Current Events in Asia-Pacific

From Defense Aerospace [excerpt] Link to Parliamentary Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade - 07/02/2012 - Department of Defence annual report 2010-11 (PDF) CV32: Note that AGSI's Harpoon 3 (H3) MilSim was the simulation used!

A First: North Korea Tests 'Polaris-1' SLBM (The Diplomat) Appears to be legit. I may throw this into the DB for more scary 'what if' scenario making.

From DefenseNews [excerpt]

From Flight International DATE:31/07/07 SOURCE:Flightglobal.com Japan mulls over indigenous stealth fighter By Siva Govindasamy Japan has started a study to develop next-generation stealth technology, which if successful could lead to the production of its first indigenous fighter in almost 30 years and give it a long-coveted ability to counter China's growing air power. The study, however, could also be a way of putting pressure on the USA to release information about the Lockheed Martin F-22. Japan is one of the few countries that can afford the Raptor's $200 million price tag, but US Congress has banned export sales of the aircraft due to its use of secr…

Wargame Shows Armed Forces' Progress in Joint Operation Ability: MOFA find article here TAIPEI --- A recently concluded computer wargame showed that the armed forces have made remarkable progress in their joint operation capability, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Thursday. MND officials made the remarks when they reported on the results of the computer wargame of the "Hankuang No. 22" series of military exercises at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan's Defense Committee. The live fire drills of the "Hankuang No. 22" exercise will be held later this year. On April 24, the MND began a five-day, round-the-clock simulation of various scenarios,…

From Aviation Week Chinese Test Anti-Satellite Weapon By Craig Covault/Aviation Week & Space Technology 01/17/2007 07:45:59 PM U. S. intelligence agencies believe China performed a successful anti-satellite (asat) weapons test at more than 500 mi. altitude Jan. 11 destroying an aging Chinese weather satellite target with a kinetic kill vehicle launched on board a ballistic missile. The Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, NASA and other government organizations have a full court press underway to obtain data on the alleged test, Aviation Week & Space Technology will report in its Jan. 22 issue. …

South Korea to Expand Its Air Defense Identification Zone (The Diplomat) S. Korea nears finalization of expanded air defense zone (Yonhap) Possible scenarios for the expansion:

Nice choice of namesake ... From Defense Aerospace [excerpt]

From Defense Aerospace More Reason to Release the Air Combat Capability Review (Source: Australian Liberal Party (Opposition); issued Sept. 12, 2008) Lockheed’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has flown into a storm of controversy in Australia and the Netherlands, amid reports it was comprehensively defeated by Sukhoi Su-35s in a wargame. The dangers of having an indecisive Defence Minister became more apparent last night when Mr Fitzgibbon validated the flimsiest of rumours about the Joint Strike Fighter. Instead of jumping at shadows, Mr Fitzgibbon should immediately release the Air Combat Capability Review so we can see what Australia’s defence experts reall…

From Air Force Times Japan fires AF head for World War II essay By Shino Yuasa - The Associated Press Posted : Friday Oct 31, 2008 14:46:14 EDT TOKYO — Japan’s defense minister dismissed his air force chief on Friday for writing an essay that claimed the country was not an “aggressor” in World War II and was trapped into getting involved in the conflict by the United States. Toshio Tamogami’s essay will likely upset relations with China and South Korea, who remain bitter about Japan’s wartime occupation and say Tokyo has failed to properly atone for its invasion of the Korean peninsula, Taiwan and parts of China. “His views are different from the governm…

Last week, Harriers and the HMS Ark Royal. This week, the F-111 ... Australia's F-111 retirement to close chapter of aviation history

Chinese Missiles and the Wal-Mart Factor

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 …

Russia bombers resume Cold War sorties Flights to Guam intended to showcase Moscow’s resurgent military prowess The Associated Press Updated: 10:52 a.m. ET Aug 9, 2007 MOSCOW - Russian bombers have flown to the island of Guam — home to a major U.S. military base — for the first time since the Cold War in an exercise intended to show the Kremlin’s resurgent military power, an air force general said Thursday. Two Tu-95 bombers reached Guam, a U.S. territory, this week, and their crews smiled at the pilots of the U.S. fighter jets that scrambled to intercept them, said Maj. Gen. Pavel Androsov. “Whenever we saw U.S. planes during our flights over the ocean, we g…

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…

My abbreviated version ... 330x PAC-3 missiles, 4x MPQ-65 radars, etc 30x AH-64D Apache Longbow helos, 17 APG-78 Longbow radars, 173x Stinger Block I air to air missiles, 1,000x AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire missiles 32x UGM-84L Sub Harpoon missiles Spares for F-5E/F, C-130H, F-16A/B, and Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) Retrofit of four E-2T Hawkeye AEW&C aircraft to the Hawkeye 2000 standard *** From Defense Aerospace Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States – PATRIOT Advanced Capability-3 Guided Missiles (Source: U.S Defence Security Cooperation Agency; issued October 3, 2008) WASHINGTON --- Today the Defense Secu…

From http://www.defence-aerospace.com Wedgetail Aircraft Heading to Australia for First-Ever Visit Source: Boeing Co.; issued March 1, 2005 ST. LOUIS --- Boeing today announced that an airborne early warning and control aircraft for Australia’s Project Wedgetail will make its first visit to Australia at the Australian International Air Show in Avalon beginning March 15. “Hundreds of Australian defence and industry personnel are working on the Wedgetail program and this visit is a great opportunity for them to see the aircraft and the excellent progress being made, said Air Vice-Marshal (ret.) Norman Gray, deputy chief executive officer of the Defence Materi…

http://theaviationist.com/2012/09/16/j-31/ Looks like a second PRC stealth fighter.

Source: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/natio...es/2438160.aspx Teaser: American nuclear submarines could call Australia home if a proposal by two of Australia's leading Defence experts is included in the 2014 Defence White Paper. This WP should be an interesting read. This could provide an interesting twist for A-P area scenario design.

Here's something interesting, for future South China Sea scenarios: From 2013-2018, Vietnam Will Receive a New Submarine Annually The submarines will be equipped with Klub-S, anti-ship/anti-submarine missile with max range 300km. According to some unofficial sources from the Russian media, from the beginning of the month 6/2011 the Russian side has begun work on two Kilo 636M project class submarines, for the Vietnam Navy. The first will be delivered in 2013. Expected that Russia will hand over to Vietnam annually to a submarine in 2018. Source: http://nosint.blogspot.com/2012/01/from-20...eceive-new.html FWFS, Greg Emerson, DM1(SW), USN-Retired Renton, …