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A mountain hides 200 fighter jets
The mountain hangars
Jiashan sits on Taiwan's far less populated east coast, on the outskirts of Hualien. It is about as far from China as anywhere on the island, with peaks close to 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) standing between it and a force coming from the west. The hangar entrances open into the mountain, and the capacity is more than the entire air forces of all but a dozen or so countries have.
Runways built to survive
The weak point is the runway, since jets can't do much without one. Missiles are now accurate enough to hit runways from the distances they would be fired from, so Taiwan widened the runways at Jiashan and other bases to 200 feet (60 meters). Fighter jets need only a third of that to take off and land, which leaves a good chance that a usable lane survives a hit. Troops drill runway repair constantly and can reportedly patch an impact crater in two and a half hours.
Highways as airbases
Some regular highways around the country are built wider than normal, with stronger asphalt, no overhead obstacles, and center barriers that come out easily. In 24 to 48 hours, a stretch of road becomes a temporary airbase.
Why hide fighter jets inside a mountain?
Rock overhead absorbs blast and fragments that would wreck an ordinary aircraft shelter, and a bomb has to penetrate many meters of stone to reach the jets inside. Cold War Switzerland carved air bases into Alpine rock for the same reason, with hangars and caverns connected to nearby runways. Sweden went further and built its Bas 90 system, which dispersed fighters across stretches of public road.
How do crews patch a bombed runway so fast?
Rapid runway repair aims to clear only a minimum operating strip, not the whole runway. Crews push debris out of the crater, fill it with rubble, and cap it with a fast-setting material or a prefabricated mat. The US military developed AM-2 aluminum matting in the 1960s, a set of interlocking panels laid over the repaired crater to make a smooth surface for aircraft.
How can a highway work as a runway?
A fighter needs a straight, level stretch of firm pavement, with no overhead wires or bridges in the approach. Sweden and Finland have long trained to operate jets from designated road bases, and Sweden's Saab designed the Gripen to take off from strips roughly 800 meters long. Crews on these exercises disperse jets along the road and refuel and rearm them from trucks.
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