2003 Bawean incident

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

2003 Bawean incident

On July 3, 2003, near Bawean Island in the Java Sea, two Indonesian Air Force F-16 fighters intercepted five US Navy F/A-18 Hornets from the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson. The two sides engaged in radar jamming and a dogfight that lasted about 18 minutes. One Indonesian F-16 briefly locked onto a Hornet, while the other Indonesian pilot managed to establish radio contact with the US jets as the engagement continued. The Hornets eventually disengaged and landed back on the Vinson; the Indonesian fighters returned to their base.

Indonesia said the US fleet had entered Indonesian territorial waters without permission and filed a diplomatic protest. The United States, claiming the ships were in international waters and that Indonesia had been informed, disputed the accusation and said security clearance procedures were slow.

Vinson continued its deployment, visiting Perth on July 14, 2003, and Hong Kong on August 6, 2003.