Kagitingan Reef (Fiery Cross Reef)

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Background on the conflict at Fiery Cross Reef, which actually dates back to 1988



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Excerpts from the book The South China Sea Disputes: Past, Present, and Future by Nalanda Roy

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Fiery Cross Incident

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwaZdz-tITY

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Fiery Cross Incident

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwaZdz-tITY

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What this installation looked like in 2006

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-22/south-china-sea-islands-before-and-after/6794076



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What this installation looked like in 2011

From: http://hueybravo.net/images/Spratley/ChinaonSpratlys-001.jpg





http://faculty.law.ubc.ca/scs/maps-pics.htm

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May 2014





November 2014: When reclamation began

http://www.atimes.com/article/pictures-south-china-sea-reef-became-island/







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2015


China building Fiery Cross Reef into naval, air force base
2016/10/18 21:48:17

http://focustaiwan.tw/news/acs/201610180016.aspx

Fiery Cross Reef, or Yongshu Reef
Hong Kong, Oct. 18 (CNA) China is building Fiery Cross Reef, or Yongshu Reef in the Spratly Islands, into its largest joint military base for its navy and air force in the South China Sea, according to the latest issue of Kanwa Defense Review.

The monthly magazine reported that satellite images of the military facilities on the islet show a 3,000-meter runway and four large hangars measuring 34 meters by 25 meters -- the same size as the ones on Yongxing Island, also known as Woody Island, the largest island in the Paracel group.

Kanwa said these hangars will have been built to house China's high-tech anti-submarine and early warning aircraft.

Two ramps -- measuring 535 meters and 626 meters, respectively -- are very likely designed to accommodate fighter planes, according to the magazine, which noted that up to 24 fighters can stay on the ramps and that hangars will likely be constructed nearby.

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View from 17 miles

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Images of how reclamation started

https://amti.csis.org/fiery-cross-reef/

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China lands more planes on its man-made island in the disputed South China Sea, sparking fears it will impose an 'air defence zone' over the area
By Simon Tomlinson for MailOnline

PUBLISHED: 03:28 EST, 7 January 2016 | UPDATED: 10:43 EST, 7 January 2016

China drew further condemnation today after landing two civilian planes on an artificial island in the disputed South China Sea.

The test flights touched down yesterday on the Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands chain four days after its first landing on the 3km runway sparked an international outcry.

Pictures released by China's state news agency Xinhua showed dozens of people holding a banner and waving on the tarmac in what it described as 'our country's most southern airport.'

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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3388268/Philippines-says-China-challenged-flights-island.html#ixzz56VYduZAt
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook


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Fiery Cross Reef

The Inquirer aerial photography of Fiery Cross Reef is dated November 28, 2017, and includes a compelling look at the northern portion of the base’s runway and its large communications and signals intelligence facilities. Fiery Cross is the smallest of China’s “Big 3” artificial islands in the Spratlys, but it saw the most construction during 2017 (with work on buildings covering 27 acres, or about 100,000 square meters). The important facilities apparent in the aerial photos include:

1.    The northern end of the base’s 3,000-meter runway, which was completed in late 2015.
2.    Hangars to accommodate four combat aircraft. Hangar space for another 20 combat aircraft and four larger hangars, capable of housing bombers, refueling tankers, and large transport aircraft, have been built farther south along the runway. All the hangars were completed in early 2017.
3.    A tall tower housing a sensor/communications facility topped by a radome, completed in late 2016.
4.    A field of upright poles erected in 2017. The original notations on the aerial photos identify this only as a communication facility, but it is most likely a high frequency radar array like the one built on Cuarteron Reef two years earlier.
5.    One of the four point defense facilities built around the base in 2016. Similar point defenses exist on all of China’s artificial islands, sporting a combination of large guns (identified in one of the aerial photos of Johnson Reef as having 100-mm barrels) and probable close-in weapons systems (CIWS) emplacements.
6.    A large communications/sensor array completed during 2017. None of the other bases in the Spratlys so far has a comparable array, though smaller ones have been built on Subi and Mischief, suggesting that Fiery Cross might be serving as a signals intelligence/communications hub for Chinese forces in the area.
7.    Three towers housing sensor/communications facilities topped by radomes, completed in 2017.