FAS | Intelligence | Programs | Collect |||| Index | Search | Join FAS EP-3E ARIES II The EP-3E ARIES II aircraft is a four-engine, low-wing, electronic warfare and reconnaissance aircraft utilizing state-of-the-art electronic surveillance equipment for its primary mission. It is powered by four Allison T56-A-14 turboprop engines, and has a wing span of 99 ft, 8 in., a length of 105 ft, 11 in., ...

Whidbey Island gets ready Photos by Jason Carter / Stars and Stripes Yellow ribbons cover the fence outside schools in Oak Harbor, Washington. the community just outside Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. Ten-year-old Matt Farage of Oak Harbor holds several flags as he waits with about 10, 000 other community members at the homecoming celebration. Flags dominate the horizon at Saturday's ...

Friday, April 13, 2001 With crew back in U.S., focus shifts to fate of damaged surveillance plane By Lisa Burgess, Washington bureau WASHINGTON Beijing has released the 24 crewmembers of the U.S. Navy EP-3E Aries II surveillance plane from their involuntary detention, but the crippled aircraft, stuffed with some of the best electronic surveillance equipment in the Pentagon arsenal, still sits on ...

Friday, April 13, 2001 Medical checks, questioning about crash on crew's agenda in Hawaii By Sandra Jontz, Dave Ornauer and Carlos Bongioanni, Stars and Stripes The 24 U.S. crewmembers detained in China will undergo intense medical and psychological analysis in Hawaii, U.S. military officials say. The key first is getting them their medical checks, Lt. Col. Stephen Barger, a spokesman for the ...

Friday, April 6, 2001 Some lawmakers are losing patience with China By Sandra Jontz, Washington bureau WASHINGTON The Chinese government proved to be an enemy of the United States when officials decided to hold a U.S. Navy crew and its spy plane hostage after an emergency landing on Chinese soil, a U.S. Congressman said Thursday. This harassment is not an accident, said Rep. Tom Tancredo, ...

Friday, April 6, 2001 EP-3 incident similar to forcing down of U.S. plane by Soviets in 1968 By Dave Ornauer, Stars and Stripes YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan American GI aircraft forced to land in communist territory by an Asian superpower is nothing new. On July 1, 1968, the Soviet Union forced down a U.S. DC-8 contract flight carrying 214 Vietnam-bound troops, headed for a refueling stop at Yokota.

Friday, June 8, 2001 U.S., China agree on EP-3E return, but process will take several weeks By Pauline Jelinek, The Associated Press WASHINGTON It will be several more weeks before the United States gets back the Navy spy plane that landed in China and became the center of a monthslong chill in relations between the two countries. China and the United States announced Thursday that they had ...

Friday, May 4, 2001 Beijing allows technicians to board EP-3, assess damage, removal of equipment By Lisa Burgess, Washington bureau WASHINGTON Chinese officials let U.S. military technicians board and inspect the downed Navy EP-3 surveillance aircraft on Wednesday, marking the first time Beijing has permitted access to the plane since the midair collision with a Chinese fighter jet April 1.

Saturday, April 14, 2001 Hundreds on hand to cheer as crew of surveillance plane lands in Hawaii By Carlos Bongioanni, Stars and Stripes HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii God bless America. Those were the words Navy Lt. Shane Osborn told a cheering crowd of several hundred flag-waving well-wishers here Thursday who welcomed home the 24 crewmembers of a Navy surveillance plane released by Chinese ...

Saturday, April 14, 2001 With EP-3E crew safe in U.S., Rumsfeld blasts Chinese pilots' aggressive flying By Sandra Jontz and Lisa Burgess, Washington bureau WASHINGTON Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Friday blasted the Chinese version of the midair collision that downed a U.S. Navy spy plane and led to a 12-day standoff to free U.S. crewmembers. Now that the crew is safely returning home, ...

Saturday, April 14, 2001 Guam treated newly-released crew to an 'all-American meal' By Donovan Brooks, Guam bureau chief ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE The EP-3E crew feasted on pizza, beef tenderloin, fried chicken and apple pie, an all-American meal, Thursday on Guam. It was the first meal in 12 days on U.S. soil for the crew, detained in Hainan Island, China, after a collision with a Chinese ...

Saturday, April 14, 2001 Whidbey Island making preparations to welcome EP-3E's crew home By Mark Oliva, Stars and Stripes OAK HARBOR, Wash. Whidbey Island Naval Air Station officials will open the bases gates Saturday for a homecoming ceremony for the 24-member crew of the EP-3E plane forced to make an emergency landing in China. Access to the base will be unlimited. Local residents have been ...

Saturday, April 14, 2001 Surveillance plane pilot's feat makes his hometown proud By Sandra Jontz, Washington bureau Elizabeth L. Burke / U.S. Navy Lt. Shane Osborn, mission commander of the U.S. Navy EP-3 aircraft involved in the April 1 accident with a Chinese fighter jet, addresses the crowd at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, Thursday. At left is Adm. Thomas B. Fargo, Commander In Chief of the ...

Saturday, April 14, 2001 Kadena squadron has followed detention, release of one of their own By Jan Wesner Childs, Okinawa bureau Members of the 390th Intelligence Squadron at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa have a personal stake in the return of the U.S. EP-3E crew. One of their own, Senior Airman Curtis Towne, was among the 24 crewmembers detained in China for 12 days and now returning to the ...

Saturday, April 7, 2001 Reconnaissance plane veterans confident that EP-3's crew acted properly By Mark Oliva, Okinawa bureau Former crewmembers from Navy reconnaissance planes are downplaying fears about loss of an edge when it comes to intelligence capabilities aboard the EP-3 Aries II planes being held on Chinas Hainan Island. The plane and crew are from the Navys VQ-1 squadron, based at ...

Saturday, June 9, 2001 Kadena Air Base preparing to aid in efforts to return EP-3 from China From Stripes and wire reports KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa Personnel are preparing the air base to be the final staging area in the return of the EP-3E spy plane from China now that U.S. and Chinese negotiators have ironed out technical details for the return, base officials said. Kadena will be ready to ...

Saturday, June 9, 2001 U.S., China continue to hammer out details for return of surveillance plane By Lisa Burgess, Washington bureau WASHINGTON The four-person team from Pacific Command sent to negotiate details of dismantling the crippled Navy EP-3 and returning it to the United States has completed high-level talks with Chinese officials in Beijing and is now on Hainan Island, where they are ...

Saturday, May 12, 2001 China defends practice of intercepting U.S. reconnaissance flights From Stripes and wire reports BEIJING China on Thursday defended its policy of having fighter planes intercept U.S. surveillance flights near its coast, saying it had to protect national security. Washington resumed such flights Monday after a one-month hiatus following the April 1 collision between a U.S.

Saturday, May 19, 2001 EP-3E crew honored at White House, given medals for heroism, courage By Sandra Jontz , Washington bureau WASHINGTON President Bush got his wish. After spending five minutes Friday morning welcoming to the Oval Office each of the crewmembers of the U.S. Navy plane downed last month in China, Bush said he was glad to see one of his requests realized. Throughout the 11-day ...

Saturday, May 26, 2001 Discussions with China on retrieval of EP-3E continue, U.S. officials say By Mark Oliva, Okinawa bureau U.S. officials are denying a Chinese announcement that the seven-week standoff over the American spy plane is over. China said Thursday it is willing to let the United States chop the $80 million EP-3E aircraft into pieces and fly them out. Within hours, Department of ...

Saturday, May 26, 2001 China's proposal for plane's return to U.S. not without precedent By Wayne Specht, Stars and Stripes Chinas proposal to ship the Navys EP-3E Aries II aircraft back to U.S. control in wooden crates is not without precedent. Twenty five years ago, the United States did the same thing after Soviet pilot Lt. Victor Belenko flew a MiG-25 to Hakodate, Japan, on Hokkaido. Belenko ...

Saturday, May 5, 2001 Refusal of Chinese to supply power hampers assessment of EP-3E damage By Lisa Burgess, Washington Bureau WASHINGTON The Chinese navy refused to supply power to the contractors who are trying to assess the air-worthiness of the Navys downed EP-3 surveillance aircraft, bringing the teams work to a halt on Thursday. Chinese officials allowed technicians from Lockheed Martin to ...

Sunday, April 15, 2001 Whidbey Island rolls out red carpet for crew of surveillance plane By Mark Oliva, Stars and Stripes OAK HARBOR, Wash. Its going to be one heck of a party. More than 10, 000 well-wishers were to be waiting on the Tarmac at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island on Saturday to welcome the 24 crewmembers of the EP-3E surveillance plane that was detained in China. About 60 family ...

Sunday, April 15, 2001 After emotional two weeks, Osborn family eager to greet EP-3E's pilot By Mark Oliva, Stars and Stripes OAK HARBOR, Wash. The Osborn family wont have to maintain a vigil in front of the television anymore for the latest news on their son. Doug and Diane Osborns son, Navy Lt. Shane Osborn, is the pilot who landed the EP-3E surveillance plane on Chinas Hainan Island after a ...

Sunday, April 15, 2001 No reason to apologize to China, says pilot of surveillance plane By Carlos Bongioanni, Stars and Stripes U.S. Navy photo / Special to Stripes Navy Lt. Shane Osborn, mission commander of the EP-3E that was forced to land in China, speaks to the media at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, Saturday. HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii Navy pilot Lt. Shane Osborn was sure he and his ...

Sunday, April 15, 2001 Officials talk to EP-3E crew about expected media flood By Carlos Bongioanni, Stars and Stripes PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii Cameras, microphones, tape recorders, blinding lights, endless phone calls expect that and a whole lot more. Thats what Lt. Cmdr. Conrad Chun told 24 EP-3E crewmembers who arrived here Thursday following 12 days of captivity in China after a collision with a ...

Sunday, April 15, 2001 Former Kosovo POW can relate to surveillance plane crew's experience By Dave Ornauer, Stars and Stripes Andrew Ramirez and Steven Gonzales feel a special connection to the 24 EP-3E crewmembers detained for 12 days in China. On April 1, the Navy surveillance aircraft was forced to land on Hainan Island after colliding with a Chinese fighter. Two years and a day before that, ...

Sunday, June 17, 2001 Cargo plane, technicians leave Kadena to retrieve EP-3E from Chinese island By Mark Oliva, Okinawa bureau KADENA AIR BASE A Russian AN-124 Antonov cargo plane lifted off from the runway here Saturday morning headed for Chinas Hainan island to retrieve the downed Navy EP-3E Aries II reconnaissance plane stranded there since April 1. Kadena Air Base is serving as a logistics ...

Sunday, June 3, 2001 Misawa ceremony gets personal for nine returning EP-3 crewmembers By Wayne Specht, Misawa bureau chief Wayne Specht / Stars and Stripes With a model of an EP-3E on a table in the foreground, crewmembers who were aboard the Navy EP-3E surveillance aircraft that made an emergency landing March 31 on Hainan Island in China, wait for a repatriation ceremony to begin Friday at ...

Thursday, April 5, 2001 U.S. offers regrets, not apology; wants second meeting with crew By Sandra Jontz, Washington bureau WASHINGTON The ongoing standoff between the United States and China continued Wednesday, with U.S. leaders refusing to apologize for a Navy spy planes emergency landing at a Chinese military base, and Beijing refusing to release the 24 U.S. crewmembers and the plane.

Thursday, June 7, 2001 Pentagon says deal 'close' on return of EP-3 from China By Lisa Burgess, Washington Bureau WASHINGTON The four-person team from Pacific Command sent to negotiate details of dismantling the crippled Navy EP-3 and flying it back to the United States is still in Beijing discussing the issue, Pentagon officials said. The team arrived in Beijing late last week to pin down all ...

Thursday, May 3, 2001 U.S. contractors arrive in China to begin assessing damage to EP-3E By Mark Oliva, Stars and Stripes A team of technicians arrived Tuesday on Chinas Hainan Island after flying 30 hours to begin an examination of the U.S. Navy reconnaissance plane being held there. The five technical experts from Lockheed Martin, the lead contractor manufacturing the EP-3E Aries II, were to ...

Thursday, May 31, 2001 Pentagon: EP-3E will be brought home in pieces, repaired, returned to duty By Lisa Burgess, Washington Bureau WASHINGTON A four-person team from U.S. Pacific Command will travel to China in the next few days to hammer out a recovery plan for a downed U.S. surveillance plane, Pentagon officials said Tuesday. The U.S. government and Beijing have agreed in principle that ...

Tuesday, April 10, 2001 Crisis over downing of U.S. plane is heaven-sent for China's right wing By Lisa Burgess, Washington Bureau WASHINGTON As the days stretch on with no release in sight for the 24 detained crew members of the U.S. Navy EP-3E surveillance plane that collided with a Chinese fighter jet over the China Sea last week, Beijings insistence on a U.S. apology for the incident could ...

Tuesday, April 3, 2001 'World Watchers' find themselves in the spotlight after China incident By Wayne Specht, Misawa bureau chief MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan The squadron patch proclaims its crew as World Watchers. And now the world is watching the political intrigue surrounding Sundays incident between a U.S. Navy EP-3E Aries II reconnaissance aircraft and two Chinese fighter jets. The EP-3E is ...

Tuesday, May 1, 2001 China will allow U.S. personnel to inspect downed surveillance plane From Stripes and wire reports China will allow U.S. personnel to inspect an American spy plane that made an emergency landing April 1 on Hainan island, officials in both nations said Sunday. An inspection team on Okinawa, Japan, awaited clearance to travel to China, hoping to depart as early as Monday, The ...

Tuesday, May 8, 2001 Techs, Pentagon work to form plan for transporting EP-3 back to U.S. By Mark Oliva, Stars and Stripes Lockheed Martins assessment team is in Hawaii plotting moves to bring the crippled EP-3E Aries II reconnaissance plane back from China. A five-man team wrapped up several days of plane inspections on Chinas Hainan island and returned to Hawaii on Saturday, said Navy Cmdr.

Wednesday, April 4, 2001 U.S. officials meet with crew of surveillance plane on Chinese island By Sandra Jontz, Washington bureau WASHINGTON After repeated delays, U.S. officials met Tuesday with the two dozen crewmembers of the U.S. Navy spy plane forced to make an emergency landing on a resort Chinese island Sunday after a mid-air collision with a Chinese fighter jet. Secretary of State Colin ...

Wednesday, April 4, 2001 On the Internet, EP-3 veterans share concerns about China incident By Wayne Specht, Misawa bureau chief Reports that Chinese soldiers boarded the crippled Navy EP-3E Aires II on Hainan Island are not sitting well with former members of the VQ-1 and VQ-2 patrol squadrons. Since the aircraft made an emergency landing on the Communist island Sunday, visitors to the ...

Wednesday, April 4, 2001 U.S. servicemembers on Okinawa weigh in on incident with China By Mark Oliva, Okinawa bureau CAMP FOSTER U.S. servicemembers on Okinawa think politics are the overriding reason for the latest tangling between China and the United States. Still, those based closest to China are anxiously awaiting word on the status of 24 crewmen who were aboard a Navy EP-3E Aries II ...

Wednesday, May 16, 2001 EP-3E crewmembers return to duty; will join Armed Forces Day celebration By Sandra Jontz and Mark Oliva, Stars and Stripes The crewmembers who were detained for 12 days after their Navy surveillance plane made an emergency landing on a Chinese island last month are back at work. A Navy spokesman said all 24 members of the crew eight of them assigned to the Naval Security ...

Wednesday, May 30, 2001 U.S., China strike deal to send EP-3E reconnaissance plane home in pieces By Carlos Bongioanni, Stars and Stripes A crippled U.S. spy plane stranded in China will be coming home in pieces, possibly aboard a huge Russian-designed cargo aircraft, under a tentative agreement between U.S. and Chinese officials. The two nations are still negotiating details of the return, ...

Wednesday, May 30, 2001 EP-3E crewmembers hold vivid memories of ordeal in China By Jennifer H. Svan, Stars and Stripes Jason Carter / Stars and Stripes EP-3E crewmember Lt Patrick Honeck hugs his family at an April 14 a huge homecoming celebration at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, Wash. Despite breakfasting at the White House and eating hot dogs with the owner of the New York Yankees, the ...

Wednesday, May 9, 2001 U.S. resumes surveillance flights near China From Stripes and wire reports WASHINGTON The U.S. military resumed surveillance flights near China on Monday, sending an Air Force RC-135 aircraft from Okinawa along the northeast coastline. No Chinese fighter jets tried to interfere. The renewal of the reconnaissance flights came as the Bush administration pondered how to ...