USA: U.S. Forces Work With Partners in Numerous Military Exercises

By Terri Moon Cronk 

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, July 17, 2017 — Military exercises are underway between U.S. military forces and those of many other nations, Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, told reporters today.

In the Pacific region, Exercise Talisman Saber 2017 involves more than 33,000 U.S. and Australian personnel who are participating in the biennial military training exercise in Australia, June 23 to July 25.

U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force personnel, as well as Australian forces and members of other government agencies in both countries are participating in Talisman Saber, which is jointly sponsored by the U.S. Pacific Command and the Australian military's Joint Operations Command.

It features 21 ships, including the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group, and more than 200 joint aircraft. This year's seventh iteration of the exercise is focusing on training a combined task force of U.S. and Australian forces in a mid-intensity, high-end warfighting scenario, incorporating interagency participation, along with a command post exercise involving a transition between a three- and four-star headquarters.

"Talisman Saber provides an invaluable opportunity to conduct operations in a combined, joint and interagency environment that will increase both countries' ability to plan and execute contingency responses, from combat missions to humanitarian assistance efforts," Davis said.

News Report: Japan Unveils First Domestically Made F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

An Australian F-35 during flight testing

Lockheed Martin’s overseas production facility has dropped the curtain on its first $100-million F-35A Joint Strike Fighter.

The fifth-generation fighter jet was displayed on Monday in Toyoyama, Japan, a city about 6,483 miles from the US F-35 manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas. The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plant assembled the aircraft, according to Jiji Press.

Mitsubishi wasn’t explicitly involved in the design, but its workers are contracted by Lockheed to build the planes. Italy and Japan comprise Lockheed’s sole manufacturing partners for the jet, according to the company’s website. 

According to Lockheed, the F-35 Lightning II is composed of more than 300,000 individual parts.

News Story: G7 seeks demilitarization of ‘disputed’ sea features

By Pia Lee-Brago

MANILA, Philippines - The Group of Seven (G7) or the seven richest countries in the world have issued a joint communiqué expressing concern about the situation in the East and South China Seas and calling for a demilitarization of “disputed features.”

The joint statement was released following the May 26 and 27 meetings in Taormina, Italy attended by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump.

The leaders strongly opposed any unilateral action that could increase tensions.

They expressed their “commitment to maintaining a rules-based order in the maritime domain based on the principles of international law.”

The joint communiqué voiced support for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and for the peaceful settlement of maritime disputes “through diplomatic and legal means, including arbitration.”

China was “strongly dissatisfied” with the mention of the East and South China Sea issues in the G7 statement as Beijing called on G7 allies to stop making “irresponsible” remarks.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Report: How US Used G7 Summit to 'Pressure China on Its Sore Spots'

On Saturday, G7 countries wrapped up their summit in Taormina with a joint communique, expressing concern about the situation in the East China and South China Seas. Russian political analysts told Sputnik that the US and Japan used the gathering to intensify their pressure on Beijing instead of reaching consensus on global trade and climate.

The annual G7 summit, which wrapped up on Saturday in the Sicilian city of Taormina, Italy, ended with a joint communique in which the group stated it is committed to "maintaining a rules-based order in the maritime domain based on the principles of international law."

The statement expressed concerns about the situation in the East China Sea and South China Sea.

On Sunday, China strongly denounced the result of the two-day gathering, accusing it of interfering in the East China Sea and South China Sea disputes in the "guise of international law."

China's position on the East China Sea and South China Sea issues is clear and consistent, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in a statement.

News Story: Buy America, Again. Sigh

By COLIN CLARK

WASHINGTON: America cannot apply Buy America provisions on a widescale basis and buy the best weapons, no matter how much President Trump and his team may feel otherwise. It’s a simple as that.

All the competitors for the Air Force’s next-generation trainer, the T-X, include enormous amounts of foreign content, some including the aircraft. The biggest weapon system built for the US military, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, includes enormous amounts of foreign content. The F-35’s complex wiring bundles are done by a Dutch company. An Australian company builds vertical tailpieces. BAE, a British and American company, builds major portions of the plane. Check out the graphic below by BAE Systems to see what they do. There’s even a Memorandum of Understanding between Australia, Denmark, Italy, Holland, Norway, Turkey, the UK and the U.S.A about the production, sustainment, and follow-on development of the F-35 that guarantees certain rights to the program’s original partner countries.

As those examples make clear, the world is really too interconnected to put America First in defense trade without harming American interests. American defense supply chains are inextricably tied to Europe, Australia, Japan and South Korea. I don’t mention Canada because it is legally part of the US defense industrial base and is not subject to regulation. It was missed by many, but the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act added Australia and Britain to the US industrial base, so their companies also would not be subject to whatever the review finds. One source familiar with the issue says Britain and Australia were added to fend off the worst effects of a Buy America crackdown that was already being discussed.

Read the full story at Breaking Defense

News Story: G7 ministers call for implementation of Hague ruling on South China Sea

By Patricia Lourdes Viray

MANILA, Philippines — The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies reiterated its opposition to the militarization of disputed features in the South China Sea.

The ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States maintained their commitment to maintaining a rules-based maritime order based on international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

"We consider the July 12, 2016 award rendered by the Arbitral Tribunal under the UNCLOS as a useful basis for further efforts to peacefully resolve disputes in the South China Sea," the G7 joint communique read.

The UN-backed arbitral tribunal based in the Hague, Netherlands had ruled that China's nine-dash line claim does not have a legal basis and that Beijing violated its commitment under the UNCLOS for building artificial islands in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.

Beijing, however, refused to honor the ruling of the arbitral tribunal and insisted that they have indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: Most Major Western Leaders To Skip China's Silk Road Summit

Only one leader of a big Western country is attending China's most important diplomatic event of the year, a summit next month on President Xi Jinping's New Silk Road strategy, as China's foreign minister denied it had been snubbed, Reuters reported.

Xi has championed the "One Belt, One Road" or OBOR initiative to build a new Silk Road linking Asia, Africa and Europe, a landmark program to invest billions of dollars in infrastructure projects including railways, ports and power grids.

Reuters reported that China has dedicated $40 billion USD to a Silk Road Fund and the idea was the driving force behind the establishment of the $50 billion China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

According to Reuters, diplomatic sources in Beijing said China had hoped for at least some senior Western leaders to attend the summit, including British Prime Minister Theresa May, but a list of attendees announced by Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday included only one leader from the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

Read the full story at TOLOnews

Think Tank: Sea, air, land and space updates (18-Apr-2017)

Boeing WC-135 Constant Phoenix (Image: Wiki Commons)

Zoe Glasson, Sophie Qin, Madeleine Nyst and Patrick Kennedy

Sea State

Some worthy new analysis on the future of the US Navy surfaced last week. The crux of the analysis in Foreign Policy is that the three Congress-commissioned proposals for naval force structure—mentioned recently in this feature—‘are all overwhelmingly preoccupied with China’ and only tangentially address the threats posed by Russia and Iran. The author argues that Congress should be advised whether those proposals believe ‘a Navy built for the Spratly Islands will play just as well in the Black Sea.’ And, a Politico piece sets out ‘How Trump Can Build a 350-Ship Navy’. The writers acknowledge that growing the naval fleet will present both industrial and fiscal challenges, but nevertheless argue that taking bold actions now is the only way to meet President Trump’s goal of a highly-capable 350-ship Navy—by the end of his second term…

New research is challenging the traditional “bludgeoning” method of icebreaking, used by Russia in the Arctic to speed up melting and create clear shipping lanes. The research shows that using submarines and ‘flexural gravity-wave resonance’ would offer a faster and more elegant approach. Data demonstrates that, by using this method, a submarine could forge a passage through ice ten times faster than America’s heavy icebreaker, Polar Star. Read all about it in The Economist.

News Story: Japan, U.S. to urge China 'to play bigger role' in halting N. Korea

VIAREGGIO, Italy (Kyodo) -- Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson agreed Monday to urge China to "play a bigger role" in halting North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs as they met to discuss pressing global issues.

In the talks, Kishida said he conveyed Japan's support for the United States' resolve to fulfill its responsibility to prevent the use and spread of chemical weapons, after Washington launched military strikes against Syria in response to the country's alleged use of such weapons.

The two met in Viareggio on the sidelines of the two-day Group of Seven foreign ministers' meeting from Monday in Lucca, also in central Italy. Their meeting came after telephone talks between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday.

The leaders, speaking shortly after a summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida, agreed on the importance of close coordination over North Korea and the role of China, Pyongyang's main economic and diplomatic benefactor.

Kishida said Tillerson thanked Japan for expressing clear support for the U.S. military action, which Tillerson said was aimed at preventing repeated use of chemical weapons and saving people's lives.

They shared the view that efforts to realize a cease-fire and make progress on the political process in Syria, with the involvement of Russia, as well as the fight against Islamic State militants are important, said a Japanese official who was at the talks.

Kishida added that improving the humanitarian situation in the Middle Eastern country, such as providing support for refugees, is also crucial, the official said.

Japan hopes the United States' strong response on Syria will put pressure on North Korea, which is showing signs of preparing for its sixth nuclear test and more test-firings of ballistic missiles.

Read the full story at The Mainichi

News Report: Japan's Foreign Minister, US Secretary of State to Discuss North Korea Next Week

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida will meet with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson next week to discuss response to North Korea, local media reported Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to Kyodo news agency, the meeting would take place on the sidelines of G7 ministerial meeting in the Italian city of Lucca on April 10-11.

Kishida expressed hope to exchange views with Tillerson on the situation in the region and such pressing issues as terrorism, extremism and North Korean threat.

The Japanese foreign minister is also expected to meet with senior officials from Germany, Italy and the European Union.

News Story: Japan PM departs for Europe for talks on trade, DPRK nuclear issue

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

TOKYO, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe set off on Sunday on a four-day visit to Germany, France, Belgium and Italy for talks on trade and security issues.

He is set to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, European Council President Donald Tusk, and the new Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni during the trip.

"I want to exchange opinions openly with G7 leaders," Abe told reporters at Tokyo's Haneda airport before departure.

"We hope to work with the European Union on issues the international community is facing such as the problems on North Korea and free trade," he added.

Read the full story at Xinhua

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.

AUS: Training to fight – Navies exercise off the WA coast

More than 17 ships and aircraft are descending on the Western Australian coast for one of the largest maritime warfare exercises held by the Royal Australian Navy.

The inaugural Exercise Ocean Explorer will include international participants, adding the opportunity to practice war fighting with language, customs and technology differences. The Spanish Armada’s ESPS Cristobal Colon, New Zealand’s HMNZ Ships Te Kaha and Endeavour and, for a brief period, Italian frigate ITS Caribiniere will all integrate into the Australian scenarios.

Exercise Director, Captain Jim Hutton said the activity aimed to train ships to work together in a series of complex and dynamic warfare scenarios.

“With the recent acquisition of larger ships, we are transitioning from a fleet optimised for single-ship operations to a new era of joint task group level expeditionary warfare,” he said.

“The aim of the exercise is to develop our task group capability, to operate a number of ships under one commander and focus primarily on sea control operations.

AUS: Meeting with Italian Minister for Defence

Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon Marise Payne, met with the Italian Minister for Defence, Roberta Pinotti in Sydney today to discuss Australia-Italy defence cooperation.

Minister Payne welcomed Minister Pinotti to Australia noting the visit is the first by a sitting Italian Defence Minister.

“Australia and Italy share common views on a number of global security issues, evidenced by our respective contributions to the NATO Resolute Support Mission to Afghanistan and our contributions to the international coalition to counter-Daesh,” Minister Payne said.

The Ministers discussed regional security in the Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East as well as the counter-Daesh campaign following on from last week’s counter-Daesh coalition meeting in Brussels, in which both Ministers participated.

“Defence cooperation between Australia and Italy on issues of mutual concern enables us to respond more effectively to common global and regional security challenges,” Minister Payne said. 

Minister Pinotti is in Australia to meet with senior Government Ministers and Defence officials to discuss Italy-Australia defence relations.

Minister Pinotti’s trip coincides with the visit to Australia of the Italian FREMM Class frigate, Carabiniere, with the frigate visiting Fremantle, Port Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne.

Carabiniere will also participate in Exercise Ocean Explorer with the Royal Australian Navy off the coast of Western Australia.

Imagery is available on the Image Gallery.

AUS DoD

News Story: Philippine gov’t, rebel group resume negotiations

Hanoi (VNA) – Negotiators of the Philippine Government and the rebel group New People’s Army (NPA) have resumes peace talks in Rome, Italy, on January 19, with Norway as the mediator. 

Jesus Dureza, adviser to the Philippine President to the talks, affirmed that the Government was optimistic with “successful expectations” about the resumption of the negotiations.

Read the full story at VietnamPlus

News Story: Philippines ready for next round of peace talks with leftist rebels

MANILA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine government is ready to engage the leftist National Democratic Front (NDF) in discussing the major substantive agenda when the next round of formal talks resume later this week in Italy, a senior government official said Monday.

The third round of peace negotiations resume on January 17-25 in Rome.

"We are all set and ready to engage the NDF in the discussion of all substantive agenda including supplemental agreements needed to proceed and arrive at a peaceful negotiated political settlement to end the armed conflict in the country," said Labor Secretary and chief government negotiator Silvestre Bello III in a statement.

Bello is set to submit Monday to President Duterte the draft documents that will be tabled for discussion in the upcoming talks for approval.

Among the documents include the draft agreements and principles for the comprehensive agreement on socio-economic reforms, comprehensive agreement on political and constitutional reforms, and comprehensive agreement on end of hostilities and disposition of forces.

Read the full story at Xinhua

USA: Raytheon awarded foreign military sales contract (Qatar, India, and Italy) for production of Stinger FIM-92H Block 1 missiles, Stinger FIM-92F Block 1 missiles

Raytheon Co. – Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, was awarded a $207,949,988 firm-fixed-price, foreign military sales contract (Qatar, India, and Italy) for production of Stinger FIM-92H Block 1 missiles, Stinger FIM-92F Block 1 missiles, captive flight trainers, other training devices and associated equipment and spares. 

Bids were solicited via the Internet with one received. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2020. 

Fiscal 2017 other funds in the amount of $207,949,888 were obligated at the time of the award. 

Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-17-C-0057).

US DoD

News Story: Italy Sends FREMM Frigate on Promotional Tour of Australia

An Italian FREMM Frigate (Image: Wiki Commons)

By: Tom Kington

ROME - An Italian Navy FREMM frigate will visit Australia in January and February and hold exercises with the Australian Navy in the wake of the type’s short listing for acquisition by Australia.

The promotional tour, which is backed by Fincantieri, the ship’s builder, will include stops in Fremantle, Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne, Italian Navy officials said on Dec. 16.

In April, Australia shortlisted proposals from BAE Systems, Fincantieri and Navantia for the country’s program to build nine new frigates.

The BAE offering is based on the Type 26 frigate, while Navantia is proposing a redesigned version of its Álvaro de Bazán (F100) class vessel.

The FREMM frigate making the trip, the Carabiniere, is an anti-submarine warship FREMM and was  delivered to the Italian Navy in April 2015, the fifth of ten to be commissioned. On the tour it will carry an NH90 helicopter and undertake ASW exercises with the Australians.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Report: Afghanistan Continues to Fume over Russia’s Outreach to Taliban

Ayaz Gul

ISLAMABAD — Officials and lawmakers in Afghanistan continue to question and denounce Russia’s recent disclosure that it maintains “limited political” contacts with the Taliban.

The ongoing session of the Afghan parliament has witnessed a heated debate on the issue, with some lawmakers condemning Russia’s outreach to the Islamist insurgency as “shameful” while others accusing Moscow of providing modern warfare to Taliban fighters.

Lawmakers also criticized neighboring Iran for backing the Taliban.

On Wednesday, the legislative lower house, or Wolasi Jirga, passed a resolution, urging President Ashraf Ghani’s national unity government not to allow neighboring and regional countries to interfere in internal Afghan matters “on the pretext of supporting the Taliban to fight Islamic State.”

Russian ambassador to Kabul, Alexander Mantytskiy, revealed last week his government maintains ties with the insurgent group but they are not “intensive.”

News Story: Envoy Confirms Russia Has Relations With Taliban

by Shabir Ahmadi

Alexander Mantytskiy, the Russian ambassador to Afghanistan, on Thursday confirmed Russia has ties with the Taliban, but said the relationship aimed to ensure the protection of Russia's political offices in Afghanistan.

He said that the U.S has failed to accomplish its counter-terrorism task in Afghanistan effectively and that Russia is deeply concerned about the expansion of terrorist groups such as Daesh in Afghanistan.

"We have ties with the Taliban to ensure the security of our political offices, consulates and the security of central Asia," he said.

He declared the Taliban a political faction and urged diplomacy with the group.

"Russia has always said that peace and national reconciliation was a need, so the process must move forward under the leadership and ownership of the Afghans," he added.

Read the full story at TOLOnews