Photo: PLA Southern Theater Command

On Sunday, the day of the Chinese New Year, two fighter planes of a naval aviation brigade under the PLA Southern Theater Command took off from Yongxing Island in the Xisha Islands to track and monitor foreign aircraft over the South China Sea, the PLA Southern Theater Command revealed on Tuesday on WeChat.

In the face of the approaching foreign aircraft, the PLA aircraft changed their flight attitude considerably several times to ensure that the target was within monitoring range and maintained the position until the foreign aircraft flew away.

Photo: PLA Southern Theater Command

After the first round of the mission, the returning PLA aircraft slid into the hangar, where ground carried out checks, refueling, nitrogen filling and other support work on the aircraft, so as to get the aircraft ready for mission at any time.

Zhang Lei, flight commander of naval aviation brigade under the PLA Southern Theater Command, said, "Combat preparedness is particularly important during festivals and holidays. The number of aerial emergencies tends to increase significantly during holiday season, which means more tracking, surveillance and monitoring patrols and more frequent combat take-offs."

"As pilots, we are always ready no matter day or night, to make sure we can carry out the mission as soon as the command is given, to ensure the peace of the sea and air of the motherland," Zhang said.

In the face of the complex maritime and air environment, naval aviation brigade under the PLA Southern Theater Command has revised and improved several sets of combat take-off, maintenance and support plans for quick sorties under different tasks, different time periods and different weather conditions, to ensure that warplanes can take to the air at any time when the alarm sounds, local media reported.

Global Times