Missiles Locked on Foreign Military Drone! Liaoning Carrier Pilot Reveals: Can Shoot It Down Anytime

In exclusive footage first released by CCTV, in June this year, during the long-range combat training of the Chinese Navy's Liaoning and Shandong aircraft carrier groups in the Western Pacific, they encountered an unidentified high-altitude drone conducting close reconnaissance.

Facing this threat, the Liaoning carrier made its first deployment of fighter jets for verification and escort—this was the first direct confrontation action taken by the Liaoning carrier battle group against a high-altitude drone.

According to the carrier-based aircraft pilots, "We launched four fighter jets upon receiving the command from the command center." After taking off, these aircraft directly flew to the target area, maintaining radar acquisition throughout, keeping the enemy firmly within the missile attack range, ready to shoot it down at any time.

Comprehensive analysis from various sources suggests that the drone approaching the Liaoning carrier group is likely the US MQ-4C "Sea Guardian" high-altitude strategic drone. This advanced equipment, manufactured by Northrop Grumman, has recently been deployed to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, just a stone's throw away from the disputed waters in the Western Pacific.

China also admitted, "Previously, in such sensitive waters, we could only perceive the situation." But passive monitoring is now history. The pilot's key statement—"the foreign aircraft was always within the range where our missiles could be fired"—in military terminology means that the fire control radar had completed the lock-on, and the missiles were in a ready-to-fire state. The J-15 carries the PL-12 medium-range air-to-air missile with a range exceeding 70 kilometers, which maintains efficient lethality even at an altitude of 17,000 meters, forming an absolute suppression against the MQ-4C.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1839505571715140/

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