US, Indonesian fighters in tense encounter
JAKARTA - In a tense encounter above the Java sea, a group of US
warplanes went into attack mode and were ready to fire on
Indonesian jet fighters dispatched to intercept them after they
flew into Indonesia's airspace, a senior officer said
yesterday.
Rear Air Marshal Wresnowiro, head of Indonesia's air defence
command, told a news conference that the US navy F-18 Hornets
locked onto the Indonesian F-16 warplanes late on Thursday before
communication was established and the incident resolved.
There were five Hornets in the group, although Rear Air Marshal
Wresnowiro did not say if all of them had locked on.
'They adopted an attack manoeuvre. After they locked on, they asked
whether the planes were friends or foe and an international sign
indicating we're friends was relayed back.'
He said the US-made F-16s were dispatched after the US Hornets were
picked up by air force radar and also noticed by an Indonesian
airliner off the main island of Java.
He said the US planes were guarding an aircraft carrier, two
frigates and a tanker which were travelling east.
He said the convoy was not in an area designated as a legal sea
lane for passage, although the country's air force chief earlier
said it was.
A spokesman for the US embassy in Jakarta said they were looking
into the incident.
An Indonesian air force spokesman blamed the incident on slow
Indonesian bureaucracy, adding the United States had sought
permission to pass through but this was not approved in time.
'This was a sign of weakness in our bureaucracy because the request
had to go through several institutions before it reached the hands
of the air defence command on the ground,' air force spokesman
Sagom Tamboen told local radio El Shinta.
The incident follows efforts to rebuild US-Indonesian military
relations that were cut in response to Jakarta's failure to rein in
militias that rampaged in Timor Leste when the tiny territory voted
to break free in 1999. -- Reuters, AP
