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.
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design the Air Force said.