In this case, I believe that "self-destruct mode" is called "crashing into the Pacific Ocean."
This article feels disingenuous. They make it out like they Chinese or Russians are going to just stumble upon a nice, neat F-35, ready for inspection.
This article feels disingenuous. They make it out like they Chinese or Russians are going to just stumble upon a nice, neat F-35, ready for inspection.
I won't necessarily say the landing was forced by PLA fighters; that would imply PLA intentionally did this (to obtain tech?) while in fact that J-8 crashed and its pilot was killed/missing. US recon planes fly near China's (and other countries') coastal line with PLA's fighter near by all the time.
My point is that incident looks more like an accident to me even though China may have gained some tech out of it while losing one pilot and plane.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mig-25#Western_intelligence_an...