Current Events in Asia-Pacific

From Jane's China considers next-generation Su-33s for aircraft carrier programme By Reuben F Johnson 28 October 2008 China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is close to reaching a decision on the procurement of aircraft for its aircraft carrier programme, Russian industry sources have told Jane's. Negotiations between the PLAN and the Komsomolsk-na-Amure Aviation Production Association (KnAAPO) in Russia have been held intermittently for several years, with the Chinese military said to be unsure whether to purchase a version of the Sukhoi Su-33 carrier-capable fighter or develop its own carrier aircraft based on the Chengdu J-10. Russian sources ha…

BBC News The underwear thing is grossly unprofessional behaviour.

From Jane's Indian BMD shield could be in service by 2011 By Rahul Bedi 17 March 2009 A third successful test-firing of India's new ballistic missile defence (BMD) system in early March has given Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) officials the confidence to claim that the system will offer an initial operating capability by 2011. They told Jane's that the BMD system would be declared operational after six more test-firings, including an integrated trial in which two interceptors will be launched at an incoming ballistic missile: one to destroy it at an altitude of 40 km and the other to annihilate falling debris at a height of 15 km. Integ…

From ARES RAAF Goes for Growlers Posted by Robert Wall at 2/27/2009 1:32 AM CST The Royal Australian Air Force could be the first non-U.S. military service to operate EA-18 Growler electronic attack aircraft under a deal announced in Australia today. The deal is also noteworthy for the fact that it indicates the U.S. is willing to share some of its most advanced technology with close allies -- neither the EA-6B nor EF-111 jammers were exported. The EA-18G deal comes not long after the Pentagon agreed to let the U.K. buy RC-135 Rivet Joints, the highly sensitive signals intelligence system. Australia is not buying new Growlers; instead it would modify 12 o…

From Flight International DATE: 31/10/08 SOURCE: Flight International India rejects Russian aircraft carrier price demand By Radhakrishna Rao India's finance ministry has for the second time rejected a proposal from the nation's defence ministry to approve an additional $1.2 billion in funds to complete a retrofit project to the decommissioned Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov. Moscow had originally agreed to deliver the modernised vessel for $1.5 billion, but demanded the additional payment after citing factors including an underestimation of the level of work required at its Sevmash shipbuilding yard. India, which has already paid Russia tw…

Thursday, February 19 09:31 am Reuters China called on Russia on Thursday to explain how a Chinese cargo ship sank in Russian waters after reports it was fired on by the Russian military. Skip related content Seven Chinese sailors were missing after the "New Star" sank on Saturday in stormy seas off Vladivostok and after a Russian warship shot at least 500 rounds into it, the official China Daily newspaper said, quoting a Chinese-language paper which in turned quoted a Russian newspaper. The "New Star" was held at the Russian port of Nakhodka earlier this month, suspected of involvement in smuggling, before it left without permission last week, the China D…

From ARES Another North Korea Alert Drill for GMD? Posted by Michael Bruno at 2/24/2009 4:38 AM CST There doesn't seem to be any official word from U.S. defense officials online yet, but if North Korea is preparing for another missile launch, then the Ground-based Midcourse Defense System of ballistic interceptors based in Alaska and California probably is on alert. The New York Times is reporting that North Korea said today it was preparing to send a satellite into orbit in what U.S. and South Korean officials believe will be a provocative test of a long-range missile capable of reaching parts of North America. CNN is reporting it too. A statement from P…

From DefenseNews Taiwan Finalizes Long Awaited P-3 Deal By wendell minnick Published: 23 Feb 07:25 EST (12:25 GMT) TAIPEI – Taiwan, the U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin have finally settled issues over price and offset options, and are expected to soon sign a contract for 12 P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft for $1.3 billion, said sources in Taiwan. The signing will mark the end of two decades of struggle by Taiwan to replace its decrepit Northrop Grumman S-2T anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. In April 2001, former U.S. President George W. Bush authorized the sale of a major arms package to Taiwan that included 12 P-3s, eight diesel submarines and fo…

From CNN February 20th, 2009 Rebels jets attack Sri Lankan capital Posted: 02:10 PM ET COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) — Two Tamil rebel aircraft swooped into this capital city Friday, with one dropping a bomb that killed at least two people and wounded 47 just before it crashed, officials said. Officials said the casualties occurred in and around the head office building of the Department of Revenue. The wreckage of the plane was found on top of the building. It was not clear if the aircraft was shot down or if the pilot had intended a suicide attack. The building is two blocks away from the Air Force headquarters, which officials believe the attacker meant t…

From ARES Canadian Def. Minister Slams NATO Posted by Paul McLeary at 2/17/2009 10:54 AM CST It looks like the United States isn’t the only NATO member getting frustrated with the way its allies are conducting themselves in Afghanistan. Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay—whose troops are in the thick of the fight in Kandahar, having lost 108 troops in the war thus far—recently called out the rest of the alliance, giving voice to his frustrations in a speech in London: "Afghanistan tests the ability of the alliance to execute its most basic mission in the 21st century and in a global context…If NATO cannot deter or defeat the real physical threat facin…

From Defence Talk India hopes to test ICBM in 2010: official Agence France-Presse | Feb 16, 2009 Bangalore, India: India hopes to test-fire a home-built inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) before the end of next year, a senior defence official said Friday. "Efforts are on to test the next longer range Agni-V missile before December 2010," M. Natarajan, the scientific adviser to India's defence minister told reporters on the sidelines of the Aero India international air show here. The Agni-V will have an ICBM range in excess of 5,000 kilometres (3,107 miles). The shorter range Agni-I and Agni-II ballistic missiles are currently being introduced …

N. Korea ditches nonaggression pact with S. Korea By JAE-SOON CHANG, Associated Press Writer Jae-soon Chang, Associated Press Writer Fri Jan 30, 4:02 am ET SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea said Friday it is ditching a nonaggression pact and all other peace agreements with South Korea, in an apparent attempt to use the threat of an armed clash to press Seoul to give up its "confrontational" stance. The communist nation also said it will no longer respect a disputed sea border with the South, raising the prospect for an armed clash along the Yellow Sea boundary — the scene of deadly skirmishes between the two navies in 1999 and 2002. South Korea said it regretted…

I found this episode of Wide Angle in the Notes of a wiki page linked from the HULL mailing list. There apparently is a Public Broadcasting System program called Wide Angle. Around July 2008, this episode aired, I viewed it in ints entirety this morning. Here is a link - Japan's About Face. It looks at the ongoing Japanese constitutional debate over the role of its Self Defense Forces. At the heart of the debate is Article 9 of their constitution - their "Constitutional Problem". It looks at cadets and instructors at their military academy, members of the powerful Japanese pacifist-peace movement, general citizens (many have no idea that they even have a self …

From DefenseNews Kyrgyzstan Moves To Shut Key U.S. Base By TOLKUN NAMATBAYEVA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Published: 4 Feb 07:40 EST (12:40 GMT) BISHKEK - Kyrgyzstan's government on Feb. 4 approved the closure of a U.S. airbase on its territory used as a vital supply route for Western military operations in Afghanistan. The decision by the Central Asian state came as a snub to the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, who has singled out Afghanistan as the main front in U.S. military operations overseas and plans to deploy 30,000 more troops there over the next 18 months. Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announced the closure a day earlier in Moscow…

From Defence Talk China to begin projecting military around the world: analysts Agence France-Presse | Jan 28, 2009 London: China is likely to begin deploying its military increasingly further from its borders, analysts at a top thinktank said on Tuesday. The Asian power was also unlikely to constrain its defence budget because of an economic downturn that has left the World Bank forecasting the slowest pace of growth in China since 1990, the analysts at the International Institute for Strategic Studies said. Noting that China began using a naval convoy in the Gulf of Aden to protect the country's shipping from Somali pirates, IISS director of transnation…

From ARES Malaysia Takes Delivery of Its First Ever Submarine Posted by Christina Mackenzie at 1/27/2009 9:39 AM CST Malaysia took delivery today of its first ever submarine: a Scorpene built by French military shipyard DCNS in partnership with Spanish shipyard Navantia. The submarine, named the Tunku Abdul Rahman (after Malaysia's first Prime Minister following independence in 1957), completed its sea tests at the end of December and was handed over to Admiral Dato'Sri Aziz Hj Jaafar, chief of staff of the Royal Malaysian Navy at a ceremony in the Mediterranean port of Toulon. The vessel will sail to Malaysia in the summer and meantime the crew will comp…

From Aviation Week 24 F-22s Deployed To Guam and Okinawa Jan 26, 2009 By David A. Fulghum In the fourth and largest F-22 deployment so far, a squadron of the U.S. stealth fighters has shifted from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, to Andersen AFB, Guam. Another 12 fighters from Langley AFB, Va., flew to Kadena AFB in Okinawa, Japan, earlier this month. The first F-22 deployment was from Langley to Elmendorf, the second was from Langley to Okinawa and the third was from Elmendorf to Guam. All were temporary single squadron moves to test the new aircraft’s logistics and reliability and — in the last two moves — to participate in the rotation of units to th…

PACAF’s “Vision” Thing By Richard Halloran Find the air force Magazine article here. A new wargame tells airmen what it will take to hold the line in the Far East. Pacific Air Forces has begun to forge a doctrine of AirSea Battle with the intent of deterring any Chinese, North Korean, or Russian military aggression in Asia and the Pacific. The doctrine is in its early stages of development, and initial findings are being drawn from a two-phase wargame called Pacific Vision, held in October. Pacific Vision’s first phase looked out to 2016, and was centered on Air Force operations. This wargame focused on the weapons, bases, and combat forces that PACAF alre…

From Jane's Japanese MoD maintains plan to pursue F-22 By Jon Grevatt and Craig Caffrey 07 January 2009 The Japanese Ministry of Defence (MoD) has dismissed reports that it is prepared to drop plans to evaluate the F-22 Raptor fifth-generation air superiority fighter as part of its programme to procure next-generation (FX) fighters for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF). Media reports from Japan have quoted government sources as saying that the MoD will abandon efforts to seek access to the aircraft's technologies and performance data in light of increasing budgetary pressures on the F-22 programme in the United States and the continuing ban on its exp…

From Aviation Week India Orders Eight Boeing P-8Is Jan 5, 2009 Neelam Mathews The Indian Navy ordered eight Boeing P-8I multimission aircraft on Jan. 2 to replace its eight aging TU-142s, making for the first direct military sales by Boeing to India. "Clearly, we are pleased that the government of India has selected the P-8Is. India has become the first international customer for P-8s. It is significant for us to partner with this market," said Vivek Lall, vice president and country head, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. There are 30 percent offsets that have been committed by Boeing on the deal. Boeing declined to comment on delivery schedules. "T…