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Home» News»Chinese Destroyer Lased a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon MPA
P-8A Poseidon attached to VP-47 "Golden Swordsmen" conducts a fly by the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Momsen (DDG 92)
Waters Near Guam (Oct. 2, 2019) P-8A Poseidon attached to VP-47 "Golden Swordsmen" conducts a fly by the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Momsen (DDG 92) during Pacific Griffin. Pacific Griffin is a biennial exercise conducted in the waters near Guam aimed at enhancing combined proficiency at sea while strengthening relationships between the U.S. and Republic of Singapore navies. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Sean Rinner/Released)

Chinese Destroyer Lased a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon MPA

A U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft was lased by People’s Republic of China (PRC) navy destroyer 161 on Feb. 17 while flying in airspace above international waters approximately 380 miles west of Guam.

Xavier Vavasseur 28 Feb 2020

The destroyer seems to be Type 052D / Luyang III-class Destroyer “Hohhot” ( 呼和浩特 ) of the People’s Liberation Army Navy. The Type 052D Kunming-class (Nato designation: Luyang III) is one of the latest generation of guided-missile destroyer (DDG) of the Chinese Navy.

According to the U.S. Navy, the P-8A was operating in international airspace in accordance with international rules and regulations. In its statement, the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet qualified the PRC navy destroyer’s actions as being “unsafe and unprofessional”. The statement added:

Additionally, these acts violate the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), a multilateral agreement reached at the 2014 Western Pacific Naval Symposium to reduce the chance of an incident at sea. CUES specifically addresses the use of lasers that could cause harm to personnel or damage to equipment. The destroyer’s actions were also inconsistent with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between U.S. Department of Defense and the Ministry of National Defense of the PRC regarding rules of behavior for safety of air and maritime encounters.

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.

The P-8A is assigned to VP-45, based out of Jacksonville, Florida, and is forward-deployed to Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan. The squadron conducts routine operations, maritime patrol and reconnaissance in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations.

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.

China's Tenth Type 052D Destroyer and Sixth Type 071 LPD Commissioned with the PLAN
Type 052D Destroyer “Hohhot” (呼和浩特 with penant number 161) joined the PLAN South Sea Fleet on 12 January 2019. Picture via Eastpendulum.

Hohhot is China’s tenth Type 052D Destroyer. It was commissioned with the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN or Chinese Navy) on 12 January 2019. The vessel joined the 2nd Destroyer flotilla of the PLAN South Sea Fleet, 747 days after its launch at the Jiangnan Changxing Shipbuilding and Heavy Industry Corporation (Jiangnan-Changxing) in Shanghai (a member of China State Shipbuilding Corporation CSSC).

P-8A Poseidon Pacific Fleet PLAN Type 052D US Navy 2020-02-28
Tags P-8A Poseidon Pacific Fleet PLAN Type 052D US Navy
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Authors

Posted by : Xavier Vavasseur
Xavier is based in Paris, France. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems and a Master of Business Administration from Florida Institute of Technology (FIT). Xavier has been covering naval defense topics for nearly a decade.

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