Naval aviation regiment holds missile firing drill

An aviation regiment under the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) equipped with new-type homemade fighters held its first live-ammunition missile firing and target-projectile interception drill on September 14, 2012 in a sea area of the East China Sea, with percentage of hits up to 100 percent.

Two new-type fighters of the regiment took off at 08:48. A few minutes later, the two-fighter formation entered the attacking air route and rapidly turned on the radar to search for invasive high-speed mobile target projectile. Suddenly, a pea-sized bright spot appeared on the monitor.

"Target found and intercepted. Request attack!" the pilot calmly reported to the control tower.

"Attack!" ordered resolutely by Wei Wenhui, commanding officer of the control tower and commander of the division. The two fighters fired a volley directly at the target projectile and carried out a beyond-the-horizon attack. Soon, from the command post came the information that the guided missile hit the target.

At 09:23, two two-fighter formations took off respectively, dashed directly to the alert airspace and attacked the target projectiles within visual range.

At 10:25, the live-ammunition firing training was wrapped up. Wei Wenhui, commander of the division, told the reporters that the new-type fighter modified by the regiment had achieved combat effectiveness.