Australian air force monitored Chinese navy’s live-fire drills, defence pilots confirm

Australia’s air force heard a Chinese warship warn that it would use live fire in its exercises on a civilian-radio broadcast as it circumnavigated the country last month, defence pilots said on Tuesday.

A People’s Liberation Army Navy frigate conducted the unprecedented live-fire exercise in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, causing 49 commercial flights to be diverted.

China has said it gave adequate warning about the drill under international law, but Australian and New Zealand authorities said it fell short of best practice for notifications.

Commercial airlines first heard about the live-fire drill when a Virgin Australia pilot picked up a Chinese navy broadcast on the 121.5 megahertz emergency radio channel.

Ahead of a national election due by May, opposition Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton criticised the Labor government for “a situation where our national maritime surveillance was outsourced to a Virgin airline pilot”.