Chinese jet threatened U.S. intel jet

A Chinese fighter jet conducted an unsafe intercept of a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft over the East China Sea this week in the latest showdown between China and the United States over the American military presence in the region, U.S. officials said.

The incident Tuesday took place over the East China Sea and the Pentagon in its statement avoided criticizing the Chinese military for flying one of its warplanes dangerously close to a U.S. RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft.

“U.S. Pacific Command has reviewed the details of an intercept of a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft, a U.S. Air Force RC-135, on a routine patrol by two Chinese jets, J-10s, that occurred on June 7 in international airspace, over the East China Sea,” said Cmdr. David Benham, spokesman for the command.

“One of the intercepting Chinese jets had an unsafe excessive rate of closure on the RC-135 aircraft,” he said. “Initial assessment is that this seems to be a case of improper airmanship, as no other provocative or unsafe maneuvers occurred.”

Cmdr. Benham said the Pentagon is “addressing the issue with China in appropriate diplomatic and military channels.”

China, as it has done in the past, denied its pilot acted recklessly.

Tuesday’s encounter followed a similar dangerous intercept over the South China Sea May 19, when a Chinese J-11 flew with 50 feet of an EP-3 reconnaissance aircraft near Hainan Island, causing the EP-3 pilot to make a sharp maneuver to avoid a collision. The recent encounters appear to undermine the 2014 memorandum of understanding between China and the United States to take steps to avoid such dangerous aerial encounters.

More