Free Republic

For the first time ever a US Navy aircraft carrier with F-35 stealth fighters on board has entered the South China Sea this week. The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group entered the contested waters near China days ago, and subsequently the Navy released a photo of an F-35 launching from the Carl Vinson.This comes as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold is gaining most attention from Beijing after it sailed near Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands, which is an area long claimed by China.New F-35C Joint Strike Fighters preparing for launch from the USS Carl Vinson, USNI NewsBusiness...

China's surging military space program is poised to challenge U.S. aircraft carrier operations in the Pacific, as Chinese military spacecraft already gather significant new radar, electrooptical imaging, and signal intelligence data globally. During 2010, China more than doubled its military satellite launch rate to 12. This compares with three to five military missions launched each year between 2006 and 2009. Since 2006, China has launched about 30 military related spacecraft. Its total of 15 launches in 2010 set a new record for China and for the first time equaled the U.S. flight rate for a given year. Most U.S. public...

It looks like this is the week China’s military rapidly advancing military tech keeps getting the limelight . First, we saw pics of the Asian giant’s new stealth fighter. Now, it looks like China is one step closer to fielding ballistic missiles aimed at holding U.S. forces throughout the Pacific at bay. Adm. Robert Willard, the top U.S. officer in the Pacific said this week that China’s new DF-21D anti-ship balistic missiles, with their 900-mile range, have reached an early operational status. Apparently, the missiles, widely fretted over in Washington as one of the most serious threats to the United...

Iran's navy commander has confirmed the flight of an Iranian aircraft near a US warship in the waters of the Persian Gulf. On Tuesday, CNN quoted a senior US military officer as saying that an F27 aircraft of the Iranian Navy flew as low as 300 feet near the USS Eisenhower on April 21. "US warships tread the free waters of the Gulf of Oman and it is Iranian navy's duty to conduct routine surveillance flights in the region," Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, the Iranian Navy commander, said in a Tuesday news conference. "The F27 plane of the navy flew above...