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 the Navy
EP-3E plane — stranded on China’s Hainan Island since April 1 — will be
partially dismantled and flown back to the United States aboard a Russian-designed cargo
aircraft.
U.S. officials wanted to repair the aircraft and fly it off the island, but the Chinese
government refused, saying such a move would insult national pride.
The four-person "scout" team should arrive in China later this week, said
Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, to pin down all the political and technical
details of the recovery plan.
After meeting with high-level Chinese officials in Beijing, the team will travel to
Lingshui air base, where the plane is grounded. The crew must work out technical details
of the disassembly process, Quigley said, including whether local contractors should be
brought into the process.
The Pacific Command team should have a plan "sometime next week" for the
aircraft’s disassembly and repatriation, Quigley said.
At this point, no one knows how much the process will cost or how long it will take.
"It’s a very do-able job, but it is also very time consuming, costly
evolution," Quigley said.
The Navy plane has been at Lingshui since the collision with a Chinese fighter over the
South China Sea. The pilot of the Chinese jet was killed in the collision. The 24
crewmembers of the Navy EP-3 were held for 11 days after the crippled U.S. plane made what
China called an unauthorized emergency landing.
A U.S. technical crew sent to Hainan Island earlier this month said the Navy aircraft
could be repaired and flown off the island.
Chinese officials, however, said last week the United States could have its damaged
plane back, but flying it out would be "impossible."
Quigley said that while repairing the EP-3 and flying it out would have been the more
cost-effective solution, "at the end of the day, we’re glad to get our aircraft
back in a condition that it can be used again." The important thing, Quigley said, is
that technicians will be able to put the EP-3 back into flying condition.
China originally refused to consider allowing Russian-designed Antonov aircraft to land
at Lingshui air base, fearing the runway wouldn’t be able to handle the massive
aircraft’s weight, U.S. officials said.
Without the Antonov, crews would have been forced to chop up and crate out the plane,
condemning it to the scrap heap. So, considering that alternative, the deal with the
Chinese is a good one, Quigley said.
"You’re talking about an $80 million aircraft," Quigley said. "If
we had [to use a smaller transport aircraft to remove the EP-3], it would have had to be
cut into such small pieces it couldn’t be used again."
Once the EP-3 is repatriated, the Navy intends to have the EP-3 reassembled, probably
by Lockheed-Martin Corp., at the company’s aircraft-building facility in Marietta,
Ga., Quigley said.
After the rebuilt EP-3 meets the proper standards, it will be returned to the active
inventory, he said.
Back to May stories
Page Two news roundup
Stories from April, 2001
Stories from March, 2001
Stories from February,2001
Stories from January, 2001
Stories from December, 2000
Stories from November, 2000
Stories from October, 2000
Stories from August and September, 2000
Stories from June and July, 2000
Home |
