The U.S. Navy has sent an apparent warning to China that it better stop harassing American service members, following an incident in which a Chinese warship aimed a military-grade laser at a Navy P-8A Poseidon surveillance plane.
The Navy has also been increasingly arming its vessels with lasers—both destructive ones and so-called “dazzlers,” which can illuminate aircraft cockpits and blind pilots.
The new laser-based drone defense system is capable of tracking, disabling, and jamming the sensors of enemy drones, according to a Congressional Research Service report from December 2019, titled “Navy Lasers, Railgun, and Gun-Launched Guided Projectile.”
While the Navy indicated it won’t be deterred from operating in the region, it isn’t clear whether the United States plans to engage in a tit-for-tat with the Chinese.
“U.S. Navy aircraft routinely fly in the Philippine Sea and have done so for many years. U.S. Navy aircraft and ships will continue to fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows,” the Navy said.
The Navy pointed out that the incident violated the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, “a multilateral agreement reached at the 2014 Western Pacific Naval Symposium to reduce the chance of an incident at sea.”
The Navy Instagram post included an aerial picture of Woody Island, one of China’s largest island outposts in the South China Sea, with an inset picture of a laser show at a music concert. “Meanwhile, in the South China Sea,” the text on the picture says. The image is likely illustrative as the Feb. 17 incident didn’t occur near the island.
For years, China has been criticized for harassing planes and vessels with lasers.
In 2018, the United States accused Chinese forces stationed in the East African nation of Djibouti of using a laser on C-130J aircraft, injuring American pilots.