More air confrontations likely as China's Top Guns see elevated role

China showed off newfound fighter-jet skills in 2011 with video suspiciously similar to a "Top Gun" clip. Now, the 1986 blockbuster has another parallel as Chinese pilots emulate Tom Cruise's character in fly-bys of rivals. Although not quite the scene with Cruise in an inverted-jet encounter, Chinese aircraft buzzed Japanese planes near disputed East China Sea islands in May and June in two of the neighbors' closest brushes since World War II.

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