US Drone Tracked on China’s Doorstep

[ad_1] The USA continues its spying exercise in Northeast Asia amid China's navy risk, as one among its unmanned plane was noticed flying close to the East Asian energy.

Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command for remark through e-mail. The Chinese language International Ministry didn't instantly reply to a request for remark.

Why It Issues Going through China's quickly rising navy energy, each nuclear and standard, the U.S. has maintained a powerful navy presence within the Western Pacific, deploying a few of its most-capable property, reminiscent of F-35 stealth fighter jets and nuclear-powered submarines.

Japan, the place the U.S. has stationed roughly 60,000 troops to discourage and defend towards regional aggression, hosts American drones operated by the Air Drive, the Marine Corps and the Navy throughout its territory, together with outlying southwestern islands close to China.

Beijing has lengthy protested "close-in reconnaissance" performed by the U.S., accusing it of threatening China's sovereignty and safety. The U.S. navy, in flip, has blamed its Chinese language counterpart for conducting "unprofessional intercepts" of its spy plane.

What To Know Citing flight monitoring knowledge, @NZ_Trav, a New Zealand-based open-source intelligence analyst on the social-media platform X, stated a U.S. Navy MQ-4C drone, designed for maritime surveillance, flew over the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea on Thursday.

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The drone was launched from Japan's Okinawa Island, the place the U.S. has established a stronghold for projecting air energy at Kadena Air Base. The bottom additionally hosts Air Drive and Marine Corps MQ-9 drones, based on a Japanese Protection Ministry doc.

Whereas flight monitoring knowledge was incomplete, it signifies that the MQ-4C drone reached as far north over the Yellow Sea between China's Shandong Province and South Korea and as far south over waters off Taiwan's northern coast and China's Fujian Province.

U.S. protection contractor Northrop Grumman stated the MQ-4C drone can fly at altitudes above 50,000 ft for greater than 24 hours, with a spread of 8,515 miles. It's outfitted with a number of sensors, giving it a persistent maritime surveillance functionality.

Relating to its drone deployments, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command beforehand instructed Newsweek that unmanned plane present "steady intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities" that improve safety throughout the Indo-Pacific theater.

The U.S. drone's flight close to China's shoreline comes simply days after a Canadian patrol plane was intercepted by Chinese language fighter jets whereas flying in worldwide airspace over the East China Sea to implement United Nations sanctions on North Korean vessels.

<img id="10858204" alt="" caption="A United States Navy MQ-4C drone takes off from the flightline at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan on October 5, 2022." captionoverride="A United States Navy MQ-4C drone takes off from the flight line at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan on October 5, 2022." credit="Lance Cpl. David Getz" sourcealt="" sources="["U.S. Marine Corps"]" fetchpriority="auto" loading="lazy" width="2156" height="1540" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" src="color:transparent;aspect-ratio:inherit;object-fit:cover" sizes="(min-width: 1200px) 1536px, (min-width: 768px) 1024px, 100vw" srcset="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/7453949.jpg?w=640&quality=75&webp=1 640w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/7453949.jpg?w=750&quality=75&webp=1 750w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/7453949.jpg?w=1000&quality=75&webp=1 1000w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/7453949.jpg?w=1200&quality=75&webp=1 1200w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/7453949.jpg?w=1360&quality=75&webp=1 1360w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/7453949.jpg?w=1600&quality=75&webp=1 1600w" bad-src="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/7453949.jpg?w=1600&quality=75&webp=1"/> What Individuals Are Saying The Pentagon's Chinese language navy energy report 2024 commented: "Since late 2023, the [People's Liberation Army, PLA] has diminished the variety of coercive and dangerous air intercepts of U.S. platforms in comparison with the earlier two years, when the PLA engaged in notably elevated aggressive exercise, notably within the East and South China Seas. Nonetheless, the PLA continues to conduct unsafe maneuvers within the neighborhood of allied forces working within the area."

Mao Ning, spokesperson for China's International Ministry, stated at a press convention in Could 2023: "I want to level out that, for fairly a while, the U.S. aspect has incessantly despatched plane and vessels to conduct close-in reconnaissance on China, critically threatening China's sovereignty and safety.

"Such provocative and harmful strikes are the foundation trigger for maritime safety points. The U.S. wants to instantly cease such harmful acts of provocation."

What Occurs Subsequent The U.S. is prone to proceed spy flights close to China utilizing manned and unmanned plane. It stays unclear whether or not any encounter between the 2 militaries will happen.