PLA Air Force news, pics and videos

Air Force Brat said:

exactly, but that "unprofessional" rolling inverted over an airplane full of crew??? that's gonna get old real fast, now that Commander Trump is at the Helm,,,, somebody's gonna push their luck too far, the fact that such "stoopidity" has thus far not resulted in losing an airplane is fortunate, but if this behavior continues there does come a point where you start to escort these bird with an F-22 just for deterrence, and somebody's gonna get their radar "smoked".

This is not the BHO administration, this isn't even the GWB administration, there will be consequences for that type of "reckless" behavior, it was funny on "Top Gun", but this ain't "Top Gun"!

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Well, I'm having a hard time figuring out the contrasting images of the PLA personnel being rigidly communist-trained robots vs. undisciplined mavericks...

In my opinion, the PLAN and the USN are playing a game, much like the cat and mouse game played by the USN and the Soviets. The difference is that the former Soviets had the capability to spy on the US as the US could do to the Soviets. So both had reciprocal rules for what to do when the two sides met.

On the other hand, the PLAN can't spy on the US the same way the USN can do to China. So no "If you do it to me, I will do it to you!" No reciprocal rules. There is literally nothing China can do to the US to prevent the US from spying on them. They can't fire on US spy planes. They can't lock on the spy plane (that would be truly unprofessional). They can't push the spy plane out. The only thing that the PLAN can do is to harass the USN enough to discourage the spying. Of course, you have to do something outrageous to discourage a Goliath like the USN. Hence the crazy flying. Sorta like a warning: "don't get close to us. We will do something crazy!"

On the flip side, what is the USN doing in response? The safe way would be to escort their spy planes with fighters, to discourage the PLAN from doing the maverick. Can the USN do it? They certainly have the means to do it. They have enough planes and enough skilled pilots to do anything they want. But why haven't they done any of it? In my opinion, the USN is calling the PLAN bluff: "how crazy can you be?"

"You dare not actually open fire on me!"

And "you dare not lock on me!"

And "you can't kick me out".

"I'm going to stay here as much as I want".

So it's a game of dare and see who blinks.

As soon as China acquires capabilities to spy on the US the same way as the US can spy on China, these games will stop.

So don't blame China for the crazy flying. The USN is literally encouraging it... and complain about it when China does it...

When you are being surveyed from EEZ, it's not spying.

Richard Santos said:

When you are being surveyed from EEZ, it's not spying.

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Like when you use binoculars to look into your neighbor's bedroom while standing on the pavement outside, it's not spying. You need to be in his house for it to be spying.

Well, flying upside down in international airspace isn't "unprofessional" either. He didn't touch anyone, did he? LOL

It is. Any unusual flight maneuver in close proximity with a third party is highly dangerous and therefore unprofessional piloting behavior.

Richard Santos said:

It is. Any unusual flight maneuver in close proximity with a third party is highly unprofessional piloting behavior.

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Well, if you maintain that the USN can do whatever they want in international airspace, then so can the PLAAF. If you wanna be civil about it, we can all be civil. Stop the spying, and we stop the dangerous maneuvers. If you wanna be dickheads about it and say you can do whatever you want in international airspace, then so can we. You're not going to tell anyone that you can creep up to his country and spy on it and all they can do is take it. This isn't some small third world country with GDP of fourteen dollars and biplanes for their air-force. This is China and China will tell you what's professional in their EEZ, not the other way around.

China says it was a highly professionally-executed daring maneuver designed to make hostile spies feel unsafe and uncomfortable, prompting them to leave and whine, and that's what it achieved.

If you want to be tough, then find a way to keep what you don't want seen out of sight to show you have the toughness of self mastery, not act dangerously and therefore amateurishly in an attempt to keep others from looking when they have a perfect right to be there and to see what can be seen.

Richard Santos said:

If you want to be tough, then find a way to keep what you don't want seen out of sight to show you have the toughness of self mastery, not act dangerously to keep others from looking when they have a perfect right to be there and to see what can be seen.

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If you wanna be tough, stop whining and bring the fighter escorts. This isn't the first time China came out to play; you know the drill. If you wanna be tough, make a better spy plane that doesn't get detected and expelled. If you wanna be tough, don't complain about China stealing state/industry secrets and do what you can to keep them safe. Better yet, if you wanna be tough, don't complain when China offs 20 CIA spies without you even knowing to this day how it happened; make them sneakier.

Richard Santos said:

When you are being surveyed from EEZ, it's not spying.

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"Survey"... that is actually THE diplomatic term for spying. Let's call it what it is.

And what's wrong with spying? It is a normal activity for any country. The official term is intelligence gathering. And country being "surveyed" has counterintelligence to counter it.

It's a game played by professionals. Sometimes, some of the things done by these professionals may look "unprofessional" by us amateurs. But it's still part of the game.

Why do I insist that the crazy flying by the Chinese pilots is part of the game? Have you ever seen the Chinese pilots fly like that anywhere else. Many of the PLAAF's bases are in or near big cities. Has anyone on the internet mentioned any crazy fly-by's by Chinese fighter pilots? Has any of the Chinese netizens complained about Chinese fighter pilots "buzzing the tower" in their cities and towns? They are doing these things under orders.

And why does the PLA issue orders like that? Some PLA commanding officers are becoming crazy? Hardly. They are doing it for a reason. That's why I think it's part of a game.

We have members questioning the individuality of Chinese soldiers and their ability to finish missions independently. Then all of a sudden, we start believing stories about Chinese pilots losing control and acting unprofessionally. So which one is it?

The US just doesn't publicly report on their own unprofessional behavior. Why would they do that unless someone leaked it? And let's not forget the lies. Remember when Japan reported similar unprofessionalism of Chinese pilots flying too close to their surveillance aircraft and then China came out with footage of Japanese fighters flying closer to Chinese patrol aircraft. They just have more liars that will back one another. Yes when China ever flies military aircraft that can reach the US, they'll forget all US spy flights along China's coast and act like China committed an act of war. Just look at the how angry people are that China broke up a US spy ring in China like it was a crime. They have a right to do it but no one else can. Just like theirs is professional while every one else's is not.

As I've mentioned a little earlier, why isn't the USN sending in the escorts. If they know full well, when they send their "surveying" planes to the vicinity of Chinese seas, they face tremendous danger, why are they not doing more to protect their sailors? Why are they still sending in a single slow flying plane unprotected, leaving their sailors fully exposed?

Would this also be a type of being unprofessional? Knowingly sending your men into danger without protection? Should we demand the USN to tell us why they are sending our brave men and women to dangerous missions without protection? We know the USN is more professional than that. But why are they still doing this? It's a strategic game that the US and China are playing.