Since China made public its anti-ship ballistic missile weapons, the United States has realized that its aircraft carriers have become a living target for the PLA, but what the Americans did not expect is that ballistic missile attacks on aircraft carriers are only an integral part of the PLA's combat system, and what the PLA is now practicing is to destroy all the US aviation bases on the first island chain as soon as possible, including those expensive stealth fighters.
(The U.S. military is really nervous this time)
Recently, Western media released a number of satellite photos of the mainland's Xinjiang region, which show that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) not only carried out precision attacks on mobile targets simulating US aircraft carriers at the Taklamakan Desert Range in Xinjiang, but also specially built an airfield model that is highly similar to the first island chain, and put on a large number of models of F-22 and F-35 fighters, and carried out live-fire strike tests on these simulated targets.
(Models of the F-22 and F-35)
As can be seen from the satellite photos, the PLA's targets are strictly restored to the size of the air base at a ratio of 1:1, and models of F-22 and F-35 fighters are also placed to test the actual destructive capabilities of ballistic missiles to these models, and in addition to these fighters, there are also simulated targets of P-8A and EP-3 aircraft on the range. The move revealed two aspects of the PLA:
(PLA short-range ballistic missiles)
First of all, the PLA is currently conducting training and assessment of its units in full accordance with the actual combat situation, and through striking at these high-simulation targets, it will test the technical and tactical level of all units and ensure that once war breaks out, these targets can be completely destroyed as soon as possible. It is not difficult to see from this that the combat readiness level of the PLA units is very high, the daily assessment is quite strict, and everything is based on actual combat to ensure that they can achieve decisive victories in future wars.
(Many PLA missiles accurately hit the runway target)
Second, through the method of live ammunition targeting, the performance of the PLA's active missile weapons is also tested. As can be seen from the satellite photos, some of the fighter models placed together are intact and some are completely destroyed, and PLA technicians can find out the effective strike range of their own weapons and equipment from these comparisons, and make targeted improvements. At the same time, satellite photos also show that some of the missiles accurately hit the simulated airstrip of the PLA's targets, and although some of the impact points were slightly offset, most of the missiles accurately hit the airport runway, which shows that the shooting accuracy of China's ballistic missiles has been greatly improved, which is enough to effectively block the US air base on the first island chain.
(This is generally the case with the US military's air bases on the first island chain)
The PLA's inland target-firing exercise has actually deeply stimulated the United States, and it is not difficult to see from the target shooting situation that the so-called "first island chain," which the US military has painstakingly managed for several decades, is completely useless. In recent years, the U.S. military has regularly deployed F-35B fighters at the Iwakuni base in Japan, and at the same time, F-22 fighters will be deployed to the Kadena base every year.
(Although the U.S. Kadena base has a fort, it is not a reinforced design, and it is still unable to resist the missile attack of the PLA)
However, what makes the US military feel very embarrassed is that these two bases, where the most elite fifth-generation stealth fighters of the United States are deployed, do not have reinforced aircraft bunkers, and most of the planes can only be parked in open-air hangars, which can only shelter them from the wind and rain, but they have no defense capability against missile strikes. Although there are a small number of forts at the Kadena base, there are no fortified forts, which means that they are also unable to defend against missile strikes. On the entire first island chain, only the South Korean base in Gunsan has a reinforced aircraft fort, which can effectively defend against missile strikes and ensure the safety of aircraft.
(In the event of a war, these planes are targets of the PLA)
In fact, as early as 2022, Frank Kendall, then the U.S. Air Force Operations Department, had raised this issue, and he proposed at a Pentagon meeting to build additional forts to ensure that U.S. fighter jets can withstand PLA missile attacks. But this suggestion was ultimately rejected by conservative forces in the US Congress, so now the US Air Force can only keep its fighter jets on standby on the runway of the airport to ensure that it can quickly take off and evacuate to other airfields in the minutes before the missiles arrive, or at least fly to avoid the bombing.
(Once the runway is scrapped, then even if the fighter plane escapes, it loses its meaning)
However, it seems that this operational plan of the US military is about to fail. In other words, even if the US fighter planes can take off urgently and evade the PLA missiles, there will be no airfields for these fighters to land - because all the airfields will be completely destroyed by the PLA missiles.