A Chinese jet made an “unsafe” maneuver near a U.S. spy plane in September over the Yellow Sea, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.
Peter Cook, Pentagon press secretary, said the Defense Department is reviewing a report from U.S. Pacific Command about the maneuver that the American pilot perceived as unsafe.
The Sept. 15 intercept of an RC-135 Rivet Joint aircraft occurred about 80 miles east of the Shandong peninsula, Cook said.
“One of the maneuvers conducted by the Chinese aircraft during this intercept was perceived as unsafe by the RC-135 aircrew. At this point, right now, there’s no indication it was a near collision,” Cook said.
When asked about what specific actions the Chinese plane took, Cook simply said that it “passed in an unsafe fashion in front of the plane.”
It’s not the first time Chinese jets have buzzed U.S. aircraft. A Chinese fighter jet did a barrel roll over an American plane in August 2014, which the White House called “a provocation,” Bloomberg reported.
