US ballistic missile-detection aircraft hold close-in recon on Chinese Coast
Truck-mounted ballistic missile attached to a brigade under the PLA Rocket Force is erected during a recent realistic training exercise at night
The US military recently dispatched its ballistic missile-detection aircraft for consecutive close-in reconnaissance activities near Chinese Coast but ensuring that the aircraft always remained well away from Chinese territorial waters. Though according to statements received from the Chinese military observers and reported by Chinese media, the US aircraft attempted to spy on China’s ballistic missile tests. As per the Chinese they too closely monitored the American Spy aircraft.
The PLAN identified the aircraft as a RC-135S ballistic missile-detection aircraft of the US Air Force which conducted the close-in reconnaissance on China’s coastline from the Yellow Sea on Saturday and Sunday.
On both days, the US aircraft took off from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, crossed the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone of China, and conducted close-in reconnaissance activities south of Qingdao, East China’s Shandong Province, less than 20 nautical miles away from China’s territorial waters. The Chinese have stated that the RC-135S has been significantly more active recently, with frequent operations above the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and Natuna Sea.
The main mission of the RC-135S aircraft is the detection of ballistic missiles, as it can collect electronic signals, use radar system to locate launch positions and utilize optical and infrared devices to track ballistic missiles in real time.
Sending the RC-135S for frequent close-in reconnaissance activities on China shows that the US is closely monitoring all the Chinese ballistic missile tests.
In August, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force had successfully launched two new types of conventional short range missiles in the deserts of northwest China during a military exercise.
From August 29 to September 12, China is holding military exercises in the Bohai Strait and the north Yellow Sea, according to a navigation notice released by the Maritime Safety Administration on August 27.
Since the US spy aircraft entered China’s air defense identification zone, the PLA too tracked and identified it, but refrained from any interception.
Coinciding with the increased RC-135S activities Chinese reported an unidentified aerial phenomenon in North China. On Thursday evening, a number of residents in Ordos, North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region were able to capture an unknown luminous beam across the sky on camera, Hohhot News, an official news outlet based in the capital city of Inner Mongolia, reported on Friday.
Videos show that what seems to be a flying object soared through the sky, leaving a glowing fiery tail behind.
While the report said the cause of the unidentified aerial phenomenon remains unknown, some observers speculated that it could be an aircraft or a rocket.
