K-8 Jets Seen at China's New Training Centre in Laos

China and Laos have opened a joint military aviation training centre north of Vientiane, and new satellite images show jets and military vehicles already at the site. Some analysts see it as a potentially more enduring foothold for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in mainland Southeast Asia.

The facility sits at Ban Keun airport, about 50 kilometres north of the Laotian capital. It includes a China-Laos Joint Support and Training Center and a China-Laos Friendship Aviation Academy, according to Reuters.

China's Ministry of National Defence said the centre would be used to train air force pilots. It said the facility was not directed against any third party. The Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to Reuters' questions about the site.

What the satellite images show

Construction began in late 2025, according to satellite imagery reviewed by Reuters. The images show a large paved runway with a parallel taxiway and a parking apron. Several new buildings stand on what was previously farmland.

Imagery taken on 30 September showed about eight K-8 light attack jets and more than 20 support vehicles at the site, Reuters reported on 6 October.

The runway was still under construction. Both the Chinese and Lao air forces fly the K-8, and Reuters reported that Laos operates four of them. The report did not establish who owned the aircraft at Ban Keun. Alexander Neill, an analyst quoted by Reuters, said the airfield appeared to have been engineered to allow a runway extension for larger aircraft.

The site has a history. During the Vietnam War era it was known as Lima Site 44, a covert airfield used by Air America, the airline connected to the CIA, according to Reuters.

China's expanding overseas military network

Breaking Defense described Ban Keun as China's third overseas military base. Beijing describes it differently, as a jointly run centre supporting Lao pilot training.

China opened its first overseas military base, a logistics facility in Djibouti, in 2017. In Cambodia, Chinese warships began a sustained presence at Ream Naval Base in December 2023, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative. China and Cambodia then opened a joint support and training centre at Ream in April 2025. Cambodia says no Chinese personnel or warships are permanently based there.

China also operates military outposts on artificial islands it has built in the Spratly Islands, on features that other countries also claim.

The Laos site is different from the others because it is inland and centred on aviation. In MGG's assessment, Ban Keun could give the PLA its first air-focused foothold in mainland Southeast Asia.

Collin Koh of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore told Reuters it "may not be wrong to conclude" that the site is the PLA's first full-fledged overseas base in Southeast Asia.

Rachel Vandenbrink, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told Reuters the joint centre could give the PLA persistent access to a logistics hub supporting forces rotating through Laos.

She also questioned what military power China could project from Laos that it could not already project from its own neighbouring province of Yunnan. In her view, the more immediate significance may be a persistent Chinese presence and closer ties with the Lao armed forces.

Why Laos

Laos shares a border with Yunnan and has drawn closer to Beijing in recent years. Nearly half of Laos's external public debt was owed to China at the end of 2023, according to the National University of Singapore's East Asian Institute, drawing on World Bank data. The two countries are linked by the China-Laos Railway, which opened in December 2021 and runs from Kunming to Vientiane.

Laos also borders Vietnam and Thailand. Vientiane sits on the Mekong River, which forms part of the border with Thailand. An air base nearby would place Chinese aircraft within a short flight of a US treaty ally that hosts major exercises such as Cobra Gold.

Vietnam, which has its own maritime disputes with China in the South China Sea, shares a long border with Laos. In MGG's assessment, a Chinese military presence next door is likely to concern Hanoi.

Training centre or foothold

Beijing presents Ban Keun as a training facility built for a friendly neighbour. Training jets on the apron are consistent with that account, although the ownership of the aircraft seen there has not been established.

In MGG's view, the key test will be whether Ban Keun hosts sustained PLA deployments and develops the infrastructure to support operations beyond Lao pilot training. Ream offers a guide. There, a facility presented as a training and support centre has become a place where Chinese warships keep a steady presence, even as Cambodia says none are permanently based.

For the United States and its partners, Ban Keun is another sign that China's military reach in Southeast Asia now extends inland, well beyond the South China Sea.