US warns China after lasers injure American pilots in Africa
The United States has issued a formal warning to China after personnel at the Asian country's military base in Djibouti used lasers to interfere with U.S. military aircraft, minorly injuring two pilots, according to the Pentagon.
Top Defense Department spokeswoman Dana White told reporters Thursday that the U.S. is confident the Chinese are behind the "very serious incidents," which have increased in the past few weeks.
"There have been two minor injuries. This activity poses a true threat to our airmen. We have formally demarched the Chinese government. And we've requested that that Chinese investigate these incidents," White said during a Pentagon briefing.
The U.S. government, meanwhile, has warned airmen to be cautious when flying in certain areas in Djibouti, in Africa, due to the recent incidents.
Also at CNN.
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(Score: 3, Informative) by Immerman on Friday May 04 2018, @07:06PM
Escalation factors aside - because it's trivially easy for the target to remove the laser beam? My understanding is that laser-guided missiles typically use a laser to "paint" the target, creating a brightly blowing omni-directional bullseye. A laser pointer in comparison is about as tightly-focussed a beam as we can (cheaply) produce - the moment that beam points even one degree beyond the missile it becomes invisible - and you now have a guided missile flying into a (probably) residential district without any guidance.
Plus, it gets expensive really fast.