China trains to destroy Japanese planes with missiles that recognize individual planes
Japanese leaders have tied Taiwan's security to that of Japan, allowing the country to play a role in Taiwan's defense. As a result, according to Nikkei, citing a Planet Labs report, the PLA launched a missile at a simulacrum of a Japanese Self-Defense Forces (SDF) aircraft in a desert area in northwest China called Xinjiang.
Nikkei examined photos taken by Planet Labs, a US-based satellite operator. Photos from the same location in mid-May showed an E-767-shaped object, an airborne warning and control system (AWACS) used by the SDF, an airstrip, and runway-like buildings. A photo from July 13 shows the destroyed object, along with debris and black burn marks.
Previous satellite photographs showed that the object was still in place since July 2. The precise timing is unclear due to weather conditions which prevented photographing on a few days, but it appears the object was destroyed in early July. It is the first time that an object imitating an SDF aircraft has been known to have been destroyed. Also interesting is the fact that the plane was almost hidden in the midst of similar planes, which means that the missile is built to hit individual specific planes in the midst of others. A very remarkable and worrying step forward for the Chinese army.
"I think we can safely conclude that this was a ballistic missile test of some kind," said Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey and a specialist in military satellite photo analysis, referring to what appears to be a fake Boeing E-767 AWACS used by the SDF.
Tom Shugart, senior adjunct fellow at the Center for a New American Security, also reviewed the images and concluded that a missile may have been used:
"If the purpose of the dummy target was to test the ability of a missile warhead to recognize and target specific high-value aircraft, and that capability has actually been successfully tested, then the use of such a weapon could improve the ability of the PLA to hit key aircraft such as the E-767 “.
It is unclear what the PLA used to hit the mock AWACS or surrounding planes. Kiyofumi Iwata, former chief of staff of Japan's land-based SDF, said there were no impact craters, suggesting that "the AWACS object may have been set on fire rather than hit by a missile."
The PLA forces also built a mock US Navy aircraft carrier and two Arleigh Burke-class guided destroyers last year in the same desert area to test weapons. Nikkei said that "signs were found on the aircraft carrier that experts believe were made by missile impacts."
If an invasion of Taiwan is foreseen, it appears that China recognizes that Japan and the United States may be involved in the struggle. That's why China and Russia lined up and conducted a joint military exercise last month between Yonaguni Island and Taiwan.
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The article China trains to destroy Japanese planes with missiles that recognize individual planes comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-cina-si-addestra-a-distruggere-gli-aerei-giapponesi-con-missili-che-riconoscono-i-singoli-aerei/ on Sat, 16 Jul 2022 09:00:20 +0000.