Russia Makes Veiled Threat To U.S. Aircraft In Syria

A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman has made a veiled threat that its air-defense units could shoot down U.S. aircraft in Syria if they attack Syrian army positions. Igor Kamashenkov said Russian crews might not have time to identify "unidentified flying objects" before giving them a "surprise."

(The is a difference in shooting down a US war plane than shooting down an unarmed passenger flight over Ukraine)

China accuses U.S. of militarizing South China Sea

BEIJING — China on Friday accused the U.S. of militarizing the South China Sea, just days after it was revealed Beijing had deployed surface-to-air missiles on an island in the hotly disputed area.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters that patrols by U.S. military aircraft and Navy vessels, along with joint exercises involving regional partners were the true reason why concerns were growing over peace and stability.

"The above actions have escalated tensions in the South China Sea, and that's the real militarization of the South China Sea," Hong said.

.S. and Taiwanese officials this week confirmed commercial satellite images showing the missiles placed on Woody Island in the disputed Paracel chain.

China has not denied the appearance of the missiles, but says it is entitled to defend its territory and points to the construction of lighthouses, weather stations and other infrastructure undertaken to provide more "public goods and services to the international community

The deployment follows China's building of new islands by piling sand atop reefs and then adding airstrips and military installations. The buildup is seen as part of Beijing's efforts to claim virtually the entire disputed sea and its resources.

Vietnam, which along with Taiwan also claims the Paracels, issued a diplomatic note to the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi on Friday to demand a stop to what it called "China's infringement of Vietnam's sovereignty" over the islands.

China's action "have also threatened peace and stability in the region as well as security, safety, and freedom of navigation and aviation," Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh told reporters.

The Philippines, which claims waters and features east of Woody island, on Friday said it was "gravely concerned" by reports of the missile deployments.

"Such actions negate China's earlier commitment not to militarize the South China Sea," the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Although not one of the six governments with claims in the South China Sea, the U.S. says it has a national interest in the region's stability and freedom of navigation and overflight in and above what are some of the world's busiest sea lanes.

Secretary of State John Kerry has suggested that the positioning of missiles and other signs of increasing militarization contradicted a public assurance from Chinese President Xi Jinping when he visited the White House last September

Hong's comments represent China's attempt to turn that accusation back on Washington, a cause to which it has rallied its entirely state-controlled media outlets

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China's "defensive deployment on Yongxing targets external military threats," the Communist Party newspaper Global Times said in an editorial, using China's name for Woody Island. "The U.S. is bold about imposing pressure on China, and China must make an appropriate response."

Associated Press Tran Van Minh in Hanoi, Vietnam, contributed to this report.

Incredible Ghost boat is perfect Bond villain runabout

 

It looks like a half-submerged X-Wing, or maybe a Star Trek Shuttle, but it's actually Ghost, one American start-up's vision for what an attack helicopter designed for the navy might look like. Mustering 4,000 HP from two engines on the end of powered legs, Ghost promises to whip across the ocean in a supercavitation bubble, avoiding radar and with a silky smooth ride for the crew inside.

What makes the boat special is how it improves on hydroplane technology, more commonly used in racing boats. Hydroplanes increase their top speed by skimming across the top of the water, rather than burying their hulls in it, reducing drag in the process.

 

However, that also makes them relatively unstable and prone to flipping - so, Ghost's manufacturer Juliet Marine Systems turned to supercavitation, which creates a bubble of gas around each of the legs and cuts drag by a factor of 900. Air is pulled down through the struts, while the propellers are at the front of the 62 foot long tubes, effectively pulling the vessel along.

 

Unsurprisingly it took a few years to get the system working, and during that time the US Office of Naval Research wasn't especially impressed, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. Meanwhile, a potential DARPA grant fell through because it would've required exclusive access to Juliet Marine's patents; instead, company founder Gregory Sancoff wants to license the technology more broadly.

 

The goal is still to sell Ghost to the Navy for around $10m per boat, each capable of transporting sixteen people plus boat crew through 10 foot seas and higher without spilling their drinks (or the contents of their stomachs).

 

Sancoff argues that Ghost can do something no other current Navy vessel can: act as a bodyguard to other, slower ships, as well as sit stealthily near troubled areas and monitor foreign troop movements, tap electronic communications, and more.

 

Unfortunately, looking cool isn't one of the factors that necessarily convinces the US Navy to invest in a vessel. Back in 2012, for instance, Sea Shadow - the stealth boat that inspired James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies - was auctioned off for $3.2m, though with the proviso that the distinctive (but slippery-to-radar) craft be broken down for scrap by whoever bought it.

 

 

US clears air missiles sales to Turkish army

The United States has cleared a potential $320 million advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles (AMRAAM) missiles sale to Turkey after the country demanded arms from its NATO ally amid increasing security risks in the region. 

The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has announced that the State Department has approved a possible sale to Turkey for AIM-120C-7 AMRAAM missiles from Raytheon and associated equipment, parts, training and logistical support for an estimated cost of $320 million, a statement released by the agency on its website said.

Turkey has requested 145 AMRAAMs, 10 missile guidance sections, and 40 LAU-129 launchers, containers, support equipment, spare and repair parts, integration activities, publications and technical documentation, test equipment, personnel training and training equipment, U.S. government and contractor logistics, engineering and technical support and other related elements or logistical and program support.

The statement said the sale was consistent with the “U.S. national interests of assisting its NATO ally in developing and maintaining a strong and ready self-defense.”

“The Turkish Air Force (THK) intends to obtain these missiles to modernize its inventory, which will support its own air defense needs and improve its interoperability with the U.S. and other NATO allies,” the statement said.

Under U.S. law, this kind of military equipment sale to an allied country is carried out automatically unless at least one senator formally requests a hold on the sale within two weeks following the DSCA’s notification. No such opposition is expected in this case.

NATO security

According to the announcement, the missiles will be used on the F-16 aircraft – and eventually F-35 aircraft – in the Turkish army’s inventory and will maintain the THK’s air-to-air capability to defend its extensive coastline and borders against future threats.

“The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region,” it said.

“The implementation of this proposed sale will require multiple trips to Turkey involving U.S. government and contractor representatives for technical reviews/support, program management and training. U.S. contractor representatives will be required in Turkey for integration, testing, and training.
The number and duration are unknown and will be determined during contract negotiations,” it said.

PLA's new CSS-20 missile could take out US Pacific bases

F-22 fighters on the runway at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. (Photo/US Air Force)

 

China's new CSS-20 ballistic missile could take out all US military facilities in the Western Pacific, claims the Kanwa Defense Review operated by Andrei Chang, also known as Pinkov, a military analyst based in Canada.

 

 

The primary mission of the CSS-20, designed to carry out China's Anti Access and Area Denial strategy, is to strike at ground targets instead of aircraft carriers or other warships, the report said. The missile even has the range to hit Elmendorf Air Force Base and Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, some 5,000 kilometers from mainland China, the report said.
 

Other targets for the People's Liberation Army in a potential conflict with the United States would be Guam in the Western Pacific and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
 

Kanwa said the development of CSS-20 missile comes in response to the Asia Pivot strategy of the Obama administration. The article said the missile would undergo modifications in the future to make it more difficult for US radar stations and air defense system in Alaska to pick up.

US should fear littoral capability of PLA subs: retired officer

The United States should fear a potential submarine war with China, Wang Hongguang, retired deputy commander of the Nanjing Military Region, wrote in a commentary for the state-run Global Times on Aug. 11.
 

While admitting that the nuclear-powered attack submarines and ballistic missile submarines of the United States Navy have a longer range and faster speed than their Chinese counterparts, Wang said the PLA's submarines are better suited to fighting in littoral waters. He said US submarines have several major weaknesses that Chinese subs do not have. First, they are simply too large to conduct operations within the narrow First Island Chain of the Pacific, he said.

 

 

Compared to American submarines with displacement between 8,000 and 10,000 tons, Wang said it is much easier for 2,000-ton conventional PLA submarines to hide and evade the enemy. Wang said further that Chinese submarines employ the world's best air-independent propulsion system and can stay submerged for between 15 and 20 days. This is enough for them to travel 3,000 kilometers without being detected, he said.
 

Noting that a Chinese Type 039 Song-class submarine surfaced quietly nine miles away from the USS Kitty Hawk carrier in 2007, Wang said it is possible for the PLA Navy to do this again even in the central Pacific. If older boats like the Song-class submarine could do it, Wang said more advanced sumbarines such as the Type 094 Jin-class ballistic missile submarine can do it as well.

The Philippine military plans air, naval bases at Subic with access for US

The Philippine military has revived plans to build new air and naval bases at Subic Bay, a former U.S. naval base that American forces could use to counter China's creeping presence in the disputed South China Sea, senior navy officials said.

The proposed bases in the Philippines, a close U.S. ally, coincides with a resurgence of U.S. warships, planes and personnel in the region as Washington turns its attention to a newly assertive China and shifts its foreign, economic and security policy towards Asia.

The bases would allow the Philippines to station warships and fighter jets just 124 nautical miles from Scarborough Shoal, a contentious area of the South China Sea now controlled by China after a tense standoff last year.

The Philippine Navy, whose resources and battle capabilities are no match for China's growing naval might, has yet to formally present its 10-billion-peso ($230 million) base development plan to President Benigno Aquino.

But senior officials say they believe it has a strong chance of winning approval as Aquino seeks to upgrade the country's decrepit forces.

The Philippine Congress last year approved $1.8 billion for military modernization, with the bulk going to acquisition of ships, aircraft and equipment such as radar. The military had raised the plan in the past, but is now pushing it with more urgency following a series of naval stand-offs with China.

"The chances of this plan taking off under President Aquino are high because his administration has been very supportive in terms of equipment upgrade," said a senior military officer who asked not to be identified.

"The people around him understood our needs and more importantly, what our country is facing at this time."

Subic, a deep-water port sheltered by jungle-clad mountains 80 km (50 miles) north of Manila, has been a special economic zone since U.S. forces were evicted in 1992, ending 94 years of American military presence in the Philippines and shutting the largest U.S. military installation in Southeast Asia.

Since then, American warships and planes have been allowed to visit the Philippines for maintenance and refuelling.

U.S. military "rotations" through the Philippines have become more frequent as Beijing grows more assertive in the South China Sea, a vast expanse of mineral-rich waters and vital sea lanes claimed entirely by China, Taiwan and Vietnam and in part by Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines - one of Asia's biggest security flashpoints.

A 30-hectare (74-acre) area has been identified for the bases, which would station fighter jets and the Philippines' biggest warships that patrol the disputed sea, including two Hamilton-class cutter ships it acquired for free from the United States.

The plan has taken on added urgency since a tense two-month standoff last year between Chinese and Philippine ships at the Scarborough Shoal, which is only about 124 nautical miles off the Philippine coast. Chinese ships now control the shoal, often chasing away Filipino fishermen.

U.S. and Philippine navy ships begin war games near the shoal on Thursday.

The South China Sea dispute will again loom large over regional diplomacy next week when U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry joins his counterparts from Southeast Asian nations and China among other countries for an annual meeting in Brunei.

The Philippines plans to raise the issue of Chinese ships' "encroachment" near another disputed coral reef where Manila recently beefed up its small military presence, diplomatic sources told Reuters. China in turn has accused the Philippines of "illegal occupation" of the reef, which is a strategic gateway to an area believed to be rich in oil and natural gas.

RISE IN U.S. NAVY VISITS

There is no plan to allow the United States to rebuild its old bases, a sensitive issue in the Philippines where a nationalist backlash against the U.S. military helped lead to the 1992 closure of Subic and Clark Air Base.

New Philippine air and naval bases, however, would give visiting U.S. warships more security to launch operations in the South China Sea and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. A Visiting Forces Agreement, ratified by the Philippine Senate in 1999, allows U.S. forces full access to Philippine bases.

Roberto Garcia, chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), which oversees the Subic Bay Freeport, confirmed the plan to build the new bases, saying he had shelved plans in the area for a theme park to make way for it.

"I don't see any problem if the government wants to build an air and naval base in the Freeport area," Garcia said, noting the increase in the number of U.S. military port calls to Subic.

This year alone, 72 U.S. warships and submarines visited Subic, compared with 88 for all of 2012, 54 in 2011 and 51 in 2010, according to official data.

The Philippine military also wants to revive an airstrip that once handled some of the largest military aircraft in the U.S. arsenal. The former Cubi Point Naval Air Station, carved out of a mountain adjoining Subic, served FedEx Corp FDX.N cargo plans after the U.S. forces withdrew.

But FedEx ceased operations at the airstrip, now called Subic Bay International Airport, in 2009. Two senior air force officers told Reuters the military had proposed to Aquino to convert parts of the airstrip into an air base.

Another Philippine navy officer said the arrival in a few weeks of a second Hamilton-class cutter from the United States would put pressure on the navy to find a suitable port for large warships.

Since 2002, U.S. forces helping fight al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants in the southern Philippines have shared several bases with Philippine troops. U.S. Navy surveillance planes are allocated spaces in a local air force base at Clark.

"We've seen a lot of similar 'joint use' arrangement. The U.S. does not want bases, only access," a Philippine navy captain familiar with the Subic proposal told Reuters.

"We will share our bases with them and I am sure the U.S. would love them."