News Report: USS Ronald Reagan Supercarrier to Conduct Exercises Off Korean Peninsula

The US Navy has announced that the nuclear-powered supercarrier USS Ronald Reagan will be deployed to the Korean Peninsula to participate in joint exercises with the South Korean Navy as part of a continued American military buildup in the region as it faces off against North Korea.

The entire USS Ronald Reagan strike group, which includes four destroyers and two submarines, will be participating in exercises alongside South Korean ships in late October. The Pentagon claims that the exercises have been in the works for a long time, and are not a response to current tensions with Pyongyang.

On Friday, the 100,000-ton Reagan conducted drills with Japanese warships south of the Korean Peninsula as a response to the twin North Korean ballistic missile tests in August and September.

Then on Saturday, a pair of US B-1B Lancer strategic bombers flew within miles of the North Korean border. North Korea did not issue an official response to the mission, leading South Korean intelligence to claim that Pyongyang only found out about the bombers when the Pentagon told them.

News Report: US Supercarrier Starts New Drills With Japanese Navy South of Korean Peninsula

USS Ronald Reagan; A Nimitz class Aircraft Carrier

The 100,000-ton USS Ronald Reagan convened with one Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) helicopter carrier and two destroyers off the Korean Peninsula to conduct military exercises, the Japanese military said Friday.

The drills began September 11 in maritime areas to the south and west of the Japanese archipelago, according to a Friday JMSDF statement, and are slated to conclude September 28.

North Korea has carried out a flurry of ballistic missile and nuclear weapons tests in recent weeks in spite of new UN Security Council sanctions. On September 15, Japanese residents were urged to find cover as a North Korean ballistic missile soared by overhead. On September 3, Pyongyang conducted its most powerful nuclear test ever. Shortly before the nuke test, on August 29, a Hwasong-12 ballistic missile was launched from a site near Pyongyang, observed directly by leader Kim Jong-un as he puffed a cigarette and studied a map.

News Story: Cut ties with N. Korea, Japan foreign minister Kono urges world

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono

NEW YORK (Kyodo) -- Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono called Thursday for all countries that maintain diplomatic and economic ties with North Korea to sever them in a unified response to Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

"Now is the time for the international community as a whole to maximize the pressure on North Korea to take concrete actions toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Kono said in a speech to students at Columbia University in New York after several days of meetings during the U.N. General Assembly's general debate week.

"Can you believe that over 160 countries have diplomatic ties with North Korea, the biggest threat to the world right now?" he asked during the speech, a few hours after discussing the North Korea issue in a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

He said too many countries also maintain economic ties with the North, including by accepting its migrant workers, a target of the latest U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution adopted in response to the Sept. 3 nuclear test.

"We must work together with countries in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa to get rid of the 'loopholes' in the sanctions," Kono said.

Read the full story at The Mainichi

News Report: Russia Pitches Aggresively For MiG-29K $12 Bn Indian Deal

A MiG-29K on the deck of INS Vikramaditya

Indian Navy had issued a detailed request for information in January this year for 57 multi-role fighter aircraft to which Russian, French, Swedish and American companies had replied with their intent.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — With an eye on a big ticket deal involving supply of 57 naval multi-role fighter jet for Indian Navy's aircraft carriers, Russian manufacturer MiG has offered to jointly develop the MiG 29 K fighter jets with an Indian counterpart under the 'Make in India' program with complete transfer of technology. MiG is planning to submit a detailed proposal to the Indian government in this regard soon.

The procurement plan currently is in request for information stage. MiG CEO Ilya Tarasenko has claimed MiG-29K aircraft have serious tactical and technical advantages compared to Boeing’s F/A-18.

“We are considering various options for long-term and perspective cooperation, including those within the framework of the Make in India program. The Indian side has sent an RFI to companies that produce aircraft, which is one of the procedures preceding the official tender. MiG corp. has received such a request, now we are preparing our proposal,” Ilya Tarasenko, MiG CEO told to PTI in a written interview.

News Story: U.S. to send aircraft carrier to Korea next month - ministry

SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- The United States plans to send an aircraft carrier to waters near the Korean Peninsula next month for a joint training with South Korea's Navy, the defense ministry said Monday.

In a report to the National Assembly, the ministry said the allies will hold the exercise in October involving "the U.S. aircraft carrier strike group."

It did not reveal the name of the carrier.

South Korea and the U.S. will also conduct a combined missile alert drill joined by Japan between late September and early October, according to the ministry.

The U.S. is expected to dispatch B-1B strategic bombers stationed in Guam to Korea later this month in a warning to the North.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

USA: USS Ronald Reagan departs Japan for regional patrol

By MCSA Randy Lee Adams II, USS Ronald Reagan Public Affairs

USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) departs Yokosuka, Sept. 8. (U.S. Navy/Ryo Isobe) >>

YOKOSUKA, Japan - The Navy's forward-deployed aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), commenced a routine fall patrol in the 7th Fleet area of operations after departing Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Sept 8.

Ronald Reagan’s departure marks the beginning of a scheduled patrol following an in-port period giving the crew and ship a chance to conduct maintenance.

“About three and half weeks ago, USS Ronald Reagan returned to port after our patrol and we entered into a transition from operations to maintenance,” said Capt. Buzz Donnelly, Ronald Reagan’s commanding officer. “Although this is a very brief period for us with our ship maintenance team from Puget Sound, as well as Ship Repair Facility here in Yokosuka, our crew was able to accomplish a lot of the necessary maintenance that ensures that we will be ready to operate forward as required for our next patrol, as well as be ready when required, at any time, for operations here in 7th Fleet.”

News Report: Teeth of the Dragon - China Conducts Missile Defense Test Next to Korean Border

China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) carried out large-scale defensive military exercises on Tuesday morning, mere miles from their border with North Korea. The Chinese military reported that the exercise, which seems to have come out of the blue, was itself a series of “rapid response” drills in case of “surprise attacks.”

The exercises included anti-aircraft defense battalions around the Bohai Sea, a Beijing-controlled gulf bordering the larger Yellow Sea, which separates China from the Korean Peninsula. The troops practiced shooting down low-altitude missiles crossing the Bohai Sea, and Beijing claimed success in the operation.

"The troops' rapid response capabilities and actual combat levels have effectively been tested," reported 81.cn, a Chinese military website. The test was also meant to see if the soldiers could handle unexpected events, such as a simulated chemical attack.

"In the past, our strategies and guidelines focused on territorial air defense. Now we are shifting our attention to honing our ability in terms of long-range strategic projection and long-range strike," said Lieutenant General Ding Laihang, commander of the PLAAF, to 81.cn.

News Story: U.S. vows full extended deterrence for S. Korea, Japan

SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Yonhap) -- The United States assured South Korea and Japan on Wednesday of full extended deterrence, based on both its conventional and nuclear arsenal, against North Korea.

The U.S. reaffirmed its "ironclad" security commitment for the key regional allies in a working-level video conference on the North's latest nuclear test, according to South Korea's defense ministry.

"In particular, the U.S. stressed that its extended deterrence commitment will be guaranteed through all categories of military capabilities including conventional and nuclear weapons," it said.

The three parties agreed to promote the trilateral interoperability of deterrence and response to the North's provocative acts.

They also agreed to keep cooperating in a campaign to apply "maximum pressure" on Pyongyang in order to force its leadership to abandon the nuclear and missile programs, said the ministry.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Story: China poised to achieve air supremacy over 'first island chain'

Click Image to Enlarge

MANILA, Philippines — China has demonstrated its ability to gain air supremacy over areas of the "first island chain" as it continues its military buildup in the region, according to a report from Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND).

The "first island chain" covers major archipelagos on the East Asian continental coast including the northern Philippines, the Kuril Islands, the Japanese archipelago, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan and Borneo.

Focus Taiwan News Channel reported that Chinese bombers and fighter jets have been crossing the "first island chain" regularly, challenging US military presence in the Asia Pacific region.

Beijing has been conducting far-sea training and using its operational aircraft carrier to gradually increase its ability to take over the Taiwan Strait, the Taiwanese MND reported.

To strengthen its preparedness against Taiwan, the Chinese People's Liberation Army had been holding land drills to seize Taiwan's offshore islands, the report said.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: U.S. to send more strategic assets to Korea - Pacific Fleet chief

Adm. Scott Swift (Image: Wiki Commons)

By Lee Chi-dong

SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Yonhap) -- A top U.S. naval commander said Tuesday his country will keep sending formidable defense assets to the Korean Peninsula in combined deterrence and response to North Korea's "self-destructive" actions.

Adm. Scott Swift, who commands the U.S. Pacific Fleet, stressed that although South Koreans stand closest to the North's threats, they "do not face this aggressor alone."

He cited the North's continued provocations, including "ill-advised" ballistic missile launches and inflammatory warnings of nuclear war, highlighted by its sixth nuclear test Sunday.

Speaking at the International Seapower Symposium here, the admiral described the Kim Jong-un regime's choice as "irrationally self-destructive actions and behaviors that defy logic and explanation."

"We will continue to deploy carrier strike groups, expeditionary strike groups, AEGIS ships, the world's most capable submarine force and advanced aircraft like the F-35, P-8 and MH-60R to be prepared to respond decisively when called," he stressed. "Today, our platforms have longer reach, are more interconnected and possess greater lethality than what has ever been fielded before."

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Story: Seoul officials leaning towards military measures than dialogue with N.K. - defense chief

SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top security officials are beginning to lean towards strengthening military measures rather than dialogue with North Korea in response to the wayward regime's latest nuclear test, Seoul's defense minister said Monday.

His remarks came amid growing calls for President Moon Jae-in to make a course correction of his rapprochement policy that seeks to address the decadeslong nuclear standoff through a delicate mixture of sanctions and dialogue.

"During a National Security Council meeting (held shortly after the nuke test Sunday), views converged on a direction that strengthens the military standoff (for now), rather than (pursuing) the Berlin declaration or dialogue," Defense Minister Song Young-moo told a parliamentary session.

The Berlin initiative refers to Moon's policy that pursues Pyongyang's denuclearization with a security guarantee and economic and diplomatic incentives while seeking a peace treaty and dismissing the prospect of forced unification.

During the session, Song also said that during his recent talks with U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis, he demanded the U.S. deploy its strategic assets to Korea on a "regular" basis. He made the demand, citing local politicians' calls for the redeployment of U.S. tactical nukes.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Story: S. Korea consults with U.S. to mobilize strategic assets after DPRK's nuke test

SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's defense ministry said it was consulting with the U.S. side on the mobilization of U.S. strategic military assets after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s sixth nuclear test.

The ministry said in a report to the parliamentary defense committee that it would push for the mobilization of the U.S. strategic assets, such as a nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier and strategic bombers, in cooperation with the United States.

For the stand-alone action, the South Korean military planned to conduct a live-fire drill with "Taurus" air-to-ground guided missiles which is known to have a range of about 500 km, carried by F-15K fighter jets, according to the report cited by local media outlets.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: Has India Secretly Supplied Vietnam with 6,000-pound Supersonic Missiles?

Vietnamese state media claim Hanoi and New Delhi not only agreed on a deal to send BrahMos supersonic projectiles to Hanoi, but also say the weapons have been delivered. India’s Ministry of External Relations, though, denies such a deal exists.

When asked specifically about the acquisition of the BrahMos, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Thi Thu Hang said on August 18 “the procurement of defense equipment by Vietnam is consistent with the policy of peace and self-defense and is the normal practice in self-defense.”

India’s External Relations Ministry said reports of BrahMos cruise missiles reaching Hanoi were “incorrect” August 22. 

Whether the deal has been completed could have major strategic implications. First, the short-range ramjet supersonic cruise missile has a 600-kilometer range that puts some Chinese-owned features in the South China Sea in range. The level of tension between Hanoi and Beijing peaked recently when the People’s Liberation Army threatened to attack Vietnamese posts in the South China Sea if a joint venture between Hanoi and Madrid to explore oil fields there wasn’t called off.

News Story: Japan, Britain to expand security ties amid N. Korea threat

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his British counterpart Theresa May agreed Thursday their countries will strengthen security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, citing the threat from North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile development.

They also confirmed that Japan and Britain will form a "new economic partnership" in light of the latter's withdrawal from the European Union, but did not make a clear commitment to the kind of two-way trade pact London is likely seeking.

Describing North Korea as a "global threat, including to Europe" following the launch on Tuesday of a ballistic missile across Japan, Abe told a joint press conference after the talks that he and May agreed to seek a greater role from China, which has economic ties to the North.

According to a joint statement announced after the meeting, Japan and Britain will work together and with other countries "to strengthen pressure against North Korea, including by increasing the pace of sanctions implementation and working towards the adoption of a new and effective resolution" at the U.N. Security Council.

Read the full story at The Mainichi

News Story: Boeing offers to build F/A-18 Super Hornet in India

by Stephen Carlson

Boeing has proposed the construction of a manufacturing facility in India for the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter planes as part of the nation's planned acquisition of 57 carrier-based multi-role fighter aircraft.

The Indian Navy currently operates the MiG-29K from the INS Vikramaditya, a modified Russian-built Kiev-class aircraft carrier. India is currently building the domestically designed Vikrant-class carrier with two planned.

The Indian Navy has experienced serious maintenance problems with the MiG-29K due to stress on the airframe during carrier landings, as well as other serviceability issues. Planes often require significant repairs after routine landings, and many of the parts can only be secured from Russia.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: US Navy collisions a propaganda windfall for China

By Laurent THOMET

A spate of deadly collisions involving US Navy warships in Asian waters has provided a propaganda windfall to rivals like China and given already rattled regional allies further reason to fret, analysts say.

Four accidents this year alone, including two fatal ones in two months, resulted in the dismissal this week of the commander of the iconic US Seventh Fleet -- the centrepiece of the American military presence in Asia.

The timing could hardly be worse, with the Japan-based fleet at the heart of ongoing US efforts to project an image of military strength and effectiveness in the face of threats from nuclear-armed North Korea and an increasingly assertive China.

The latest incident left the guided-missile destroyer, USS John McCain limping into port in Singapore on Monday with a gaping gash in its hull following a pre-dawn collision with an oil tanker that left 10 of its crew feared dead.

Just days before, the same ship had taken part in a "freedom of navigation exercise" -- sailing close to a contested island in the South China Sea in a show of strength to challenge Beijing's territorial claims there.

The incident, and a similar collision involving another warship off Japan in June that left seven dead, has been seized on by China as an illustration of US military overreach and incompetence.

"It's a lot of good propaganda for the Chinese," James Char, a regional security specialist at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, told AFP.

It comes as "China is trying to tell the region, 'you cannot count on the US for your security needs'," he said.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Report: What's Behind Upcoming US Aircraft Carrier's Visit to Vietnam?

The US and Vietnam have agreed on a visit by a US aircraft carrier to the country next year. It will be the first such visit since the Vietnam War ended in 1975. Radio Sputnik spoke with an analyst, Dr. Collin Koh Swee Lean, in an interview about this development.

During the recent meeting between Vietnamese Defense Minister Ngo Xuan Lich and his US counterpart James Mattis, the two defense leaders agreed to deepen mutual military cooperation.

Following the talks held in Washington, Jim Mattis said that strong relations between the two countries were based on mutual interests, including freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

In an interview with Radio Sputnik, a research fellow at the Maritime Security Program, Dr. Collin Koh Swee Lean, said that this cooperation has been flourishing the past few years.

“First of all it is important to highlight that this recent announcement of the aircraft carrier visit was built on the earlier upswing in the political relations between the US and Vietnam even during Obama’s administration, so now Trump’s administration is building on that momentum,” Lean said.

News Report: What Makes Vietnam an 'Ideal Client' For the United States?

While diplomatic battles were raging in Manila over the final statements of the foreign ministers in light of the ASEAN meetings, Vietnamese Defense Minister Ngo Xuan Lịch was meeting with his US counterpart, James Mattis, in Washington. Sputnik China spoke to an expert from the Center for Strategic Research, Anton Tsvetov, in an interview.

“The desperate struggle of Vietnamese diplomats in the corridors of the ASEAN ministerial meeting on the wording of the resolution concerning the South China Sea caused a flurry of criticism in the Chinese media,” Tsvetov said.

He further said, “This loneliness of Vietnam in its struggle further pushes it towards the United States. Although Vietnam refuses to behave like the Philippines under Duterte, it will also not behave like the Philippines under Aquino.”

According to the expert, perhaps the loudest news of the visit of the Vietnamese defense minister is the alleged promise by Mattis to bring a US aircraft carrier to a Vietnamese port during 2018; the last time it happened was in 1975, and back then the US ship had completely different purposes. 

News Story: If the US is going to war in North Korea, nobody told the US military

US President Donald Trump

By: David B. Larter

If you watch cable news or follow the president’s Twitter feed, you might be under the impression that the U.S. is heading to war with North Korea. But somebody, it seems, forgot to loop in the U.S. military.

North Korea is threatening to launch missiles toward Guam; U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Friday morning that military options were “locked and loaded;” NBC News ran a story Wednesday claiming the U.S. had ”prepared a plan” to strike North Korean missile sites with B-1 bombers. 

But while the rhetoric is nearing a fever pitch in D.C., out in the Pacific you’d never know the world was on the brink of nuclear war.

In Yokosuka, Japan, the U.S. Navy’s forward-deployed ready aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan sits peacefully pier-side, along with the U.S. 7th Fleet command ship Blue Ridge. On the Korean Peninsula, the State Department has not advised American citizens to leave the country and U.S. military family members are not being evacuated. No Marines are being loaded on amphibious ships; no sailors have been recalled off leave to prepare for emergency operations; and no ballistic missile defense ships have been sortied to North Korea, the waters off Japan or to Guam, three sources said.

The frenzied rhetoric being propelled by the president’s words and fed back by the news cycle is, for the second time this year, failing to match what’s actually happening, sources told Defense News.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: U.S. cautious about dual-supercarrier operations near Korea

By Lee Chi-dong

SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- Despite heightened military tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. Navy has no plan yet to send another aircraft carrier here, informed sources said Thursday.

They were responding to local news reports that the United States seems to be pushing for rare dual-carrier operations near Korea this month against the North's repeated intercontinental ballistic missile launches and war threats.

The forward-deployed flattop, Ronald Reagan, has just returned to its home port in Yokosuka, Japan, from a three-month routine patrol.

"There's no plan for the deployment of another aircraft carrier in the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula this month," a defense source said, dismissing the reports that the U.S. is expected to send the USS Carl Vinson, homeported in San Diego, to the region in August.

Another source said it's "not an easy decision" to transfer such a carrier with thousands of crew members and dozens of warplanes on board, although the USS Nimitz can be a more realistic alternative for brief regional deployment if needed.

The U.S. has 11 supercarriers in active service to cover the global theaters and just nine of them are operational as the two others are going through regular maintenance, the source pointed out.

Observers raise the possibility that the U.S. will instead dispatch other "strategic assets" here like a nuclear-powered submarine on the occasion of the allies' major annual combined drills to open later this month.

Read the full story at YonhapNews