Pentagon releases footage of 'risky' intercepts by Chinese jets

Declassified footage shows pilots coming close to US aircraft

The Pentagon has published declassified images and videos it says highlight the risky behaviour of Chinese fighter pilots towards their American counterparts in international airspace.

The Pentagon has tallied more than 180 incidents of aggressive tactics by Chinese aircraft near US jets flying over the East and South China Sea regions since Autumn 2021, Ely Ratner, assistant secretary of defence for Indo-Pacific security affairs, said.

That is “more in the past two years than in the decade before that,” Mr Ratner said.

“That's nearly 200 cases where (Chinese) operators have … discharged chaff or shot off flares or approached too rapidly or close to US aircraft.”

In some instances, Chinese pilots came within just six metres of US aircraft, the Pentagon said.

Officials released images between January 2022 and September 2023 before handing Congress its China Military Power Report, which will highlight an “increasing trend of coercive and risky operational behaviour by the PLA”.

The Pentagon has released footage of some of the more than 180 intercepts of US jets by Chinese aircraft that have occurred in the last two years. AP