The Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense reported on March 14, 2024, that it had detected 26 aircraft belonging to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) operating around Taiwan.
Out of these sorties, 18 crossed the central line of the Taiwan Strait and extended into the island country’s northern, southwestern, and eastern Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZ).
During the operation, the PLA conducted joint combat readiness patrols with 10 People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) warships.
In response to this, the Taiwanese military scrambled fighter jets, ships, and shore-based missile systems to respond appropriately, as stated by the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense.
Two days before, the Japanese Ministry of Defense reported that a Chinese Y-9 intelligence-gathering aircraft, H-6 bombers, and at least one drone flew from the East China Sea and passed between Sakishima’s main island, Miyakojima and Taiping, in the Okinawa prefecture.
The ministry stated that fighter jets from the Southwestern Air Defense Force of the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force were scrambled in response. The 9th Air Wing of the Southwestern Air Defense Force operates a fleet of Mitsubishi F-15J fighters, a domestically produced version of the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle.
