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 China’s 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 begin inspecting the aircraft Wednesday. It’s the first chance anyone
from the United States has gotten a look at the plane since it made an emergency landing
April 1 at Langshui airport following a collision with a Chinese F-8 fighter over the
South China Sea.
"I
understand that an American assessment team comprised of five Lockheed Martin contractors
arrived on Hainan Island (Tuesday morning, Washington time)," said Phillip T. Reeker,
spokesman for the U.S. State Department, in a news briefing. "And there are, as I
understand it, two people from the Defense Attaché’s office of our embassy in
Beijing there to facilitate that."
Reeker
deferred all other questions. Calls to the U.S. Embassy to China in Beijing went
unanswered. It is closed until Friday for International Labor Day.
The
collision between the EP-3 and the Chinese jet sparked a diplomatic showdown between the
United States and China. Chinese officials detained 24 U.S. crewmembers for 12 days.
China has
held the plane for more than a month, leaving U.S. officials guessing at the extent of
damage to the $80 million aircraft and the loss of intelligence data.
Chinese
officials reportedly examined the plane for their investigation into the incident, and it
is widely believed that they retrieved from the plane some intelligence-gathering
equipment and possibly data.
The team,
composed of experts in everything from aircraft structure to engines, was expected to
being looking at the EP-3 early Wednesday, Beijing time, said Lt. Col. Stephen Barger,
spokesman for U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii. They are expected to spend two or possibly
three days examining the plane and determining whether it can be repaired.
No formal
reports of the plane’s damage or airworthiness are anticipated, Barger said.
Barger said
phone calls or e-mails during the inspection period are possible. "Probably rough
spot reports, but no detailed findings," he said, "Just to help facilitate
planning and coordination."
Barger said
it isn’t clear whether the team would be filming or photographing any portions of the
EP-3.
The team is
expected to fly directly back to Hawaii to brief officials from PACOM and
Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet, a higher headquarters for the Navy squadron. The
briefing, Barger said, is expected to be aimed mostly at the supply and logistics of
repairing the plane for flight out of China. Another scenario is dismantling it into
several pieces to be shipped out by barge or by one of the Air Force’s C-5 or C-17
massive transport planes.
Barger said
all plans to move the plane are in flux. Determinations on the best method to move the
plane will come from the assessment team’s debriefing with military authorities in
Hawaii. Then, he said, proposals will be turned over to U.S. diplomats for discussion with
Chinese officials.
Barger said
there is no indication of who might be on the repair or recovery crews, another move that
must be approved diplomatically. One proposal could see Lockheed Martin technicians
teaming with U.S. military personnel to retrieve the plane.
Meanwhile,
President George W. Bush announced his intention to nominate Clarke T. Randt Jr. as the
new U.S. ambassador to China. Randt is expected to replace outgoing Ambassador Joseph W.
Prueher, who left Beijing on Tuesday at the end of his term. Prueher is a retired Navy
admiral who was instrumental in negotiating the release of the 24 crewmembers in April.
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