tejek,
re: Tim, there are several major cities on or near the coast...Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Hong Kong etc....many of them with large industrial/tech facilities near by. I suspect
they were checking some of them out and then moving back over water when they got spotted.
The plane was over water the entire time, by atleast the 12 mile mark - probably a whole lot more than that.
re: I wonder how many fly overs like that are done each year and why the need when we have spy satellites checking things out as well?
Daily would be a good guess, and satellites don't do communications intercepts of the type this aircraft does. This plane also doesn't do pictures - does that help.
boston.com
The Navy EP-3 that collided with a Chinese plane Sunday was buzzing
slowly through the sky, specialists say. They describe it as one of a breed
of slow-moving surveillance aircraft that excel at picking up radar, radio
signals, and even ordinary military radio chatter that other kinds of
surveillance cannot, specialists say.
The Navy intelligence plane, bristling with antennae and receivers and
staffed by linguists and electronic intercept operators, acts like ''a giant
ear,'' as one specialist put it, loitering long enough that no military on the
ground could grind to a halt to wait for the plane to move out of range.
Such spy planes are an ideal tool to monitor what many defense specialists
describe as China's recent and potentially troubling military buildup, which
threatens to change the balance of power in East Asia.
By mapping military radar sites, for instance, such planes can track
advances or expansion in a radar defense system. And simply by watching
the types of interceptors that show up to shadow it, the planes can provide
useful intelligence on deployment of the air force.
''China in the last few years has increased its military budget,'' said Robert
Pfaltzgraff, an international security specialist and a professor at Tufts
University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. ''That has created a
greater need to know more precisely what the Chinese have acquired.''
This year, the Chinese increased defense spending by at least 17 percent,
Pfaltzgraff said. That caps nearly a decade of steadily increased spending
on military equipment, including ships, aircraft, and short- and
medium-range missiles.
While the Navy plane was probably on a routine mission, its collision with
the Chinese jet has occurred at a time of heightened sensitivity, when the
Chinese are anxious after a period of economic growth to establish their
military superiority in east Asia.
''I would offer that China is thinking of the US as its opponent,'' said Paul
Giarra, a retired naval officer and former Asia specialist in the Department
of Defense. ''And the US is increasingly turning its attention to China.''
Noting that the Pentagon recently reported that China has 300 short- and
middle-range ballistic missiles on its coast across from Taiwan, Giarra said
China is particularly anxious to reestablish control over the self-governing
island.
Last month, Admiral Dennis Blair, commander of US forces in the Pacific,
told a Senate panel that ''the missile buildup on the Chinese side is the part
that's most threatening'' to stability in the region.
President Bush is slated to decide soon whether to allow Taiwan to buy
four destroyers equipped with Aegis, the Navy's most advanced antimissile
radar system. Bill Clinton turned down the request last year. Taiwan wants
an arsenal of high-tech military hardware, including submarines and Patriot
missile systems, to counter the growing missile threat from the mainland.
Whether the spy plane's mission was linked to intelligence-gathering related
for the president's decision is unclear.
The Navy's P-3 spy plane, a child of the Cold War, was first used for
antisubmarine warfare. The Navy uses about 18 of the more sophisticated
EP-3 planes to keep watch along the coastlines of various countries.
Normally flown by a crew of 20, the plane can collect both radar and
communications intelligence. The crew is able to listen to a wide range of
frequencies, picking up information of just about any kind. Linguists scan
conversations looking for key words, defense specialists say. Some
conversations - which may be encoded - are recorded for future analysis.
In addition to watching military maneuvers, the spy planes are often used to
plot the location of another country's radars and other facilities.
The turbo-prop planes fly at 200 to 380 miles per hour, far slower than the
shuttle from Boston to New York, specialists say. The spy planes typically
fly at about maximum altitude of 30,000 feet and can stay aloft for more
than 12 hours.
Unlike satellites, which fly over on a predictable schedule and are
consequently easy to evade, the spy planes provide a much more complete
picture.
''Satellites just don't give you everything,'' said Barry Posen, a professor in
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Security Studies Program.
cheers, eric |
