The skies in the waters around Taiwan have become increasingly crowded in recent weeks, and two U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers and a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) reconnaissance aircraft were spotted to the east of the island nation on Friday. PLAAF aircraft have been encroaching on Taiwanese air space over the past month.

The Natiopnal Interest
Date: October 1, 2020
By: Peter Suciu

The skies in the waters around Taiwan have become increasingly crowded in recent weeks, and two U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers and a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) reconnaissance aircraft were spotted to the east of the island nation on Friday. PLAAF aircraft have been encroaching on Taiwanese air space over the past month. 

The U.S. bombers, which had departed from Andersen Air Force Base (AFB) in Guam, headed northwest on a course for the East China or South China Seas. According to additional reports via social media, two KC-135R Stratotrankers refueled the American bombers during the flight, which was an indication that these were on a long-distance mission.

The flight of the bombers took place on the last day of Valiant Shield 2020, a two-week exercise that involved more than eleven thousand personnel and one hundred aircraft from the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Army and Marines Corps.     [FULL  STORY]