Recently, the Australian Department of Defense suddenly issued a statement saying that the MH-60R Seahawk helicopter belonging to the destroyer Hobart of the Australian Navy was suddenly intercepted by a J-10 fighter of the People's Liberation Army when it was carrying out the so-called United Nations sanctions against North Korea in the waters near South Korea.
According to the Australian Ministry of Defense, the PLA J-10 fighter released a series of flares in the airspace 300 meters in front of the Australian helicopter flight path and 60 meters at an altitude of 60 meters. After the incident, the Australian side lodged a protest with the Chinese side, accusing China's behavior as irresponsible and unacceptable.
After reading the statement of the Australian Ministry of Defence, it is not difficult for us to see that the Australian side describes itself as carrying out a truly just mission entrusted by the United Nations, while the PLA has unprovoked interference with the military operations of the Australian army. The purpose of Australia's statement is to place full blame on China for the incident and to put China in violation of relevant UN resolutions. So is this incident really as the Australian side said?
In fact, the waters near South Korea mentioned by the Australian side are the Yellow Sea, and the word Yellow Sea is also mentioned in the Australian statement, which shows that the incident happened at China's doorstep. Not long after the Australian Ministry of Defense issued this statement, some foreign media marked the specific location of the incident, although this location is located on the high sea, but it is only more than 100km away from the Shandong Peninsula, but the place where the incident occurred is more than 5,000km away from the Australian coastline.
It's hard to imagine Australia, far from China, flying its fighter jets to China's doorstep, and the Australian military accusing the PLA of taking unacceptable actions against its warplanes. In this regard, many foreign netizens have commented that if the Australian fighter plane did not appear at China's doorstep, the Chinese fighter plane would definitely not intercept it, which shows that the eyes of the masses are bright, and the PLA will not intercept and drive away the Australian fighter for no reason.
Shortly after the Australian military issued a statement, many analysts believed that the reason why the PLA J-10 fighter intercepted the Australian Navy helicopter in the Yellow Sea was most likely because the Australian fighter insisted on approaching China's airspace. However, the reality is that the Australian army's behavior is worse than we think.
At a time when the Australian side is constantly hyping up this matter, China's Ministry of National Defense issued a statement on this matter and announced the truth in a timely manner. It turned out that on the day of the incident, the PLA Navy warship formation was conducting military training in the waters of the Yellow Sea, and the Australian guided missile destroyer USS Hobart sent carrier-based helicopters to conduct close reconnaissance of China's military training activities three times in a row, seriously interfering with China's normal military training.
It can be seen from the mainland's official statement that in the face of the military training activities of the PLA Navy's warship formation, the Australian warships did not evade them, but directly sent fighter planes to carry out nuisance, and provoked the PLA three times in a row at China's doorstep.
The main combat ships of the PLA Navy are equipped with advanced carrier-based and air defense combat systems, which can deal with all kinds of air targets, let alone low-flying helicopters. Knowing that the PLA warships have strong firepower, the Australian fighters still approached and provoked again and again, obviously knowing that the PLA would not use force.
The reality is as expected by the Australian army, the PLA Navy ships did not take action against the Australian fighters, but took off J-10 fighters from the land to intercept and drive away the Australian fighters. The main reason why the PLA Navy ships did not take action against the Austrian fighters was that the Navy ships did not have a relatively safe means of dispersion, and even the warning fire of the close-in defense guns would cause accidental hits. On the high seas, if the Australian military does not "fire the first shot" at us, the PLA Navy ships cannot directly open fire, otherwise it will trigger a very serious international incident. Therefore, the PLA can only quickly dispatch land-based planes to intercept and drive away Australian military planes.
Compared with warships, PLA fighters have much more non-force means of dispersing Australian helicopters. Because the J-10 fighter flies fast and has excellent maneuverability, it can fully display its "stunt" in front of the Australian helicopter and gradually squeeze the Australian fighter out of our training area. However, the Australian military aircraft is also very strong, and after being driven away by the J-10 fighters, they "killed back" again and continued to provoke the PLA.
In the face of repeated provocations by Australian fighters, the PLA could not bear it, and the J-10 fighters could only throw thermal flares on the flight path of the Australian military planes to prevent it from continuing to approach the PLA warships. Two years ago, an Australian Navy P-8A anti-submarine patrol plane tasted the taste of the PLA's hot flares, the engine was damaged, and the crew also had serious psychological problems. Therefore, the Australian Navy is still very afraid of the PLA's hot flares, and it is no wonder that after the J-10 fighter fired a series of hot flares, the Australian fighters quickly fled the scene.
Through this incident, we can also see that the PLA will take strong countermeasures against every provocation by the Australian army, and take practical actions to maintain China's sea and air security. If the Austrian army does not pull back from the precipice and continue to provoke at China's doorstep, then the PLA fighters will not just be able to flare.