On the evening of December 14, China's Ministry of National Defense announced that according to the annual cooperation plan between the Chinese and Russian militaries, the two sides organized the seventh joint strategic air patrol in the relevant airspace of the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea on the same day. This is the second strategic air cruise organized by the Chinese and Russian organizations in 2023.
On the same day, the Russian Ministry of Defense also announced that the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Chinese Air Force had carried out joint air patrols in the airspace over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. The Russian Ministry of Defense mentioned that during the cruise, foreign fighters accompanied them in some sections, and stressed that the Russian and Chinese planes strictly abided by international laws and regulations, did not violate foreign airspace, and returned to their respective stations after the cruise.
Yonhap News Agency quoted South Korea's Joint Staff Headquarters (Joint Staff) as saying that from 11:53 to 12:10 local time on December 14, two Chinese military aircraft and four Russian military aircraft once entered the air defense identification zone in the waters east of South Korea and stayed for about 17 minutes, without violating South Korea's airspace.
At the same time, the Joint Staff Supervision Department of the Japanese Ministry of Defense also reported that during the Sino-Russian joint strategic air patrol, the PLA dispatched H-6 bombers, J-16 fighters, and Y-8 electronic warfare planes, while Russia dispatched Tu-95 bombers, Tu-142 patrol planes, and Su-35 fighters. Two Chinese H-6 bombers flew into the Sea of Japan from the East China Sea and joined the two Russian Tu-95 bombers, and then flew to the East China Sea together.
The comprehensive caliber of China, Russia, Japan and South Korea is basically the same. Although the official statement is a routine annual military activity that has been scheduled for a long time, it is worth appreciating such actions at a time when military movements on all sides are sensitive.
The United States instigates the Philippines to make trouble in the South China Sea, so let's cooperate to go around the north, this time it is South Korea, and next time it may be Japan. Anyway, we don't recognize the air defense identification zone of Japan and South Korea, where the US military is located, even if we call a military hotline to test it, the action is completely in line with international law, what can we say?
The territorial airspace is the part of the space where the territory and territorial waters of each country are vertically upwards of 100 kilometers, and modern warfare maneuvers can fly tens or hundreds of kilometers without breathing, and with the range of the mount, it is easy to launch a strike outside the territorial airspace. This is very fatal, so the air defense identification zone came into being.
The ADIZ is a buffer zone for yourself to allow enough time to react. Foreign fighters will begin to give early warnings when they enter the area, and in serious cases, they will even be warned to accompany the fighters until they are driven away. As a result, Chinese and Russian military planes entered the ROK air defense identification zone, and the ROK even used a direct hotline to "protest" against the failure of the Chinese military aircraft to report, but did not protest to the Russian side, because Russia and South Korea did not have a direct hotline.
It's just that, after all, the air defense identification zone is unilaterally demarcated, not airspace. If bilateral relations are good, everyone can still tacitly refrain from entering the air defense identification zone of the other side; if the bilateral relations are tense, who cares so much, which law stipulates that they cannot enter international airspace, and they still inform the public? If you have to fly with you, that's your business. Therefore, compared with the shouting of the South Korean side, the Sino-Russian joint strategic air cruise operation itself is more to say.
The concept of strategic cruise originated during the Cold War, when the United States and the Soviet Union, in order to seize the opportunity in a nuclear war as much as possible, or to carry out a second counterattack, required the deployment of air-based or sea-based strategic strike platforms, that is, strategic bombers and nuclear submarines carrying nuclear weapons, in key areas to conduct long-term combat readiness patrols in international sea and air space. In the event of a major change, the strategic strike platform on duty outside the country can respond as soon as possible without leaving any defensive buffer window for the enemy, and the effect is very remarkable, whether it is deterrence or strike.
To understand strategic patrol is to understand the significance of Sino-Russian joint strategic air cruise. This activity has been going on for several years, and its purpose is twofold: first, to train pilots so that they can familiarize themselves with the routes, to familiarize themselves with the wartime firing positions, and to be familiar with a series of operations such as communications support; second, to strengthen their own presence in certain important international airspace so that they can warn potential adversaries when the situation changes.
Cruising may seem like two cars driving side by side at a distance from each other, but it's not. Because the aircraft types, navigation and control systems of the Chinese and Russian militaries are completely different, it is difficult to coordinate alone. If they land at each other's airports on the way, it is also very troublesome to replenish and maintain the other party's aircraft. According to the past practice, in addition to bombers, escort fighters are also indispensable, which in turn involves escort docking, not to mention formal tactical exercises. The fact that all of the above can be accomplished shows that the cooperation between the Chinese and Russian militaries is becoming more and more tacit.
Judging from the completion of these 7 activities, although there are always some inexplicable opinions in the surrounding area, there is no big impact on the whole, and it will definitely continue in the future. The Yellow Sea, the Sea of Japan, and even the Bering Sea are all likely to form regular cruises, and the more they are frequent, the more they will Xi.
For example, Japan has also included an air defense identification zone in the East China Sea, which is only more than 100 kilometers away from the mainland, and our planes will enter it almost as soon as they fly, but why doesn't the Japanese side call it now? Because it is tired and numb, its F-15s can no longer support the air defense identification zone they have demarcated. In recent years, Japan's sortie rate in the air defense identification zone has dropped by half, and even if it finds an unknown target, it does not fly much, and only shouting remains.
The Japan-South Korea air defense identification zone just sealed the Tsushima Strait, and this time the Chinese and Russian fighters entered the Sea of Japan and obviously crossed the Japanese air defense identification zone, so that Japan's calm reaction made South Korea even more "young" and thunderous. This shows that the number of times China and Russia go to the east coast of South Korea is still small, and when the life span of the South Korean Air Force is consumed, it will naturally shut up.