As China launched “Justice Mission 2025” joint military exercises around Taiwan earlier today, involving live fire drills and simulated blockade and control of key ports and critical areas of the self-ruled island, Taipei has released footage showing its capabilities to retaliate and inflict significant damage on Beijing’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense released footage showing its fighter jet and a Navy vessel tracking PLA aircraft and ships during China’s ongoing exercises.
The short video titled “Resilient Taiwan, Steadfast Defense” shows a Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) F-16 V (Viper) fighter jet tracking a PLA Air Force’s (PLAAF) Shenyang J-16 aircraft.
The video also shows a Navy Cheng Kung-class frigate, the Tian Dan, monitoring the PLA Navy’s (PLAN) Type 054A frigate, the Anyang.
Notably, the F-16V monitored Chinese J-16 aircraft via the AN/AAQ-33 “Sniper Advanced Calibration Pod” and obscured and cropped key parameter information, symbolizing the ROCAF’s ability to monitor enemy movements, Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) reported.
We strongly condemn the PRC’s irrational provocations and oppose the PLA’s actions that undermine regional peace.
Rapid Response Exercises are underway, with forces on high alert to defend the Republic of China and protect our people.#ROCArmedForces#PeaceThroughStrength pic.twitter.com/4s10nfLO6D— 國防部 Ministry of National Defense, ROC(Taiwan) 🇹🇼 (@MoNDefense) December 29, 2025
Images previously released during the PLA’s “Joint Sword–2024A” drills indicated that F-16s continued to target the Chinese aircraft while maneuvering.
The J-16’s targeting by AN/AAQ-33 is significant as it suggests that the PLAAF’s fighter jet might be unaware that it was being tracked, a key tactical advantage that could prove crucial in an actual conflict.
Shu Hsiao-huang, an associate research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the AN/AAQ-33 is a passive sensor that emits no signals, meaning PLA aircraft may be unaware they are being tracked or locked on.
After locking the fighter jet, the ROCAF’s F-16V could launch an AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile (AAM) to shoot down the enemy aircraft.
The video is significant as it underscores that despite its numerical disadvantage and lack of a fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, Taiwan possesses capabilities that could inflict considerable damage on the PLAAF.
China has inducted more than 300 J-20 fighter jets and, last year, the J-35A aircraft, both of which are fifth-generation stealth fighters.
The PLA Eastern Theater Command announced this morning that it will conduct the “Justice Mission-2025” exercise around Taiwan. As part of the joint exercises, live-fire drills will be conducted in five designated sea and air areas around Taiwan.
The Ministry of National Defense has established a response center and is conducting immediate combat readiness exercises to safeguard freedom and democracy with concrete actions.
This is PLA’s seventh military exercise around Taiwan since former US Congress speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the self-ruled island in 2022.
More importantly, this is PLA’s first joint exercise around Taiwan since the Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s controversial statement that a Chinese naval blockade of Taiwan would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” under Japanese law. This was the first time any postwar Japanese leader linked Taiwan to the legal trigger for Japanese military action.
This is also PLA’s first joint exercise around Taiwan since the US approved a historic over USD 11 billion weapons sale program for Taiwan earlier this month.
While the joint exercise will involve live fire drills and simulated naval and air blockade of Taiwan, psychological warfare and cognitive warfare operations are also an essential part of these drills, targeted at harming the public morale in Taiwan.
To effectively counter this psychological warfare, the Ministry of National Defense released the video showcasing the capabilities of its air force and navy.
Scholar Su Tzu-yun of the National Defense Academy told CNA that the AN/AAQ-33, compared to LANTIRN, has both search and targeting capabilities. It can detect both visible and invisible light at a range of approximately 87 kilometers for air-to-ground detection and up to 187 kilometers for air-to-air detection.
This means it can lock onto PLA aircraft from a distance using its electro-optical system, without triggering radar warnings, ensuring the PLA aircraft remain unaware of the lock and enabling a silent kill.
Taiwan’s Ambitious F-16 Upgrade Program
Taiwan’s F-16V Block 20 refers to the upgraded legacy fleet of its original F-16A/B aircraft, which were originally delivered as Block 20 variants in the mid-1990s.
Under the Peace Phoenix Rising program, launched in 2016 at a cost of about US$4.5 billion, Taiwan upgraded 139 of these original F-16A/B Block 20 airframes to the modern F-16V (Viper) standard.
Taiwan originally purchased 150 F-16A/B Block 20 aircraft. The Peace Phoenix Rising program targeted upgrading 139 of these. The upgrade was initially intended to cover 144 aircraft, but attrition has since reduced that number.
The upgrade constitutes one of the largest F-16 upgrade programs since the F-16s were inducted into the US Air Force (USAF).
This upgrade brings them to a configuration equivalent to the new-build Block 70/72 standard, including Northrop Grumman AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR-AESA radar), the Sniper targeting pod, Link 16, a helmet-mounted cuing system (HMCS), precision GPS navigation, capability for advanced weapons like AIM-9X, an upgraded modular mission computer, an ethernet high speed data network, a new center cockpit pedestal display, Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (AGCAS), and heavyweight landing gear.
The upgrade gives Taiwan’s F-16s a capability equivalent to or superior to that of most U.S. Air Force F-16s.
The last “Viper”-upgraded jet was delivered in December 2023 after final checks. The Taiwanese Air Force commissioned its first operational wing of F-16Vs in November 2021.
Under the second leg of the Peace Phoenix Rising program, Taiwan ordered 66 new-build F-16 Block 70 (also referred to as F-16V or Viper) fighter jets from Lockheed Martin in 2019, as part of an approximately US$8 billion U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) package approved by the State Department. However, these are new-production aircraft, not upgrades.
As of December 2025, Taiwan has not received any of these Block 70 F-16 fighter jets. When Taiwan receives these F-16V aircraft, it will be a significant capability boost for the ROCAF, serving as a deterrent to the PLAAF.
The J-16: World’s Best Flanker?
On the other hand, the Chinese J-16 fighter is heavily derived from the Russian Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker design, specifically evolving from the licensed J-11 series (which started as licensed Su-27s) but integrating substantial Chinese avionics, systems, and weapon capabilities, making it a modern, multirole “strike Flanker” akin to the Su-30MKK/MK2.
The PLA Air Force has nearly 400 J-16s, making it one of its frontline fighter jets.
The J-16 is a multirole fighter capable of air-to-air combat, precision strikes, electronic warfare (EW), and suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD). It is powered by two Chinese-made WS-10B turbofan engines and features an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, providing superior detection and tracking capabilities.
The Chinese J-16 also features a modernized cockpit with a helmet-mounted display (HMD) for improved pilot situational awareness, as well as a glass cockpit design inspired by the J-20 stealth fighter. Interestingly, the aircraft also utilizes radar-absorbent materials (RAM) and a dark gray stealth coating to reduce its radar cross-section, thereby enhancing its survivability.
Additionally, the J-16 features electronic countermeasures (ECM), missile approach warning systems (MAWS), and chaff/flare dispensers, enhancing its defense capabilities. There have been instances in which the aircraft has been deployed to intercept Western reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea.
In May 2022, a J-16 intercepted an Australian RAAF P-8 Poseidon over the South China Sea, releasing chaff that was ingested into the P-8’s engine, prompting international criticism.
Chinese aviation experts call the J-16 the world’s “best flanker” and compare it to the US’s F-15, the Russian Su-30, and the French Rafale.
Earlier in October, a China Central Television (CCTV) documentary claimed that in 2024, a J-16 fighter jet locked on two foreign stealth fighters, forcing both to withdraw.
Besides, the UK think tank, the Royal United Services Institute, also called the J-16s “China’s most capable multirole and strike aircraft.”
However, despite these claims, it must be noted that while the F-16s have participated in multiple conflicts worldwide, including in the Middle East and the ongoing Ukraine War, the Chinese J-16s have never been combat-tested.
The Taiwanese claim that the F-16 was silently tracking the J-16 is definitely a cause for concern for the PLA Air Force.
