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recently, the u.s. air force assembled more than 30 mq-9 reaper drone squadrons to participate in this year's "reaper smoke" competition in florida, which aims to test the ability of each mq-9 squadron to "perform simulated missions over the south china sea." from the flight map of the mq-9 drones in the competition, the area around meiji island in the south china sea may become a key mission area for the u.s. air force. this may mean that meiji island has been selected by the u.s. air force as one of the main battlefields for conflicts with our army in the south china sea.

the "death smoke" competition organized by the u.s. air force is an annual routine exercise, and this year is the fifth time it has been held. the u.s. air force said that the participating crews faced "challenges ranging from general tactical exercises to professional skills that require precision and advanced technology to reflect the evolving nature of modern warfare." from the on-site pictures that were circulated afterwards, the simulated mission map that appeared on the ground control station of the mq-9 drone was the airspace near meiji island in the south china sea. and the ren'ai reef, located dozens of kilometers southeast of meiji island, can also be seen.

in fact, since my country began to reclaim land on the original meiji reef in 2015, the reef, which was originally only used to build simple shanties, has now expanded into an artificial island of several square kilometers. the current "meiji island" is also the largest island in the nansha islands. at the same time, because it is very close to several hot islands and reefs in the south china sea, and is only 250 kilometers away from the philippines' palawan island, the waters around meiji island have always been the focus of tensions in the south china sea.

in particular, meiji island is very close to ren'ai reef, xianbin reef and other islands and reefs. although we did not deploy permanent military forces on meiji island in order to take care of the countries surrounding the south china sea, it does not mean that we are unable to promptly control emergencies in the surrounding waters. for example, before the philippines caused trouble around ren'ai reef last year, foreign satellites discovered that a series of military aircraft, including a y-20 transport aircraft, an kj-500 early warning aircraft and two ks-200 anti-submarine patrol aircraft, appeared on the airport apron on meiji island, while a 919 medical ship, a coast guard ship and two support ships of unknown models were moored at the dock.

although we did not see the 054a, 052d and 055 naval warships that we later sent to ren'ai reef, xianbin reef and other islands and reefs, the docks can park these four large ships in a row, which means that they will definitely be able to meet the docking and replenishment needs of tens of thousands of tons of warships such as 055 or 075, not to mention frigates and destroyers with smaller tonnage. in addition, foreign think tanks believe that meiji island also has hangars that can accommodate 24 fighters and hangars for multiple large military aircraft, large port facilities, and a series of radar and sensor equipment, including early warning radars. in early 2018, the island deployed advanced jamming platforms, hongqi-9 (which may be replaced by hongqi-9b) air defense systems, and eagle strike-12b anti-ship missiles.

according to the "china's military coverage in the south china sea" map produced by the well-known american think tank csis, the anti-ship missiles deployed on meiji island can perfectly cover the balabac strait and the southern entrance to the south china sea. the balabac strait is an important throat connecting the south china sea and the sulu sea, and it is also one of the straits where us warships often enter the south china sea. if this is blocked, the us military will be forced to take a long detour to enter the south china sea. moreover, the fighter jets, early warning aircraft, anti-submarine aircraft, and even bombers taking off from meiji island can effectively snipe the incoming maritime fleet and air fighters within a radius of 1,000-2,000 kilometers at most - and this range "just happens" to cover the us aircraft carrier battle group coming from guam.

of course, given that meiji island is very close to ren'ai reef and xianbin reef, where the philippines frequently provokes us, and the farthest distance is less than 100 kilometers, the coast guard or naval ships stationed or refueling here can quickly reach the scene of the incident to enforce the law or expel them. and because meiji island has such an important position and offensive and defensive capabilities, the us air force believes it is necessary to keep abreast of the pla's dynamics here. collecting this intelligence can not only provide operational support for the philippines' provocations and porcelain-touching us, but also accumulate various information for the us military to fight the pla in the south china sea in the future. in fact, the us military has temporarily stationed a small number of mq-9 drones in the philippines in june this year in order to enhance the us military's normalized reconnaissance capabilities in both the south china sea and the taiwan strait.

however, since the domestic laws of the philippines stipulate that foreign troops cannot be stationed for a long time, the us military can only maintain the long-term presence of mq-9 drones through rotational deployment. therefore, the "death smoke" competition held by the us air force in the form of a competition, in addition to testing the combat capabilities of more than 30 mq-9 squadrons, is also intended to increase exchanges and mutual learning and improvement among these mq-9 squadrons. after all, these mq-9 squadrons will definitely be sent to the philippines to perform surveillance missions at the same time in the future, so the tacit understanding between them is particularly important.

however, the us air force is certainly not satisfied with using only mq-9 to perform reconnaissance missions in the south china sea and the taiwan strait. after all, with limited military funding, the united states has stopped funding many mission types that have single missions, can be replaced and integrated, and have no development prospects. since the us military withdrew from afghanistan, iraq and other places, a large number of mq-9s have also been in an "unemployed" state. at the same time, the relatively single "reconnaissance/surveillance" mission of mq-9 for more than a decade can also be easily replaced by other manned reconnaissance aircraft or new multi-purpose drones.

therefore, the u.s. air force has also been working to expand the mission scope of the mq-9 in recent years. it has now verified the ability of a single-seat ground control console to simultaneously control three mq-9s and launch small drones. next, it will also be able to act as a "drone mothership": carrying multiple small drones or cruise missiles to perform long-range strike missions-and this capability happens to be one of the capabilities that the u.s. military's top brass is paying attention to. in addition, the mq-9 can also enhance its self-protection capabilities when performing missions in dangerous areas by mounting air-to-air missiles. in fact, the u.s. military has previously conducted a large number of spies on meiji island, a key "frontier fortress" in the south china sea, including using warships, reconnaissance aircraft and other means.

moreover, as early as september 2020, three mq-9 reaper drones of the us military took the opportunity of joining the us navy's 3rd fleet's exercise in the eastern pacific to conduct a simulated air strike on an island. according to photos published in the news afterwards, the armbands of us air force personnel participating in the simulated attack exercise had the "reaper with a sickle" printed on the red silhouette representing the map of china. at that time, the chinese media condemned this because it was a naked provocation of china by the us military! now, combined with the us air force's mobilization of a large number of mq-9 drone squadrons to conduct simulated exercises such as intelligence collection and attack operations on china's meiji island and other south china sea islands and reefs, it can be seen that the us military has not given up on treating the south china sea as one of its main battlefields in the future.

what we can do is to use the multiple islands and reefs that have been established in the south china sea as a fulcrum to improve the multi-dimensional monitoring and strike capabilities of the south china sea region in terms of sea, air, and submarines. we strive to keep the us military, which may choose to intervene in the south china sea and the taiwan strait by force, out of the safe range!