Chinese jet flew past nose of U.S. plane, Pentagon says

Source: NBC News

Chinese jet flew past nose of U.S. plane, Pentagon says

A senior U.S. official said, “We have seen an alarming increase in the number of risky aerial intercepts and confrontations at sea" by Chinese aircraft.

May 30, 2023, 5:56 PM EDT
By Courtney Kube and Mosheh Gains

A Chinese fighter jet flew directly in front of the nose of a U.S. reconnaissance plane over the South China Sea on Saturday, the Pentagon said Tuesday, another in a rising number of incidents involving Chinese military aircraft and ships.

The “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” by the Chinese J-16 forced the U.S. RC-125 to fly through the fighter jet’s wake turbulence, according to the Pentagon, which released video of the encounter.

The Pentagon said that the U.S. plane was “conducting safe and routine operations … in international airspace, in accordance with international law.”

A senior Defense Department official said, “We have seen an alarming increase in the number of risky aerial intercepts and confrontations at sea by PLA aircraft and vessels. As leaders have said, actions such as these have the potential to create an unsafe incident or miscalculation."

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