Current Events in Asia-Pacific

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 Navy Times Group: Pirate attacks up 10 percent in 2007 The Associated Press Posted : Wednesday Jan 9, 2008 7:17:27 EST KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Global pirate attacks rose by 10 percent in 2007, marking the first increase in three years as sea robbers made a strong comeback in Nigeria and Somalia, an international maritime watchdog said Wednesday. Last year, there were 269 attacks on ships, up from 239 in 2006 and reversing a downtrend seen since 2003, the International Maritime Bureau said in its annual report released by its piracy reporting center in Malaysia. “The significant increase in the [2007] numbers can be directly attributed to the increa…

From Navy Times Report: Pirate attacks up 14 percent The Associated Press Posted : Tuesday Oct 16, 2007 10:52:50 EDT KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Maritime pirate attacks worldwide shot up 14 percent in the first nine months of 2007 from a year earlier, with Somalia and Nigeria showing the biggest increases, an international watchdog said Tuesday. While Africa remains problematic, Southeast Asia’s Malacca Strait, one of the world’s busiest waterways, has been relatively quiet, the International Maritime Bureau said in its report. A total of 198 attacks on ships were reported between January and September this year, up from 174 in the same period in 2006, the …

From BBC News Pirates have attacked a gas tanker in the Malacca Strait, kidnapping its captain and chief engineer for ransom, a watchdog said. The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said about 35 pirates with rocket launchers stormed the Indonesian-owned MT Tri Samudra late on Saturday. They diverted the Belawan-bound vessel to a different part of Sumatra, before disappearing with the hostages. The shipowners are trying to negotiate the hostages' release, the IMB says. The narrow Malacca Strait between Indonesia and Malaysia is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes and has long been a haunt of pirates. Some 37 acts of piracy were recorded ther…

From the Summer 2011 issue of US Naval War College Review: PLA Doctrine and the Employment of Sea Based Airpower (PDF)

PLA Officer: China Must Establish South China Sea ADIZ (The Diplomat, Flashpoints)

Last night during the Zoom meeting there was talk about the PLAN super carrier and that they were going to use the same cats that we're using. Maybe not....to this old shipfitters eyes it looks like a standard Kuznetov design with a ski ramp and no angle...which means they can't launch and recover at the same time....oops.... Byron

China Commissions New Guided-Missile Destroyer (The Diplomat, Flashpoints) PLAN commissions first Type 052D DDG, puts second on sea trials (Jane's)

PLAN Type 901 integrated supply ship (Admiralty Trilogy, pdf)

Today's scheduled landing of a C-130 on North Field comes six days after the first F/A-18D Hornets from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121-MAG 12 landed for the first time on Tinian's West Field on May 23. Their landing established the effectiveness of the coral setup of the arresting gear. The goal was 10 arrestments in under an hour but they were able to do 12 in less than an hour. http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.asp...19293&cat=1 Out of room on Guam? Move to Tinian apparently. Ought to be interesting to see what ends up here especially since the Japanese are footing at least part of the bill.

Planning the unthinkable war: 'AirSea Battle' and its implications for Australia (ASPI)

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-30/royal-navy-chief-confident-of-australian-warship-program-success/104155910?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other

From Navy Times Police raid Japanese base over suspected leak By Mari Yamaguchi - The Associated Press Posted : Tuesday Aug 28, 2007 7:18:28 EDT TOKYO — Police raided a Japanese naval base Tuesday to investigate an alleged leak of sensitive warship technology data shared between Japan and the U.S., defense officials said. The leak involves U.S.-developed technology for the Aegis radar systems used on several Japanese destroyers and U.S. warships carrying missile interceptors. Investigators believe the information was circulated among Japanese naval academy students. The scandal has embarrassed Japanese defense officials at a time when Tokyo and Washingto…

Sounds like an excellent premise for a new scenario! White House May Go to U.N. Over North Korean Shipments By DAVID E. SANGER Published: April 25, 2005 New York Times ASHINGTON, April 24 - The Bush administration, facing a series of recent provocations from North Korea, is debating a plan to seek a United Nations resolution empowering all nations to intercept shipments in or out of the country that may contain nuclear materials or components, say senior administration officials and diplomats who have been briefed on the proposal. The resolution envisioned by a growing number of senior administration officials would amount to a quarantine of North Ko…

BBC news report Apparently it won't sail to other countries' territorial waters... which no sensible carrier admiral would do anyway...

PRC navy faces issues with carrier protection By Cheng Ta-chen Taipei Times Tuesday, Apr 24, 2007, Page 8 Advertising Advertising The media have begun to hype up news of plans by China to obtain a new aircraft carrier. This kind of attention has its precedents, such as recent rumblings that China was in the process of building a nuclear-powered carrier, or that it planned to deploy two carrier groups in the Sea of Japan and the South China Sea. It is difficult to know what to make of all these developments. A carrier group requires effective integration of fighting forces in the air, on the water and below the surface. Even if China could overcome the tech…

http://alert5.com/2012/08/27/photo-china-unveils-j-8f-tactical-reconnaissance-fighter/ Another one for the DBs...

PRC's new 'Type 094' submarine has no bite By Cheng Ta-cheng 鄭大誠 Taipei Times Saturday, Jul 15, 2006,Page 8 Advertising Advertising Recent reports indicate that China's Type 094 Jin-class nuclear-powered guided ballistic missile submarine is already in service. Some of the media haven't been able to avoid buying into the hype surrounding its production, calling it "the complete equal of the American Ohio-class nuclear submarine." The 094's construction process has been shrouded in mystery, even to the extent that authorities have cordoned off a restricted area extending several kilometers around the construction facilities on China's Hulu Island, strictly p…

From Defense Aerospace Problems with Malaysian Scorpene (Source: Forecast International; issued February 15, 2010) KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia --- The Malaysian Navy reports that Malaysia's first Scorpene class submarine, delivered in September 2009, has developed problems that have left it unable to submerge. "The submarine can still dive but when we detected the defects, we were advised that it should not dive," Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said. "The defects are still covered by warranty, so the supplier and contractor are repairing them," he added. This is the third fault found with the Scorpenes built for Malaysia. Malaysian Navy commander…