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A mixed task force from the Russian Pacific Fleet started on Wednesday a series of anti-submarine warfare (ASW) drills in the Sea of Japan, a fleet spokesman said. "Two task forces comprising missile destroyers and diesel-powered submarines are taking part in the drills in line with a regular training program," Capt. 1st Rank Roman Martov said. The exercises involve a number of search-and-destroy missions, simulated torpedo attacks and live-fire drills with on-board artillery and air defense systems. The Admiral Tributs and Admiral Vinogradov destroyers, which carried out patrol missions in the Gulf of Aden as part of international efforts to...

Those splendid brainboxes at DARPA - the Pentagon's in-house bazaar of the bizarre - have outdone themselves this time. They now plan an entirely uncrewed, automated ghost frigate able to cruise the oceans of the world for months or years on end without human input. The new project is called Anti-submarine warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV), and is intended to produce "an X-ship founded on the assumption that no person steps aboard at any point in its operating cycle". The uncrewed frigate would have enough range and endurance for "global, months long deployments with no underway human maintenance", being...

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has disclosed plans for a deep ocean sensor network that could provide a long-range anti-submarine surveillance capability sufficient to protect 'blue water' Carrier Strike Group operations. This new initiative, which envisions a distributed system of sensors and sources on or near the ocean floor, harks back to the SOSUS (Sound Surveillance System) deep-water long-range detection capability deployed by the US Navy during the Cold War. It also signals a revival in interest in blue-water anti-submarine warfare (ASW), an area that has largely taken a back seat in the two decades since the...

Pakistan Navy acquires ASW helicopters from China KARACHI: Pakistan Navy has acquired Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) helicopters Z9EC from China. The induction ceremony was held here on Wednesday at Naval Aviation Base. Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir was the chief guest on the occasion. This is the first batch of the series of six helicopters to be procured as per the contract signed with M/s China National Aero Technology Import and Export Corporation (CATIC). The Z9EC helicopters have been built according to the specific requirements of Pakistan Navy and are capable to detect and destroy submarines. The...

Chinese Naval Buildup Surprising, But Not Yet Alarming, Says AdmiralDefense Daily, June 8, 2006 The pace of Chinese naval expansion is faster than expected, but is not alarming yet, although Chinese intentions are not evident, a U.S. Navy admiral said last week. "Clearly...we kind of continue to be surprised by the growth of the Chinese Navy," said Rear Adm. Joseph Walsh, director of Submarine Warfare (N77), on June 1 during a speech on the future of the U.S. Navy at a symposium in Washington, D.C. "That is clearly something we watch." Walsh said the Chinese are focusing on fielding surface...

Helicopter technology is coming to a point of near perfection. But the current generation of Helicopters do not have the speed (300 mph vs 200 mph) and cargo capability of the V-22 Osprey. SAR is Search and Rescue. Speed and cargo capacity can mean the difference between life and death. The V-22 could contain an emergency medical facility plus arrive at the scene 50% faster than a heliocopter. Let us assume there is an emergency 120 miles from the position of a helicopter and V-22 -- taking off at the same time. The V-22 will get there in 24 minutes....

The CBO States: http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=4130&sequence=4 Helicopter HangarsGenerally, the most effective weapon against quiet diesel-electric submarines and small, fast boats armed with torpedoes or cruise missiles is a helicopter equipped with missiles. Counting the number of helicopter hangars on surface ships reveals the number of helicopters that the Navy could have available to counter such threats. The more hangars available on-station during peacetime or in-theater during a war, the more flexible the surface combatant force is, and the better equipped it will be to perform its missions, particularly defeating antiaccess threats. During both peacetime and wartime, Option I would outperform the other...

Russia and China hope to sign a massive arms deal after staging joint exercises for the first time RUSSIA will show off its most modern bombers to its best military customer and China will have a chance to demonstrate that it is a force to be reckoned with when the giant neighbours hold their first joint military exercises this month. The decision to hold the drills off the east China coast in the Yellow Sea came after a disagreement over Beijing’s initial desire for the games to take place further south, opposite the island of Taiwan — which it hopes...

.S. military officials said yesterday they will be watching closely as China and Russia prepare for unprecedented joint military exercises later this month to be staged on a Chinese province close to the Korean Peninsula. Dubbed "Peace Mission 2005," the Aug. 18 to 25 exercises between the two Cold War rivals will involve about 10,000 troops, as well as Russian fighter planes and paratroopers and China's growing nuclear submarine fleet. .... The exercises, seen as hard evidence of a warming alliance between the two powers against U.S. influence in Asia, have sparked concern across the region, particularly in Taiwan, which...

Anti-Submarine Missile to Debut by 2007The Korea Times, August 5th, 2005, p. 1 By Jung Sung-ki Staff Reporter A state-run defense research institute said Thursday it plans to develop a sophisticated long-range anti-submarine missile on its own by 2007 as part of programs to build up a ``cooperative self-reliant'' defense capability. The Agency for Defense Development (ADD) said it has set aside a total of 100 billion won ($990 million) a year to build the anti-submarine missiles, which are being planned to equip 4000-ton-class destroyers. Last May, the Navy launched its fourth 4,000-ton-class destroyer, ``Wang Geon,'' which is capable...

ABOARD USS TARAWA IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC (NNS) -- Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 1 conducted a successful anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercise with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) July 25-26 off the coast of Hawaii. .... During the exercise, Tarawa and Cleveland acted as the high value units operating in a sea base, while Chosin, Ingraham, Santa Fe and the JMSDF destroyers practiced detection and prosecution of the fast-attack submarine USS Topeka (SSN 754), which simulated an enemy diesel sub. ....

IRABU, Okinawa Prefecture-An airstrip on the islet of Shimojijima, far southwest of Okinawa's main island, has been swept up in the United States' geopolitical strategy to transform its armed forces. Besides the U.S. military, the maneuverings involve the Self-Defense Forces, town council intrigue, local fear of Chinese submarines and a mysterious negotiator promising money from the central government. As for the island's strategic value, no one seems quite sure. What is certain is that little progress is being made on construction of an offshore heliport near Henoko in Okinawa's Nago. The facility is intended to replace the U.S. Marine Corps...

St. Louis, April 28, 2005 – The U.S. Navy's P-8A Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) program has successfully completed its second major review since contract award and received approval from the technical review board (TRB) to proceed toward the design phase. "The MMA team was extremely well prepared," said Stu Young, chairman of the System Functional Review (SFR) review board and technical director for the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems division. "The TRB had no reservations about general preparedness to proceed to preliminary design. This team is setting the standard by which others should be judged. Their progress since award...

China’s top offshore oil and gas producer, CNOOC Ltd., will begin operations this year at a gas field in the East China Sea despite a territorial dispute with Japan. ..CNOOC Chairman Fu Chengyu told reporters on Tuesday he expected the Chunxiao field, located south of Japan, to begin operations in August and September... ....On Monday Japanese media reported Japan had demanded that China halt construction at the Chunxiao natural gas field. Hydrocarbon deposits were found in the early 1970s... In 2004 China’s construction of the Chunxiao natural gas production plant 5 kilometres (3 miles) from the disputed area aggravated tensions...

China National Offshore Oil Corporation is considering a nearly $14bn (£7bn, €10.6bn) takeover of Unocal of the US. Sinopec, another Chinese state-controlled oil group, has struck a $70bn deal to buy Iranian crude oil and liquefied natural gas over three decades. China has sent $6bn to Rosneft, the Russian company that bought the main production unit of the embattled Yukos oil group, as advance payment for oil supplies. India has just reached a $40bn agreement to import LNG from Iran and develop Iranian oilfields, and is promoting pipeline projects to bring oil and gas across neighbouring countries to supply its...

PARIS - Europe has angered the United States with talk of canceling its arms embargo against China - but governments and companies on the continent have for years delivered weapons and other equipment to Beijing and its rapidly modernizing People's Liberation Army. In Germany, a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler AG says it is supplying diesel engines for Chinese submarines. And there's been a surge in European export licenses to China for goods - about $550 million in 2003 alone - that are designed for war or could have military and civilian applications, a gauge of Europe's growing willingness to profit from...

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Japanese navy was mobilized on Wednesday for the first time in five years after an unidentified submarine was spotted in waters off Japan. The intrusion was brief and no warning shot was fired, the government said, but the mobilization was a rare display of the country's military capability, long constrained by a pacifist constitution. A navy P3C patrol plane spotted the submarine near the Okinawa islands, 1,600 km (1,000 miles) southwest of Tokyo, in an area close to another series of islets at the heart of a territorial dispute between Japan and China. A second P3C...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy on Monday awarded Chicago-based Boeing Co. a multibillion dollar deal to design a replacement for the Navy's fleet of submarine-hunting P-3 aircraft, congressional sources said.