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The United States and China had a brief aerial encounter over the Yellow Sea this week after US fighter jets conducted a rare training exercise near China’s air defense identification zone.

Getting into it: First reported by Yonhap News, citing unnamed defense officials, the incident involved more than 10 US F-16 fighter jets that took off from Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek and flew over international waters in the West Sea. The aircraft were operating near the boundary between South Korea’s Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) and China’s ADIZ (CADIZ), approaching but not entering the Chinese zone. In response, China scrambled its own fighter jets, leading to a brief face-off between the two sides in the air, though neither side crossed into the other’s ADIZ and no physical confrontation occurred.

According to the report, the exercise was conducted solely by US forces without participation from the South Korean Air Force. While US forces notified Seoul in advance that training would take place, specific operational details and objectives were not fully shared. It is considered unusual for US fighter jets stationed in South Korea to conduct drills so close to China’s ADIZ without direct South Korean involvement, making the encounter particularly noteworthy.

As of now, the US has not provided a comment following the incident, and the South Korean Defense Ministry said it could not confirm specific operational matters related to US forces. China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately issue a response.

The encounter is one of very few fighter jet–to–fighter jet intercepts between the United States and China. These types of intercepts are uncommon, as most previous aerial interactions between the two militaries have typically involved Chinese fighters intercepting US surveillance or transport aircraft.