The United States sent 67 large reconnaissance planes to the South China Sea in July, a sharp increase on the previous two months, according to a Chinese think tank. Collin Koh, a Research Fellow from RSIS, said the Chinese military was conducting a series of activities in the South China Sea and it was not surprising to observe an uptick in US military activities, including reconnaissance flights. “The increase in frequency and intensity of such reconnaissance flights is most plausibly directed at the recent tensions in the South China Sea … Those flights would generate useful, up-to-date information on Chinese and other concerned South China Sea parties’ movements in the area,” he said.