China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) claims one of its fighter jets radar-locked a foreign stealth aircraft at 800 meters.
The People’s Liberation Army claims that one of its fighter jets was able to radar-lock a “foreign” stealth aircraft at close range. Initially reported by the PLA Daily , the incident reportedly occurred at a distance of 2,624 feet .
According to the South China Morning Post , no further details were provided about the location of the incident, nor which aircraft were involved. It also didn’t provide information on which nation the “foreign” stealth aircraft belonged to.According to the paper, “the aircraft directed its wingman to execute a back-fly manoeuvre and create longitudinal separation”, the SCMP reports. “The moment the stealth aircraft attempted evasive turns, the lead PLA aircraft engaged its attention in a close-quarters tangle while the wingman maintained radar lock,” the PLA paper added.This may sound alarming, but it is important to note that a “radar lock” doesn’t necessarily mean hostility. It simply means that, if true, the Chinese fighter managed to acquire a fire-control tracking on another aircraft.Radar-lock at close rangeThis theoretically means that the Chinese fighter could have launched air-to-air missiles towards it, but clearly didn’t. It is essentially a warning, rather than an intent to shoot down the other aircraft.That said, the quoted distance involved is very interesting. At 2,624 feet, this encounter was very close indeed in terms of air combat.Typically, most engagements today occur at very long distances, with many modern beyond-visual-range missiles able to be fired from ranges of 62 miles away. While very rare, even visual-range dogfights tend to occur over a few miles. At the claimed range, this would likely mean the Chinese pilot would have been able to not only see the foreign aircraft, but may also have been able to identify the pilot .If true, this likely suggests a very tense intercept scenario, perhaps even shadowing or escorting away from Chinese airspace. As for the aircraft involved, the most likely candidate would be the Chinese Shenyang J-16.This aircraft is a heavy twin-engine multirole fighter, roughly comparable in size to the American F-15 “Eagle.” It is equipped with a modern Active Electronically Scanned Array radar and is regularly deployed near Taiwan and the South China Sea.Close encounters in the South China SeaIt is not stealthy, but has powerful radar and electronic warfare systems. As for the “foreign stealth” aircraft, the most likely candidate would be a Lockheed Martin F-35 “Lightning II” or Lockheed Martin F-22 “Raptor.”These aircraft are operated by the United States in Japan, the US Navy carrier groups, and the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force. Given the likely location , it was probably a U.S. or Japanese patrol near Taiwan.But this assumes the PLA’s claim is, of course, true. It also comes just months after another similar incident back in December 2025. During that incident, Shenyang J-15 jets from the Liaoning aircraft carrier reportedly acquired radar locks on Japanese F-15s near Okinawa. Whatever the case with the most recent incident, whether it was a routine intercept or not, such close encounters underscore the growing intensity of air operations around Taiwan.
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