Latest Scuffle Between China and the US

(IHS Jane's) The Pentagon has confirmed that an "unsafe" encounter occurred in mid-September when a US Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft was intercepted by Chinese fighter aircraft over the Yellow Sea.

The latest incident follows one in November 2014 when a People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Shenyang J-11B interceptor performed what US officials called a "dangerous" manoeuvre close to a US Navy Boeing P-8A maritime patrol aircraft in international airspace off Hainan Island in the South China Sea.

Speaking at a regular briefing in Washington, DC, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook confirmed that a RC-135 was intercepted on 15 September by a pair of Chinese Xian JH-7 fighter-bombers in international airspace over the Yellow Sea.

Cook added that the intercept happened about 80 miles east of the Shandong peninsula, and that "one of the manoeuvres conducted by the Chinese aircraft during this intercept was perceived as unsafe by the RC-135 air crew" although he stressed that there was no indication that a near collision had occurred.

The intercept was originally reported by the Washington Free Beacon website, which described the JH-7 as having "crossed very close" to the nose of the RC-135.

Analysis:

With global power transformation acceleration, the existing global power is reacting to the overtures being made by inspiring global power. US and Chinese strategic interests are heading towards a collision course with the rise of Chinese military power. The US is desperate of keep an eye on Chinese development along the entire Pacific Rim of Indian Ocean but Chinese are now openly confronting such US moves.Question remains if any of these two major economies and militaries can afford such head on collision? Whatever may be the outcome of any such eventuality for both of these, it certainly would be catastrophic for the entire Asia.

World War II: Battle of Midway Atoll, Birth of Air-Sea Battle Concept

The details of Battle of Midway Atoll can be accessed on the following link
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-midway

Analysis

It has been 73 years since Japanse and the US navies confronted each other in the Pacific, in June 1942, during the war for Midway Atoll in World War II. The war has been described as "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare" by renowned British military historian, John Keegan and very rightly so. This was the sea battle which put Japanese maritime victories in the Pacific to an end effectively clearing the way for the US Navy to assert itself in the Pacific Ocean throughout the war.

The outcome of this Japanese misadventure, after some earlier successes in the Pacific, carries many lessons for the strategic thinkers and military planners.

The most fundamental strategic blunder Japanese combined fleet commander, Admiral Yamamoto made was that he planned a complex maritime operation to lure the US carrier fleet into a trap on faulty assumption and extremely poor military intelligence. The strength of the US Navy and morale of the US Naval officers were miscalculated to a dangerous extent and consequently, not only Yamamoto lost the battle but all his 4 aircraft carrier that took part in this attack along with more than 240 aircraft and 3000 soldiers on board.

Though its was only in 2010 when the US strategic planner embraced air-sea battle as an integrated war doctrine, battle of Midway Atoll was the first decisive war where the US Navy and Air Force conducted joint raids after raids on attacking Japanese naval fleet.