Thursday, February 9, 2017

U.S. And Chinese Military Planes Came Close To Each Other Over The South China Sea

US Navy EP-3A Orion on reconnaisance mission, underside bristling with electronics aerials (above), and missile-equipped Chinese J11 Flanker interceptor. Both aircraft not depicted to true scale. InterAksyon.Com

Reuters: U.S., China military planes come inadvertently close over South China Sea

A U.S. Navy P-3 plane and a Chinese military aircraft came close to each other over the South China Sea in an incident the Navy believes was inadvertent, a U.S. official told Reuters on Thursday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the aircraft came within 1,000 feet (305 meters) of each other on Wednesday in the vicinity of the Scarborough Shoal, between the Philippines and the Chinese mainland.

The official added that such interactions between Chinese and American aircraft are infrequent, with only two occurring in 2016.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: This is not the first time such an incident has happened .... 2 Chinese jets conduct 'unsafe' intercept of US spy plane over South China Sea: Pentagon (AFP) .... nor as bad as this one .... Hainan Island incident. But if a repeat of the 2001 Hainan incident does occur, I do not think President Trump will be as "accommodating" as President Bush was when it happened under his watch.

Update: The Chinese should be afraid .... PLA 'does not want war', but is not afraid of one (China.org.cn).

1 comment:

RussInSoCal said...

Careful of those old P-3's. They bite.