On the afternoon of October 26, The U.S. Navy MH-60R "Seahawk" helicopter and the F/A-18F "Super Hornet" fighter crashed into the South China Sea within half an hour while taking off from the USS Nimitz. A total of five pilots on the two planes were all successfully rescued.
As a result of this incident, some public opinion believes that the use of electromagnetic interference was caused by the Chinese side. But the US Pacific Fleet quickly denied the possibility of external interference.
In response to this matter, at the regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on October 27, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiankun said China is willing to provide assistance to the United States from a humanitarian point of view if the U.S. needs it.
Two planes crashed in a short period of time, What was the cause of this unexpected crash of the US military? What is the profound meaning of China's response? What kind of strategic layout may the US take this opportunity to make?
Causes of aircraft crashes.
Although Trump, who has just arrived in Malaysia, responded for the first time, saying it may be a problem of poor quality of fuel, the U.S. military also said the specific reasons are still being investigated, but the related speculation has not settled.
In fact, the two U.S. military aircraft that crashed did not belong to any young model. Among them, the "Sea Eagle" helicopter has been in service for 19 years, and the "Super Big Bee" fighter aircraft has been in service for 26 years.
Logically speaking, this kind of military aircraft with a longer service time should reduce the deployment intensity and arrange for retirement as soon as possible. However, due to the lack of mature alternative aircraft types, Sea Eagles and Super Big Bees are the main model of the U.S. military, and it is difficult to withdraw from various tasks of high difficulty in a short time.
Long-term overload use even for the newly served military aircraft will lose their life, let alone these old antiques, besides, the constant high temperature and humidity of the South China Sea, the salinity of the sea water is also the highest of the four major seas in China. In this environment, military aircraft will also be more corroded.
Not just military aircraft, the US aircraft carrier Nimitz, which was deployed in the South China Sea, began service in 1975. I should have retired long ago.
But the U.S. has repeatedly delayed the delivery of new Ford-class aircraft carriers, delaying the delivery time from 2020 to 2030. The U.S. military had no choice but to let the Nimitz continue to serve for a period of time, and it would not officially retire until it returned to the United States after completing this voyage mission.
It is worth mentioning that the Nimitz has been in the deployment state since March of this year, not only the deck's anti-slip coating appeared a large area of fall, even various parts were damaged and difficult to get timely repair.
In addition, many of the U.S. military pilots haveined high-pressure high-intensity working conditions in recent times, such as when the U.S. military attacked Iran's nuclear facilities in June this year, the U.S. pilots on the B-2 invisible bomber even spent 37 hours on the plane to complete the mission.
From the aircraft carrier to the military aircraft to the pilot. Hardly any of them are perfectly healthy, and accidents are inevitable.
In the end, the incident occurred in the South China Sea, and China’s response also demonstrated China’s attitude and position.
China's response
On the one hand, for the help that the United States may need, China mentioned "if the United States proposes" and "humanitarianism".The South China Sea is China's ocean, and China's understanding of the South China Sea is incomparable to that of other countries, although there were no personal casualties after the accident. But there is a lot of follow-up work to be done, including the rescue of aircraft debris, and if China can help, it will naturally be half-effective.
Of course, the prerequisite for China to provide assistance is that the United States takes the initiative to request it, and China's assistance does not involve any political stance. Just because of humanitarian concerns, this statement of the Chinese side stands at the height of morality, demonstrating the image of China's responsible big country.
On the other hand, China directly pointed out that the US military plane crash occurred during military exercises in the South China Sea. The frequent dispatch of warships and military aircraft to the South China Sea to show off force is the root cause of maritime security problems and undermining regional peace and stability.
This sentence points out that the background of the accident was not normal navigation, but a US military exercise. The South China Sea belongs to China’s territory and the U.S. act is a violation of China’s territorial sovereignty.
Moreover, this is not the first time that the United States has deliberately provoked in the South China Sea in the name of freedom of navigation. In addition to U.S. own warships, Philippine and Vietnamese warships have also appeared in the South China Sea with the implicit consent and assistance of the United States.
Therefore, even if an accident occurs, the United States will essentially suffer the consequences. At the same time, it also revealed that in order to consolidate its global hegemony, the United States deterred China and curbed its influence in the South China Sea through a series of military activities in the South China Sea.
In its response, China not only clearly defined the responsibility for the accident, but also clearly revealed the truth that the United States has long stirred up the situation in the South China Sea. Criticism of the U.S. hegemony, avoiding the use of the public opinion to shape China as the creator of accidents, and also taking the opportunity to warn the U.S. policy in the South China Sea.
But the so-called disaster, The crash of a U.S. aircraft in the South China Sea means that there will be U.S. military personnel in the South China Sea for a long time, which is likely to be a great opportunity for the U.S. side to make a strategic layout.
US strategic layout
As we all know, the United States has been trying to find out the specific situation in the South China Sea through various means in recent years. This year, the U.S. military has sent reconnaissance planes to conduct reconnaissance operations in the South China Sea many times.
In September, the U.S. Navy launched the main force of electronic reconnaissance aircraft MQ-4C in the Asia-Pacific region and closed the response signal path to fly directly into the airspace of Yellowstone Island.
After the discovery of the Chinese side, rapidly arranged for the interception and implementation of electronic interference, the reconnaissance aircraft panically escaped, from which it can be seen that from the perspective of the US side, the South China Sea is a very high area of unknowledge. Its importance to China is also extraordinary. If we can grasp the situation in the South China Sea, we will undoubtedly add more chips to the game with China.
The crash of the U.S. military plane this time can be regarded as a relatively big accident. Although the personnel search and rescue work has been completed, the salvage and debris recovery, including matters related to the search for the black box, will still take a long time. This means that the U.S. will have the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the underwater terrain in the South China Sea.
After all, in 2021, the US nuclear submarine USS Connecticut collided with a submarine mountain that was not marked on the chart underwater in the South China Sea, causing damage to the submarine and injuries to many crew members. The incident made the U.S. party deeply aware of how insufficient the understanding of the South China Sea is, and the U.S. military has greatly strengthened its reconnaissance efforts in the South China Sea.
Therefore, for China, it still needs to be cautious about the next US activities in the South China Sea.