'Relatively Impressed': US F-35 Fighter Jet Has Close Encounter With ...

US Air Force (USAF) general Kenneth Wilsbach said the US-built F-35 had an encounter with China's Chengdu J-20 adding that he was "relatively impressed with the command and control associated with the J-20."

The US general said the encounter took place in the East China Sea as he added that it was "too early to tell" whether the J20 would be "more like an F-35 that’s capable of doing many, many missions or more like an F-22 that is primarily an air superiority fighter".

The US general also touched on China's Shaanxi KJ-500 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft.

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Wilsbach said: "Some of their very long-range air-to-air missiles are aided by that KJ-500. Being able to interrupt that kill chain is something that interests me greatly."

“But we notice that they are flying it pretty well. We recently had – I wouldn’t call it an engagement – where we got relatively close to the J-20s along with our F-35s in the East China Sea," the US general said.

Wilsbach's latest comments come as United States Navy recently recovered the F-35C Lightning II stealth fighter jet that sank in the South China Sea. The incident which took place in January had led to seven US sailors being injured as the plane was lost due to a landing mishap on the USS Carl Vinson.

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The US retrieved the fighter jet from a depth of 12,400 feet using a remoted vehicle that attached lift lines from a ship's crane. Tensions between the USand China has increased in the past two years in the South China Sea.

China claims the islands and atolls as its own even as other countries including Taiwan and other Southeast Asian countries have also laid similar claims.

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China had said recently that its military budget is set to rise by 7.1 per cent this year to $230 billion which is slightly higher than the 6.8 per cent rise last year.

Premier Li Keqiang had said China is set to "enhance military training and combat readiness" as the country continues to modernise its defence forces.

(With inputs from Agencies)