Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets intercept US warplane, US denies

Press TV, Sat, 09 Jan 2010 08:15:32 GMT

Venezuela has scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to ward off a US 'military plane' amid reports of “US trespassing the country's airspace.”

President Hugo Chavez has ordered the fighters to confront a US P-3 maritime patrol aircraft that had purportedly violated Venezuela's airspace, Reuters quoted the Venezuelan president as saying on Friday.

"They are provoking us ... these are warplanes," Chavez noted, showing a picture of the plane, which he said, had taken off from US military bases on the Netherlands' Caribbean islands and from neighboring Colombia on two separate occasions.

He said the Venezuelan fighter jets forced the US plane away after the 'incursions.'

Meanwhile, Pentagon officials have denied the charges and expressed unawareness of the latest development.

"We can confirm no US military aircraft entered Venezuelan airspace today. As a matter of policy we do not fly over a nation's airspace without prior consent or coordination," Reuters quoted an unnamed Defense Department Spokesperson as saying on January 8.

The US Southern Command claims that its surveillance operations are 'only' meant to counter drug trafficking in South America.

GHN/MTM/DT

US denies plane entered Venezuela airspace

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:57:51 GMT

The US on Saturday denied a claim by Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, that a US military plane entered Venezuelan airspace.

Chavez claimed that the plane was met by the Venezuelan military's F-16s and was escorted out of the country's airspace.

The president said that the P-3 plane had taken off from the Dutch Caribbean of Curacao and entered Venezuelan airspace twice on Friday.

Reacting to the remarks, Air Force Tech Sgt. Shanda De Anda said Saturday that, "No US aircraft entered Venezuelan airspace."

She said ''without prior consent and coordination" the US does not fly over any country.

President Chavez believes the alleged action is a provocation by the US.

MSD/MD

Chavez: Venezuela sent F-16 jets to intercept U.S. military plane

    CARACAS, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) --

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Friday that he had ordered F-16 jets to intercept a U.S. military plane that twice violated Venezuelan airspace earlier in the day.

    Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Chavez said that the U.S. plane, based on the Netherlands' Curacao island in the Caribbean, intruded into Venezuelan airspace twice, the first for 15 minutes and the second 19 minutes.

    The F-16s escorted the U.S. plane out, he added.

    However, the U.S. military denied that any of its planes entered Venezuelan airspace on Friday.

    "As a matter of policy we do not fly over a nation's air space without prior consent and coordination," the U.S. Southern Command, which is in charge of U.S. military activities in the hemisphere, said in a statement. "We operate with the utmost respect for the sovereignty of the nations in our hemisphere.

    Last month, Chavez accused the United States of flying an unmanned spy plane into Venezuela's airspace and vowed to shoot down any similar aircraft in the future.

    Venezuela suspended diplomatic ties with Colombia in July in response to a U.S.-Colombian military base deal, saying it would pave the way for the United States to invade Venezuela. Both Washington and Bogota denied the allegation.

Editor: Zhang Xiang