Record-Setting Incursions into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone
Air University Public Affairs Multimedia
Video by Ernest Gunasekara-Rockwell
Aug. 1, 2022 | 54:06
Lt Col Brian E. Campbell, USAF, "Record-Setting Incursions into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone: The People’s Republic of China’s Psychological Operations Designed to Erode US Support for Taiwan," Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs 5, no. 4 (July-August 2022): 155-75, https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/JIPA/Display/Article/3111071/record-setting-incursions-into-taiwans-air-defense-identification-zone-the-peop/.
This article presents People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) incursions into Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 1 to 4 October 2021 as a case study in PLA psychological operations. During this four-day period, the PLAAF flew a record-setting 149 sorties into Taiwan's southwestern ADIZ. Moreover, a single force package on 4 October included 52 aircraft and set a record as the largest single incursion in history. PLA demonstrations of this magnitude were clearly designed to deliver a message. Therefore, US military planners and foreign policy experts should discuss and interpret the purpose and intent behind PLA actions. Analyzing record-setting incursions through the lens of psychological operations provides this opportunity. More