Becoming More Aggressive In Intercepting U.S. Planes Patrolling On The West Coast

The head of Air Force Air Combat Command says that the Chinese and Russians are becoming more aggressive in their intercepts of U.S. warplanes flying near the west coast of the United States.

In an interview with USA Today, Gen. Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle (pictured) said that meeting those challenges is dangerous, but essential work.

Carlisle said that the U.S. military has a growing concern about a resurgent Russia and an increasingly aggressive China. Both have designs on expanding their sphere of influence. Russia has designs on eastern Europe, while China has been expanding into the disputed South China Sea.

“Their intent is to get us not to be there,” Carlisle said in the interview. “So that the influence in those international spaces is controlled only by them. My belief is that we cannot allow that to happen. We have to continue to operate legally in international airspace and international waterways. We have to continue to call them out when they are being aggressive and unsafe.”

Carlisle said that there has been in increase in encounters between U.S. and Russian and Chinese aircraft over the past year, with more in recent months. Chinese and Russian warplanes are flying very close to U.S. military aircraft.

There has also been an upswing in Russian long-range bomber activity "all the way down the California coast. The number and frequency has increased," he said.

China is working towards establishing control of the international airspace over the South China Sea, Carlisle said, which is considered to be outside the norms. He said the key to avoiding mishaps and international incidents is maintaining communications with the Chinese and Russian militaries.  Training pilots to deal with the intercepts will continue, he said.

(Gen. Carlisle pictured in file photo)

FMI: www.acc.af.mil