UK air force chief says Australia should release video of clash with Chinese jet flares

The visiting British air force chief has encouraged Australia to publish any images it collects of dangerous activities by the Chinese military to help expose Beijing’s unacceptable behavior in the region.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton is in Canberra for talks with international counterparts, just days after a Chinese aircraft fired flares at an Australian Navy helicopter while it was operating in international waters off South Korea.

The Seahawk pilot took off from HMAS Hobart on Saturday and was forced to take urgent evasive action during the Yellow Sea incident, which has since sparked diplomatic and military protests from Australia.

In an interview with the ABC, the Chief of the Air Staff said the British military regularly publishes evidence of similar encounters with Russian fighter jets to highlight unacceptable behaviour.

“The key lesson has to do with communication, being very clear when reporting bad behavior, demonstrating it with the use of video footage and signaling very clearly to Russia and China and their air forces what a professional interception looks like,” said Sir Richard. .

He argued that highlighting dangerous interceptions can demonstrate “why it is dangerous to conduct them in that unprofessional manner and how that can lead to miscalculations and ultimately accidents that I think would be a terrible outcome through sheer incompetence and unprofessionalism.” “.

Asked whether Australia should follow the lead of the UK and US in releasing more detailed information and images of the clashes, he said doing so could help counter “misinformation” spread by Russia and China after the events.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton and Air Marshal Robert Chipman also met last month.(Defense Department)

“Very often it makes sense for us to show and publish the images so that we can prove what happened in practice and debunk some of the misinformation that Russia and China spread,” he said.

“We’ve certainly seen in the Black Sea where we were able to release images, where people can see what happened, which helped understand and make clear to our adversaries that what they are doing is unacceptable and why it is dangerous.”

Privately, senior figures from Australia’s closest military partners have long questioned the level of secrecy of defense officials in Canberra, as well as the high level of control exercised by political leaders over what information is released. publicly.

China poaches Western military veterans

In a wide-ranging interview, the British air force chief also warned that China continued to lure veterans of Western armies with large amounts of money to provide them with secrets and defense training.

Two years ago, the UK introduced new sanctions to prevent former Royal Air Force pilots from becoming paid instructors for the People’s Liberation Army.

Sir Richard said despite the efforts of countries like Australia, the threat persists.

“We know that China is offering large amounts of money to people to go train PLA forces and by doing so we are improving China’s capability,” he told the ABC.

“Despite the legal restrictions we have established, despite investigations into individuals, large sums of money continue to attract certain types of people.

“We’re going to continue to have to be vigilant and continue to fight these people who go out and, frankly, leak secrets to our adversaries.”

On Wednesday, the head of the Royal Australian Air Force gave a blunt assessment of the country’s readiness for air combat, warning his service must strengthen its workforce.

Opening the international air and space conference in Canberra, Air Marshal Robert Chipman admitted that military leaders had “missed the indicators and warnings of a deteriorating strategic environment” and that more needed to be done despite the recent large investments.

“We are still at risk of capacity stagflation, low readiness, labor voids and continued budget pressure. Our first challenge is to strengthen our workforce,” he said.

Aware 21 hours agoWednesday, May 8, 2024 at 7:22 p.m., updated 14 hours agoThursday, May 9, 2024 at 2:01

St John Shopon

Us News Update

UK air force chief says Australia should release video of clash with Chinese jet flares