The U.S. military has not only deployed a medium-range missile launch system covering 1,500 kilometers in Luzon, the Philippines, which is only a few hundred kilometers away from the island of Taiwan, but also held a "Shoulder to Shoulder 2024" joint military exercise with the Philippines on April 22, which will involve nearly 17,000 U.S. and African military personnel, and the situation in the South China Sea may usher in a new round of aggravation.
In particular, the medium-range missile launch system deployed by the US military on Luzon Island in the Philippines can launch Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of 1,500 km, and its coverage range can even reach China's hinterland, and the island of Taiwan, which is close at hand, is the core of its strike range. It can be seen from this that under the current situation of relatively tense Sino-US relations, the United States has deliberately deployed a cruise missile launch system with such range and power in the Philippines, which is obviously aimed at China and the Taiwan Strait.
Of course, the PLA will never turn a blind eye to the actions of the United States and the Philippines; just after the US military deployed a medium-range missile launch system in the Philippines, a PLA Wuzhan-7 strategic unmanned reconnaissance plane made an extremely rare appearance in the South China Sea, and even once approached an area less than 55 kilometers from the Philippine mainland.
The news was exposed on his social media by a Filipino journalist, who claimed that he was in the sky about 55 kilometers away from Subic Bay in the Philippines when he suddenly photographed a suspected PLA Wuzhi-7 strategic drone. At that time, the Filipino journalist was following a Philippine coast guard ship to film Filipino fishermen placing fishing equipment in the relevant waters, but accidentally spotted the drone in the air, and then filmed it.
After this set of photos was exposed, some Filipino netizens even made nonsense, publicly claiming that the PLA was "intimidating" Filipino fishermen, and saying that we were "bullying people".
However, there has been no official confirmation so far as to whether the Wuzhen-7 has really appeared in the South China Sea and is only a few dozen kilometers away from the Philippine mainland, so we have to wait for further confirmation of the authenticity of the news and whether the plane is a PLA Wuzhen-7 strategic drone.
In this regard, Guo Zhengliang, a well-known mouth on the island and a former "legislator," analyzed that if this plane is really the PLA's Wuzhen-7 UAV, it means that the PLA has begun to focus on the deployment of medium-range missile launchers by the US military in the Philippines.
This is because the United States currently has nine places in the Philippines where military bases can be built, so no one can say exactly how many medium-range missile launchers the US military has deployed in the Philippines. It is very likely that only one set or one company, and it is also very likely that nine areas that the United States can use to build military bases will deploy such medium-range missile launchers. Therefore, Guo Zhengliang believes that the PLA drones came over to investigate whether the United States and the Philippines will further expand their layout, and they plan to take a clear look.
In fact, if the Wuzhen-7 cruises the Taiwan Strait on a regular basis, the high-performance strategic unmanned reconnaissance aircraft will certainly be able to monitor every move of the United States and the Philippines in the South China Sea when the United States and the Philippines continue to send military forces to the South China Sea and deliberately stir up tensions in the South China Sea.
As early as March this year, when the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier "Roosevelt" entered the South China Sea, it may have also encountered the PLA's Wuzhen-7 UAV. According to information from the aviation identification website that was made public at the time, when the "Roosevelt" nuclear-powered aircraft carrier entered the South China Sea, the PLA's Wuzhan-7 long-range strategic unmanned reconnaissance plane frequently flew in circles along the nine-dash line at the doorsteps of the Philippines and Vietnam, taking in a panoramic view of the entire situation in the South China Sea.
This UAV has the ability to detect and locate surface targets, such as detecting and locking on large ships such as enemy aircraft carriers, and even guiding or correcting anti-ship ballistic missile strikes, which is an important weapon in the mainland's anti-access denial combat system.
It can also be said that as long as the PLA manufactures more high-performance equipment such as the Wuzhan-7, then any small action of the United States and the Philippines in the South China Sea will not escape the eyes of the PLA, and the United States and the Philippines will have nothing to hide in the South China Sea at that time.
And this time, if the Wuzhen-7 has really arrived near the Philippine mainland, it means that the PLA is likely to begin to find out the deployment of US and Philippine forces, and a strong signal has been released. For example, the medium-range missile launchers deployed by the US military in the Philippines mentioned this time, as long as the PLA has figured out its specific location, surrounding air defense forces, and other data, then these targets can only become a cake to be cut in the eyes of the PLA in the future.
As long as the PLA is willing, or if the United States and the Philippines provoke an emergency in the South China Sea, or even if there is a misfire, then any US and Philippine military bases and military targets in the Philippines will be destroyed by the PLA naval and air forces, as well as long-range missiles.