US Navy – Still no progress in the EP-3 standoff. Images in the Chinese press show the damage sustained by the EP-3; overhead imagery by SpaceImaging.com shows the EP-3 still parked on the runway.

• BBC: US ‘regret’ fails to move China
  

• Jane’s: USA and China on collision course over fate of EP-3
  

Taiwanese Navy – The US Navy has decided to recommend the sale of Kidd-class destroyers, submarines, and the Aegis weapons platform to Taiwan – but most probably only the sale of the Kidd’s will occur.

• Washington Post: Pentagon to Push Ship for Taiwan
• International Herald Tribune: U.S. Navy Study Backs Sale of Arms to Taiwan

Black Sea – Background – Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania have set up a joint naval force for humanitarian and environmental operations. The force is called Blackseafor and will be based in Istanbul.

• BBC: Black Sea countries form naval pact
  

US Navy – US diplomats have met with the crew of the EP-3; the plane was said to have been severely damaged by the collision; China refuses to release the crew or the aircraft and is said to be stripping equipment from the plane.

This is the first air-to-air collision between US and Chinese aircraft; but US and Chinese forces nearly came to blows in 1994 which resulted in a Military Maritime Consultation Agreement which was signed between the two countries in 1998.

The commander of the squadron the plane was assigned to says the Chinese pilot must have caused the accident.

Meanwhile, the damage to intelligence collection is potentially huge.

• CNN: Navy crew struggled to land severely damaged plane
• Los Angeles Times: Encounters Routine for U.S. Patrol Missions
• Seattle Post Intelligencer: U.S. squadron leader says Chinese flier got too close
• MSNBC: China Syndrome

US Navy – Further analysis of the EP-3 incident, with the suggestion that the plane may instead be a P-3B/C Iron Clad variant.

• Jane’s: USA and China wrangle over US ‘spyplane’
  

• Jane’s: Lockheed Martin EP-3E Aries
• Jane’s: Lockheed Martin P-3B/C `Iron Clad’ variants
  

• Aviation Week: Flexibility, Endurance Are Valued EP-3 Assets

US Navy – A US Navy EP-3 signals intelligence aircraft that was on a reconnaisance mission in international waters has collided with a Chinese air force fighter and was forced to land in China on Hainan island. The US is demanding release of the crew and the aircraft. The destroyers USS Hewitt, Fitzgerald and Higgins are standing by. None of the US crew members are reported to be injured, the Chinese pilot is missing. The incident bears a resemblance of the USS Pueblo incident from 1968???

• BBC: Bush demands access to spy crew
• CNN: Bush meets over standoff with China
• MSNBC: China boarded spy plane
• Washington Post: Navy spy plane held in China