A few days have passed since the crash of two helicopters of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and except for one person who was rescued and killed, the remaining seven people on the two helicopters are still in the Pacific Ocean and their whereabouts are still unknown. The crash occurred on April 20, and the Japanese were unlikely to survive several days in the icy waters, and the sea was full of predators such as sharks. Therefore, since this accident, the Sea of Japan can basically lock in the outcome of all eight people on board.
Both aircraft are SH60K Sea Hawk anti-submarine patrol helicopters, which are used to search for and destroy submarines, and their performance is relatively advanced. Before the crash, the two helicopters were conducting night anti-submarine exercises in the waters off Torishima Island in the Izu Islands. As for the cause of the crash, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force seems to have determined that the two planes collided and crashed into the sea together. So why did the two helicopters collide? The Sea of Japan held that the two planes were flying at close range at the same altitude at that time, and this was a violation of operational regulations.
In 2021, there was also an accident in which helicopters collided with each other in the Sea of Japan, when two SH-60s also collided slightly near Amanoshima Island in the south. Since then, they have installed collision avoidance systems on their helicopters and required multiple helicopters to be spaced apart at altitude.
The Japanese believe that the two planes that crashed apparently did not maintain the altitude difference, but flew next to each other at the same altitude, as a result of which a collision occurred, and both helicopters fell into the sea. The water at the crash site reached a depth of 5,500 meters, and it was very difficult to find the missing crew. As for why the altitude interval was not maintained, Haizi's view was that the pilot did not carry night vision goggles, so he could only rely on visual observation of night lights at night to judge the altitude of another aircraft, which could lead to mistakes.
However, many netizens did not buy the statement of the Sea of Japan. The first is why the anti-collision system installed did not respond? The other is that according to their own information, the movement of the two helicopters before the crash was very strange, and it did not look like a simple collision.
For example, the accident occurred at 22:38 on the evening of April 20, when a helicopter that was practicing suddenly lost contact. Since it is unlikely that the pilot will be on the phone with the base all the time, the loss of contact here should be a loss of communication signal.
However, at 22:39 one minute later, the helicopter suddenly sent another emergency distress signal, and there was no news after that. Since the plane was still able to send out an emergency signal at that time, did it mean that the communication had been restored again? Why was there a loss of contact for about one minute in the middle? This is already a bit strange.
But something even stranger is still to come! According to the inference of the Sea of Japan, after the first helicopter lost contact, an emergency signal was issued, and at this time it should have already crashed and entered a state of loss of control. According to the general understanding, the helicopter could only have collided with another SH-60K helicopter, then the other helicopter should have also suffered serious damage and would have sent an emergency signal, at least the pilot should report to the base.
However, here's the blame: 25 minutes after the first helicopter went missing, that is, at 23:04, the second helicopter also lost contact! Note that during this long 25 minutes, the pilot of the second helicopter did not report any abnormalities or send an emergency signal, and just disappeared quietly.
If it was true that the two helicopters collided, then the second helicopter should also be out of control on the spot. Even if it hadn't lost control, the pilots would have tried to save the plane and reported an emergency to the base. Even if the second helicopter was fine at the time, it hit the first one after all, and the two planes would be very close, and it was impossible for the pilot not to see the tragic situation after the first one was hit, and he should report it. But none of this happened.
More subtlely, there were not only these two helicopters in the area where the incident occurred, but there was another helicopter from Haizi nearby, but the third helicopter returned safely. It stands to reason that the three planes should be in the same area and should have been ventilating with each other often, but the helicopter could not provide any information about the crashes of the other two. The crew of the third helicopter didn't know anything, which was also strange.
Now the black boxes of the two crashed helicopters have been found, and the helmets of the crew have also been found in the area where the incident occurred. There was no information in the black box recording the abnormal state of the aircraft, and both aircraft were in excellent condition prior to the incident. It was like a bizarre event, and one moment there was no one, and after 25 minutes there was another one. In these "long" 25 minutes, there were no calls, no signals, only the vast darkness of the night and the sea.
With such a miraculous thing, it is difficult to justify the "collision" in the Sea of Japan, and it is no wonder that netizens will speculate in the direction of "electronic warfare". Truth be told, if the two planes had been electronically jammed, everything would have worked. The helicopter's collision avoidance system is also judged by radio waves, and if it is interfered with, the collision avoidance system may fail, causing a collision.
It is also possible that there was no collision at all, and the communication and navigation systems of the two planes could not work under strong electronic interference, so they could not communicate with the base normally. In the dark night, the aircraft's sensors and flight control system are not normal, which may cause inaccurate altitude judgment. The two planes were conducting anti-submarine training, and their flight altitude should be close to the surface of the sea, and if the altimeter is not accurate, it is likely that they will fall into the sea because the altitude is too low.
In conclusion, "electronic warfare" can explain the abnormal behavior of two helicopters in the whole incident, and the collision of two aircraft is hardly plausible. However, the Sea of Japan has firmly denied the claim of electronic warfare, holding that there are no ships and planes of a third country in the area where the incident occurred, and it is impossible for them to be interfered with by electronics. Ren Ma Jun felt that this conclusion was made too early, and everyone can see from the mission of these two planes at that time: they were engaged in anti-submarine exercises, that is, to discover and attack underwater submarines.
If there are submarines of a third country in the waters, they may not be able to detect them in the Sea of Japan due to the limitations of anti-submarine technology. Helicopter anti-submarine detection usually uses the method of throwing sonar buoys. The sonar buoy is dropped and floats at sea, then emits sound waves underwater to detect the submarine's position through the echo, and then radios the information back to the helicopter. If the submarine launches electronic warfare against the helicopter before the helicopter drops the buoy, the helicopter will inexplicably land.
According to public reports, Russian submarines have such skills. Its Type 955 Boreas-class and Type 667BDRM Dolphin-class strategic missile submarines are all equipped with the "Cylinder-M" electronic warfare buoy system. The system can "blind" and "deaf" the sonar buoys dropped by the helicopter, so that it cannot send information to the helicopter, so as to ensure the safety of its own submarines.
The principle of the "Cylinder-M" electronic warfare buoy system is very simple: when launched by a submarine to the surface, the buoy will automatically activate, and then emit high-power interfering radio waves to suppress radio communications in nearby waters. This method is indeed in line with the simple and crude style of the Russian army. Due to the fact that the sonar buoys used by the current helicopter anti-submarine platforms are generally small in power and weak in their anti-jamming capabilities, they basically become "blind" and "deaf" under the suppression of the powerful "Cylinder-M" electronic warfare buoy system, and they will not be able to work normally.
But will this radio suppression affect helicopters in the air? If the helicopters in the Sea of Japan do not have strong anti-jamming capabilities, and the electronic equipment fails in the electronic jamming, it is indeed possible to lose contact or even fall into the sea.
This is not the first time that a helicopter accident has occurred with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. Just one year ago, on April 6, 2023, a UH-60A "Black Hawk" helicopter of the 8th Division of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force suddenly lost contact and crashed 10 minutes after taking off from the Miyakojima Fentun Base, killing all 10 people on board, including Yuichi Sakamoto, the top commander of the 8th Division.
The helicopter behaved normally before the accident, but according to the information recorded in the black box, the helicopter had also contacted the air traffic control of a nearby airport about 2 minutes before the helicopter went missing, but then the power output of the right engine dropped sharply, and the pilot tried to manually restore the helicopter's attitude, but then the power output of the left engine also decreased.
At this time, the sound of the helicopter's engine was abnormal, and the alarm sounded. The captain and co-pilot shouted to maintain the flight altitude and asked the crew to prepare what to do, and one of the crew members answered, but then the screams of the crew were heard, and the helicopter crashed.
Since the black box was damaged and the complete information about the failure was not recorded, it is not known why the helicopter's engine experienced a drop in power. After a long year of investigation, Japan has yet to find out the true cause of the crash. The Sakamoto Yuichi, whose military rank is equivalent to that of lieutenant general, died in an unknown manner.
In the aftermath of the crash, the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force repeatedly revised the time and place of the crash, contradicting the accounts of witnesses on the ground, triggering a lot of speculation. Many netizens once believed that Yuichi Sakamoto's helicopter was shot down, which gave rise to a lot of conspiracy theories.
The cause of the crash of two helicopters of the Maritime Self-Defense Force is still mysterious, and I am afraid that there will still be no convincing explanation for the crash like last year's crash.