You can thank G. W Bush and the cowardly Navy crew that landed the Orion sigint bird in China (April 2001) rather that pushing it to the PI after the bump with the Chinese jet. They gave them everything.
Sssshhhh. DON’T confuse us with FACTS. And let the “Bushbots” sleep...they have been asleep for nearly four years now on FR.... /sarc
You mean they took a vote? I always thought the Pilot was in charge. Foolish me.
For the life of me, I can’t figure out why that plane wasn’t ditched and destroyed. Assuming there was a good reason to land it intact, just letting the Chinese and everyone else have access to it is beyond me. I guess there are self destruct devices on board and since planes burn fairly well, the crew should have torched it upon landing.
Reagan would have sent a carrier battle group and enough Marines to make sure that plane was left alone or bombed the area to prevent it from falling into Chinese hands.