A US Air Force (USAF) exercise for operators of the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-9 Reaper has featured a Chinese air base.
The Reaper Smoke competition, hosted at Hurlburt Field, Florida saw 30 USAF MQ-9 Reaper squadrons conduct a series of short, simulated missions, according to the USAF.
The missions see pilots and operators conduct 30min scenarios that focus on areas such as tactical manoeuvres and more advanced techniques.
This year’s exercise, the fifth Reaper Smoke event, appears to have featured at least one scenario involving China.
A USAF image shows an MQ-9 pilot and sensor operator conducting a simulated mission. Intriguingly, one of the screens shows an overhead image of what appears to be Mischief Reef, an atoll located in the international waters of the South China Sea west of the Philippine Island of Palawan.
The atoll is important because Beijing illegally built a large artificial island at the location that now features a military base and an 8,670ft (2,640m) runway.
Practicing a scenario involving Mischief Reef is tactically relevant because Chinese aircraft routinely intercept foreign military aircraft operating in international airspace above the South China Sea.
A recent incident involved a Chinese fighter dropping flares in the path of an Indonesian Aerospace NC212i tactical transport of the Philippine air force over Scarborough Shoal, an oceanic feature near the Philippines that is claimed by China.
The move prompted a formal protest by the Philippines.
Other incidents have involved aircraft operated by countries such as Australia, Canada, and the USA.
MQ-9s have also been involved with incidents. In March 2023, a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 collided with an MQ-9A over the Black Sea. The USAF said that the unmanned air vehicle was operating “routine operations” in international airspace at the time of the incident.
MQ-9s have also reportedly been lost in the Middle East during operations over troubled nations such as Syria and Yemen.
The US military has recently given signals about specific platform capabilities that appear to be aimed at the Chinese audience.
In a recent exercise, a Northrop Grumman B-2 stealth bomber used a low-cost QUICKSINK munition to sink the retired roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) vessel M/V Monarch Countess in the Gulf of Mexico near Eglin AFB, Florida.
Should China attempt to invade neighbouring Taiwan, it is likely to commandeer commercial ro-ro vessels to transport vehicles and personnel.
During July’s Rim of the Pacific exercise, US Navy (USN) Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets appeared carrying dummy rounds of a new long-range air-to-air missile, the AIM-174B.
Based on the USN’s main ship-launched interceptor, the SM-6, the AIM-174B considerably enhances the USN’s ability to engage airborne targets at extreme ranges, a useful capability given that Chinese doctrine calls for the long-range targeting USN aircraft carriers.
