Laser Beam Attacks Bedevil U.S. Military Pilots in Mideast

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WASHINGTON—Hostile forces in the Middle East are targeting American pilots with
laser pointers at a growing rate, imperiling aircrews and reflecting a problem
more widespread and longstanding than the Pentagon has previously acknowledged.

American pilots operating in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, the three most
prominent conflict zones for American troops, experienced most of the more than
350 lasing incidents reported over the last seven months by aircrews operating
across the Middle East, officials at U.S. Air Forces Central Command in Qatar
said.

That is a significant increase from the approximately 400 lasing incidents
reported for the region during all of 2017, according to officials, and marks an
upswing after a decline in recent years.

Lasing attacks appear to be an easy way for enemy combatants to harass and try
to distract military pilots, both in planes and helicopters.

The rate of lasing incidents so far this year is on track to top the roughly 600
incidents reported in 2016 and match 2015, when there were a total of about 700
incidents in the Middle East, according to officials. The numbers of lasing
incidents had not been previously disclosed.

The Pentagon earlier this year acknowledged a spate of attacks in two other
regions. Several incidents occurred in and around an American base in Djibouti
in east Africa, where laser beams appeared to come from a nearby Chinese base. A
handful of incidents took place in the East China Sea, where U.S. pilots were
hit by laser beams that may have come from Chinese personnel or from fishermen
operating in the area, according to U.S. military officials. China has denied
involvement in the incidents.

Those incidents accounted for comparatively fewer attacks than in the Middle
East. The number of incidents may be related to the frequency of U.S. military
aircraft operations, officials said. Flight operations against Islamic State in
Iraq and Syria and against the Taliban in Afghanistan have grown more intense in
recent years.

Hostile forces typically point small, hand-held lasers at pilots in flight,
especially during landings when they are most visible from the ground, in an
attempt to distract them, officials said. Such lasing could result in an
accident, though officials said there haven’t been any mishaps as a result of
lasing. It is unknown how coordinated or organized the attacks a officials
declined to discuss specific details about the perpetrators.



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