Slitherine

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ORIGINAL: jtoatoktoe

Cruiser USS Antietam Runs Aground in Tokyo Bay

She'll be looking for a new CO and a few others most likely. And some time in dry dock.

https://news.usni.org/2017/01/31/cruiser-uss-antietam-runs-aground-tokyo-bay-spills-oil

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Cruiser USS Antietam Runs Aground in Tokyo Bay

She'll be looking for a new CO and a few others most likely. And some time in dry dock.

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ORIGINAL: Hongjian

Further indications that China might have a larger nuclear arsenal than previously assumed. Also, I dont think that there is a "DF-5C" with 10 warheads - at least not produced as a family of ICBM, but that this was an experimental DF-5 variant which tested the DF-41's 10 MIRV bus. Henri.K, also mentioned in the article, has predicted it way before.

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/china-tests-missile-10-warheads/

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ORIGINAL: Dysta

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ORIGINAL: Hongjian

Further indications that China might have a larger nuclear arsenal than previously assumed. Also, I dont think that there is a "DF-5C" with 10 warheads - at least not produced as a family of ICBM, but that this was an experimental DF-5 variant which tested the DF-41's 10 MIRV bus. Henri.K, also mentioned in the article, has predicted it way before.

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/china-tests-missile-10-warheads/

CSIS disagreed to believe DF-41 would be sizable as DF-5 for 10 warheads:

https://missilethreat.csis.org/country/china/

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Philippines' Duterte asks China to patrol piracy-plagued waters

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said he had asked China to help in the fight against Islamic State-linked militants by sending ships to patrol southern waters plagued by raids on commercial vessels.

Speaking to newly promoted army generals, Duterte said he had sought China's help in dangerous waters in the south to check the activities of Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim rebel group sustained by piracy and kidnap-for-ransom activities.

A surge in piracy off parts of the Philippines is forcing ship-owners to divert vessels through other waters, pushing up costs and shipping times.

Duterte said piracy in the Sulu Sea between eastern Malaysia and the southern Philippines would escalate to levels seen in Somalia, and raise insurance costs for firms and increase prices of consumer goods and services.

"We would be glad if they have their presence there ... just to patrol," Duterte said, adding that China could send coastguard vessels, not necessarily "gray" warships.

"In the Malacca Strait and here in Sulu Sea remains to be a big problem," he said. The Malacca Strait, between Malaysia's west coast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, has over the years also been plagued by pirates.

He did not say if China had responded.

The Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia had an agreement to patrol and tackle the Abu Sayyaf in the Sulu and Celebes Sea after they kidnapped the crew of Indonesian and Malaysian tug boats and South Korean and Vietnamese merchant ships.

Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana last week said cooperation might be expanded to include Brunei and Singapore. The United States has also expressed concern about the security problem and held exercises with Malaysia and the Philippines last year.

Lorenzana said on Tuesday the military had intensified operations on land with the aim of defeating Abu Sayyaf within six months.

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ORIGINAL: Hongjian
CSIS generally should be taken with some caution. They have been violently resisting the thought that China has MIRVs or any more warheads than their decades old estimation of 240-260 pieces. They have the agenda of nuclear disarmament to push, where they want to make China to be the poster-boy. Hans M. Kristensen, for example, still didnt want to believe in Chinese MIRVs even when the DF-5B was pulled out to participate the 2015 Military Parade. In his mind, China shouldnt need something like that.
Well, reality is very different. Especially with Trump.

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The Project 877 B-187 diesel-electric submarine Komsomolsk-on-Amur has re-entered service with Russia’s Pacific Fleet after it was repaired and upgraded at the Amur Shipyard in the Khabarovsk Territory in the Far East, the fleet’s press office said.

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The Project 20380 (NATO reporting name: Steregushchy-class) Sovershenny corvette built by the Amur Shipyard for Russia’s Pacific Fleet has launched its running trials, the fleet’s spokesman, Navy Captain 2nd Rank Vladimir Matveyev, has told TASS.

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Russia’s Machine-Building Scientific and Production Association is planning to boost the range of the BrahMos cruise missile jointly produced with India, Company CEO and General Designer Alexander Leonov said.
"There will be a noticeable increase in the missile’s range, not by several times but noticeable," he said.

The company has already started the research stage to increase the cruise missile’s range.

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The Republic of Korea Navy (ROK Navy) announced that four of its newly acquired AW159 Wildcat maritime helicopters are now operational. The ROK Navy is currently conducting an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) training South of Geoje Island in Gyeongsangnam-do. One of the Wildcats is attached to the new Incheon-class frigate Gwangju (the last unit in the FFX-I series) for the drills.

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After a comprehensive evaluation process, The Norwegian Government decided on Germany as strategic partner for new submarines. The partnership is based on a German-Norwegian common purchase and lifetime management of identical, new submarines.

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Steve Bannon, who has ascended in just months from relative obscurity to become one of President Trump’s most influential advisors, has said that Islam is “the most radical” religion in the world and the U.S. is engaged in a civilizational struggle potentially leading to “a major shooting war in the Middle East again.”

-more at link-

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“You have an expansionist Islam and you have an expansionist China. Right? They are motivated. They’re arrogant. They’re on the march. And they think the Judeo-Christian West is on the retreat,” he said. “Talk to us about this mosque on the North Pole.”

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“Some of these situations may get a little unpleasant,” Bannon said. “But you know what, we’re in a war. We’re clearly going into, I think, a major shooting war in the Middle East again.”

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"It's war. It's war. Every day, we put up: America's at war, America's at war. We're at war,” he said in December 2015. “Note to self, beloved commander in chief: We're at war."

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U.S., Japan Successfully Conduct First SM-3 Block IIA Intercept Test

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the Japan Ministry of Defense, and U.S. Navy Sailors aboard USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) successfully conducted a flight test Feb. 3 (Hawaii Standard Time), resulting in the first intercept of a ballistic missile target using the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3)

The SM-3 Block IIA is being developed cooperatively by the United States and Japan to defeat medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. The SM-3 Block IIA interceptor operates as part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system and can be launched from Aegis-equipped ships or Aegis Ashore sites.

At approximately 10:30 p.m., Hawaii Standard Time, Feb. 3 (3:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, Feb. 4) a medium-range ballistic missile target was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii. John Paul Jones detected and tracked the target missile with its onboard AN/SPY-1D(V) radar using the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 weapon system. Upon acquiring and tracking the target, the ship launched an SM-3 Block IIA guided missile which intercepted the target.

"Today's test demonstrates a critical milestone in the cooperative development of the SM-3 Block IIA missile," said MDA Director Vice Adm. Jim Syring. "The missile, developed jointly by a Japanese and U.S. government and industry team, is vitally important to both our nations and will ultimately improve our ability to defend against increasing ballistic missile threats around the world."

Based on preliminary data the test met its primary objective. Program officials will continue to evaluate system performance based upon telemetry and other data obtained during the test.

The flight test, designated SM-3 Block IIA Cooperative Development (SCD) Project Flight Test, Standard Missile (SFTM)-01, was the third flight test of the SM-3 Block IIA guided missile, and the first intercept test. This test also marks the first time an SM-3IIA was launched from an Aegis ship and the first intercept engagement using the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 (BMD 5.1) weapon system.

Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense is the naval component of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System. The MDA and the U.S. Navy cooperatively manage the Aegis BMD program. The Missile Defense Agency's mission is to develop and deploy a layered Ballistic Missile Defense System to defend the United States, its deployed forces, allies and friends from ballistic missile attacks of all ranges in all phases of flight.

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ORIGINAL: kevinkin

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/724bf01cf77243709c4b3b8726aaa74e

The two-stage DF-16 replaces the older, shorter range DF-11, with a final stage that can adjust its trajectory to strike slow moving targets and evade anti-missile defenses such as the U.S. Patriot system deployed by Taiwan.

It also carries up to three warheads weighing as much as a ton and carrying conventional high explosives or a nuclear weapon. Further increasingly its lethality, the missile is believed to be accurate to within as little as 5 meters (16 feet) of the target, similar to that of a cruise missile.

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-snip-

The dire situation of naval aviation is sobering. According to the Navy, 53 percent of all Navy aircraft can’t fly — about 1,700 combat aircraft, patrol, and transport planes and helicopters. Not all are due to budget problems — at any given time, about one-fourth to one-third of aircraft are out of service for regular maintenance. But the 53 percent figure represents about twice the historic norm.

The strike fighter situation is even more acute and more remarkable since the aircraft are vitally important to projecting the fleet’s combat power. Sixty-two percent of F/A-18s are out of service; 27 percent in major depot work; and 35 percent simply awaiting maintenance or parts, the Navy said.

With training and flying hour funds cut, the Navy’s aircrews are struggling to maintain even minimum flying requirements, the senior Navy source said. Retention is becoming a problem, too. In 2013, 17 percent of flying officers declined department head tours after being selected. The percentage grew to 29 percent in 2016.

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but terminal maneuverability is a given for a modern super-accurate ballistic missile with low CEP

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China’s Own “Catfish” Flying Avionics Testbed For The J-20 Fighter Emerges
Lifting a play from western 5th generation fighter development methodology, China is facing its own challenges with 5th-gen fighter sensor fusion in the air.

...

The highly modified Russian-built Tupolev Tu-204C looks like a clone to Boeing’s 757-200 prototype turned F-22 integrated avionics testbed—better known as “The Catfish” due to its unique and highly modified nose profile. The Catfish has worked for nearly two decades to test and perfect the F-22’s ever evolving avionics suite.

Built primarily around the Raptor’s APG-77 AESA radar and its equally important ALR-94 electronic support measures suite—but also including its low-probability of intercept data-link, AAR-56 IR/UV missile approach warning system and secure communications systems, among other tactical subsystems—the F-22’s sensor suite and its powerful mission computers were unprecedented in their complexity and capability for their time.

...

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-snip-

The Prospect of World War 3

Trevor McCrisken, associate professor of politics and international studies at the University of Warwick has stated that WW3 is definitely on the horizon, reported Independent. “We would be looking, I would imagine, at World War Three. I really do think that would be the end of life as we know it on Earth,” he said. This is because war between two aggressive superpowers would inevitably involve nuclear weapons.
And needless to say, any nuclear war does not only affect the nations battling it out, but also their neighbors.

Dr Peter Roberts, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, on the other hand, had no qualms about who would be on the losing side. “America would take military losses. They would lose thousands and thousands [of personnel]. But China would be utterly defeated,” he said.

He also added that the kind of harmony achieved between the four branches of military in the U.S. is unparalleled. China, according to Roberts, lacks the level of experience in combat than the United States possesses. Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese studies and director of King’s College London’s Lau China Institute concurred with Roberts. “US naval superiority is massive. And if we are talking just military, then for sure, a conflict right beside China would hurt China more than the US,” said Brown.

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In the organization of the Chinese rocket forces, formerly called the "Second Artillery Corps," there is a very special brigade. Their main weapons are neither missiles or nuclear warheads, but shovels, concrete and explosives.


The Chinese underground network estimated by the United States (Source: The Washington Post)
Since the late 1970s, tens of thousands of soldiers of this brigade have built a vast network of silos, tunnels and fortifications, which stretches several thousand kilometers under the mountains, in the four corners of China , To house the country's ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.

This strategic priority program has several names, but the best known of all is the "Great Underground Wall". Declassified documents have spoken from the bottom of some silos of launching which is almost 100 meters under the rocks.

And nearly 40 years after the launch of the project, the work is still in progress, at least that's what they suggest several videos recently broadcast on the military channel of local television CCTV-7, Following.

Indeed, journalists of the chain were able to enter one of the sub-networks that is currently under construction, even during the Chinese New Year period. For obvious reasons of confidentiality, the exact location of the work was not revealed, but the commentator indicates that it is in the south of China. It can also be seen in relation to the vegetation and the clothing of the people filmed.

The videos in themselves are not particularly interesting, we see technicians, sometimes naked torsos given the heat that emerges during the solidification of cement, which work to build tunnels of different sizes.

But based on two revealing elements that have been mentioned in these reports, it is believed that the place is designed to house mobile ballistic missiles.

The first element is a " room of tests that may contain missiles erect " appeared 02 to 00 minutes of video. If we use the concrete mixer truck which generally measures 4 meters high as a reference object, the height of the room actually did nearly 14 meters, enough for a TEL type MRBMs DF-16 and DF-21 see an ICBM DF-31 , stands inside.

Then, around 3:07 in the video appeared " the diffusion chamber ", also in full work. The commentator points out at that time the importance of this piece, which is used to " reduce the power of the enemy weapons ". It is therefore believed that this is a network of chambers and tunnels to channel and reduce the shock wave generated by the assault weapons explosions.

Finally, although the television reports do not specify the exact location where they were shot, given the revealed clues and the current location of launch sites for the Chinese rocket forces, it is assumed that they are either Base No. 53 based in Yunnan Province with DF-21 or Base No. 55 stationed south of Hunan Province. Both are found in mountainous regions.

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XQ-222

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“We would be just flat out out of money to be able to do that. I think everyone here knows in ’17 the Navy took a $5-billion cut in its topline, if that comes to fruition that’s $2 billion of readiness cuts we’re going to have to take, which is immediately applied to things like ship avails.”

Five attack submarines would see their maintenance availabilities canceled this year and be put at risk of being decertified if no supplemental were passed out of Congress, Moran added, in addition to similar cuts to surface ship maintenance availabilities.

Assistant Commandant Gen. Glenn Walters said “we would stop flying in about July” without a supplemental. He clarified that forward forces would continue to operate, but for units training at home, “all training would cease without a supplemental, and that includes the parts money and the flying hour money.”

Even if the supplemental – which could total between $30 and $40 billion for all the armed services – is passed in a timely manner, the Navy and Marine Corps still face massive readiness issues that money can’t immediately address. Shipyards and aircraft depots face work backlogs stemming from the 2013 start of sequestration and the hiring freezes, furloughs and funding cuts it brought. Though the Navy has tried to hire thousands of people to conduct maintenance on aircraft carriers and submarines at its four public shipyards, the yards are still unable to keep up with the workload the fleet gives them.

Moran described the cycle of effects the fleet sees from this workforce challenge, using aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush’s (CVN-77) 13-month maintenance availability – which was scheduled to last eight months – as an example.

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ORIGINAL: Dysta

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XQ-222

A bit like Chinese WJ-600 in functionality, but stealthier and have more endurance. (900nm compare to 1500nm)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CASIC_WJ
http://defence-blog.com/news/turkmenistan-took-delivery-chinese-high-speed-combat-unmanned-aerial-vehicle.html

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ORIGINAL: Supreme 2.0
More like EADS_Barracuda

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ORIGINAL: Supreme 2.0

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ORIGINAL: Dysta

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XQ-222

A bit like Chinese WJ-600 in functionality, but stealthier and have more endurance. (900nm compare to 1500nm)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CASIC_WJ
http://defence-blog.com/news/turkmenistan-took-delivery-chinese-high-speed-combat-unmanned-aerial-vehicle.html

More like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EADS_Barracuda (by the looks at least)