United States Spy Plane RC-135U recently flew over China’s Strategic Southern Coast

In the last 24 hours, a US Air Force RC-135U Combat Sent electronic intelligence aircraft flew around much of China’s southern coastline, which meets the northern end of the South China Sea. This mission comes after reports that Chinese fighters have been harassing foreign observation and reconnaissance planes flying over international seas in the South China Sea and elsewhere in the Pacific. This includes a particularly dangerous intercept of a Royal Australian Air Force P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol plane by a Chinese J-16 fighter jet, which was revealed just this weekend and about which you can read more here. According to online flight tracking data, the RC-135U in question, with the serial number 64-14849, flew its mission near China’s southern coast on June 6, including around Hainan Island and into the Gulf of Tonkin. In that region of the planet, it is currently June 7. The highly vital Yulin Naval Station, the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) key centre in the region and its