Current Events in Asia-Pacific

New BVRAAM may have entered PLAAF service (Jane's)

From Aviation Week China Asat Test Called Worst Single Debris Event Ever By Frank Morring, Jr. Chinese delegates will have some explaining to do in Vienna later this month, when they sit down with representatives of other spacefaring nations to adopt international guidelines designed to mitigate the growing problem of man-made space debris in Earth orbit. The document drafted by a technical subcommittee of the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space is aimed at preventing the sort of accidental events that have gradually engulfed Earth in a cloud of potentially destructive high-speed debris since the flight of Sputnik 1 kicked off orbital spaceflig…

Kopp and the gang continue to be unhappy about the impending demise of the RAAF F-111 force: F-111: Deadly strike fighter to be trashed

Is January Chinese ASAT testing month? (All Things Nuclear, Union of Concerned Scientists)

From Defence Aerospace Seoul to Buy 20 More F-15Ks (Source: Korean Overseas Information Service; dated May 19, 2006) The Air Force will purchase 20 more F-15K multi-role aircraft beginning in 2009, following the scheduled introduction of 40 F-15s by 2008, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday (May 18). The $2 billion plan was approved during a meeting on Wednesday as part of the ministry's mid-term arms acquisition project between 2007 and 2011, ministry officials said. Final endorsement of the plan is to be made by President Roh Moo-hyun, they said. AND From DefenseNews S. Korea Cuts Back on U.S. F-15s: Report By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,…

China Makes Advance Payment for Russia’s S-400 Missile Defense Systems (The Diplomat)

From DefenseNews Posted 11/24/06 13:25 Pakistan, China Agree To Jointly Develop AWACS By REUTERS, ISLAMABAD Pakistan and China on Nov. 24 signed a memorandum of understanding for a long-term collaboration in defense production including development of an airborne early warning surveillance system. The announcement came during the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to Pakistan. China has been the main supplier of military hardware to Pakistan for decades. A statement from Pakistan’s air force said the two countries agreed on collaboration and co-development of aircraft manufacturing and related fields. Pakistan, concerned over rival India’s growing defense c…

Pakistan Launches Production of New Fighter Jet (DefenseNews)

China’s Claim That Its Fractional Orbital Bombardment System Was A Spaceplane Test Doesn’t Add Up (The War Zone)

Eight New Points on the Porcupine: More Ukrainian Lessons for Taiwan (War on the Rocks)

From Defense Aerospace India Acquires Capability for Air Defence Against Incoming Ballistic Missile Threats (Source: Indian Ministry of Defence; issued Nov. 27, 2006) The country today achieved a significant milestone in missile defence system. It acquired the capability for air defence against incoming ballistic missile threats, at 1025 hrs this morning. A Target Missile (modified Prithvi) simulating adversary's missile was launched from Interim Test Range, Balasore. The trajectory of the target missile was continuously tracked and the information was compiled in the Mission Control Centre (MCC) and transmitted to Launch Control Centre (LCC) for launching …

Japan has ordened two big CVH, in his previous line of building aircraft carrier ships. Named 22DDH, they're 248 meters long and 30.000-40.000 tons displacement (I suppose capables for 20-30 aircraft, including F-35B). The infophotos in the article send a good perception of proportion between the old and new classes (in French): http://www.meretmarine.com/article.cfm?id=112007

Australia Sells Amphibs for Scrap (DefenseNews)

Looks Like Chinas Building a Giant New Warship (War is Boring blog) First Iran and their wooden aircraft carrier. Now China and its 'son of Kirov'? Colour me skeptical.

Indian Navy Sea Harriers retired and going to museums from March 2016: http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/naval/naval-aviation/2016/03/21/indian-navy-retires-sea-harriers/82070296/

From DefenseNews Posted 02/13/07 08:14 N. Korea Agrees to Shut Key Nuclear Facilities By JUN KWANWOO and SHIGEMI SATO, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BEIJING North Korea agreed Tuesday to shut down key nuclear facilities within two months in exchange for badly needed fuel, part of a broad agreement aimed at ending the regime’s controversial nuclear program. In return, the U.S. would hold direct talks on diplomatic relations with North Korea — a member of President Bush’s "axis of evil” — and begin looking at removing it from the U.S. list of terrorist nations. The deal came after nearly a week of grueling six-nation talks in Beijing aimed at convincing the secretive St…

From Aviation Week China adds precision strike to capabilities Apr 8, 2009 By Richard D. Fisher, Jr. China has been developing and purchasing weapons for precision-strike warfare. This is the hard edge of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) doctrinal drive toward using increasingly sophisticated information technologies such as C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) to improve the capabilities of weapon systems (DTI March, p. 39). The PLA’s near-term goals appear to be greater asymmetric capabilities to target U.S. naval assets in the western Pacific and in space as part of an anti-access strategy. Lon…

A Dog And Pony Show: North Korea’s New ICBM by Markus Schiller and Robert H. Schmucker Dog and Pony Show (PDF)

From Want China Times [excerpt]

China Warns of ‘Inevitable’ War with US Over South China Sea (Defense One)