Paul Daley, Canberra – Indonesian military figures associated with the discredited Suharto regime are deliberately smearing Australia with unsubstantiated allegations of unauthorised RAAF spy flights over the archipelago, senior Australian defence and intelligence figures claim.

The sources allege sections of the Indonesian military, humiliated by the InterFET mission, have embarked on a "payback" after the Australian-led deployment to East Timor.

The allegations of a conspiracy to discredit Australia come after new claims by Indonesian air force chiefs in recent days that Australia has repeatedly made illegal flights over eastern Indonesia, including at least 10 in the past two months.

Over the weekend Indonesia's Air Vice Marshal Alimmunsiri Rappe said: "Our radar monitoring showed the high frequency of the Australian aircraft's violations of our territorial sovereignty." He warned that intruders could be forced away or shot down.

But the Australian Defence Force yesterday said Indonesia's latest claims were demonstrably untrue. "We deny absolutely that there have been any unauthorised flights into Indonesian airspace," a spokesman said. "We can prove there have been no unauthorised flights as claimed. Australian aircraft do not move [into Indonesian airspace] until we have the authority from the Indonesians to do so."

An intelligence source described the latest Indonesian allegations as part of "a campaign of lies" about allegedly unauthorised Australian military flights. "The Indonesians continue to make these allegations but, with few exceptions, they have given no examples," the source said.

"When they have given examples, the RAAF has been able to prove that the planes in question were given clearance or were not in Indonesian airspace. This is clearly part of a payback campaign by elements of the military associated with past regimes."

Earlier this week, the Australian ambassador to Jakarta, Mr John McCarthy, strongly denied the latest Indonesian claims. He said Australia had investigated the allegations every time they had been raised and found them to be baseless. "Australia has enormous respect for Indonesian sovereignty," he said.