DTN News - MALABAR 2012: Delhi Scales Down US War Games - Air force Request To Join Exercise With American Navy Turned Down

DTN News - MALABAR 2012: Delhi Scales Down US War Games - Air force Request To Join Exercise With American Navy Turned Down

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 29, 2012: The Centre recently turned down an air force request to participate in the war games with the US navy in the Bay of Bengal that concluded last week.

The seven-day Malabar 2012 exercise involved the American and Indian navies.

The Centre’s move followed a quiet policy decision in the defence ministry to scale down — but not stop — the friendly military engagements with the US armed forces, which have gathered pace and increased in complexity over the past decade.

The defence ministry is wary of the “hype” that the US builds around joint military exercises with India.

Among the most important of the war games that the Indian and US forces conduct is the Malabar series involving the two navies. An air force component is integral to the exercises because the US deploys a carrier battle group.

The Malabar exercise in 2007 in the Bay of Bengal involved the armed forces of five countries and was easily the largest international war games that India has hosted. The exercise involved three aircraft carriers and the Indian Air Force (IAF).

That drill irritated the Chinese so much that Beijing asked New Delhi if it was forging a military alliance against it.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/04/dtn-news-malabar-2012-delhi-scales-down.html

DTN News - TAIWAN DEFENSE NEWS: US Raises Hope Of Sale Of New F-16 Fighter Jets To Taiwan

DTN News - TAIWAN DEFENSE NEWS: US Raises Hope Of Sale Of New F-16 Fighter Jets To Taiwan

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 28, 2012: The Obama administration will give “serious consideration” to selling Taiwan new Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) (LMT) F-16 fighter jets, a White House official said, creating a potential new flashpoint with China ahead of next week’s high- level meetings between U.S. and Chinese officials.

A jet sale “warrants serious consideration given the growing military threat to Taiwan,” Robert Nabors, the White House’s director of legislative affairs, said in a letter yesterday to Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican.

The comments risk spawning a political clash with China as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner prepare to meet their Chinese counterparts in Beijing next week for annual talks. China, which insists that Taiwan be reunited with the mainland by force if necessary, has cut military contacts with the U.S. in the past over American arms sales to the island.

“This is going to cause huge problems for the Chinese,” Bonnie Glaser, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said in an interview. The tension may be compounded if a human-rights group’s speculation bears out that an activist who escaped house arrest in eastern China this week is holed up at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, she said.

New F-16 C/D fighters would replace aging F-5 jets and supplement a refurbishment program for Taiwan’s F-16 A/Bs that President Barack Obama’s administration announced in September.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/04/dtn-news-taiwan-defense-news-us-raises.html

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Russia-China Joint Naval Exercise Held From April 22 To 27 At Naval Base In Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province, China

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Russia-China Joint Naval Exercise Held From April 22 To 27 At Naval Base In Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province, China

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 28, 2012: In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, a Chinese military band performs as they see off the leaving Russian Navy's missile cruiser Varyag in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, Friday, April 27, 2012. 

The Chinese and Russian navies announced on Friday the conclusion of their six-day joint naval exercise, Xinhua said.   (Photo - AP)

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DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Russia-China Joint Naval Exercise Held From April 22 To 27 At Naval Base In Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province, China

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Russia-China Joint Naval Exercise Held From April 22 To 27 At Naval Base In Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province, China

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 28, 2012: In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, a Chinese military band performs as they see off the leaving Russian Navy's missile cruiser Varyag in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, Friday, April 27, 2012. 

The Chinese and Russian navies announced on Friday the conclusion of their six-day joint naval exercise, Xinhua said.   (Photo - AP)

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DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: U.S., Japan Unveil Revised Plan For Okinawa

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: U.S., Japan Unveil Revised Plan For Okinawa

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 27, 2012: The United States and Japan announced on Thursday a revised agreement on streamlining the U.S. military presence on Okinawa that will shift 9,000 Marines from the southern Japanese island to Guam and other Asia-Pacific sites.

The new plan, unveiled days before Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda meets President Barack Obama in Washington, helps the allies work around the central but still-unresolved dispute over moving the Futenma air base from a crowded part of Okinawa to a new site that has vexed relations for years.

"I am very pleased that, after many years, we have reached this important agreement and plan of action. I applaud the hard work and effort that went into crafting it," U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said in a statement.

"Japan is not just a close ally, but also a close friend."

Under the agreement, 9,000 U.S. Marines will be relocated. Five thousand will go to Guam and the rest to other sites such as Hawaii and Australia, a joint U.S.-Japanese statement said.

The updated version of a long-delayed 2006 plan was needed to achieve "a U.S. force posture in the Asia-Pacific region that is more geographically distributed, operationally resilient and politically sustainable," the statement said.

Snags over Okinawa had raised questions about the viability of the Obama administration's strategy of shifting U.S. forces from other regions to the Asia-Pacific to deal with nuclear saber-rattling by North Korea, the rapid military buildup of China and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Friction over U.S. bases intensified after the 1995 gang rape of a Japanese schoolgirl by U.S. servicemen. The case sparked widespread protests by Okinawans, who had long resented the American presence due to crime, noise and deadly accidents.

There are about 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan under a 1960 bilateral security treaty.

Okinawa, occupied by the United States from 1945-72, accounts for less than 1 percent of Japan's total land but hosts three-quarters of the U.S. military facilities in the country in terms of land area.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/04/dtn-news-defense-news-us-japan-unveil.html

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Chinese Firm Suspected In Missile-Linked Sale To North Korea According To U.S. official

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Chinese Firm Suspected In Missile-Linked Sale To North Korea According To U.S. official

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 23, 2012: The United States believes a Chinese firm sold North Korea components for a missile transporter showcased in a recent military parade and will press Beijing to tighten enforcement of a U.N. ban on such military sales, a U.S. official said on Saturday.

The Obama administration suspects the Chinese manufacturer sold the chassis - not the entire vehicle - and may have believed it was for civilian purposes, which means it would not be an intentional violation of U.N. sanctions, the senior official said.

But such a sale - coming to light amid tensions over a failed North Korean rocket launch earlier this month - raises concerns in Washington on whether China is making enough of an effort to abide by the prohibition on weapons sales to Pyongyang.

The New York Times first reported on U.S. findings about the origin of parts of the transporter launcher system - essentially a large truck on top of which a missile is mounted - displayed in a parade in Pyongyang on Sunday.

The newspaper said the administration suspected the Chinese manufacturer involved in the transaction was Hubei Sanjiang. The official, who confirmed details of the administration's thinking on the matter, said the firm likely sold the part to a front company that was used to mask the buyer's true identity.

Beijing, reclusive North Korea's only major ally, has denied it has broken any rules, although a modern, eight-axle missile transporter spotted in the military parade to celebrate the founder of North Korea was said by some western military experts to be of Chinese design and possibly origin.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/04/dtn-news-defense-news-chinese-firm.html

DTN News - IRAN DEFENSE NEWS: Iran Military Says Copying U.S. Drone

DTN News - IRAN DEFENSE NEWS: Iran Military Says Copying U.S. Drone

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 23, 2012: Iran's military has started to build a copy of a U.S. surveillance drone captured last year after breaking the software encryption, Iranian media reported on Sunday.

General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Revolutionary Guards aerospace division, said engineers were in the final stages of decoding data from the Sentinel aircraft, which came down in December near the Afghan border, Mehr news agency reported.

Iran said the unmanned aircraft was shot down, but Washington disputes that and says the security systems mean Iran is unlikely to get valuable information from the Lockheed Martin Corp drone.

"The Americans should be aware to what extent we have infiltrated the plane," Fars news agency quoted Hajizadeh as saying. "Our experts have full understanding of its components and program."

Iran's military regular announces defense and engineering developments, but some analysts are skeptical as to how reliable those reports are.

U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, a member of the Armed Services Committee, voiced his own doubts.

"There's a history here of Iranian bluster, particularly now when they're on the defensive because of our economic sanctions against them," Lieberman said in a television interview.

The RQ-170 Sentinel has been widely used since 2010 in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It played a role in the raid in which Osama bin Laden was killed last year, analysts say.

An Iranian defense official said recently that Tehran has received numerous requests for information on the craft and that China and Russia have shown most interest.

The loss of the plane sparked some concerns that sophisticated technology could fall into the hands of countries developing their own unmanned planes. The main worry centers on the special coatings on the craft's surface.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/04/dtn-news-iran-defense-news-iran.html

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: US Worried As China And Russia Prepare To Hold Historic Joint Naval Exercises

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: US Worried As China And Russia Prepare To Hold Historic Joint Naval Exercises

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 22, 2012: China and Russia are making military history this weekend with the first bilateral naval exercises the two governments have ever conducted together.

China is sending a group of 16 ships, including destroyers, frigates, and a hospital ship. Russia is sending 4 ships, including the cruiser Varyag and three air defense destroyers now moving south from Vladivostok to join the Chinese after navigating through the Sea of Japan.

Another Varyag, though, might steal the spotlight from the assembled fleet. It is the Chinese aircraft carrier of the same name, the first carrier in the People's Liberation Army Navy. Even though China has not said whether it will be participating in the joint exercises, it might.

The state-owned China News Service reported Friday that carrier trials may take place April 20-29 -- an interesting overlap with the China-Russia joint exercises April 22-27.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/04/dtn-news-defense-news-us-worried-as.html

DTN News - JAPAN NEWS: Anti-Japan Protesters In Hong Kong Over Disputed Islands Between China And Japan

DTN News - JAPAN NEWS: Anti-Japan Protesters In Hong Kong Over Disputed Islands Between China And Japan

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 19, 2012: An anti-Japan protesters stands on the Rising Sun Flags of the former Imperial Japanese military and shouts slogan "Japan get out of Diaoyu Islands (Senkaku islands)" during a demonstration near the Japanese Consulate in Hong Kong Thursday, April 19, 2012.

Tokyo's outspoken governor said earlier this week the city has decided to buy a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea to bolster Japanese claims to the territory, a move that could elevate tensions with China. Gov. Shintaro Ishihara said the city is close to reaching an agreement with the private Japanese owner of three of the four islands in the group known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.   (Photo - AP)


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DTN News - INDIA DEFENSE NEWS: India Launches Long-Range Agni V Missile Successful Test

DTN News - INDIA DEFENSE NEWS: India Launches Long-Range Agni V Missile Successful Test

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 19, 2012: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh congratulated the scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the successful test-fire of the Agni-V missile on Thursday.

"I congratulate all the scientific and technical personnel of the DRDO and other organisations who have worked tirelessly in our endeavour to strengthen the defence and security of our country. Today's successful Agni-V test launch represents another milestone in our quest to add to the credibility of our security and preparedness and to continuously explore the frontiers of science. The nation stands together in honouring the scientific community who have done the country proud," the Prime Minister said in a statement.

A tweet from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) also said that Manmohan Singh called DRDO chief Dr VK Saraswat to personally congratulate him and his team for the successful test launch of Agni-V.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/04/dtn-news-india-defense-news-india.html

DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: Russia-China Su-35 Fighter Talks Frozen

DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS:  Russia-China Su-35 Fighter Talks Frozen

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 18, 2012: Negotiations on the sale of Russian advanced Su-35 Flanker-E fighters to China have been put on hold over Beijing’s refusal to buy a large consignment, Russian state-controlled arms exporter Rosoboronexport said on Tuesday.

“We have been promoting the Su-35 fighter on the Chinese market,” Rosoboronexport deputy chief Viktor Komardin said.

“However, China only wants to buy a limited number [of aircraft] whereas we want [to sell] a large consignment to make [the deal] economically viable.”

He offered no indication of the numbers involved

The negotiations have been ongoing for more than one and a half years.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/04/dtn-news-china-defense-news-russia.html

DTN News - 28TH HAN KUANG: Taiwan Han Kuang Military Exercises From April 16 To 20, 2012

DTN News - 28TH HAN KUANG: Taiwan Han Kuang Military Exercises From April 16 To 20, 2012

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 18, 2012:An ROC marines M60A3 tank lands on the beach in Pingtung County during last year’s Han Kuang drills. 

The first stage of the Han Kuang No. 28 drills, scheduled for April 16 to 20, will feature live military exercises, including anti-airborne operations at the Hsinchu airport, amphibious landings at Pingtung County’s Fangliao Township, and mechanized infantry and support maneuvers starting at the Wanjin base in Pingtung and moving north, MND officials said. (CNA)

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/

DTN News - 28TH HAN KUANG: Taiwan Han Kuang Military Exercises From April 16 To 20, 2012

DTN News - 28TH HAN KUANG: Taiwan Han Kuang Military Exercises From April 16 To 20, 2012

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 18, 2012: Military vehicles line up on a bridge during the 28th Han Kuang drill in southern Kaohsiung on April 17, 2012. Taiwan kicked off its biggest annual war game, testing its ability to defend of the capital Taipei against a Chinese attack and ward off a blockade of its main naval base.

The first stage of the Han Kuang No. 28 drills, scheduled for April 16 to 20, will feature live military exercises, including anti-airborne operations at the Hsinchu airport, amphibious landings at Pingtung County’s Fangliao Township, and mechanized infantry and support maneuvers starting at the Wanjin base in Pingtung and moving north, MND officials said. (Photo - Getty)

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/

DTN News - CHINA NEWS: Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra With Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Review A Honor Guard And Is On Official Visit To China

DTN News - CHINA NEWS: Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra With Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Review A Honor Guard And Is On Official Visit To China

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 17, 2012: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (L) and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (R) review the Chinese military honor guard during an official welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on April 17, 2012.

 Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is on a four-day official visit to China. (Photo - Getty)

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: The Coming War With China

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: The Coming War With China

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 14, 2012: Is China a peaceful nation that only wants to turn out Apple iPads and iPhones? Or is the Middle Kingdom bent on attacking the U.S.? Beijing is the long, and strong, pole in the tent for the U.S. military – and they know it. China is the new Soviet Union, and perhaps it should be.

But is there a downside to view Beijing through such a lens? (Congress has created the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission to track China’s growing clout [remember when the CIA was our chief threat exaggerator?] It also compels the Pentagon to report annually on Chinese military threats [remember when, for good or for ill, we counted on the Defense Intelligence Agency to keep track of such things?])

Do such assessments only create a self-fulfilling prophecy (self-fulfilling prophecy: something that allows the self-licking ice-cream cone, with apologizes to John Cameron Swayze, to keep on licking)? Perhaps not. After all, former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger’s multi-colored annual editions of Soviet Military Power — which portrayed the Soviet Union as a military superpower during the 1980s as the Pentagon, DIA and CIA missed its internal rot — hardly strengthened the Red Army.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/04/dtn-news-defense-news-coming-war-with.html

DTN News - CHINA NEWS: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan In Beijing China

DTN News - CHINA NEWS: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan In Beijing China

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 11, 2012: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (L) and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) review the Chinese military honor guards during the welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, April 9, 2012. 

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is paying the first official visit to China by a Turkish premier in 27 years from April 8 to 10.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/

DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: Chinese Navy Goes Unmanned For The First Time

DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: Chinese Navy Goes Unmanned For The First Time

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 10, 2012: The Chinese military has added sea-based unmanned aircraft to its rapidly growing arsenal, with the first of those aircraft already deployed. 

The People's Liberation Navy (PLN) has begun fielding unmanned surveillance aircraft aboard its fleet of warships, according to recent news reports. 

Foreign intelligence agencies have already confirmed the existence of one Chinese-built maritime aerial drone aboard PLN ships, United Press International reported Monday. 

Other state media reports coming from Beijing claim other versions of unmanned intelligence aircraft are already under construction. 

Chinese military leaders allegedly requested information from Iran on the highly-secretive RQ-170 Sentinal drone Tehran captured from U.S. forces last December. 

Military or intelligence agencies in Beijing have also been attempting to breach Defense Department networks, in an attempt to gain more information on U.S. unmanned aircraft operations. 

That information from Iran and the Pentagon may have informed China's work on this latest- sea-worthy drone. 

Iran is also attempting to build its own fleet of aerial drones, based on what it learned from the so-called "Beast of Kandahar" aircraft, into a new surveillance aircraft of their own. 

But it's unlikely that Iranian or Chinese engineers can incorporate any of the technology from the stealthy American drone. It will likely take months, or even years, before Iran can take anything its learned from the Sentinel drone and work it into a functioning weapons system.

The new Chinese drones will likely be used to track American and foreign warships and submarines traveling in the Pacific. 

News of their existence comes as the United States prepares to shift its focus from the Middle East to Asia. 

This strategic shift, announced by President Obama in February, was driven mainly by a need to check Chinese and North Korean aggression in the region. 

Interest in unmanned technology has increased dramatically among foreign countries in recent years. Autonomous drones, operated by the Pentagon and CIA, have played a key role in ongoing U.S.-led counterterrorism operations around the world. 

Currently, U.S. defense firms lead the world in development of unmanned intelligence aircraft. But Beijing claims its new sea-worthy drone is the first step in breaking into that market.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/04/dtn-news-china-defense-news-chinese.html

Quote of The Day ~ April 5, 2012

Quote of The Day ~ April 5, 2012

And this our life,

exempt from public haunt,

Finds tongues in trees,

books in running brooks,

Sermons in stones,

and good in everything.

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616),

Presented & compiled By Quotes of the Day for DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News

Quote of The Day ~ April 2, 2012

Quote of The Day ~ April 2, 2012

When someone shares something 

of value with you and 

you benefit from it, 

You have a moral obligation 

to share it with others

Chinese Proverb          

Presented & compiled By Quotes of the Day for DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News

DTN News - SPECIAL REPORT: Japan Prime Minister Meets Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

DTN News - SPECIAL REPORT: Japan Prime Minister Meets Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 29, 2012: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (L) shakes hands with Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in front of a monitor displaying a facebook page of Prime Minister's Office of Japan as they meet at the latter's official residence in Tokyo on March 29, 2012. 

Facebook has more than 800 million users around the world and is the leading social network in all but six countries, notably Russia, where local rivals are preferred, and China, where it has been banned since 2009.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/03/dtn-news-special-report-japan-prime.html