A Chinese H-6K bomber patrols the islands and reefs in the South China Sea. (LIU RUI/XINHUA)
South China Morning Post: ‘It was a provocative act’: PLA pilot describes encounter with foreign military jet
Captain Liu Rui says his bomber was within 10 metres of aircraft from unnamed country over Scarborough Shoal in South China Sea last July
A PLA bomber pilot has described an eight-minute “threatening” encounter with a foreign military jet over the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea last July.
Captain Liu Rui, 38, said he was flying his H-6K bomber on a routine patrol when he came within 10 metres of the aircraft, CCTV reported on Monday. He did not reveal to which nation the jet belonged.
“I could even clearly see the face of the pilot of that jet,” Liu said. “Since we were there for the first time, they were not used to it. All aircraft came close to us.”
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WNU Editor: There are only three countries in the region that have fighter jets that could have intercepted this Chinese bomber. Taiwan, Philippines, and the U.S.. My money is on the Philippines.
5 comments:
Might want to bet again.
The Phillipines at last count had only 4 operational FA-50 fighter jets,
As you can tell Jay .... I am not a betting man. :)
So I guess that means it is the Yanks .... unless this entire story is completely bogus.
Pretty much only the US has the "long range" assets that can pull off an intercept over the Shoal.
Well, that's still unclear why the Chinese pilot didn't tell which country it is. If he can see the face of the pilot how he can't identify the plane and it's nationality? Strange. I am may be stupid, but if it was an American plane, China will not miss the opportunity to condemn USA.
If the contact was at the merge, then the closing speeds would be between 1100 mph if both aircraft were at cruising speed, and 1398 mph if the "unknown" aircraft was "sprinting" to the merge.
At those sort's of speeds, the human eye ususally sees only "one thing", ususally during a "blink",
(Old snipers trick, the brain ususally preserves the image seen between two blinks, as a "still photograph". By deliberately blinking at times during overwatch, you can pick out slow crawls and slight terrain changes that can identify an enemy creeping in, that otherwise you would not see.)
Most "aircraft contacts" are identified during the "escort phase". Unlike WWI, WWII, the Korean and Vietnam Wars when aircraft were marked to allow quick visual identification during combat, now everybody uses low vis paint schemes and low vis markings, relying instead on IFF to avoid blue on blue.
As a result, all the Chinese Crew would have seen if there was just a pass, with no escort phase, is a greyish blur.
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