Chinese armed trainer jets drive away Philippine aircraft over Scarborough Shoal

China sent armed trainer jets to drive away Philippine light aircraft over the disputed Scarborough Shoal on Wednesday, in a potentially more cost-effective tactic for its increasingly frequent air confrontations over the South China Sea.

At least three JL-10 trainers carrying PL-5 air-to-air missiles were involved in the incident over the shoal, according to a video clip posted to social media by the People’s Liberation Army Southern Theatre Command.

The footage showed the Chinese jet’s electronic systems locking onto three Philippine aircraft, identifying their models as a BN-2A Islander utility aircraft, a C-208 single-engine turboprop and a PA-31T twin-engine turboprop. A green crosshair was also shown tracking one of the aircraft.

“Philippine aircraft, you have intruded into the territorial airspace of China’s Huangyan Dao. Leave immediately, leave immediately. Otherwise, we will take measures,” a Chinese pilot was heard saying in both Chinese and English over the radio.

Scarborough Shoal – a coral atoll which is known as Huangyan Dao in China and Pantalog Shoal in the Philippines – has been a major flashpoint between the two countries in recent years.

China has controlled the area since 2012 and released baselines for the territorial sea around it in 2024. The Philippines – which challenges the Chinese claim with occasional ship and aircraft activities in the area – filed its own territorial sea baselines for the shoal with the United Nations in July.