EP-3 Inspection Team Briefs US Military

US military officials in Honolulu received detailed information on Saturday from technicians who inspected a crippled US Navy surveillance plane that collided with a Chinese fighter jet last month.

A US Pacific Command spokesman at Camp Smith on Oahu island said the briefing continued into the afternoon local time with no immediate end in sight. The US technical inspectors from Lockheed Martin Corp arrived at Honolulu International Airport about 4:30 am Hawaii time (1430 GMT), said a second Pacific Command spokesman, Navy Cmdr Rex Totty.

The five-person civilian team evaluated its findings with other Lockheed officials in Atlanta by video-teleconference before meeting with military officials.

Admiral Dennis Blair, commander of the US Pacific Command, will review the findings and then send them to the Pentagon.

"They will forward recommendations on whether the aircraft can be repaired to a flyable state," Totty said. "It is anticipated the recommendations from this command will be forwarded to the secretary of defense sometime next week."

It is not known how long the team will remain in Hawaii, but there were no plans for a media briefing on what it learned, Totty said.

WILL IT FLY AGAIN?

A Pentagon official said on Friday the plane could be repaired and flown off the island.

The official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters that a brief, preliminary report from the civilian technicians indicated the four-engine turboprop EP-3 could be repaired for flight despite damage to the nose and engines.



Pentagon officials said earlier Beijing had indicated it did not want the EP-3E repaired for flight. One alternative would be to take the aircraft apart for shipment by boat. The Pentagon reported earlier that the five technicians spent about six hours inspecting the plane with full co-operation from the Chinese military.

"All the necessary inspections have been completed. They (the team) were given unrestricted access to the aircraft and the necessary support to complete the inspections," Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said.

The U.S. demand that the aircraft be returned is expected to be discussed at a proposed meeting of a U.S.-China maritime safety commission. No date had been agreed to for that meeting, but it was expected to be held soon, Pentagon officials said.

Along with President George W. Bush's recent decision to provide a major package of sophisticated military weapons to Taiwan, the aircraft collision has caused a chill in relations between Washington and Beijing.

Bush said on Thursday the United States would pursue only military-to-military contacts with China that enhanced the overall relationship, further clarifying US policy on such contacts.

He spoke a day after the Pentagon ordered all military contacts suspended, only to reverse the order within hours to say the "internal memo" was a mistake and that contacts would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

"We're going to review all opportunities to interface with the Chinese," Bush said. "And if it enhances our relationship, it might make sense. If it's a useless exercise, and it doesn't make the relationship any better, then we won't do that."






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