Satellite images show light attack aircraft and military vehicles at a newly announced China-Laos joint training facility near Vientiane, raising questions about its future role. Reuters reviewed images taken by commercial satellite provider Vantor on September 30, a day after China’s defence ministry announced the facility at Ban Keun.

The images show what security analysts believe are eight K-8 light attack jets and more than two dozen support vehicles on a runway that remains under construction. Extensive building work is also visible around the airfield. The rapid development has drawn attention from regional military officials and security experts.

Some analysts believe the facility could become China’s first fully developed overseas military base in South-East Asia. For over two decades, China has extensively carried out military modernisation but has had a limited network of overseas facilities. Its known military presence includes the South China Sea, port access in Ream, Cambodia, and a logistics base in Djibouti.

Rachel Vandenbrink, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the selection of Ban Keun for a facility that the People's Liberation Army could access "is likely more about a target of opportunity than filling an obvious operational need."

"Laos does have some geostrategic value as an accessible foothold in mainland South-East Asia, given its shared border with China and infrastructure links, including (its) railway," Vandenbrink said.

The Chinese defence ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. The Lao embassy in Bangkok and the Lao foreign ministry also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Security analysts Collin Koh and Alexander Neill, along with Vantor specialists, identified the aircraft as Hongdu JL-8 jets, also known as K-8 aircraft. China and Laos both operate the aircraft. The two-seat jets serve mainly as training aircraft but can also carry out light attack missions. China developed the aircraft jointly with Pakistan and exports it to several countries.

According to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, Laos currently has four K-8 aircraft. Koh, a scholar at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, described the Laotian planes as being of "questionable serviceability".

Analysts and diplomats are watching the ongoing construction for signs of air defence systems, ammunition and fuel storage, as well as surveillance facilities. Such additions could indicate that the facility may support wider military operations beyond training.

"It looks like the airfield has been engineered to accommodate a runway extension allowing larger aircraft to operate," said Neill, an adjunct fellow at Hawaii's Pacific Forum think tank.

Ban Keun also has a history linked to the US military presence in Laos. During the Vietnam War in the 1970s, the site operated as an airfield known as "Lima Site 44". Air America, an airline discreetly owned by the Central Intelligence Agency, used it to transport American-backed Hmong troops and supplies.

Records shared with Reuters by Ryan Wolfson-Ford, a Southeast Asia specialist at the Library of Congress, document the site's wartime use. Dr Joachim Leeker, an academic who has studied Air America's history, said Ban Keun served as a point for Air America helicopters to transport Hmong troops to other combat zones as early as 1968.