US drones monitor China at sea
The US will use its most advanced unmanned surveillance aircraft to monitor Chinese activities in the disputed waters between Tokyo and Beijing, the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.
US Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance aircraft - Photo: Reuters
The above information was reported by two major media agencies in Japan, NHK and Yomiuri Shimbun, on August 8. The decision to send the US Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk spy plane was agreed upon by Japanese Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto and his counterpart at the Pentagon, Leon Panetta, in a previous meeting on August 5.
In an effort to strengthen the US military's intelligence operations in the Asia-Pacific region, since September 2010, the Pentagon has deployed at least three unarmed Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk drones to Andersen Air Force Base on Guam Island.
Operating at an altitude of about 18,000 meters, the RQ-4 is capable of providing near-instant, high-resolution long-range reconnaissance images. Last March, the RQ-4 was also used in the post-disaster damage assessment process at a nuclear power plant.
According toTaipei TimesBefore the US RQ-4, the Japanese navy relied mainly on the P-3C “Orion” spy plane to monitor Chinese activities in the East China Sea.
Tetsuo Kotani, a researcher at the Institute of International Affairs in Tokyo, said the US's move to send a strong message to Beijing that "Washington stands with Tokyo."
However, Mr. Kotani also said that this was absolutely not a provocative action by the US-Japan alliance with China because in the current context, "no country wants to increase tensions."
According to TTO-M
