Here’s a PLAAF one in 1998:

http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc445.htm

Chinese Air Force Pilot Plays Chase with UFO

Agence France Presse, Nov. 5, 1998

SHANGHAI, Nov. 05, 1998 — (Agence France Presse) The air force had a prolonged up-close encounter with a UFO last month that one fighter pilot described as “just like ones in foreign movies,” a government-controlled newspaper reported Thursday.

A Hebei Daily report — carried in the news digest Baokan Wenzhai — gave a detailed pilot’s account of an aerial cat-and-mouse game played between the object and a jet fighter ordered to intercept it.

At least 140 people on the ground also saw the object, it said.

An editor with the Hebei Daily said the events took place on Oct. 19 and were still being investigated by local government departments.

The newspaper’s report and military sources quoted show an openness that contrast sharply with Washington’s notorious secrecy on the topic of unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

China is actually in the midst of an UFO wave with hundreds of UFO encounters over the past few years.

To observers at the base, the UFO first appeared like “a small star,” and then grew larger and larger, perhaps as it descended to a lower altitude, the report said.

They described an object with a mushroom-shaped dome on top and a flat bottom covered with bright, continually rotating lights.

A base commander surnamed Li reported to his superiors, who ordered a Jianjiao-6 armed interceptor airborne to pursue the object once checks showed no other civilian or military aircraft in the area.

Should have used a high speed, high altitude interceptor like a J-8II

The two pilots aboard said the object closely resembled depictions they had seen in foreign science fiction films.

Two pilots. A JJ-6.

When they got within 4,000 meters (13,200 feet) of the UFO over Qing county, it abruptly shot upward, easily evading subsequent attempts to get closer.

It appeared to be toying with the fighter by repeatedly outdistancing it and then reappearing just above it, the pilots said.

The report said a request for permission to fire on the UFO with an onboard cannon was denied by ground command at one point.

!!!! If they got close enough for the cannon then they were close indeed! And it was still a craft they couldn’t identify.

If they were Russians, they would have have been ordered by GCR to shoot first like KAL 007. Too bad.

The interceptor was eventually forced to return to base after it ran out of fuel at an altitude of 12,000 meters (39,600 feet). The UFO then disappeared before two newer-model planes could get airborne, the article said.

While China’s racy tabloids often run stories of strange phenomena alongside celebrity-gossip and crime stories, UFO reports are seldom carried by more official papers like the Hebei Daily. ( (c) 1998 Agence France Presse)

The West is pretty well-defined as Western Europe and North America I guess.

But what is the East? Everyone else? The old meaning for “East” usually meant the Soviet Bloc and Yuguslavia.

If it is the older meaning then the gap between “East” and “West” is widening not narrowing since the breakup of the Soviet Union. There simply aren’t any funds to keep up with the US and Europe (there would be even less if China could find a western source).

If you’re using a geographical term like the “Far East” then it is also confusing in aviation terms since outside of China, most Far Eastern air forces use western products.

Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are Asian but use exclusively US and West European tech and standards; the F-1, F-2, FCK-1 and T-50 being basically western aircraft.

China itself has been attempting to “westernize” its airforce since the JH-7. Only the embargo after 1989 had forced it to look “East” and introduce the Su-27. There is an ongoing attempt by Germany and France end the embargo.

All things being equal (ToT, availability), China would buy Eurofighters and Rafales over Flankers.

Simply put, “Eastern” aviation is a dead end since the wealthiest “eastern” nations, the Far East, want Western standards.

Wonderful site.

The picts of the F-2s and aggressor F-15s on the Japan trip were great!

Zimbabwean F-7, FT-7

J-7E of the August First Aerobatics Team

J-8D

Originally posted by jtms
Does anyone have a picure of the Type 093 SSN?

No picture except for models. But there was a story (again in the Chinese language forums) which said the 093 has launched and is far in advance of the Victor III that it was supposedly based on. It is said to extremely fast and is comparable in submerged speed to the Soviet Alpha (47 knots). Quieting technology is behind American SSNs.

Again, you can take this with a grain of salt.

Several sources, including the US DOD and Jane’s claim the first Type 093 sub has been launched and will be commissioned next year.

Aside from the 093, Jane’s also claim under its J-10 entry that a naval version of the fighter will be carried on the carrier “being built.”