Current Events in Asia-Pacific

From Air Force Magazine August 2007, Vol. 90, No. 8 It’s time to stop wondering if China is a military danger. Its buildup answers that question for anyone who had an honest doubt. China Stands Up By Richard Halloran Sun Tzu would be pleased. Some 2,500 years ago, the great Chinese strategist wrote: “The art of war is of vital importance to the state.” Today, communist China, with a rapidly if unevenly expanding economy, has turned to building a world-class military force and mastering the art of modern war, all part of its quest to become the predominant power in Asia. The country’s very name—“Chung Kuo”—means the “Middle Kingdom,” a concept holding th…

Keating: China could join 1,000-ship navy By Zachary M. Peterson - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday Jul 25, 2007 9:21:49 EDT The Chinese navy could eventually become part of what Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Mullen envisions as the “1,000-ship navy,” Pacific Command head Adm. Timothy Keating said Tuesday. At a question-and-answer session at a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a public policy research group, Keating said that maritime cooperation with China is important, saying he recently met with Chinese defense officials. He acknowledged that China could eventually become part of the “1,000-ship navy,” but he said chall…

Bomb By Bomb, Japan Sheds Military Restraints By Norimitsu Onishi ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam — To take part in its annual exercises with the United States Air Force here last month, Japan practiced dropping 500-pound live bombs on Farallon de Medinilla, a tiny island in the western Pacific’s turquoise waters more than 150 miles north of here. The pilots described dropping a live bomb for the first time — shouting “shack!” to signal a direct hit — and seeing the fireball from aloft. “The level of tension was just different,” said Capt. Tetsuya Nagata, 35, stepping down from his cockpit onto the sunbaked tarmac. The exercise would have been unremarkab…

From DefenseNews Posted 07/05/07 21:39 China’s New Missile Submarine Seen By Satellite By REUTERS China’s newest ballistic missile submarine, the Jin-class vessel, has been spotted for the first time by a commercial satellite, a nuclear expert at the Federation of American Scientists said July 5. The submarine was photographed in late 2006 south of the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian, said Hans Kristensen, director of the FAS’s Nuclear Information Project. It appeared to be based on Russia’s Victor-3 model and, although photographs are unclear, resembles China’s early-1980s Xia-class submarines, said Kristensen, who spotted the long-anticipated vessel. Th…

From Navy Times Kitty Hawk visits Sydney on farewell tour By Meraiah Foley - The Associated Press Posted : Thursday Jul 5, 2007 9:05:49 EDT ABOARD THE USS KITTY HAWK — The Navy’s oldest ship in full active service pulled into Sydney Harbor on Thursday for a farewell visit, following its final military exercises before being decommissioned. The carrier Kitty Hawk, based in the Japanese port city of Yokosuka, and its crew of more than 5,500 sailors, docked at the Garden Island naval base along with support ships from its battle group. Thousands of spectators lined the shores of Australia’s biggest city to catch a glimpse of the massive vessel, as a half-do…

From Jane's North Korea - going ballistic again? 04 July 07 Several recent reports emanating from East Asia have suggested that North Korea is preparing for a ballistic missile test exercise. These reports further speculate that the upcoming test may occur on 4 July, the anniversary of its wide-ranging July 2006 missile test. However, these reports have not been confirmed by sources within Japan, South Korea or the US. The most significant ballistic missile development since the 1998 launch of the Paektusan space launch vehicle has been the July 2006 test. On 5 July (4 July and Independence Day in the US), North Korea conducted its largest and most comprehens…

From DefenseNews Posted 07/04/07 11:12 Indonesian Minister Says Singapore Trying To Scuttle Defense Pact By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESS, JAKARTA Indonesia’s defense minister has accused Singapore of trying to scuttle a bilateral defense pact so it will not have to sign an extradition treaty as part of the deal, reports said Wednesday. The defense pact and landmark extradition treaty were signed in April between the two nations, but still need to be ratified by their parliaments to be put into effect. A scheduled signing of three implementing agreements (IAs), detailing specific areas of cooperation, was delayed at the last minute because Indonesia requested changes, S…

From Defense Aerospace Government Approves First Stage of Amphib Ships Project (Source: Australian Department of Defence; issued Aug. 11, 2005) The Federal Government has approved the first stage of the $2 billion Amphibious Ships project which will provide Navy with a world class capability to deploy land forces on operations. Defence Minister Robert Hill said the project will provide Navy with two new amphibious ships to be used on operations such as combat operations, regional disaster relief, humanitarian aid, peacekeeping and peace monitoring, and assistance to policing or military operations. Australian shipbuilders will be invited to tender for…

Japan changes Iwo Jima name By Hans Greimel - The Associated Press Posted : Wednesday Jun 20, 2007 13:27:08 EDT TOKYO — Japan has changed the name of Iwo Jima, the volcanic island immortalized in one of World War II’s most brutal battles, to reflect the original name given by its inhabitants, the Japanese Geographical Survey Institute said. The new name is Iwo To, which will retain the same written characters and meaning — “Sulfur Island” — but is different when spoken. The name change was approved Monday by a joint geographical naming committee meeting between the survey institute and Japan’s coast guard, a statement from the institute said. An offic…

From Defense Aerospace Preferred Designer Chosen for AWD Contract (Source: Australian Department of Defence; issued Aug. 16, 2005) The Federal Government has chosen Gibbs & Cox as the preferred designer for Navy’s Air Warfare Destroyers (AWDs) - one of Australia’s largest and most complex Defence projects worth up to $6 billion. Defence Minister Robert Hill said Gibbs & Cox now joins a team made up of ASC Shipbuilder Pty Ltd, who has been selected to build the AWDs, and Raytheon Australia, selected as the Combat System-System Engineer. Senator Hill said Gibbs & Cox, a United States based company, was chosen through a competitive tender eva…

Australia, U.S. launch joint exercises By Meraiah Foley - The Associated Press Posted : Monday Jun 18, 2007 7:32:59 EDT SYDNEY, Australia — Australia and the U.S. launched their biggest joint war games Monday, with 27,500 troops backed by a U.S. aircraft carrier engaging in exercises aimed at consolidating the allies’ military dominance in the Asia Pacific region. The biennial Talisman Sabre exercise pits 20,000 U.S. troops and 7,500 Australian forces against two fictional enemies — the Kamarians and Musorians — in a variety of land and sea-based scenarios designed to test their skills in combat, peacekeeping and humanitarian relief efforts. The exercise,…

'Arms race' leaving our subs all at sea The Age

From DefenseNews Posted 05/28/07 11:17 China Lashes Critical Pentagon Report AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BEIJING China lashed back Monday at a U.S. report on its military might, saying the Pentagon was playing up the issue for ulterior motives and warning Washington against selling weapons to Taiwan. “The U.S. Defense Department’s report exaggerates China’s military expenditures out of ulterior motives and continues to disseminate the ‘China threat’ theory,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement. “It seriously violates the norms of international relations and rudely interferes in China’s internal affairs. China expresses its strong dissatisfactio…

From DefenseNews Posted 05/25/07 08:11 S. Korea Launches Aegis Destroyer AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, SEOUL South Korea on May 25 launched its first Aegis destroyer equipped with advanced air and sea weaponry, on the same day that North Korea test-fired several missiles. President Roh Moo-Hyun, speaking at the launch of the billion-dollar 7,600-ton KDX-III destroyer, said South Korea must be mindful of what he called a regional arms race. "The ship, armed with [a] state-of-the-art defense system and combat capability, is one of the world’s best destroyers," Roh said at a ceremony at the Ulsan dockyard of Hyundai Heavy Industries, which built the ship. "We have to se…

From Navy Times Kitty Hawk leaves Japan The Associated Press Posted : Wednesday May 23, 2007 10:19:16 EDT TOKYO — The carrier Kitty Hawk, the Navy’s oldest ship in full active service, embarked on its last major maneuvers Wednesday before being decommissioned next year. The 46-year-old vessel — the only American aircraft carrier permanently deployed abroad — eased out of its berth at the Navy base in Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo, escorted by a carrier strike group of cruisers and guided-missile destroyers, Naval spokesman John Nylander said. The voyage, to last several months in the western and central Pacific Ocean, was expected to be the last major mi…

Navy launches show of force off Iran coast By Barbara Surk - The Associated Press Posted : Wednesday May 23, 2007 9:12:42 EDT DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The Navy staged its latest show of military force off the Iranian coast Wednesday, sending two aircraft carriers and landing ships packed with 17,000 Marines and sailors to carry out unannounced exercises in the Persian Gulf. The strike groups led by the carriers John C. Stennis and Nimitz were joined by the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard and its own strike group, which includes landing ships carrying members of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. The Navy said nine U.S. warships passed throu…

SINGAPORE — Though small in size, the city state of Singapore resides in a busy neighborhood. It’s the home of the busiest port in the world, and it’s not uncommon to see several hundred container ships stacked up in neat rows stretching out dozens of miles from the downtown skyline. The Malacca and Singapore Straits also see about 1,400 vessels pass through their narrow channels each day. For a small nation with no natural resources or agricultural industry, maritime and port security are essential to the nation’s economic well-being. And security in the straits has global implications, experts say Col. Tay Kian Seng, head of naval operations for the Royal Si…

Report: Japanese navy leaked missile data The Associated Press Posted : Tuesday May 22, 2007 9:05:19 EDT TOKYO — Classified information about a U.S.-developed missile defense system was leaked from Japan’s navy to students at a naval academy, a news report said Tuesday, as officials investigated security gaps in military information shared between the allies. Investigators say the leak involved ship-to-air SM-3 interceptor missiles that are to be deployed on Japanese ships later this year, Kyodo News agency reported, citing unidentified officials. Investigators are already looking into the alleged leak of information about the U.S.-developed high-tech Aeg…

Is it just like everything else, that since we all have more opportunity to hear/read it, the more it "appears" to be happening. Reading navytime.com today, two more skippers have either been relieved, or have a good chance, in this case ground Arliegh Burke outside of Norfolk. CO of Arliegh Burke ran around, oh soft aground, so that's ok. CO of USS Helena (SSN) CO of USS Constitution And more than one or two over the past weeks that I am not currently able to pull up on the site. What's going on? Is it OPTEMPO? I'm not saying that there are not leadership failures in both the Army and Marines, but those forces are currently "engaged".

From Navy Times New subs will keep Pearl busy By William Cole - Honolulu Advertiser Posted : Sunday May 20, 2007 16:10:31 EDT The new nuclear attack submarine Hawaii and other Virginia-class subs will be the major source of work for the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in coming years, officials said. The $2.4 billion vessel was commissioned May 5 in Groton, Conn., and is expected to arrive for the first time at its home port of Pearl Harbor in 2009. Submarines account for about 90 percent of the work done by Pearl Harbor’s shipyard, the state’s largest industrial employer with a work force of 4,740. Pearl Harbor has 16 Los Angeles-class submarines. The s…