Chinese fighter jets on Tuesday again conducted an unsafe intercept of a US reconnaissance plane, US Pacific Command said. An Air Force RC-135 was intercepted by two Chinese J-10 fighter jets in international airspace over the East China Sea, PACOM said in a statement. The jets flew with “an unsafe excessive rate of closure” on the Rivet Joint, PACOM said. The Pentagon is addressing the issue “in appropriate diplomatic and military channels.” China’s Defense Ministry, in a statement to Reuters, said the US is “deliberately hyping up the issue of the close surveillance of China by US military aircraft.” Air Force and Navy jets have repeatedly encountered unsafe intercepts in the region as tensions have increased over the South China Sea.
The Pentagon is readying a slew of reforms to its acquisition practices designed to speed up the military’s process for buying weapons and systems and structure its program offices to prioritize competition and commercial capabilities, according to a draft memo.
