German Officials Accuse Chinese Military of Targeting Its Plane with Laser During EU Mission
Of course, China is denying everything.
Chinese interests certainly seem to be expanding in a very western direction.
Last week, I reported the Chinese were involved in building up Libya’s refinery and petroleum product distribution infrastructure. This week, it looks like China is testing the waters, in terms of military engagement in the Red Sea.
German officials have taken a very serious diplomatic step by summoning the Chinese ambassador to their Foreign Ministry, following accusations that China’s military targeted a German aircraft with a laser while it was engaged in a European Union mission over the Red Sea.
“The Chinese military employed a laser targeting a German aircraft in the EU operation #ASPIDES,” the post on X read.
“Endangering German personnel & disrupting the operation is entirely unacceptable,” it went on to say with confirmation that China’s diplomat in the country had been summoned.
Germany’s military is involved in Operation Aspides, which aims to protect commercial ships in the Red Sea from the Houthi militia operating out of Yemen and involves up to 700 German military personnel.
The Chinese military employed a laser targeting a German aircraft in the EU operation #ASPIDES. Endangering German personnel & disrupting the operation is entirely unacceptable. The Chinese ambassador was summoned to the Federal Foreign Office today.
— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) July 8, 2025
The German Defense Ministry indicated that the aircraft had been contributing a Multi-Sensor Platform (MSP), or “flying eye” for reconnaissance of the area, since October.
A Chinese warship, which had been encountered several times in the area, had laser targeted the aircraft with no reason or prior communication during a routine mission flight, said a ministry spokesperson. The incident took place at the beginning of July.
“By using the laser, the warship put at risk the safety of personnel and material,” said the spokesperson, adding the mission flight was aborted as a precaution and the aircraft landed safely at a base in Djibouti.
The deployment of the MSP in ASPIDES has since been resumed, he said.
The MSP is operated by a civilian commercial service provider and German armed forces personnel are involved, said the ministry, adding the data collected significantly contributes to awareness for partners.
According to accounts, the incident in question occurred when the aircraft approached a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) frigate, which then targeted the plane.
A German Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the unnamed Chinese warship had been encountered several times in the area before, and “laser-targeted the aircraft with no reason or prior communication during a routine mission flight.” The aircraft was forced to abort its mission and return to Djibouti.
The kind of laser used has not been detailed, but laser weaponry encompasses a wide range of systems, some of which can have significant power, at least enough to be a major concern. Depending on their output, lasers have the potential to temporarily obscure optics and the vision of personnel or cause permanent damage to both. More powerful laser weapons can burn holes in craft, disabling or destroying them.
The Spiegel report states that “Possible damage is still unclear and is still being investigated.”
It should be noted that in April 2018, there were multiple reports that the Chinese military used lasers to target U.S. military aircraft operating from Djibouti.
In April 2018, Chinese military personnel reportedly used lasers to target U.S. military aircraft operating from Djibouti on multiple occasions. According to the Pentagon, two pilots of a C-130 transport aircraft suffered “minor” injuries as a result of a military-grade laser. In response, the United States lodged a diplomatic complaint with Beijing.
The PLAN has been accused of using lasers to harass military aircraft elsewhere, too.
Of course, China is denying everything.
China has disputed Germany’s claim that it targeted a military plane with a laser fired from a warship, as a diplomatic spat between the two countries deepens.
…
The Chinese government responded on Wednesday, with spokesperson Mao Ning telling a press conference that its navy had been carrying out “escort operations” in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia.
She said Germany and China should “take a fact-based attitude and strengthen communication in a timely manner to avoid misunderstanding and misjudgement”.
China has been accused of using lasers to target military aircraft before, primarily by the U.S. China has denied doing so.
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Comments
First sentence, I believe you mean western direction.
Yes…yes I do, Thanks.
It’s way past time for the western world to diplomatically isolate China. China has been running roughshod over everyone for 30 years. Let’s not forget China unleashed a bio-weapon against the world without any real consequences.
The CCP is big on cowardly intimidation and pretty good at killing students with tanks, but not so much in serious military conflicts.
I would rather not find out how well China can do in a military conflict. I also wish that President Trump would keep.high tariffs on Chinese products so we could decouple from them. It’s in our own best interests to do so.
I would suspect that China can do okay in a military conflict by sheer numbers. The CCP does what it wants and they can crank out a billion AK-47s with one magazine each for a billion conscripts as cannon fodder. Their gear may be crap knockoffs but it’ll last long enough if they throw enough people at it.
“…diplomatically isolate…”
that’s a very polite way to put it
Best way to solve the problem is to do to the source of the laser what Trump did to Iran’ nuke facilities
What would happen if there was a missile that was designed to lock on to a source of a laser while avoiding being in the beam?
That’s likely to be something in development now.
“By using the laser, the warship put at risk the safety of personnel and material,”
Here’s why you never do that.
LOL! So worth hitting the link.
The Chinese are incapable of telling the truth, They lie as readily and easily and as often as a Western politician. The thing to do is play their game. Fire a laser back at the ship and then deny when accused. That is unless you really want to respond to their provocations the way you should would be to consider it an attack and respond accordingly.
And if you call China out on their lying, you have hurt the feelings of the entire Chinese people. Biggest bunch of hypocritical snowflakes in the world.
Maybe a giant paint ball attack on the laser? LOL
proper response… TAKE one of China’s ships next time they harass fishing vessels.
or sink it…. that’d do it too.
A Chinese warship warned off a German military plane with a laser to the bottom. There isn’t much of a story here
Pretty easy to see the source of a laser beam. Once a missile is locked on that source, just turning it off won’t stop the weapon.
If the laser is powerful enough to destroy the missile, that would be useful to know. Otherwise the missile gets to take out the laser.
Might be a reasonable thing to warn the Chinese that we’ll do that next time.
[note choice of words here: “we’ll do that,” not “we might do that”]