A new escalation point has appeared between the U.S and China.
Reports have emerged that a Chinese Navy destroyer hit a U.S. Navy's P-8A maritime patrol aircraft
with a laser beam, an incident the Navy characterized as “unsafe and unprofessional.”
U.S. Navy revealed this on Feb 28 and stated that the incident happened one week before
this disclosure.
The US Navy divulged that the P-8A was flying over the Philippine Sea west of Guam.
The P-8A is based out of Jacksonville, Fla., and is forward-deployed to Kadena Air Force
Base in Okinawa, Japan.
The US Navy's public affairs office said in a statement that the incident took place approximately
380 miles west of Guam and occurred without provocation.
In this video Defense Updates analyzes the Chinese Navy firing a laser at American P-8A
Let’s get started
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An unnamed destroyer attacked a P-8A Poseidon operating from Kadena airbase on the island
of Okinawa.
The U.S. Navy stated, “The laser, which was not visible to the naked eye, was captured
by a sensor onboard the P-8A.
Weapons-grade lasers could potentially cause serious harm to aircrew and mariners, as well
as ship and aircraft systems.”
This particular incident didn't cause any damage to the aircraft and no crew was injured.
Rachel McMarr, Pacific Fleet spokesperson, said: “There have been sporadic incidents
involving the use of lasers either from shore or from Chinese fishing boats.
But this is the first time that was done using the board weapons of a PLA [People’s Liberation
Army] Navy vessel.”
The US Pacific Fleet said last week’s incident violated the multilateral Code for Unplanned
Encounters at Sea and a bilateral US-China memorandum of understanding on rules for safety
of air and sea encounters.
According to the Pentagon, there have been more than 20 laser-related incidents involving
China and US forces since 2017, taking place in the Pacific as well as in Africa.
Viewers may note that according to the U.S Department of Defense in April 2018, personnel
at a Chinese military base in Djibouti fired lasers at a U.S. C-130 Hercules, causing “minor injuries”
China claims most of the South China Sea.
It said that it has "indisputable sovereignty" over the area.
Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan have disputed these claims.
The route is significant as about $5 trillion in trade through shipping passes each year.
Countries like the U.S, Japan, U.K, and India have no claims in the area and want ‘Freedom
of Navigation’ as per international maritime laws.
China has tried imposing a unilateral decision as per which all ships & aircraft navigating
in the area need to identify itself to the Chinese military.
Chinese Navy has heckled vessels of smaller nations like Vietnam several times in the
last couple of years.
U.S military regularly conducts Freedom of Navigation exercises to challenge the Chinese
claims.
Not only this, China has built up military infrastructure in the islands which include
reinforced aircraft hangars at different parts of the disputed territories.
Not only this, YJ-12 Anti Ship Missile and HQ-9 Surface to Air missiles have been deployed.
The YJ-12 has a speed of around Mach 2 if launched from low altitude and up to Mach
3.2 if launched from high altitude.
It has a maximum range of 380 km or 236 miles depending on launch altitude so it can be
fired from far off.
A saturation attack by YJ-12's will be hard to defend against even by advance defenses
of the U.S military.
The HQ-9 is China’s new generation medium- to long-range, active radar homing surface-to-air
missile.
The missile has a total mass of almost 2 tons and a length of 6.8m.
The missile is equipped with a 180 kg warhead, has a maximum speed of Mach 4.2 and has a
maximum range of 200 km or 124 miles.
The system could target aircraft, drones and cruise missiles potential making it dangerous
for the US Air force to enter the airspace protected by it.
The P-8 Poseidon is developed by Boeing & is modified from the 737-800ERX.
It is capable of anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASUW), and shipping
interdiction.
It also has early warning self-protection (EWSP) ability.
Powered by 2 × CFM56-7B27A turbofans that are capable of generating 121 kN of thrust,
it is able to reach a maximum speed of 490 knots or 907 km/h.
It has a combat radius of 1,200 nmi or 2,222 km that enables it to cover large swaths of
ocean.
The P-8 is equipped with radar, optical and sonar sensors to detect submarines & surface
ships.
The P-8 features the Raytheon APY-10 multi-mission surface search radar.
AN/APY-10 mechanically scanned radar is a development of Raytheon's AN/APS-149 radar.
Compared to the predecessors, it is smaller in size, lighter, and uses less power.
The radar is optimized for maritime, littoral and overland surveillance.
The AN/APY-10 is able to provide high-resolution radar images enabling P8 to identify warships
from long distances.
P-8 is also able to drop and monitor sonobuoys which are basically expendable sonar systems.
P-8A is the American variant and the U.S has received delivery of more than 90 of these
with approximately additional 30 on order.
P-8 has 5 internal and 6 external stations for weapons and currently deploy AGM-84H/K
SLAM-ER, AGM-84 Harpoon, Mark 54 torpedo, unguided missiles, mines and smart as well
as free-fall bombs.
There is a plan is to arm the P-8As with Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile or LRASM so that the aircraft
has better anti-ship weapon when compared to aging Harpoon.
Lasers are concentrated beams of light that transmit large amounts of electromagnetic
radiation against their targets.
The power of a laser is generally stated in kilowatts.
The general idea of laser-beam weaponry is to hit a target with a train of brief pulses
of light.
The rapid evaporation and expansion of the surface cause shockwaves that damage the target.
The sufficiently powerful laser could fry the electric sensors & communication modules
and cause damage to human eyes too.
Countries like China and the U.S are putting in a lot of effort to develop laser weapons.
The U.S Navy has even deployed an operational laser dazzler in one of its active Arleigh
Burke-class destroyers USS Dewey.
To know more on that, check the video on the above card.
China’s rise as predicted by many experts is not peaceful.
China has tried to change the territorial status quo gradually, island-by-island instead
of trying to capture in one go.
For example, China first occupied the Paracel Islands in 1974 and then slowly expanded its
presence southward by attacking Vietnam’s islands in the Spratly chain in the 1980s.
This strategy known as salami slicing aims for the slow accumulation of small changes.
China has been using strong-arm tactics to threaten its smaller neighbors time and again
which include patrols by warships and aircraft close to their borders.
This laser attack on the U.S. Navy's P-8A seems to be part of a larger game.
The idea is to probe the American response as well as validate the technical effectiveness
of the weapon.
These coercive behavior are designed to intimidate the U.S military at a time when the U.S is
moving its focus to the Asia Pacific region.