Two Chinese Military Pilots Killed in Training Exercises

Two Chinese military pilots, including a high-ranking tactical commander, were killed during frontline flight training exercises last month, according to official regional government notices and local media tracking.

Beijing, which seldom discloses military fatalities, has not made any statement about the deaths, and it is not known if the pilots were killed in the same incident.

China, which is aggressively modernising its armed forces, has intensified training on new tactics and hardware to ensure its troops can adapt to the demands of modern warfare.

One of the pilots, 38-year-old Fang Ming, was a senior colonel who served as a tactical commander under the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theatre Command Naval Aviation unit, according to a report by Hefei Daily on July 3.

Fang, of Lujiang county in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui, enlisted in 2006, according to the state media outlet. Lujiang local government posted a video on Monday stating that Fang died while carrying out flight training on June 10.

Lujiang authorities hosted a memorial service for Fang on July 3, which was attended by more than 200 people, including personnel from his unit, according to the government video post.

It said the Political Work Department of the Southern Theatre Command Naval Aviation unit recognised Fang – who was awarded a third-class merit in 2018 and a second-class merit for combat readiness and training in 2022 – as a martyr.

“His aspiration was to defend our country’s skies and seas. Whether in daily training or while carrying out operational missions, he always volunteered to take the lead,” said Xia Yong, who used to work with Fang, according to the video post.