A U.S. official tells me that the U.S. military is responding to ongoing Chinese laser attacks by purchasing protective eye devices and researching other solutions. Those laser attacks have now occurred in East Africa and the South China Sea and are set to continue.
So what is the U.S. doing specifically?
Well, as the official put it, “units operating in the area are conducting an assessment of their laser eye protection equipment. The services continue to research, purchase and field solutions to emerging challenges…”
Anyone spot the problem here?
We’re buying equipment to protect our personnel but we’re not doing what basic military theory suggests we should be doing: stopping these attacks at their source. That’s a problem. High-intensity lasers hitting the eyes of U.S. aircrews are not representative simply of bored Chinese military-intelligence officers. Instead, these attacks represent a sustained effort to deter more robust U.S. military presence in areas of Chinese concern and to test the Trump administration’s willingness to push back against threats to U.S. personnel.
I recognize the need to rapidly equip U.S. aircrews with the means to better protect themselves. But these tactical attacks reflect a broader Chinese strategy that requires U.S. constraint and deterrence. Where we focus simply on protecting our personnel, we only encourage an increasingly bold Chinese government to continue its aggression.
