PLAN holds snap drills in South China Sea

[Zarvan]

A Shenyang J-11B lands on Woody Island in the Paracel Islands on 30 October. Source: PLAN
China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has carried out air and naval exercises in the South China Sea: a move that may be in response to the US Navy's (USN) 27 October freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) near the Spratly Islands.

Chinese state media reported that on 28 October, after the USS Lassen sailed within 12 n miles of Subi Reef, the PLAN sortied 10 warships from the South Sea Fleet based in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, at short notice for a series of exercises that included gun and missile live firings.

Subi Reef is one of the disputed Spratly Islands on which China has carried out extensive island-building and construction activities. Recent imagery shows that a 3,000 m-long airstrip is under construction. Lassen 's mission was described by the USN as a FONOP and was the first time a USN ship had gone within 12 n miles of the newly created islands.

China Military Online , a military news website sponsored by the PLA Daily , also reported that fighter jets belonging to the South Sea Fleet carried out what it called a combat training exercise in "unfamiliar environments" on 30 October.

Photos published in China Military Online showed PLAN Air Force Shenyang J-11B/BSH 'Flankers' landing on an airfield that other Chinese media sources said was the military airport located on Woody Island, the largest of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea that are also claimed by Vietnam.

The J-11BH/BSH is a navalised version of the J-11B/BS, which is itself based on the Sukhoi Su-27 fighter but fitted with Chinese avionics, weapon systems and the Shenyang-Liming WS-10 turbofan engine.

The J-11Bs involved in the exercise carried PL-8 and PL-12 air-to-air missiles and their aircraft serial numbers indicate that they are assigned to the PLAN's 8th Air Division, most possibly the 25th Fighter Regiment at Lingshui on Hainan Island.

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PLAN holds snap drills in South China Sea - IHS Jane's 360