Think Tank: Sea, air, land and space updates (30-May-2017)

Zoe Glasson, Sophie Qin, Madeleine Nyst and Patrick Kennedy

Sea State

The Pentagon is looking at equipping the US Coast Guard’s planned three new medium icebreakers with heavy weapons. Speaking to a House subcommittee on Homeland Security, Admiral Paul Zukunft said it was necessary to ‘look differently at what an icebreaker does’ and that ‘US presence in the Arctic is… a matter of national security.’ The USCG currently has only two active icebreakers, which are split between the Arctic and the Antarctic. America’s arctic capabilities are far out-stripped by that of Russia, which has a fleet including a (huge!) ‘research’ submarine and around 40 icebreakers. And, in the last few years, Russia has activated 14 new operational airfields and 16 deep water ports as part of an arctic military build-up that one US commander has likened to China’s actions in the South China Sea.

Surprising evidence has emerged that the first ever Australian ship to reach Japan was in fact sailed by convict pirates from Tasmania. The Cyprus was hijacked by convicts in 1829, and, according to fresh translations of samurai accounts, anchored off the town of Mugi on Shikoku island on 16 January 1830—at the height of Japan’s feudal isolation.

Think Tank: Sea, air, land and space updates (28-Feb-2017)

Zoe Glasson, Sophie Qin, Madeleine Nyst and Patrick Kennedy

Sea State

Cyber attack combat-readiness, intelligence exploitation, drone intelligence, systems streamlining and integrated infrastructure will all be part of the Royal Navy’s forthcoming Information Warrior 17 exercise. Perhaps the coolest aspect of the exercise is that it’ll explore artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, both as a potential threat and as a combat tool. The exercise will test whether AI can be used as a warship’s “mind”, controlling weapons targeting, issuing commands and improving threat response strategies.

The Royal Australian Navy is also war-gaming this week in the inaugural Exercise Ocean Explorer. Taking place off the West Australian coast, the exercise involves more than 17 ships and aircraft including contributions from Spain, New Zealand and Italy. It aims ‘to train ships to work together in a series of complex and dynamic warfare scenarios’, with the international participants also having the opportunity to grapple with the added challenges around language, customs and technology differences.

Finnish defence firm Patria showcased its Nemo Container mortar system at IDEX in Abu Dhabi on 20 February. Essentially, it’s a shipping container integrated with a 120mm Nemo mortar turret that can be fitted to both land and sea platforms. Check out this quick video explaining its versatility.

News Story: US hunter plane findings - Russia has ‘detonated NUKE in Arctic’

A WC-135 Constant Phoenix approaching a tanker
(Image: Wiki Commons)

A US specialist nuke-hunting plane, the WC-135 Constant Phoenix, detected massive radiation spike across Europe, which leads to fear that Russia may have detonated a nuclear weapon in a secret Arctic test, Daily Star reports.

The WC-135 was deplyed to the Britain Royal Air Force (RAF) in Mildenhall. Sources suggest the aircraft has been tasked in investigating the spike in Iodine-131 levels in northern Europe since January, The Aviationist reports.

Nuclear explosion “sniffing” is the prime job of the plane, and one of the aircraft was previously deployed over North Korea.

Read the full story at Tankler

USA: Tired Force Excelling, Service Secretaries Say

By David Vergun

Army News Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2016 — The Army is not a broken or hollow force, Army Secretary Eric Fanning said today, but it's “tired, because we've been running it hard for such a long time now, and there's no end in sight to the high optempo."

Fanning was joined by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James during a panel discussion moderated by CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr at the Center for a New American Security here.

All three service secretaries proclaimed that the United States is ready to fight a near-peer adversary simultaneously with a drawn-out battle on terror, despite a tired force -- the caveat being a certain amount of risk for lives lost due to less-than-ideal manpower, training and weaponry brought on by lack of congressional action to loosen its purse strings.

Think Tank: Sea, air and land updates (14-Jun-2016)

Image: Flickr User - max chow

Dione Hodgson, Ashleigh Sharp and Lachlan Wilson

Sea State

In a sign of Russia’s growing strategic interest in the Arctic region, the country floated its new icebreaker last Friday—the first new icebreaker in almost 45 years. The Ilya Muromets—which will join the Northern Fleet in 2017—is an electric-diesel powered icebreaker designed to assist the Russian Navy in icy conditions, escort and tow other ships, and deliver supplies to remote military installations. The 85-metre long ship can cut through one-metre-thick ice and is capable of travelling the entire 5,600km length of the Northern Passage. The Arctic has become a priority for Russia in recent years, having built several bases and conducted war games in the area in addition to filing a claim in the UN over a significant part of the region. The country is also building two Arctic corvettes—which will be able to act as icebreakers and armed with cruise missiles—and three nuclear-powered icebreakers, the largest of which—Arktika— will be floated next week.

During a Defence Committee hearing last week, British MPs were told that six British Type 45 destroyers had experienced repeated power outages because the waters of the Persian Gulf were too warm. Representatives from Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems Maritime told the hearing that the failings occurred because the equipment was being operated in more arduous conditions than envisaged—with waters in the Persian Gulf reaching 32 degrees Celsius. A spokesperson from Britain’s Ministry of Defence has denied this, telling CNN that the Type 45 was designed for world-wide operations and is effective in the Gulf and South Atlantic all year round. The £1 billion apiece warships are among the world’s most advanced missile destroyers and are the backbone of the Royal Navy’s air defence capability.

Interview: China’s Arctic Strategy - The Geopolitics of Energy Security

By Mercy A. Kuo and Angelica O. Tang

Insights from Øystein Tunsjø

The Rebalance authors Mercy Kuo and Angie Tang regularly engage subject-matter experts, policy practitioners and strategic thinkers across the globe for their diverse insights into the U.S. rebalance to Asia. This conversation with Dr. Øystein Tunsjø – Associate Professor at the Center for Asia Security Studies, Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies, and author and editor of multiple publications on East Asian security, China’s energy security policy, geopolitics, risk and hedging management, including Security and Profit in China’s Energy Policy: Hedging Against Risk, Twenty-First Century Seapower: Conflict and Cooperation at Sea and US-China-EU Relations: Managing a New World Order – is the 24th in “The Rebalance Insight Series.”

How is China positioning itself in the Arctic?

China has not published any official Arctic strategy, policy or white paper, which suggest that the region has not been a priority and presently not high enough on the political agenda in Beijing. Nonetheless, statements by Chinese officials and China’s membership as a permanent observer in the Arctic Council have clarified China’s position on Arctic affairs and acknowledged China’s interests in the region. China’s growing activism in the Arctic is primarily shaped by scientific and climate considerations, commercial interest in the petroleum, shipping and mineral sector, as well as diplomatic and legal concerns. China’s willingness to become an Arctic Council observer supports the view that China does not challenge the sovereignty of the littoral states in the Arctic Ocean and remains committed to respecting the rule of law, including UNCLOS. China is positioning itself, and gaining a “foot in the door,” in order to access and extract resources and take advantage of strategic, economic, military, and scientific opportunities in the Arctic region in the years ahead.

Read the full story at The Diplomat

Editorial: Beijing’s Arctic Play - Just the Tip of the Iceberg

By Elizabeth C. Economy

China has clearly signaled that it has a strong interest in the Arctic region.

If you pay attention, Chinese foreign policy rarely surprises. Of course there is the odd moment when Beijing catches the world unaware: for example, its declaration of an Air Defense Identification Zone in the East China Sea in late 2013. Generally speaking, however, the Chinese telegraph their long-term strategic intentions through their smaller tactical maneuvers. It is just that the rest of the world sometimes misses the signals or doesn’t know what to do with the information. Such is the case with China’s emerging play in the Arctic.

Over the past several years, China has begun to stake out its claim to the Arctic. No part of China actually touches the Arctic, but as a recent International Institute for Strategic Studies commentary points out, Chinese scholars routinely describe their country as a “near-Arctic” state, and Rear Admiral Yin Zhuo has argued that the “Arctic belongs to all the people around the world, as no nation has sovereignty over it… China must play an indispensable role in Arctic exploration as we have one-fifth of the world’s population.” This is a signal of Chinese intent. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat