The US military has accused a Chinese fighter jet of making an “unsafe intercept” of a US B-52 bomber that was flying over the South China Sea on October 24.
US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that the Chinese jet came within 10 feet of the American bomber. “We are concerned this pilot was unaware of how close he came to causing a collision,” the command said.
According to AP, the US military did not answer questions about what the B-52 was doing flying over the sensitive waters but framed the flight as a “routine operation.” It’s also unclear how close the bomber was to mainland China. China did not confirm the details of the US account of the incident but said it blames tensions in the region on the US.
“The US military aircraft, which traveled halfway around the world to China’s doorsteps to show off military muscle, is exactly the source of maritime and air security risks and dangers to regional peace and stability. China will take resolute measures to safeguard its sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.
The US frequently flies surveillance planes over the South China Sea, but bomber flights are more rare and more provocative toward Beijing. According to the Beijing-based South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI), US surveillance planes flew about 1,000 sorties over the South China Sea in 2022. The Chinese think tank also tracked 20 flights of B-52 and B-1B bombers in the western Pacific region that year. Of that number, at least five US bombers entered the South China Sea in 2022.
Ten feet? I don’t believe it. Show us the video evidence.
And tell us why, other than as an exercise in deliberate aggression, our military would be flying B-52 sorties there.
Answer to Q2: Because the American military is being run by idiot buttheads.
If the fighter jet did come withing 10 feet, I would think the jet would have encountered some jet wash. So, I don’t think so.
No pilot wanting to live to fly again would get anywhere near that close deliberately. Screwups can happen but are very rare. Interception procedures are formal and standardized. They are published in aviation regulations. Everyone follows them because banging into each other and falling out of the sky is undesirable. So is accidentally starting a war.
And yet on April 1, 2001 a Chinese jet did exactly that resulting in its destruction and death of the pilot. And the badly damaged US plane was had to make a forced landing in China.
“No pilot wanting to live to fly again would get anywhere near that close deliberately. Screwups can happen but are very rare.”
I suggest (as, sadly, I often feel moved to do in these forums) that you work on reading for meaning.
Why? Building up for WWIII, that’s why.
They may well be building up to WWIII. It doesn’t seem at all unlikely. They don’t want that — they’re stupid, but not stupid enough to imagine that a nuclear world war would be winnable.
Unfortunately, they are more than stupid enough to think they can get away with some reckless madness that ends up triggering a world war when they don’t get away with it.
You didn’t see the video? It was on the major news channels.
I saw the video. It is absolutely impossible to judge from the video how close the passing aircraft was to the camera without knowing a great deal more than we do about, among other factors, the lens, any intervening transparent or translucent materials, infrared videography in general.
You may be convincing yourself that you can see what you actually cannot see. Don’t feel alone, though. You are in the company of many millions of others. ☹️
That means to piss off…! Next time they would come to within one foot of B52…!
You can’t blame a fighter jet. You have to blame the pilot or his/ her superiors.
Flying a potential nuke armed B-52 in that area just might be a bit provocative.
Bankrupt US crazies traveled a long way to pick a fight with a more advanced, more cultured and much larger and stronger country than the US. There must be a known psychological problem that describes this behavior.
A mix of Ignorance and Stupidity.
“The US military has accused a Chinese jet of making an “unsafe intercept” of a US B-52 bomber that was flying over the South China Sea”
Sure it is always Russian and Chinese pilots who are unsafe. More BS from the propaganda spewing US. Maybe once in a while intercepting aircraft fly very close, but not every time a US ship or plane is intercepted!
When American aircraft fly formation they routinely fly in very close formation. When American aircraft intercept and identify other aircraft they routinely fly very close.
By the standards of the idiots in the public relations branch of the military the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds are unsafe pilots.
The formation flying of the demonstration teams is nothing like flying ordinary missions.
Interceptors get close enough, usually approaching from behind and flying a parallel course with the subject aircraft, to make necessary visual observations and to signal the crew of the subject aircraft if necessary. They don’t get closer than necessary and don’t maneuver in ways that might startle the subject crew, leading to dangerous reactions.
It’s all formal and prescribed and it’s actually quite routine, happening all the time all around the world.
Relevant FAA regulation, procedures at 5.6.13:
https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim_html/chap5_section_6.html
Thank you for quoting the FAA document which has nothing to do with military intercepts in international Class 2 airspace. Now for reality, I retired as a Naval Aviator having flown the Tomcat for 16 of my 20 year Navy career. During that time I made four 7 month deployments worldwide on aircraft carriers. One of my jobs was intercepting and identifying any aircraft within 200 NM of our carrier.
I have been closer than 40 feet to aircraft I intercepted to get a closer look at marking on very black moonless nights. I have flown within 10 feet of my KC-135 tanker in weather crossing the Pacific on a TransPac. It’s all relative motion once you learn how to fly formation and a piece of cake to fly at any distance from another aircraft.
When we tank off of a carrier based tanker with a hose and drogue we are always within 30 feet of the tanker as we take fuel. Flying real world operations in weather is MORE demanding then flying formation in a flight demonstration team.
I have intercepted Tu-95 Bears, Il-38 Mays, Iranian P-3s, and a host of NATO aircraft including fighter jets. We get as close as we want and at times “Thump” the intercepted aircraft by flying across his nose so he has to fly through our jet wash. These are military to military encounters and they happen all the time.
There is a reason B-52 pilots are not fighter pilots and they are most likely not capable of judging a close pass from an unsafe almost midair.
I have intercepted my share of airliners from Lebanon to India and across the Mediterranean. We do not play with airliners as we do not want to spook the passengers or pilots.
Your FAA procedures manual has nothing to do with real world military operations and may be considered for domestic US and international intercepts of airliners.
For us, civilians, it would be nicer to know whether this happened before, during, or after this other encounter? https://youtu.be/OPYU9UXGLUo?si=QkhSs_-49zSUbd04
I didn’t mean to diss fighter jocks. 😎
“. . . the FAA document which has nothing to do with military intercepts in international Class 2 airspace.”
Actually, it does. The various national regs are almost all modeled on the ICAO version. Certainly the details of military intercepts vary by nation, service and situation, but that’s not the same as “noting to do with” such intercepts. Everyone needs to have a basic understanding of usual procedures so that dangerous freakouts are avoided. We know that fun and games are sometimes indulged in and sometimes push the envelope.
I’m not sure what the reference to “Class 2” airspace means. I’m guessing you mean Class II, but that refers to airspace outside the coverage of ground-based navaids and I’m not sure how it’s relevant. Explain?
I’m sure you have flown close to intercepted aircraft. I very much doubt that you have deliberately flown ten feet off the wing of a subject aircraft while overtaking without vertical separation, because that would be crazy and if it didn’t get everyone killed would definitely be hard to explain to the boss.
Thumping doesn’t involve flying anywhere nearly as close as we’re talking about here.
Formation flying for refueling, a ballet between cooperating crews that is choreographed and carefully practiced, really isn’t relevant to this discussion. That said, putting that probe in the basket is pretty spiffy flying. Impressive. I salute you.
I saw the IR video of this latest incident. It’s not possible to tell how close the pass was, due to variable photographic and lighting details that we just don’t know. We do know that the US tosses around these accusations about unsafe intercepts by China repeatedly. I think it’s most likely that we’re being treated to propaganda theater.
Wow. Impressive. One of my friends was an F-4 pilot during the Vietnam war. He made multiple missions over the North. What carriers did you fly from?
Grandiosity exemplified with that Indo-Pac designation.
What is China’s problem? Now if it was a weather balloon blown off course, I could understand. But a B-52?
China doesn’t have any problems… It’s US that has them…!
You know where a B-52 wouldn’t have this kind of close encounter with a Russian, Chinese, Persian, or DPRK fighter jet ? If it were flying within US territorial airspace – where it belongs.
Wash. is building up for WWIII in the Pacific. If I lived in Guam, I’d get out of there fast as I could.
This is mighty impressive.
The US, like a schoolyard bully, can’t resist the opportunity to threaten a rival, not to mention a rival it expects to be inferior and whom it needs to dominate.
Of course, bullies are tough on the outside and soft on the inside. Because they grew up being bullied by their parents. They are tough until someone calls their bluff and their gang is not around. Then they fold like a bad lawn chair.
I expect that the Chinese understand this.
Yes, it is unsafe. It would have been much safer to shoot it down.