China shadows US aircraft

The same day that the Japanese Air Self Defense Forces launched aircraft to monitor Chinese air movements near the Senkaku Islands, a US Navy P-3C from Misawa Air Base, and a C-130 from Yakota Air Base were shadowed by Chinese J-7 and J-10 fighters. The incident took place on January 10th, while the two aircraft flew near the border between China and Japan.

While it appeared to be a routine move on the part of China, what should have been routine in 2001 turned into a 20 day detainment for the crew of a US Navy EP-3 after the Chinese pilot collided with their aircraft and they were forced to make an emergency landing on Hainan. The P-3 in this incident was a standard ASW version, not the EP-3 in that incident.

I have the feeling that soon the Senkaku Islands are going to get ugly, and we're going to see something bad happen. Someone is going to get jumpy, and something small is going to set things off. Hopefully they can back away if it does happen, before it gets too bad.

The Want China Times has quoted the Tokyo’s Sankei Shimbun newspaper as saying that Chinese J-7 and J-10 fighters tailed two US aircraft as they reached the airspace close to the border between China and Japan.

The two U.S. aircraft allegedly shadowed by the People’s Loberation Army Air Force were a U.S. Navy P-3C from Misawa and a U.S. Air Force C-130 from Yokota airbase. According to the Japanese media outlets, the Chinese fighter jets were scrambled to intercept them.

theaviationist.com...

reply to post by Zaphod58

It certainly does appear to be a tinderbox.
I am not sure what could be done to relieve the tensions there.

reply to post by butcherguy


The problem is they both need the resources under the islands. And from all reports they're pretty significant deposits. So unless someone else comes in, pisses them both off, and takes the resources, I don't see any way that this will end quietly.

Ah the EP-3 incident.

Poor CIA folks used Coffee and hammers to destroy the equipment before landing, but I also recall how the Navy had to replace their custom operating systems and all of their encryption codes because a couple years later the Chinese started broadcasting on an encrypted internal US Navy comm channel.

Heads rolled that day in CENTCOM.

And the US has been shadowing russian planes and submarines since the early 60ies and are doing it again as we speak, so what's special about the Chinese doing it ?

No escalation here, just the usual wargames.

reply to post by H1ght3chHippie


Yes, other countries have been doing it for years, but tensions in this area are already high due to the dispute over the Senkaku Islands. The tensions between Russia and the US were high, but they were always willing to talk, and they had informal treaties as to how they would act during the interceptions and shadowings. The US and China don't have such deals in place, and this occurred not long after Japan launched 8 F-15s and an E-2 to shadow a Chinese Y-8 patrol plane, and just before China started shadowing Japanese F-15s. It's not so much a ratcheting up of tensions as a slow increase, and it's entirely possible that a C-130 or P-3 can get caught in the middle.

reply to post by Zaphod58



I didnt really know too much about the US Navy EP-3 that landed in China. What I dont get is why the standard procedure was to pour "coffee" on sensitive equipment and use a fire ax on the rest...???.

A domestic hacker is better prepared for an FBI raid then the navy with a multi-million dollar advanced craft packed full of sensitive everything. NSA OS, all sorts of hardware, ect....flying over enemy territory.

What, They dont have emergency high power magnets to swipe over the drives, some built in explosives or carry on explosives the crew can use???

I mean come on....coffee???!!!

This blunder really made me uneasy. I heard about it, but didnt think much of it. I just read after looking at your OP that China has been toying with NSA by broadcasting our fleet movements, meaning they have been showing us that they are listening in.....

Dafuq!?

coffee......!

a can of gas and match might have helped.....

reply to post by zedVSzardoz


They carry several ways to destroy the equipment, but they had less than 20 minutes IIRC to do it, and there's a lot of equipment on the EP-3, so they did the best they could with what they had on hand, besides the magnets, and other equipment normally used. Coffee is actually quite a good way to do it, as long as you can get it into the machinery, since it can cause a short and blow the equipment.

The first few minutes after the accident they all really thought they were going to die. It was only through some superb airmanship that they were able to save the aircraft and keep it in the air. After that the primary mission for the flight crew was to get on the ground, and they were almost over Hainan at that point. They barricaded themselves in the aircraft for a few minutes once they were on the ground, but when you have jeeps with large caliber guns pointed at your aluminum aircraft, you don't hold out long.

The methods used for destroying the equipment count on you having time. On a ship, or on a plane, you need time. If you were intercepted for example, and forced to land, you have plenty of time to destroy it and get it all. If you are in a midair collision, you suddenly lose that time required, and you have to do the best you can with what's on hand.

reply to post by Zaphod58


ah, ok.

makes sense.