Current Events in Asia-Pacific

From Defence Aerospace Defence Statement - Super Seasprite Helicopters (Source: Australian Department of Defense; issued March 19, 2005) The [Royal Australian] Navy's Super Seasprite project has been misrepresented by claims made in today's Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. The aircraft is currently undergoing a certification process before it can become fully operational. Defence expects to receive a certified helicopter later this year. Once accepted, the Super Seasprite will fulfil all of its planned roles including search and rescue operations in poor visibility. This is a normal and proper process for Defence to follow in testing a new aircr…

Seafarers warned to be on alert in Malacca Strait Sun Apr 22, 1:33 AM ET The International Maritime Bureau on Sunday warned seafarers to remain on alert while travelling on the piracy-prone Malacca Strait despite a fall in attacks. Pottengal Mukundan, London-based director of IMB, told AFP that there was "no room for complacency," since pirates were merely lying low due to aggressive patrols by Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Mukundan said if the three Southeast Asian countries that border the Malacca Strait let up in their patrols, "pirate attacks will rise again." Maintaining and securing the waterway has always been regarded as the responsibility of …

From BBC News Page last updated at 09:54 GMT, Wednesday, 8 July 2009 10:54 UK Kim Jong-il appears at memorial North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has made a rare public appearance for commemorations of the 15th anniversary of his father's death. Observers said he looked gaunt and limped slightly while entering the crammed auditorium where the ceremony was held in the capital Pyongyang. It was the second major state event the 67-year-old has attended since suffering a suspected stroke in August. His poor health has led to concerns of a power struggle if he dies suddenly. Wednesday's memorial came after Pyongyang carried out UN-banned ballistic missile …

China's Carrier Killer: Threat and Theatrics (Air Force Magazine, December 2013 issue)

From RIA Novosti 03:50 02/06/2010 Russia will transfer its Nerpa nuclear-powered attack submarine for a 10 year-lease to India in the autumn, the head of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation has said. "The training of the crew has been concluded, most of the tests have been carried out — everything is almost at the finish line," Mikhail Dmitriyev told journalists in New Delhi after a meeting of the Russian-Indian high-level supervisory committee on military and technical cooperation on Tuesday. He said India would receive the K-152 Nerpa submarine in October or November 2010. The lease follows an agreement inked between N…

From Aviation Week [excerpt] CV32: Anyone hold Dassault stock?

From Flight Global [excerpt]

For those familiar with the Harpoon Classic game, this idea sounds a lot like the Cold War concept platform, Mitchel Offshore Base, that is found in the GIUK and NACV Battlesets. Looks like what was old is new again. US and Japan plan floating runway Justin McCurry in Tokyo Monday August 29, 2005 The Guardian Japan and the US are planning to build a giant floating runway off the coast of western Japan in a bid to reduce noise pollution by US military aircraft, local media reported yesterday. The "megafloat" will be built six miles off Iwakuni, home to a US marine base, at a cost of up to ¥500bn (£2.5bn), the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said, quoting go…

Washington Times April 6, 2007 Pg. 9 China Mum On Pace Query On Anti-Satellite System By Bill Gertz, The Washington Times China's senior military leaders refused to disclose any details about a recent test of a new anti-satellite weapon system or other aspects of a secret space-arms program, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters yesterday. Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, who recently returned from a four-day visit to China, also said NATO forces have launched a spring offensive in Afghanistan against ousted Taliban militia. On China's Jan. 11 test, Gen. Pace said he asked Chinese leaders during several meetings about the use of a mi…

From Flight International DATE: 23/09/08 SOURCE: Flight International Wrangling over Raptor By Siva Govindasamy Would it surprise anyone if the favourite song right now in Japan's Ministry of Defence is The Rolling Stones' You can't always get what you want? For the last two years, Japan's politicians and civil servants have been intensely lobbying their counterparts in the USA to secure information on the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor for their country's upcoming F-X competition. Their efforts have only led them to a brick wall. Being one of Washington's closest allies in East Asia is not enough to get access to data on the highly coveted fifth-genera…

From DefenseNews [excerpt]

Russia sells new subs to China (Kommersant, via DefenseNews' Intercepts blog)

Drills put U.S. Navy on notice By RICHARD HALLORAN Special to The Japan Times HONOLULU -- Soon after Adm. Gary Roughhead took the helm as the new commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the Chinese and Russian armed forces gave him something to think about. Those two forces in the western Pacific have just completed eight days of joint maneuvers centered on the Shandong Peninsula, across the Yellow Sea from the Korean Peninsula. The drills were conducted with 10,000 military people on land, at sea, and in the air, about 8,500 of them Chinese. That's not large as those things go, but it was the first such exercise done together since the breakup of the Soviet …

From Aviation Week Australia Eyes E/A-18Gs, Confirms F/A-18Fs Mar 17, 2008 Bradley Perrett Australia will consider buying Boeing E/A-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft following confirmation of its order for 24 of the standard two-seat version of the Super Hornet, the F/A-18F. In a review of air combat requirements, the Labor government now endorses the Super Hornet as “an excellent aircraft capable of meeting any known threat in the region,” even though Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has spent months criticizing the hasty process in which the former Liberal National administration decided to buy it last year. Fitzgibbon has implied, but never spe…

From Flight International DATE: 10/06/08 SOURCE: Flight International BREAKING NEWS: Wedgetail 737 deliveries to Australia slip again By Andrew Doyle First deliveries of Boeing 737 airborne early warning and control system aircraft to launch customer Australia have been hit by a further four-month delay. The US manufacturer says the initial operational capability date for the first pair of aircraft under Australia's Wedgetail surveillance programme has slipped to July 2009, due to the need to "extend validation and flight test". The project - which had already been running around two years late - has also encountered delays in development of the airc…

Annual DoD Report Claims Steady Chinese Military Expansion (DefenseNews)

From Air Force Times Hickam to get warfighting headquarters By Nicole Gaudiano Times staff writer A new warfighting headquarters will activate at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, in May, and 13th Air Force, currently assigned to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, will relocate to form its core. The moves are part of the Air Force’s plan to establish a continuously operating network of 10 warfighting headquarters to support geographic and functional combatant commanders. The new Hickam-based headquarters will include functional experts and an Air and Space Operations Center capable of command and control operations 24-hours a day, year round. Officials said tha…

China to build aircraft carrier to develop navy fleet: report+ TMCNet (Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)HONG KONG, March 10_(Kyodo) _ The Chinese military is currently planning to build an aircraft carrier, a pro-Beijing daily in Hong Kong reported Friday. "The Chinese army will conduct research and build an aircraft carrier and develop our own aircraft carrier fleet," People's Liberation Army Lt. Gen. Wang Zhiyuan was quoted as saying in the Chinese-language Wen Wei Po. "An aircraft carrier is a very important tool for big countries defending their interests in the sea. China is a big country with a long shoreline. An aircraft carrier is n…

From Jane's Thai prime minister deposed in name of monarchy amid political uncertainty By Christian LeMiere, Jane’s Country Risk Asia Editor EVENT A military coup took place in Thailand at midnight (1700 GMT) on 19 September to depose caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was in New York at the time. The coup is a sign of military disaffection with governmental intervention and royalist fears of Thaksin's autocracy. In the immediate term, the lack of an interim prime minister poses the greatest risk. However, should a prime minister be forthcoming, the most likely short-term outcome will be democratic elections in November and a possible increase i…

From Carnegie Endowment (pdf) [excerpt]