News Story: Afghan conflicts claim 19 lives in 24 hours

KABUL, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Afghan militancy and counter-militancy have claimed 19 lives including 11 militants and seven security personnel in the country over the past 24 hours, officials said Wednesday.

Government forces in crackdown against Taliban outfit in the northern Kunduz province have claimed the lives of 11 militants over the past 24 hours, an army spokesman in the province Nasratullah Jamshidi said.

"The security forces have killed 11 armed rebels in several villages outside provincial capital the Kunduz city and Dasht-e-Archi district since Tuesday morning," Jamshidi told Xinhua.

There was no casualty on security personnel, the official contended.

Backed by helicopters, the operations would last until militants are wiped out from the area, the official added.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: India to seal border with Bangladesh in state of Assam to stop infiltration

Indian Border Security Force (BSF) personnel
patrol India-Bangladesh border

NEW DELHI, March 30 (Xinhua) -- India said Wednesday that it would seal the border with Bangladesh in the northeastern state of Assam in a bid to stop infiltration.

Assam shares only 263 km of the 4096-km border between India and Bangladesh.

Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that he had visited the India-Bangladesh border a couple of months back and held "talks with the Bangladesh government".

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Sri Lanka recovers second stock of explosives from former war zone

COLOMBO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan police on Wednesday recovered a stock of explosives in the north of the country hours after a suicide jacket had been discovered at another location.

Police Spokesperson Ruwan Gunesekara said that several explosives including small bombs and a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launcher had been discovered from an abandoned well in Mannar in the north after police had conducted a search operation in the area.

Gunesekara said that the explosives are believed to have been hidden by the Tamil Tiger rebels during the war period and after obtaining a court order, the army had destroyed it.

Police had earlier on Wednesday recovered a suicide jacket and explosives from a house in Chavakachcheri, also in the north, sparking concerns from opposition parliamentarians that the Tamil Tiger rebels may try to regroup.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: U.S. encouraged by China's leadership on nuclear security - Obama aide

WASHINGTON, March 29 (Xinhua) -- An advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday spoke highly of a nuclear security center recently opened in China, saying the United States is encouraged by China's leadership in the realm.

Earlier this month, the Nuclear Security Center of Excellence, the largest nuclear security center in the Asia-Pacific region, which was financed by both governments, opened in Beijing.

"We're really quite encouraged by the leadership that China is beginning to show in the nuclear security realm, not only in managing its own material but in creating a platform for cooperation regionally and internationally through the Center of Excellence that it's been carrying out," Laura Holgate, special assistant to Obama and a senior director at the National Security Council, said at a briefing in Washington ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit slated for Thursday and Friday.

Calling the launch of the center a "milestone" in the history of U.S.-China nuclear cooperation, Holgate said the United States is pleased with the role China is showing in terms of cooperating with other countries internationally on the nuclear security issue.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Sri Lanka recovers suicide jacket and explosives in former war zone

COLOMBO, March 30 (Xinhua)-- Sri Lanka on Wednesday recovered a suicide jacket and explosives from a house in Chavakachcheri located in the north of the country.

Chavakachcheri was a battle ground when Sri Lanka fought Tamil Tiger rebels for 30 years before the war ended in 2009.

The Tamil Tigers used suicide bombers to attack targets in the north and in capital Colombo.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: S.Korean fighter jet crashes, no casualty reported

An F-16 Fighting Falcon (File Photo)

SEOUL, March 30 (Xinhua)-- A South Korean fighter jet on Wednesday crashed in the southeastern region, with no casualty reported, Yonhap news agency reported citing the military.

The KF-16 combat plane went down at about 4 p.m. (0700 GMT) in the southeastern county of Cheongsong for an unidentified reason. The Air Force formed a task force to investigate the incident.

Two pilots successfully ejected from the falling plane. At the site, fire broke out after the crash.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: New Zealand steps up aid for rebuild of cyclone-battered Fiji

WELLINGTON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand government on Wednesday trebled its total aid package to help rebuild public infrastructure in cyclone-battered Fiji.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully announced an additional package of 10 million NZ dollars (6.85 million U.S. dollars), saying the impact of Cyclone Winston last month was widespread and the task of restoring infrastructure would be long and expensive.

New Zealand navy supply ship HMNZS Canterbury's original deployment had also been extended and it would remain in the area until mid-April to support construction tasks by the New Zealand Defence Force in the northern Lau Islands.

Read the full story at Xinhua

Think Tank: The US Asian pivot and Australia’s role (part 1)

Kim Beazley

The importance of the ‘rules-based global order’ as a defence priority appears as frequently in Defence White Paper 2016 as ‘self-reliance’ did in Defence White Paper 1987. It’s the leitmotif of the publication.

Multiple challenges from state and non-state actors are identified throughout DWP 2016. The ‘rules based order’ rationale underpins the equal priority extended to global commitments as a force structure determinant for the ADF with the more traditional focus on the defence of Australia’s approaches. The rationale’s emergence deserves some analysis, particularly when it comes to Australian involvement with the US rebalance to Asia. The saliency of the concept of the ‘rules-based order’ wasn’t a product of an allied imperative—it’s as much a product of Australia’s efforts to influence American strategy.

The origins of the saliency of a priority, given the ‘rules-based order’, don’t lie in the multiple challenges to it identified in DWP 2016. It lies in one of them; the strong pursuit by China of its claims in the South China Sea. It has become the crucial moral/legal rationale legitimising American-led demonstrations of freedom of navigation rights against assertions by states in the region attempting to unilaterally assert maritime borders.

Think Tank: How might Indonesia manage the China challenge?

Lachlan Wilson

Indonesian president Joko Widodo’s strategy for reinforcing state sovereignty and strengthening maritime integrity is being tested with the latest incursion by Chinese fishing boats into Indonesian waters off the Natuna islands. Indonesian Minister for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Susi Pudjiastuti’s public criticism of China’s activities is the first step in what’s likely to become a series of reluctantly enacted but necessary responses from Jokowi’s administration—unlike in the past, Indonesia can’t afford to do otherwise.

This isn’t the first time Indonesia has had to contend with Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea. Over the last four years, Jakarta’s attempts to enforce its fisheries’ laws by arresting Chinese fishermen operating illegally in Indonesia’s EEZ has led to a series of confrontations between the Chinese Fisheries Law Enforcement Command and Indonesian law enforcement vessels. Traditionally, Indonesia’s foreign ministry has tried to dismiss those engagements as minor in order to maintain its relationship with China.

Industry: Aegis Energised - Lockheed Martin Begins Testing and Integration on the Royal Australian Navy’s First Aegis-equipped Hobart Class Destroyer

This milestone represents a significant step towards Australia’s Hobart Class Destroyers joining the Aegis International fleet.

ADELAIDE, Australia, March 30, 2016 – Lockheed Martin’s Integrated Test Team (ITT) begins Aegis combat system integration and testing aboard the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) first Aegis-equipped Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD), HOBART.

The Aegis Combat System testing will be facilitated by Lockheed Martin engineers and technicians who are responsible for testing the Aegis Combat System to ensure the equipment is properly installed and functional.

“The Lockheed Martin team has successfully brought Aegis to life,” said Rob Milligan, Lockheed Martin Australia, surface ships program lead. “Our team is dedicated to ensuring the successful delivery of HOBART’s Aegis capability to the Royal Australian Navy.”

Lockheed Martin anticipated the need for the future Australian domestic sustainment of Aegis on AWD several years prior to this event. Lockheed Martin used internal funds to develop specialist skills in the Aegis Combat System for our Australian AWD Program workforce.  “We strengthened the AWD test team which now includes experienced Lockheed Martin engineers and technicians from both Australia and the U.S. to conduct the Aegis combat systems integration,” Milligan added.

The Hobart-class destroyers are being built under Australia’s SEA 4000 program, which will ultimately deliver three advanced multirole ships. These ships will be Australia’s first ships to be equipped with Lockheed Martin’s Aegis Weapon System including the SPY-1D(V) radar. When paired with the MK 41 Vertical Launching System, Aegis is capable of delivering missiles for every mission and threat environment in naval warfare. The RAN has received the Lockheed Martin Aegis Baseline 8 configuration, which integrates commercial-off-the-shelf technology and open architecture into the combat system.

“This milestone is a significant step towards an increase in the Royal Australian Navy’s maritime security capabilities through the seamless integration of the Aegis combat system to defend against advanced air, surface and subsurface threats,” said Commodore Craig Bourke, CSC, RAN Program Manager Air Warfare Destroyer “With more than 100 Aegis-equipped ships deployed worldwide, Australia is joining a family of allied nations that continues to push the boundaries of innovation with adaptable and affordable capabilities that meet the warfighter’s multi-mission needs.”

Lockheed Martin is the Aegis Combat Systems Integrator and engineering agent for the U.S. Navy Aegis destroyers and cruisers, Australian Air Warfare Destroyers, as well as a range of other international customers for both new construction and modernisations.  Lockheed Martin also provides the combat system engineering, integration and test for the U.S. Navy’s future frigate and Freedom class Littoral Combat Ship programs.

With more than 40 years of significant investment by the U.S. Navy and its allies, the Aegis Combat System is used globally by five navies, across seven ship classes. Lockheed Martin is the trusted Aegis Combat Systems Integration partner to governments around the world, enabling mission ready, combat capable ships affordably and timely to the fleet.

Lockheed Martin