DEFENSE/Taiwan's Air Force set to conduct rare overnight drills Wednesday

Taipei, March 6 (CNA) Taiwan's Air Force will conduct a training exercise Wednesday night continuing into the early hours of Thursday, its first such overnight drill in many years, to better prepare for the multilayered battlefield of the future.

Taiwan's F-16, Mirage 2000, and indigenous defense fighter (IDF) jets will all take part in the sorties, which will involve Air Force bases in Hualien, Hsinchu, and Tainan, Air Force spokesman Wang Tzu-li (王自立) told CNA Wednesday.

The exercises will take place in airspace above waters around Taiwan, Wang said.

The Air Force has not conducted overnight sorties in many years out of concern that the loud noise from the planes might disturb residents at night, which had been a source of complaints, he said.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the Air Force Headquarters informed the public of the upcoming sorties and apologized in advance for any inconvenience the flights may cause.

The Air Force will engage in various exercises crucial to preparing it for the evolving, multilayered battlefield, and it hoped the public would continue to support its efforts to build up its capacity to defend the country's airspace, according to the statement.

When asked to comment on the planned overnight sorties, Veteran Affairs Council Minister Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬), a former defense minister, said on the sidelines of a legislative hearing Wednesday that such exercises have been carried out for decades.

When he was a tactical wing leader stationed in Tainan in 1993, locals would complain about fighter jets taking off after 9 p.m. and ask the Air Force not to fly planes late at night, Feng recalled.