Experts say the U.S. Navy aircraft forced to land on a Chinese island could give China access to some of America's most important and heavily classified technologies for gathering information on potential foreign military adversaries. The EP-3E Aries II aircraft, which flew out of Okinawa, Japan, is believed to be one of 11 in operation around the world. Contained in two squadrons, they monitor the electronic and communications emissions of foreign militaries in peacetime and wartime. Crucial information on foreign radars is collected, as is, likely, intercepted transmissions by foreign militaries, possibly giving insight into foreign force positioning and activities, and how foreign radar and weaponry could be jammed or destroyed during war.
Some analysis is believed to be performed on board.
Large quantities of information are passed on to the Navy fleets and to other military intelligence organizations for decryption, translation and analysis. The inside is just full of electronic gear for receiving, recording, analyzing, whatever emissions they're looking for. There's only one thing more classified than this, and those are the satellites. But just how much knowledge the Chinese can mine from the plane, experts say, could depend to a great degree on whether the crew was able to destroy intelligence data and programs in the computers on the aircraft before the crew was apparently forced off. The U.S. crew is reportedly no longer on the aircraft and U.S. officials are now concerned the Chinese will take a long and close look at the systems on board.