Chinese Military Denies Electronic Jamming Caused US Navy Aircraft Crashes in South China Sea
- MM24 News Desk
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
China's military has categorically denied allegations that People's Liberation Army (PLA) electronic jamming caused two US Navy aircraft to crash in the South China Sea last month, dismissing such claims as "conspiracy theories" aimed at shifting blame.
The strong rebuttal came from PLA analysts and state media following the October 26 incidents involving an MH-60R Seahawk helicopter and an F/A-18F Super Hornet that crashed within 30 minutes of each other from the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier.
During a Monday report on state broadcaster CCTV, Wang Mingzhi, a researcher from the PLA's Air Force Command College, directly addressed the electronic jamming allegations. "The US does not usually look to internal problems in sensitive areas but looks at causes and effects with ideological bias," Wang stated. He characterized the jamming theory as an attempt to "stir up confrontation and speculat from the perspective of great power rivalry," reported CCTV.
The PLA social media account China Military Bugle offered alternative explanations for the crashes, suggesting the 50-year-old USS Nimitz might be suffering from age-related maintenance issues. The account specifically referenced the notorious "Fat Leonard" corruption scandal, in which a Malaysian businessman was convicted of bribing American officers for lucrative servicing contracts, including fuel supplies. This implied that contaminated fuel could be responsible, echoing former President Donald Trump's earlier suggestion about "bad fuel" causing the accidents.
"Poor old Nimitz ... after half a year of high-intensity deployment they should have been home and rested but instead were ordered to the South China Sea to put on a performance for spectators," the China Military Bugle account commented. "Trying too hard to show some muscles they actually strained them and ended up crashing two aircraft. We expect the commander will be fired and face consequences upon returning home!"
Another military analyst, Zhang Xuefeng, who also spoke to CCTV, supported the technical failure theory rather than electronic warfare. The PLA maintained that conducting such jamming against a carrier strike group without detection would be impossible, describing the allegations as the result of "reading too many fairy tales."
The commentary further accused the US military of creating its own problems through overextension, referring to a perceived "South China Sea curse" of accidents involving American warships and submarines. The PLA account stated that these incidents stem from sustained operations exceeding the US armed forces' actual capabilities and breaching what it called a "major military taboo" by conducting missions far from home waters.
"As long as the ambition for hegemony remains unchanged and the deep-rooted problem of the US defence industry being 'hollowed out' persists, the predicament of overextended forces and worn-out equipment can never be resolved," the commentary concluded, suggesting that such accidents are inevitable given current US operational patterns.