grenada in just 12 hours.
US Airborne Forces
From the above battle examples, it can be seen that an airport located in a strategic location is certainly an important part of our army's defense system, but the enemy can also regard it as the beginning of a lightning offensive. Therefore, the People's Liberation Army's vigilance against the US military's airborne airport in the South China Sea is that must not relax .
In fact, this is why the PLA placed some buses on the runway of the Nanhai Airport - they essentially act as the "mobile roadblock" of .
If wars ignite in the future, and if US troops try to use the South China Sea Airport as a springboard, these buses can be parked horizontally on the runway, causing the US military to be in a dilemma -
If it is easily stopped by several buses, the US military's combat operations will be too funny; but if you take the risk of plane destruction and death and forcefully knock the bus to land, it may be the ending of the US military's "death before it succeeds."
buses that act as mobile roadblocks
As for why buses are used as "mobile roadblocks" instead of looking more "professional" roadblocks, this is actually a typical manifestation of our army's pragmatism .
A passenger bus is very fast and convenient to transport it to the South China Sea islands and reefs, and to remove it, you only need to ride it and drive it. But if you change to an ordinary moving roadblock, it will be quite inconvenient to move. Our army does not need to abandon pragmatism for the so-called "professionality".
not only has buses, but also self-propelled anti-aircraft guns
Of course, at an important stronghold such as the South China Sea Airport, the People's Liberation Army cannot only use a few buses to "enter" the US military at home. In the artillery tower next to these airports, the Chinese Type 04 25mm ammunition combined with weapons to wait for all uninvited guests with black muzzles.
China Type 04 25mm ammunition combined with weapon
04 25mm ammunition combined with weapon is equipped with hydraulic transmission device. In the cannon state, it can reach the fire density of about 600 to 800 rounds per minute, with a firing height of 2500 meters.
. Its biggest feature is that the ammunition combined with the strike means can switch to missile mode according to combat needs and launch QW-2 missiles. In this mode, it can launch locked attacks on all targets within a radius of 5,000 meters.
In addition, the Chinese Type 09 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun is also a "hunter" who is waiting for prey to come to the door in secret. This self-propelled anti-aircraft gun is equipped with active phased array radar , which can search for air units with a radius of 18 kilometers. If a threatening target is found, it will use 2 35mm anti-aircraft guns , each with a fire rate of 550 rounds per minute.
People's Liberation Army Type 09 self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery
If the elite US rangers plan to invade China's South China Sea airport with the old-fashioned "airport beheading" tactics, the planes on the US military and the paratroopers in mid-air will be attacked by the terrifying iron stream, and eventually becomes cannon fodder .
Moreover, these field air defense equipment are only the primary equipment in the PLA air defense system. According to the US media "War Zone", the People's Liberation Army is likely to be preparing for the Hongqi-9B long-range air defense system to land on the island.
Hongqi-9B Long-range Air Defense System
This latest domestic air defense system has a range of 250 kilometers, and can intercept flying objects in
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