Reuters on Friday morning, (5:55pm EST) reported U.S. Navy P-3 plane and a Chinese military aircraft encounter face-off over the South China Sea in an incident the Navy believes was unexpected.
Citing an unnamed U.S. military official, Reuters said the aircraft came within 1,000 feet (305 meters) of each other on Thursday in the vicinity of the Scarborough Shoal, between the Philippines and the Chinese mainland.
The US Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engine turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy.
Such interactions between Chinese and American aircraft are infrequent, with only two occurring in 2016, the official said.