- If China goes to war, it will likely quickly gain air superiority over Taiwan, according to Pentagon leaks.
- Rating of the Pentagon as seen by Washington Post The outlook for the Taiwan Air Force is bleak.
- The island’s air defenses are uncoordinated and barely combat-ready, intelligence agencies say.
Taiwan’s air force is exposed to Chinese aggression through a number of gaping vulnerabilities, according to a leaked Pentagon assessment, which could help Beijing quickly achieve air superiority should Beijing go to war across the strait. It is very likely that
leaked documents seen by Washington Post More than half of Taiwan’s aircraft are fully combat-ready, and Taiwan’s own officials question whether its air defense systems can “accurately detect missile launches.”
Documents say it will take a full week for the island to move fighters to shelters and protect them from enemy fire.
Intelligence agencies also show Taiwan’s air force is uncoordinated, saying it doesn’t have the ability to see where all air defenses are at any given time, the Post reported. Per outlet, that unit doesn’t even have a compatible secure radio.
Pentagon analysts also criticized Taiwan’s war doctrine and training, saying plans to launch two air defense missiles against every target would be “tensioned” under China’s ballistic missile capabilities. .
Additionally, according to information seen by The Washington Post, the island’s air force is trained to shoot single stationary targets.
One U.S. assessment criticized Taiwan’s missile warning exercise, saying it was highly planned and unlikely to prepare civilians for an actual attack.
Yet an invading China faces the constraints of supplying its troops across the Taiwan Strait.
One of the leaked assessments emphasized that Beijing needed to somehow send gasoline to the landing force and that the best way to do so was to capture Taipei Harbor, but analysts said Taiwan also China also said it was not trained for such scenarios.
The leaked information comes at a time when US-China relations have soured, with lawmakers in Washington suggesting closer ties with Taipei. In recent years, two U.S. House Speakers have personally met with Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen, prompting Beijing to respond by launching live-fire drills near Taiwan and posting potential plans for an attack, sparking outrage. Did.
According to The Post, the Taiwan documents were among hundreds of classified files leaked on game chat platform Discord since late 2022. Detailing alleged top secret information about Israel, Ukraine, and other countries.
It is unknown how many documents contain genuine US intelligence information. South Korean and Ukrainian governments have warned that the content of some files may have been fabricated or manipulated when circulated online.
Taiwan’s defense ministry’s media department did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. The Pentagon’s press department did not immediately respond to an insider’s request for comment outside of normal business hours.