Brunei: BRUNEI DARUSSALAM IS READY FOR THE INAUGURAL ADMM-PLUS HADR AND MM EXERCISE

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Tuesday 28 May 2013 – In less than a month time, Brunei Darussalam will be hosting the Inaugural ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief and Military Medicine Exercise (HADR & MM Ex) that is scheduled from the 17th June until the 20th June 2013. This combined exercise will bring together more than 2,000 military personnel from the 10 ASEAN countries as well as the 8 Plus countries which include Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and the United States. The exercise participants will arrive as early as the 1st June 2013.

Last week, the Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces, Major General Dato Paduka Seri Haji Aminuddin Ihsan bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Haji Abidin visited all of the relevant sites to finalise preparations for the upcoming exercise. Also joining the visit was the Joint Force Commander, First Admiral Dato Seri Pahlawan Abdul Aziz bin Haji Mohd Tamit, the Chairman of the ADMM Plus HADR & MM Ex.

The inaugural ADMM-Plus HADR & MM Exercise will be held back-to-back with the 2nd  ASEAN Militaries’ Humanitarian and Disaster Relief Exercise that is scheduled for 16 June 2013. Both exercises are the major deliverables during Brunei Darussalam’s ADMM and ADMM-Plus Chairmanship this year.

News Story: Report - Chinese Hackers Breach Top Weapons Designs

F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (File Photo)

By DOUG STANGLIN

Chinese hackers have gained access to the designs of many of the nation’s most sensitive advanced weapons systems, according to a report prepared for the Defense Department and government and defense industry officials,The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The compromised weapons designs include, among others, advanced Patriot missile system, the Navy’s Aegis ballistic missile defense systems, the F/A-18 fighter jet, the V-22 Osprey, the Black Hawk helicopter and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The confidential report was prepared by the Defense Science Board, a senior advisory group of government and civilian experts.

It does not accuse the Chinese of stealing the designs but says that the designs of more than two dozen systems were compromised, the Post reported.

The report comes a month before President Obama will meet with visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping in California. It also coincides with reports in the Australian media that Chinese hackers had allegedly stolen blueprints for Australian’s new spy headquarters.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: US to Hold Defense Talks with Japan, S. Korea (& Australia)

By MARCUS WEISGERBER

WASHINGTON — U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel plans to discuss North Korea’s “provocative behavior” during a trilateral meeting with his counterparts from South Korea and Japan at a major defense summit in Singapore later this week.

The talks are scheduled to take place this weekend at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security conference, according to a senior defense official.

“The provocative behavior that we’ve seen out of North Korea ... that is by far the dominant agenda item,” a senior US defense official said Tuesday.

In recent months, North Korea has threatened to attack its neighbors and fire missiles at the United States, prompting the repositioning of US and Japanese ballistic missile defense assets.

The trilateral meeting will mark the fourth time defense ministers from the United States, South Korea and Japan have met together at the Shangri-La Dialogue.

Hagel also has a trilateral meeting scheduled with Japan and Australia.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: South Korea's military OKs aircraft procurement

P-3C Orion (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons)

SEOUL, May 28 (UPI) -- The procurement of nearly two dozen maritime patrol aircraft has reportedly been approved by the South Korean military.

An unidentified South Korean military source told The Korea Herald that the new planes would augment the country's fleet of Lockheed Martin P-3 Orions and enhance South Korea's surveillance capabilities of North Korea.

"The Defense Acquisition Program Administration is currently working on a plan, which is likely to be an overseas purchase program," the source said.

Read the full story at UPI

Editorial: Time for Airpower Diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific

By Peter N. Shinn, Capt., USAF, Peter A. Garretson, Lt. Col., USAF, and Dr. Adam Lowther, Research Professor, Air Force Research Institute

The U.S. Air Force should use airpower development teams to build relations in the regions.

With the Department of Defense (DoD), U.S. Pacific Command, and the services scaling back and cutting outreach and engagement efforts as they try to protect core missions in the wake of sequestration, now may be the time for the Air Force to look east and boldly undertake an expanded airpower diplomacy effort in the region. While some may suggest that the Air Force should hunker down and preserve its “core missions,” it is in tough times like these that the best solution is to innovate—not retrench. Continuing to focus on the Asia-Pacific, as the Obama administration is committed to doing, should provide the Air Force an opportunity to zero in on what matters most for the service to effectively accomplish its missions across the region.

What is becoming increasingly clear for many within the Air Force, and perhaps the other services, is that the types of alliances and defense agreements that marked the post-World War II American approach to Europe will not work for the Asia-Pacific. While many countries in the region see the United States as a source of stability and the U.S. military as a reliable partner, culture, history, and domestic populations are unlikely to support an American defense posture in the region that antagonizes China. Thus, American airmen are now seeking to highlight airpower diplomacy and its associated capabilities as a way to overcome the reticence that is often palpable in many Asian capitals. While many of these soft power capabilities are nothing new, they have often received too little recognition because, admittedly, they are the least “sexy” missions the USAF performs and do not offer a clear counter to a rising China.

However, it is through airpower diplomacy that the U.S. Air Force will, in many cases, advance American interests in the Asia-Pacific, build new relationships with potential partners, and strengthen enduring friendships and alliances. As any student of effects-based operations understands, achieving American objectives does not always call for the defeat of an adversary. Sometimes diplomacy will do the trick.

With that in mind, we argue that the USAF should borrow from the Army National Guard’s experience in Afghanistan in devising a strategy for using airpower diplomacy to achieve its objectives in the Asia-Pacific.

Read the full 2 page story at The Diplomat

Editorial: China’s Amphibious Game Changer?

Zubr class Landing Craft (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons)

By J. Michael Cole

Amid simmering tensions in East Asia over a series of sovereignty disputes at sea, where new, unpredictable bouts of escalation are always around the corner, China has continued to build up the capabilities it will need should it one day decide to use force.

The latest addition to its growing arsenal — the world’s largest Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) vehicle — reached Guangzhou earlier this month, and could enter service soon.

The vehicle in question, a Ukraine-built “Zubr” amphibious hovercraft (also known as the “European bison”), is part of a US$315 million deal signed between China and the state-owned Ukroboronprom defense conglomerate in 2009. Under the agreement, two LCACs, developed by the Ukrainian Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau, are to be built by the Ukraine-based Feodosia Shipbuilding Company, and two more by Chinese shipyards, under the supervision of Ukrainian engineers.

The first vehicle, which was handed over to the PLAN during a ceremony last month, arrived in Guangzhou — likely at Guangzhou-Huangpu Shipbuilding Co — where it was presumably fitted with additional electronics and weapons systems on May 24. A second one is currently under construction at Feodosia.

Read the full story at The Diplomat

Think Tank: (Australian Perspective) Amphibious operations - more than meets the eye

1st Canberra class LHD under-construction (File Photo)

By Andrew Davies

In the last few weeks, we’ve seen some impressive photographs and the naming ceremony of the first of the 27,000 tonne Canberra class landing helicopter docks (LHDs) coming together in the BAE shipyards in Williamstown. These vessels will do much more than replace the Manoora and Kinimbla amphibious ships retired precipitously in 2011. They’ll greatly expand the capability of the ADF to deliver people and equipment around Australian or onto foreign shores.

In turn, this new capability will provide future governments with a wider range of military options during times of crisis—although perhaps not as substantial a boost as might be expected. The problem with amphibious operations is that they become much more demanding when there’s any significant opposition.

If we look at the recent Defence white paper, we can get some insight into current defence thinking. The notion of amphibious operations in support of combat activities is still there from the 2009 paper:

The ADF would seek to undertake operations against an adversary’s bases and forces in transit, as far from Australia as possible. This might involve using strike capabilities and the sustained projection of power by joint task forces, including amphibious operations in some circumstances.

The aim, we’re told is to eventually produce an amphibious capability suitable for employment across the spectrum of operational activities—ie from humanitarian and disaster relief missions through to power projection operations. That’s a huge range of activities, and the upper end would require considerable support from the ADF’s most capable combat platforms—air defence from fast jets overhead and air warfare destroyers, sea control from surface combatants and submarines, and extensive intelligence support. In short, most of the ADF’s capability would have to be mobilised to support opposed amphibious operations.

Think Tank: India Japan Annual Summit - Defence Cooperation Key Focus

As India’s Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh lands in Tokyo after a very successful visit of the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the focus is shifting from cooperation with China to balancing Beijing in which Tokyo will play an important role. Thus the Annual Summit is receiving more than its share of attention. The Indian Prime Minister has repotedly extended his visit by a day on the request of the Japanese leadership and thus he will be in Japan from May 27 to 30th. There is also the unusually warm chemistry between Dr Manmohan Singh and Mr Shinzo Abe. Thus the Japanese Prime Minister and Mrs. Abe will host a private dinner for Prime Minister and Mrs. Kaur in the evening of May 28.

Defence cooperation will however remain a key strand of the summit. Japanese media interviewing Dr Man Mohan Singh clearly asked for steps to be taken to enhanced maritime cooperation, “in view of maritime threat from China?” While the Indian Prime Minister obviously did not respond China threat he did outline that the safety of the sea lanes of communications in particular was a vital issue for both India and Japan as “important maritime nations”. Dr Singh stated, “India supports freedom of navigation and unimpeded lawful commerce in international waters, and right of passage in accordance with accepted principles of international law”. On disputes he added that these should be resolved through dialogue, “ We believe that where disputes exist, they should be peacefully resolved by concerned parties through negotiations. This is essential for peace and stability in our region”.

AUS: Strategic Aviation Forum inaugural meeting

The Department of Defence, Qantas Group and Virgin Australia have discussed a range of issues including alternative fuels and national capacity in aviation skills during the inaugural Strategic Aviation Forum in Canberra. 

The forum brought together Defence and Australia’s two largest civil aviation operators. The forum focused on future national aviation developments, in particular emerging technologies, and crisis planning and security. 

“Today’s forum was an important opportunity for high-level discussion on many areas in which Defence and the airlines can work together in the national interest,” the Vice Chief of the Defence Force, Air Marshal Mark Binskin, said. 

“We agreed to explore the establishment of an alternative fuels information exchange program. Defence and the airlines operate some common aircraft such as the A330 and B737. 

News Story: Saab invests in Indian company Pipavav

In august 2012 defence and security company Saab announced that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) had been signed concerning a strategic investment in the listed Indian company Pipavav Offshore and Defence Engineering Ltd (Pipavav). The investment of MSEK 250 has now been made in shares issued through a, to Saab, directed share issue. After the investment, Saab holds approximately 3.3 per cent of the capital and votes in the company. The investment will be financed from Saab's own readily available resources.

Pipavav is a well-known company in the naval domain inIndiaand has the ambition to grow in other areas of defence as well. And at the same time as the MOU was signed, Saab and Pipavav also signed a Technical Partnership Agreement (TPA), a continuation of an ongoing co-operation between the companies covering details about the format for continued relationships and relevant projects.

"We are pleased to announce this partnership and our strategic investment in Pipavav. The investment offers a solid platform for growth for us on the Indian market and Pipavav strengthens their competitive position through Saab’s technology.Indiais an important market for us and the investment will further reinforce Saab's strong position on the global defence and security market,” says Lars Olof Lindgren, Head of Market Area, SaabIndia

Saab and Pipavav have previously also jointly formed the Combat System Engineering group, which analyses naval combat system design and architecture. The companies are also exploring next generation combat management systems for the Indian Navy and Coast Guard.

Saab serves the global market with world-leading products, services and solutions ranging from military defence to civil security. Saab has operations and employees on all continents and constantly develops, adopts and improves new technology to meet customers’ changing needs.

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