Current Events in Asia-Pacific

There are at least one boatload of sailors in the Royal Canadian Navy who can fully empathize with their Australian counterparts. Sub 20 seconds from death By Cameron Stewart July 23, 2005 News.com.au AN Australian submarine carrying 55 sailors was seconds from sinking to the bottom of the Indian Ocean following a catastrophic on-board flood off the coast of Perth. The near-tragedy has forced the navy to permanently reduce the diving depth of its fleet of six Collins-class submarines for safety reasons - a move that has weakened their military capability. An investigation by The Weekend Australian has revealed that an accident on board HMAS Dechain…

With details of the DPRK's missile launches over the weekend ... From Aviation Week Japan Considering THAAD Missile Defense Jul 6, 2009 By Bradley Perrett Beijing Japan is considering adding the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system as a third layer to its ballistic-missile defenses, according to an official leak evidently prompted by North Korea’s July 4 tests of R-17 and Rodong rockets. Three or four installations of the Lockheed Martin THAAD system could cover all of Japan, says the Mainichi newspaper in an unattributed report presumed to be based on government-leaked information. THAAD’s range is secret, but the Mainichi’s sour…

From Defense News N. Korea Threatens To Build More Nuclear Bombs By JUN KWANWOO, REUTERS, SEOUL North Korea said March 15 it would strengthen its atomic arsenal in an angry response to upcoming joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, which the communist state denounced as nuclear war games. The North justified its possession of nuclear weapons as establishing a balance of power to prevent a nuclear holocaust, ahead of the joint war games in South Korea starting March 19. “The exercises will be nuclear war exercises aimed to invade the North to all intents and purposes in view of their nature, scope and contents,” a foreign ministry spokesman told t…

Impressions on Chinas Second Missile Interceptor Test (Defense Aerospace)

North Korea's Nuclear Futures: Technology and Strategy (pdf, 38 North)

US to hold mammoth naval exercise in Pacific (AFP) Updated: 2006-02-15 13:49 ChinaDaily WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US military has said it is to hold one of its biggest naval exercises in the Asia Pacific this summer. The large-scale operations will involve several carrier strike groups, each of which includes at least three warships, an attack submarine and a support ship. Four carriers would be involved in three military maritime exercises -- one of them touted as the world's largest -- between June and August in the region, Commander of the US Pacific Fleet Admiral Gary Roughead said in Washington. Two of the exercises are expected to be largely confined …

China's new destroyers feature Aegis tech copied from U.S. Special to World Tribune.com EAST-ASIA-INTEL.COM Thursday, July 21, 2005 China's military put its new guided missile destroyers on display last week, disclosing its two new warships that are equipped with Aegis-type battle management systems. Two new Luyang II guided missile destroyers are part of China's naval builduup. The two Luyang II guided missile destroyers are Beijing's first Aegis-type ships. The ships are currently undergoing sea trials. U.S. intelligence officials say China stole the technology for the Aegis battle management system by setting up a front company in the United Sta…

London August 18, 2006 IT'S not every day that a foreign diplomat publicly tells the US to "shut up and keep quiet", but China's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva did just that during a BBC interview on the subject of Beijing's growing military spending. Interviewed for a BBC radio program yesterday, Sha Zukang also said China would sacrifice its own people's lives if any nation supported a declaration of independence by Taiwan. Responding to jitters in the Bush Administration about Beijing's rising military budget, Mr Sha said the US itself accounted for half of the world's military spending. "The China population is six times or five times that…

US ‘Steadily Retreating’ In South China Sea Dispute (Breaking Defense) Ouch.

Commercial photos show Chinese nuke buildup By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES February 16, 2006 Commercial satellite photos made public recently provide a new look at China's nuclear forces and bases images that include the first view of a secret underwater submarine tunnel. A Pentagon official said the photograph of the tunnel entrance reveals for the first time a key element of China's hidden military buildup. Similar but more detailed intelligence photos of the entrance are highly classified within the U.S. government, the official said. "The Chinese have a whole network of secret facilities that the U.S. government understands but cannot m…

Ending Pakistan’s Export of Jihadists: The Key to Win in Afghanistan (The Globalist)

From DefenseNews Japan Plans First Spy Plane to Watch North Korea By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, TOKYO Japan plans to introduce unmanned spy aircraft to watch military bases in North Korea or other countries, letting Tokyo gather such intelligence on its own for the first time, a report said July 26. The Defense Agency will tighten its watch on North Korea, which fired a missile over Japan in 1998, regardless of the outcome of multilateral talks that began July 26 in China to end Pyongyang’s nuclear drive, the Tokyo Shimbun said. The agency will seek funds on the project for the fiscal year beginning in April 2006, the newspaper said, without citing sources. …

Wall Street Journal April 18, 2007 Pg. 9 Singapore Prime Minister Urges U.S. To Bolster Its Ties In Asia By Yaroslav Trofimov and Paul Beckett SINGAPORE -- Distracted by problems elsewhere, the U.S. isn't paying enough attention to Southeast Asia, losing its regional influence to a rising China and potentially weakening antiterrorism cooperation, Singapore's prime minister cautioned. In Southeast Asia, the U.S. has "many friends and many strategic interests," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told The Wall Street Journal ahead of his talks with President Bush, scheduled for early next month in Washington. "It's important for us to continue to nourish this,…

Indias New Carrier is Operational (USNI News)

GLOBAL INSECURITY Private navies combat Malacca Strait pirates Waterway now so dangerous for shipping, Lloyd's classifies major seaway as warzone © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Ship captains navigating the Malacca Strait no longer have to depend on the slow response of government – or sheer luck – to safely pass through the pirate- and terrorist-infested waters since private navies have begun providing escort services for ships through the strategic seaway. The Strait, passageway to a third of the world's crude oil, has long been treacherous, with gangs armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other modern weapons ready to board, kill crews, stea…

From Defence Aerospace Boeing Rolls Out First F-15K for Republic of Korea Air Force (Source: Boeing Co.; issued March 16, 2005) ST. LOUIS --- The Boeing Company revealed the first F-15K Strike Eagle fighter aircraft for the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) today at the Boeing site in St. Louis, Mo. The aircraft unveiled at the event completed its first flight March 3 and is the first of 40 F-15Ks being built for the ROKAF. The ROKAF is investing $4.2 billion for the 40 F-15Ks and deliveries will begin this year and end in August 2008. “Boeing is thankful we can produce this world-class fighter for the Republic of Korea,” said Jim Albaugh, Boeing I…

From Flight Global DATE: 03/06/09 SOURCE: Flight International Malaysia to phase out troublesome MiG-29 fighters By Siva Govindasamy Malaysia has announced plans to phase out its RSK MiG-29N fighters over the next few years, with the fleet having been plagued by problems since it bought the type in the early 1990s. "I have decided that from next month, the aircraft will be phased out and we should find a way to sell them to certain companies or countries approved by the United Nations," Malaysia's new defence minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told the official Bernama news agency. The minister did not say what would replace the MiG-29s, which are operated …

Johnston says AWD programme in 'deep, deep trouble' (Jane's)

The Drudge Report REPORT: CHINA, RUSSIA TO 'REHEARSE INVASION OF TAIWAN' Thu Mar 17 2005 11:02:09 ET MOSCOW, March 17. (RIA Novosti)-Yesterday, Chief of the Russian General Staff Yury Baluyevsky left for China to settle a scandal over the first Russian-Chinese military exercise, Commonwealth-2005, which is due to be held this fall off the Yellow Sea coast, writes Kommersant. The initial plans were to practice operational teamwork in combating terrorism during the exercise. However, Beijing, skillfully changing the format of the exercise, has tried to re-orient the two countries' armies to practicing an invasion of Taiwan. The choice of where the exerci…