中國解放軍在福建省寧德市霞浦縣的水門軍用機場擴建工程即將完工，增加了24座機堡、跑道、營區等設施。每座新機堡長約100英尺、寬約60英尺，足以停放中共空軍的SU-30、SU-35、J-11、J-15、J-16等戰機。
水門機場距離台北僅257.5公里，若以SU-35.J-20等戰鬥機飛往台灣僅須7分鐘左右就可以執行任務.
該機場自2012年建成使用以來，可部署多架空軍戰機，主要供SU-30和J-11戰機轉場飛行，這些戰機都是在「繞島巡航」伴飛的主角。
A satellite photo of Xiapu air base dated September 2017 showing the aircraft shelters being built. More recent satellite photos show these are close to completion
中國解放軍空軍在此大量擴建機堡，或許意味著將把該機場升格為前線空軍基地，在此恆常部署戰機飛行團或飛行旅。而且從水門機場新建機堡的布局來看，明顯有別於中共空軍機場機堡的常規直線式布局，可能是戰時防空襲的特殊設計。
這座擴建完成的機場具有夜間起降的作戰功能,象徵性的威脅台灣.至於J-20 何時巡航台灣,西方軍事戰略專家分析認為很有可能以夜間巡航為主要任務,其次要依據台灣的台獨勢力的發展情況,不排除飛抵台灣台中清泉崗空軍基地作為轉場起降訓練演習,當然這樣一來在夜間執行任務,還是不要驚嚇到台灣同胞們,理想的操演時間可能是在AM:03:00-04:00.這一時段比較適合,因為台灣空軍的夜間戰備比較鬆懈,中國空軍J-20選擇夜間起降台灣台中清泉崗空軍基地,是完全可行的,其目的就是警告台灣軍方夜間不能睡覺,否則一旦戰爭開打台灣就玩完喇.
Why is China expanding its air base 160 miles from Taiwan?
China is expanding an air base on the East China Sea coast, adding facilities that potentially allow it to permanently base combat aircraft closer to Taiwan and islands of which both China and Japan claim ownership.
Satellite photos taken in April show that the construction of new 24 aircraft shelters, taxiways and additional buildings are on the verge of being completed at the air base near the town of Xiapu, in China’s coastal Fujian Province.
The new aircraft shelters are built in a semi-dispersed state in six clusters of four, with two clusters built near the end of the single 1.7-mile-long runway and the rest located in one of two aircraft dispersal area which already has 15 of the 20 hardened and camouflaged aircraft shelters at the base. Each of the new shelters measures approximately 100 feet long and 60 feet wide, which is more than enough to accommodate China’s Sukhoi Su-30/35 and Shenyang J-11/15/16 Flanker family of fighter jets.
The fighters usually follow the bombers well past the Miyako Straits before turning back, which equates to a round trip of more than 1,000 miles from Xiapu.
PLAAF bombers have also been increasingly carrying out flights circumnavigating the island of Taiwan, which China views as a rogue province and has said it will take back by force if necessary. The latest reported mission on the 11th of May saw two groups of Xian H-6K bombers circumnavigate Taiwan simultaneously from both north and south of the island, with one group flying clockwise and the other going counter-clockwise.
According to the announcement by China’s Ministry of National Defense, Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets flew over the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan, which would make the first time the former has been known to be used on such missions. The flights prompted scrambles by both the Japan Air Self-Defense Force and Taiwan’s Republic of China Air Force to intercept and observe the PLAAF bombers and intelligence gathering aircraft, which according to the Japanese MoD included a Tupolev Tu-154 and Shaanxi Y-8.
