With the opening of the live-fire exercise part of Taiwan's Han Kuang exercise, the Taiwan military has rarely posted photos of highly strong underground hangars on social networking sites, while stating on social media that the content in the picture is part of the Han Kuang exercise to show its ability to replenish the aircraft ammunition and prepare for takeoff within a specific time frame.
F-16 fighter jets with Harpoon anti-ship missiles being installed
The AIM-120C medium-range air-to-air missile, the AIM-9L/M Sidewinder short-range fighter missile, and the AGM-84L Harpoon anti-ship missile are mounted under the wings
U.S. media analysis said that it is not clear what the Taiwan military intended to release the photos, but can convey information that these facilities can be used to defend against the initial strike in the case of a blow to the Taiwanese military, and the Taiwan military has not directly determined the official identity of the site. Roy Choo, a defense writer who wrote "Modern Taiwan Air Force," claimed on Twitter that the photos were taken in an underground hangar at the Jiashan base in the east.
Jiashan base cave entrance
During the weapons loading exercise, two Air Force crews loaded a Harpoon anti-ship missile onto an F-16 in an underground hangar in Kasan
Jiashan Base is the largest and most comprehensive underground base in Taiwan, hiding a large number of fighters and other military equipment. At the end of the 1970s, Chiang Ching-kuo ordered the Taiwan military to draw up a defense plan for "defending Taiwan" as soon as possible, and the Taiwan authorities finally decided to "drill deep holes in the ground." The main idea was to hollow out the eastern part of Taiwan's central mountain range and hide most of its advanced equipment in a cave to avoid the first round of attacks on Taiwan and preserve its combat strength. Beginning in the 1980s, the Taiwan Air Force officially implemented a fighter drilling program called "Jian'an No. 3", which included Project 828 (Hualien Jiashan) and Project 737 (Taitung Zhihang). Construction of the Jiashan underground hangar began in 1984 and was completed in 1992.
Jiashan Air Force Base
The US media finally analyzed that the Chinese People's Liberation Army has a terrible land, sea and air strike force, and in the event of conflict, these protective underground facilities can improve the survival rate of its important air assets in the first attack. With the current air defense force, it can withstand some cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles for military bases such as Jiashan to a certain extent, but due to the rapid development of China's aircraft carriers, if faced with attacks launched from the east side, it will still face a huge test.