Pentagon Accuses China Of Firing Lasers At US Pilots

May 4th, 2018

Awake Goy

The Pentagon has accused Chinese nationals of firing military-grade lasers, on multiple occasions, at US aircraft operating out of an American base in Djibouti, East Africa.

About 4,000 U.S. personnel are stationed at the US military’s Camp Lemonnier which is its only permanent facility in Africa. It is said to be used largely for counter-terrorism operations in east Africa and Yemen.

US officials have issued a formal diplomatic complaint following recent incidents including two pilots suffering minor eye injuries

Free Beacon reports: Pentagon Press Secretary Dana White said the U.S. government made diplomatic protests to the Chinese government over several recent incidents of laser firings near China’s first overseas military base at Djibouti.

“These are very serious incidents. There have been two minor injuries. This activity poses a threat to our airmen,” White told reporters.

“We have formally demarched the Chinese government, and we’ve requested that the Chinese investigate these incidents,” she added.

The number of incidents is “more than two but less than ten” and the laser firings took place in recent weeks, White said.

White said the Pentagon is confident that Chinese nationals were behind the laser firings but did not elaborate on the intelligence linking Beijing to the incidents.

She declined to speculate on the Chinese motive behind the laser attacks.

“I believe there have been cases where this has happened previously,” White said. “But what this started was these last few weeks we decided to become very serious about it, and we have demarched the Chinese, and we’ve asked for the investigation.”

China’s government has not commented on the incidents. A Chinese military expert told the state-run Global Times newspaper that the U.S. accusations that China used a laser weapon in Djibouti was “groundless.”

China opened the military base in Djibouti last year and plans to deploy some 400 troops there.

China’s government has asserted that the base is merely a logistics hub for anti-piracy operations as well as to support China’s international infrastructure project called Belt and Road Initiative.

The U.S. government regards the Chinese base as part of Beijing’s efforts to project military power around the world.

The Djibouti incidents appear similar to the 1997 incident involving a Russian merchant ship that was shadowing a Navy missile submarine and fired a laser on a Canadian surveillance helicopter.
The laser damaged the eyes of the Navy Lt. Jack Daly and Canadian pilot Captain Patrick Barnes near Washington state and was covered up by the administration of President Bill Clinton.

China and the United States have battled over international trade and finance after the Trump administration announced it will impose tariffs on China for its unfair trade practices.

The U.S. and Chinese militaries also have squared off in the South China Sea where China is seeking to take control of the strategic waterway. The U.S. military has been seeking to counter the illegal claim by sending ships and aircraft near disputed islands in the sea that have been militarized in recent years by China.

A Federal Aviation Administration notice to airmen reported April 14 that “there have been multiple lazing events involving a high power laser” near the Chinese military base.

“Use extreme caution when transiting near this area,” the notice states. “If a laser is seen in or near Djibouti, notify immediately tower…”

The notice also said U.S. military air crews were to contact military air controllers.

In one incident, air crew members flying aboard a C-130 transport suffered two minor eye injuries after exposure to what was described as “military-grade laser beams” that appear to have been fired from the Chinese base.

The laser incidents followed U.S. military exercises last month off the coast of Djibouti called Alligator Dagger. The exercise was canceled April 5 after two separate air mishaps, including the crash of a Marine Corps Harrier jump jet and a CH-53 helicopters, in Djibouti.