ReportWire

Tag: Military technology

  • West clashes with Russia and Iran at UN over Tehran’s uranium enrichment and drones for Russia

    West clashes with Russia and Iran at UN over Tehran’s uranium enrichment and drones for Russia

    [ad_1]

    UNITED NATIONS — The United States and its Western allies clashed with Russia and Iran at the U.N. Security Council on Thursday over Tehran’s advancing uranium enrichment and its reported supply of combat drones to Moscow being used to attack Ukraine.

    The sharp exchanges came at the council’s semi-annual meeting on implementation of its resolution endorsing the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six major countries known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which the U.S. under then-President Donald Trump left in 2018.

    At the start of the meeting, Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused Britain, which hold the council presidency, of seeking to hold “an openly politicized show” by inviting Ukraine to take part in the meeting when it is not part of the JCPOA. He demanded a procedural vote on its participation.

    U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood countered, accusing both Iran and Russia of participating in the transfer of drones used in Ukraine without prior Security Council approval in violation of the 2015 resolution.

    “This is a matter of life or death for the Ukrainian people,” Wood said. “It would be unconscionable to deny Ukraine the opportunity to speak at this meeting when it is experiencing the devastating effects of Iran’s violation of resolution 2231 firsthand.”

    Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward, who was chairing the council meeting, then called for a vote on whether Ukraine could participate. Twelve members voted “yes,” while China and Russia voted “no” and Mozambique abstained.

    The United States, Britain, France and Ukraine have urged U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to send investigators to Ukraine to examine debris from drones used in Russia’s attacks, insisting that resolution 2231 gives him a mandate to open an investigation.

    Russia insists he has no such authority and Nebenzia warned the U.N. Secretariat against taking any such action. Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani added that any U.N. findings “based on such illegal activities is null and void.”

    U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo said in her briefing to the council that France, Germany, Ukraine, the U.K. and U.S. had written letters concerning alleged transfers of drones from Iran to Russia and had provided photographs and their analyses of the recovered drones.

    “The Secretariat continues to examine the available information,” DiCarlo said, giving no indication of when or if a U.N. investigation would take place.

    Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told the council that more than 1,000 drone launches over Ukraine had been recorded and that analysis by Ukrainian and international experts confirmed their Iranian origin.

    Russia’s Nebenzia accused Ukraine and the West of fomenting misinformation and dismissed the evidence as comical.

    France, Germany and the UK, which are parties to the JCPOA, said in a joint statement that Iran has also been in violation of its nuclear commitments under the 2015 deal for four years.

    They pointed to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s reports that Iran’s total stockpiles of enriched uranium are now 21 times the amount permitted under the 2015 nuclear deal — and the IAEA’s detection in January of uranium particles enriched to 83.7%, which is almost at weapons-grade levels of 90%. Any stockpile of uranium at that level could be quickly used to produce an atomic bomb if Iran chooses.

    The 2015 nuclear deal limited Tehran’s uranium stockpile to 300 kilograms (661 pounds) and enrichment to 3.67% — enough to fuel a nuclear power plant. But following the U.S. withdrawal, Tehran escalated its nuclear program and has been producing uranium enriched to 60% purity — a level for which nonproliferation experts already say Tehran has no civilian use.

    Iran informed the IAEA that “unintended fluctuations” in enrichment levels may have occurred accounting for the particles enriched to 83.7%, and Iravani, the Iranian ambassador, and Russia’s Nebenzia both said the issue has been resolved.

    France, Germany and the UK said Iran also “continues to develop and improve ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons,” pointing to a May 25 test of a missile they said is capable of delivering a warhead to a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles).

    U.S. ambassador Wood said “Iran’s ballistic missile activity – especially in light of Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and its threatening rhetoric – is an enduring threat to regional and international peace and security.”

    Iravani countered that “Iran is fully determined to vigorously pursue its peaceful nuclear activities including enrichment.”

    Negotiations on the U.S. rejoining the deal and Iran returning to its commitments broke down last August. European Union Ambassador Olof Skoog told the council the EU compromise text is still on the table “as a potential point of departure for any renewed effort to bring the JCPOA back on track.”

    Iravani said: “We are still prepared for the resumption of negotiations should the other side be ready to do the same.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • West clashes with Russia and Iran at UN over Tehran’s uranium enrichment and drones for Russia

    West clashes with Russia and Iran at UN over Tehran’s uranium enrichment and drones for Russia

    [ad_1]

    UNITED NATIONS — The United States and its Western allies clashed with Russia and Iran at the U.N. Security Council on Thursday over Tehran’s advancing uranium enrichment and its reported supply of combat drones to Moscow being used to attack Ukraine.

    The sharp exchanges came at the council’s semi-annual meeting on implementation of its resolution endorsing the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six major countries known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which the U.S. under then-President Donald Trump left in 2018.

    At the start of the meeting, Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused Britain, which hold the council presidency, of seeking to hold “an openly politicized show” by inviting Ukraine to take part in the meeting when it is not part of the JCPOA. He demanded a procedural vote on its participation.

    U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood countered, accusing both Iran and Russia of participating in the transfer of drones used in Ukraine without prior Security Council approval in violation of the 2015 resolution.

    “This is a matter of life or death for the Ukrainian people,” Wood said. “It would be unconscionable to deny Ukraine the opportunity to speak at this meeting when it is experiencing the devastating effects of Iran’s violation of resolution 2231 firsthand.”

    Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward, who was chairing the council meeting, then called for a vote on whether Ukraine could participate. Twelve members voted “yes,” while China and Russia voted “no” and Mozambique abstained.

    The United States, Britain, France and Ukraine have urged U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to send investigators to Ukraine to examine debris from drones used in Russia’s attacks, insisting that resolution 2231 gives him a mandate to open an investigation.

    Russia insists he has no such authority and Nebenzia warned the U.N. Secretariat against taking any such action. Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani added that any U.N. findings “based on such illegal activities is null and void.”

    U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo said in her briefing to the council that France, Germany, Ukraine, the U.K. and U.S. had written letters concerning alleged transfers of drones from Iran to Russia and had provided photographs and their analyses of the recovered drones.

    “The Secretariat continues to examine the available information,” DiCarlo said, giving no indication of when or if a U.N. investigation would take place.

    Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told the council that more than 1,000 drone launches over Ukraine had been recorded and that analysis by Ukrainian and international experts confirmed their Iranian origin.

    Russia’s Nebenzia accused Ukraine and the West of fomenting misinformation and dismissed the evidence as comical.

    France, Germany and the UK, which are parties to the JCPOA, said in a joint statement that Iran has also been in violation of its nuclear commitments under the 2015 deal for four years.

    They pointed to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s reports that Iran’s total stockpiles of enriched uranium are now 21 times the amount permitted under the 2015 nuclear deal — and the IAEA’s detection in January of uranium particles enriched to 83.7%, which is almost at weapons-grade levels of 90%. Any stockpile of uranium at that level could be quickly used to produce an atomic bomb if Iran chooses.

    The 2015 nuclear deal limited Tehran’s uranium stockpile to 300 kilograms (661 pounds) and enrichment to 3.67% — enough to fuel a nuclear power plant. But following the U.S. withdrawal, Tehran escalated its nuclear program and has been producing uranium enriched to 60% purity — a level for which nonproliferation experts already say Tehran has no civilian use.

    Iran informed the IAEA that “unintended fluctuations” in enrichment levels may have occurred accounting for the particles enriched to 83.7%, and Iravani, the Iranian ambassador, and Russia’s Nebenzia both said the issue has been resolved.

    France, Germany and the UK said Iran also “continues to develop and improve ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons,” pointing to a May 25 test of a missile they said is capable of delivering a warhead to a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles).

    U.S. ambassador Wood said “Iran’s ballistic missile activity – especially in light of Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and its threatening rhetoric – is an enduring threat to regional and international peace and security.”

    Iravani countered that “Iran is fully determined to vigorously pursue its peaceful nuclear activities including enrichment.”

    Negotiations on the U.S. rejoining the deal and Iran returning to its commitments broke down last August. European Union Ambassador Olof Skoog told the council the EU compromise text is still on the table “as a potential point of departure for any renewed effort to bring the JCPOA back on track.”

    Iravani said: “We are still prepared for the resumption of negotiations should the other side be ready to do the same.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Russia says it foiled Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow as Kyiv’s counteroffensive grinds on

    Russia says it foiled Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow as Kyiv’s counteroffensive grinds on

    [ad_1]

    Russian air defenses on Tuesday foiled a Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow that prompted authorities to briefly close one of the city’s international airports, officials said, as a Western analysis said that Russia has managed to slow Kyiv’s recently launched counteroffensive.

    The drone attack, which follows previous similar raids on the Russian capital, was the first known assault on the city since an abortive mutiny launched 11 days ago by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin. His Wagner troops marched on Moscow in the biggest — though short-lived — challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin in more than two decades of his rule.

    Authorities in Ukraine, which generally avoids commenting on attacks on Russian soil, didn’t say whether it launched the drone raid.

    The Russian Defense Ministry said that four of the five drones were downed by air defenses on the outskirts of Moscow and the fifth was jammed by electronic warfare means and forced down.

    There were no casualties or damage, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

    As with previous drone attacks on Moscow, it was impossible to verify the Russian military’s announcement that it downed all of them.

    The drone attack prompted authorities to temporarily restrict flights at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport and divert flights to two other Moscow main airports. Vnukovo is about 15 kilometers (nine miles) southwest of Moscow.

    In May, two daring drone attacks jolted the Russian capital, in what appeared to be Kyiv’s deepest strikes into Russia.

    Tuesday’s raid came as Ukrainian forces have continued probing Russian defenses in the south and the east of their country in the initial stages of a counteroffensive.

    Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s Security and Defense Council, said that the military was currently focusing on destroying Russian equipment and personnel, and that the past few days of fighting have been particularly “fruitful.” He provided no evidence and it wasn’t possible to independently verify it.

    The Ukrainians are up against minefields, anti-tank ditches and other obstacles, as well as layered defensive lines reportedly up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) deep in some places as they attempt to dislodge Russian occupiers.

    The U.K. Defense Ministry said Tuesday the Kremlin’s forces have “refined (their) tactics aimed at slowing Ukrainian armored counteroffensive operations in southern Ukraine.”

    Moscow has placed emphasis on using anti-tank mines to slow the onslaught, the assessment said, leaving the attackers at the mercy of Russian drones, helicopters and artillery.

    “Although Russia has achieved some success with this approach in the early stages of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, its forces continue to suffer from key weaknesses, especially overstretched units and a shortage of artillery munitions,” the assessment said.

    Western analysts say the counteroffensive, even if it prospers, won’t end the war, which started with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

    Russia, meanwhile, has continued its missile and drone barrage deep behind the front line.

    Russian shelling of Pervomaiskyi, a city in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, wounded 43 civilians, Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said Tuesday. Among the wounded were 12 children, including two babies, according to officials.

    Oleksandr Lysenko, mayor of the city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine, said that three people were killed and 21 others were wounded in a Russian drone strike on Monday that damaged two apartment buildings.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack also damaged the regional headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine, the country’s main intelligence agency. He argued that the country needs more air defense systems to help fend off Russian raids.

    In all, Ukraine’s presidential office reported Tuesday, at least seven Ukrainian civilians were killed and 35 others injured in the fighting over the previous 24 hours.

    Putin referred to the recent mercenary rebellion that rattled the Kremlin during a video call Tuesday with leaders of the countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO, which is a security grouping dominated by Moscow and Beijing.

    Putin said that “Russian political circles, the entire society have shown unity and responsibility for the fate of the motherland by putting up a united front against the attempted mutiny.”

    He thanked the SCO members for what he described as their support during the uprising.

    Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also said that a united front thwarted Prigozhin’s mutiny. He said Monday in his first public comment about the episode that it “failed primarily because the armed forces personnel have remained loyal to their military oath and duty.” He said that the uprising had no impact on the war in Ukraine.

    Dmitry Medvedev, head of Russia’s Security Council chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Tuesday that the mutiny had not changed the attitude of Russian citizens toward signing up as professional contract soldiers in Ukraine. In a video posted on Telegram, he said almost 10,000 new recruits had joined up in the last week, with 185,000 joining the Russian army as professional contract soldiers since the start of the year.

    In contrast, Prigozhin said that he had the public’s backing for his “march of justice” toward Moscow.

    Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday it saw “no grounds” to extend a deal that has allowed Ukraine to ship grain through the Black Sea to parts of the world struggling with hunger. The statement came less than two weeks before the expiration of the agreement, which was extended for two months in May.

    Moscow has complained that a separate agreement with the United Nations to overcome obstacles to shipments of its fertilizers has not produced results.

    ___

    Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • China restricts exports of high-tech metals in a slap at Washington ahead of Yellen’s visit

    China restricts exports of high-tech metals in a slap at Washington ahead of Yellen’s visit

    [ad_1]

    China has imposed export curbs on two metals used in computer chips and solar cells, expanding a squabble with Washington over high-tech trade ahead of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to Beijing this week

    FILE – A Chinese microchip is seen through a microscope set up at the booth for the state-controlled Tsinghua Unigroup project which is aimed at driving China’s semiconductor ambitions during the 21st China Beijing International High-tech Expo in Beijing, China, on May 17, 2018. China has imposed export curbs on two metals used in computer chips and solar cells, expanding a squabble with Washington over high-tech trade ahead of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to Beijing this week. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

    The Associated Press

    BEIJING — China has imposed export curbs on two metals used in computer chips and solar cells, expanding a squabble with Washington over high-tech trade ahead of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to Beijing this week.

    The controls on gallium and germanium are intended to “safeguard national security,” the Commerce Ministry said late Monday. It said exports will require official permission once the rules take effect Aug. 1 but did not say what restrictions might be applied.

    Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government is frustrated by U.S. curbs on access to advanced processor chips and other technology on security grounds. But Beijing has been slow to retaliate, possibly to avoid disrupting China’s fledgling developers of chips, artificial intelligence and other technology.

    Yellen is due to arrive Thursday as part of efforts by the Biden administration to revive relations that have plunged to their lowest level in decades due to disputes about technology, China’s military buildup, human rights and other irritants.

    China is the biggest global source of gallium and germanium, which are produced in small amounts but are needed to make computer chips for mobile phones, cars and other products, as well as solar panels and military technology.

    The United States gets about half its supply of both metals directly from China, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. China exported about 23 metric tons (25 tons) of gallium last year and produces about 600 metric tons (660 tons) of germanium per year.

    The United States has blocked Chinese access to advanced chips and the technology to manufacture them and has persuaded allies the Netherlands and Japan to limit exports of chipmaking tools.

    That threatens to delay or derail the ruling Communist Party’s ambitions to make China more prosperous and increase its global influence by becoming a leader in clean energy, telecoms, artificial intelligence and other technologies.

    In May, Beijing banned use of products from Micron Inc., the biggest U.S. producer of memory chips, in computers and network equipment deemed sensitive.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Russia says it foiled Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow as Kyiv’s counteroffensive grinds on

    Russia says it foiled Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow as Kyiv’s counteroffensive grinds on

    [ad_1]

    Russian air defenses on Tuesday foiled a Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow that prompted authorities to briefly close one of the city’s international airports, officials said, as a Western analysis said that Russia has managed to slow Kyiv’s recently launched counteroffensive.

    The drone attack, which follows previous similar raids on the Russian capital, was the first known assault on the city since an abortive mutiny launched 11 days ago by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin. His Wagner troops marched on Moscow in the biggest — though short-lived — challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin in more than two decades of his rule.

    Authorities in Ukraine, which generally avoids commenting on attacks on Russian soil, didn’t say whether it launched the drone raid.

    Greece’s conservative government is promising to continue a multi-billion euro defense modernization program during its second term in office, setting its sights on acquiring F-35 fighter jets in five years.

    Pentagon spokesman U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder speaks during a media briefing at the Pentagon, Thursday, July 6, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

    The Biden administration has agreed to provide controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine that it says could help its forces penetrate Russia’s defensive lines, but that many nations have pledged not to use again due to risks to civilians.

    FILE - Smoke billows from the Donnie Creek wildfire burning north of Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada, Sunday, July 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)

    Wildfires raging across Canada have already broken records for total areas burned, the number of people forced to evacuate their homes and the cost of fighting the blazes, and the fire season is only halfway finished.

    FILE - Cattle graze on land recently burned and deforested by cattle farmers near Novo Progresso, Para state, Brazil, on Aug. 23, 2020. After four years of rising destruction in Brazil’s Amazon, deforestation dropped by 33.6% during the first six months of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's term, according to government satellite data released Thursday, July 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

    Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest dropped 33.6% in the first six months of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s term, providing an encouraging sign for his administration’s environmental efforts.

    The Russian Defense Ministry said that four of the five drones were downed by air defenses on the outskirts of Moscow and the fifth was jammed by electronic warfare means and forced down.

    There were no casualties or damage, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

    As with previous drone attacks on Moscow, it was impossible to verify the Russian military’s announcement that it downed all of them.

    The drone attack prompted authorities to temporarily restrict flights at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport and divert flights to two other Moscow main airports. Vnukovo is about 15 kilometers (nine miles) southwest of Moscow.

    In May, two daring drone attacks jolted the Russian capital, in what appeared to be Kyiv’s deepest strikes into Russia.

    Tuesday’s raid came as Ukrainian forces have continued probing Russian defenses in the south and the east of their country in the initial stages of a counteroffensive.

    Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s Security and Defense Council, said that the military was currently focusing on destroying Russian equipment and personnel, and that the past few days of fighting have been particularly “fruitful.” He provided no evidence and it wasn’t possible to independently verify it.

    The Ukrainians are up against minefields, anti-tank ditches and other obstacles, as well as layered defensive lines reportedly up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) deep in some places as they attempt to dislodge Russian occupiers.

    The U.K. Defense Ministry said Tuesday the Kremlin’s forces have “refined (their) tactics aimed at slowing Ukrainian armored counteroffensive operations in southern Ukraine.”

    Moscow has placed emphasis on using anti-tank mines to slow the onslaught, the assessment said, leaving the attackers at the mercy of Russian drones, helicopters and artillery.

    “Although Russia has achieved some success with this approach in the early stages of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, its forces continue to suffer from key weaknesses, especially overstretched units and a shortage of artillery munitions,” the assessment said.

    Western analysts say the counteroffensive, even if it prospers, won’t end the war, which started with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

    Russia, meanwhile, has continued its missile and drone barrage deep behind the front line.

    Russian shelling of Pervomaiskyi, a city in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, wounded 43 civilians, Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said Tuesday. Among the wounded were 12 children, including two babies, according to officials.

    Oleksandr Lysenko, mayor of the city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine, said that three people were killed and 21 others were wounded in a Russian drone strike on Monday that damaged two apartment buildings.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack also damaged the regional headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine, the country’s main intelligence agency. He argued that the country needs more air defense systems to help fend off Russian raids.

    In all, Ukraine’s presidential office reported Tuesday, at least seven Ukrainian civilians were killed and 35 others injured in the fighting over the previous 24 hours.

    Putin referred to the recent mercenary rebellion that rattled the Kremlin during a video call Tuesday with leaders of the countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO, which is a security grouping dominated by Moscow and Beijing.

    Putin said that “Russian political circles, the entire society have shown unity and responsibility for the fate of the motherland by putting up a united front against the attempted mutiny.”

    He thanked the SCO members for what he described as their support during the uprising.

    Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also said that a united front thwarted Prigozhin’s mutiny. He said Monday in his first public comment about the episode that it “failed primarily because the armed forces personnel have remained loyal to their military oath and duty.” He said that the uprising had no impact on the war in Ukraine.

    Dmitry Medvedev, head of Russia’s Security Council chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Tuesday that the mutiny had not changed the attitude of Russian citizens toward signing up as professional contract soldiers in Ukraine. In a video posted on Telegram, he said almost 10,000 new recruits had joined up in the last week, with 185,000 joining the Russian army as professional contract soldiers since the start of the year.

    In contrast, Prigozhin said that he had the public’s backing for his “march of justice” toward Moscow.

    On Tuesday, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe adopted a resolution recognizing Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and the Wagner private mercenary group as a terrorist organization.

    The declaration urges member states to take measures against the Wagner Group and any affiliated or successor structures. In addition, the document calls on members to recognize “the responsibility of Russia as a state sponsor of this terrorist organization.”

    Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday it saw “no grounds” to extend a deal that has allowed Ukraine to ship grain through the Black Sea to parts of the world struggling with hunger. The statement came less than two weeks before the expiration of the agreement, which was extended for two months in May.

    Moscow has complained that a separate agreement with the United Nations to overcome obstacles to shipments of its fertilizers has not produced results.

    ___

    Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Israel to buy more F-35 fighter jets from US. Deal expands fleet by 50% and deepens partnership

    Israel to buy more F-35 fighter jets from US. Deal expands fleet by 50% and deepens partnership

    [ad_1]

    Israel says it will buy 25 F-35 aircraft from the United States

    ByJULIA FRANKEL Associated Press

    FILE – An Israeli F-35 lands at Ovda airbase during the bi-annual multi-national aerial exercise known as the Blue Flag, at Ovda airbase near Eilat, southern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021. Israel will buy 25 F-35 aircraft from the United States, the Israeli Defense Ministry announced Sunday, July 2, 2023, in a deal that increases Israel’s arsenal of the stealth fighter jets by 50%. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, File)

    The Associated Press

    JERUSALEM — JERUSALEM (AP) —

    Israel will buy 25 F-35 aircraft from the United States, the Israeli Defense Ministry announced Sunday, in a deal that increases Israel’s arsenal of the stealth fighter jets by 50%.

    The F-35 is the world’s most advanced fighter jet, and Israel is the only country in the Middle East to fly them. The $3 billion purchase, which increases the Israeli fleet of F-35 jets from 50 to 75, is set to be finalized in the coming months, the ministry said.

    It said the deal would be financed through American military aid to Israel and that the maker of the plane, Lockheed Martin, and the maker of its engine, Pratt & Whitney, had committed to involving Israeli companies in the production process.

    “The new agreement will ensure the continuation of cooperation between American companies and Israeli defense industries in the production of aircraft parts,” the statement read.

    The move to expand the Israeli arsenal comes at a time of heightened tensions between Israel and Iran. Israel, which considers Iran its greatest enemy, has previously used F-35 jets to shoot down Iranian drones, and has threatened to carry out a long-range strike on Iranian nuclear targets.

    Israel accuses Iran of trying to develop a nuclear weapon — a charge Iran denies — and is believed to be behind a string of attacks on Iranian nuclear experts and facilities inside Iran over the years.

    Israel, which has sought to counter Iranian entrenchment in neighboring Syria, conducted an airstrike on the Syrian city of Homs on Sunday, one of hundreds of strikes on government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Russian attacks in Ukraine leave 3 killed, 17 wounded. Spain highlights European support for Kyiv

    Russian attacks in Ukraine leave 3 killed, 17 wounded. Spain highlights European support for Kyiv

    [ad_1]

    KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian officials reported more civilian casualties from Russian shelling in the country’s east and south on Saturday, as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez began a visit to Kyiv as a show of continuing support from Madrid and the European Union for Ukraine’s fight to dislodge invading Russian forces.

    In an address to Ukraine’s parliament that received several standing ovations, Sánchez said, “We’ll be with you as long as it takes.”

    “I am here to express the firm determination of the European (Union) and Europe against the illegal and unjustified Russian aggression to Ukraine,” he said on the day that Spain took over the six-month rotating presidency of the 27-nation EU.

    At a later news conference with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sanchez announced Spain would deliver more heavy weaponry to Ukraine including four Leopard tanks and armored personnel carriers, as well as a portable field hospital. He also said Spain will provide an additional 55 million euros to help with reconstruction needs.

    Elsewhere in Ukraine, regional officials reported that at least three civilians were killed and 17 wounded by Russian shelling on Friday and overnight in the front-line eastern Donetsk region, where fierce battles are raging, Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

    The Ukrainian General Staff reported that fierce clashes continued in three areas in Donetsk where it said Russia has massed troops and attempted to advance. It named the outskirts of three cities — Bakhmut, Lyman and Marinka — as front-line hot spots.

    Five people including a child were wounded on Friday and overnight in the Kherson region in the south, regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said. Prokudin said that Russian forces launched 82 artillery, drone, mortar shell and rocket attacks on the province, which is cut in two by a stretch of the 1,500-kilometer (930 mile) front line and still reeling from flooding unleashed by the collapse earlier this month of a major Dnipro river dam.

    In the northeastern Kharkiv region, Russian shelling over the previous day wounded a 57-year-old civilian man, said Gov. Oleh Syniehubov. In the Sumy region farther west, a teenage boy was hurt in a strike from across the Russian border, the local military administration reported.

    Referring to possible peace talks, Sanchez said that “only Ukraine can set the terms and times for peace negotiations. Other countries and regions are proposing peace plans. Their involvement is much appreciated, but, at the same time, we can’t accept them entirely.

    “This is a war of aggression, with an aggressor and a victim. They cannot be treated equally and ignoring the rules should in no way be rewarded. That is why that is why we support President Zelenskyy’s peace formula,” Sánchez added.

    Zelenskyy at the news conference expressed frustration about the lack of clarity over Western training for Ukrainian fighter pilots. He said Western allies have not yet set a timetable to train pilots on U.S.-made F-16s despite their expressions of readiness. “I think that some partners are delaying this process, why they do this I have no idea,” he said.

    He also renewed Ukraine’s claim that Russia is prepared to cause a potential nuclear catastrophe at the Moscow-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as Ukraine continues to make steady advances along the front line.

    “Russia is technically ready to provoke a local explosion at the station that could cause an emission of dangerous substances in the air. We are clearly communicating, we discussed the need with our partners so everyone understands why Russia is doing this,” he said.

    The introduction of F-16s to the war could give Ukraine a much needed edge over Russia, which currently enjoys air superiority.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Ciarán Giles in Madrid contributed to this report.

    ___

    Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • US aircraft carrier makes Da Nang port call as America looks to strengthen ties with Vietnam

    US aircraft carrier makes Da Nang port call as America looks to strengthen ties with Vietnam

    [ad_1]

    BANGKOK — A U.S. aircraft carrier and two guided missile cruisers were visiting Vietnam on Monday, a rare port call that comes as the United States and China increasingly vie for influence in Southeast Asia.

    The USS Ronald Reagan, along with the guided missile cruisers USS Antietam and USS Robert Smalls, arrived in Da Nang on Sunday for the visit.

    Neighboring China is Vietnam’s largest trading partner but Beijing’s sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea have led to increasing friction with Vietnam, as well as with Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines.

    The U.S., meantime, has been on a diplomatic push to strengthen economic and military ties in the Indo-Pacific region.

    The aircraft carrier’s port call — only the third such visit since relations were reestablished after the end of the Vietnam war — follows visits to Vietnam this year from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and USAID Administrator Samantha Power.

    “Though aircraft carrier visits often spark media attention because of their highly visible nature, the broader question is how this will play into the development of ties, including Washington’s quest to upgrade relations,” Prashanth Parameswaran, a fellow with the Wilson Center’s Asia Program, wrote in a research note.

    “An overly narrow focus on carrier visits can distract from the broader trend of the more comprehensive development of U.S.-Vietnam defense ties and relations more generally,” Parameswaran added.

    Officers from the Ronald Reagan debarked Sunday and were greeted by Vietnamese officers after mooring in Da Nang, a port that was modernized and expanded by the United States during the war for its own use.

    Capt. Daryle Cardone, the Ronald Reagan’s commanding officer, said some of the more than 5,000 sailors from the ship will volunteer at several community relations events, play sports with local athletes and take part in other cultural and professional exchanges during the visit through June 30.

    “A few Reagan sailors call Vietnam home, but for most it will be their first time visiting,” Cardone said in a release from the U.S. Navy.

    Washington sees Hanoi as a key part of its strategy for the region and has sought to leverage Vietnam’s traditional rivalry with its much larger neighbor China to expand U.S. influence in the region.

    Japan, a strong U.S. ally, also made a port call in Vietnam last week with its largest destroyer, Izumo, following exercises in the South China Sea with the Reagan and other American ships.

    China has also been reaching out in an effort to mend fences, sending a navy training ship to make its own port call in Da Nang a month ago as part of what it called a goodwill tour that also took it to Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines.

    Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry called the Reagan’s port call part of a “normal friendly exchange for the sake of peace, stability, cooperation and development in both the region and the world.”

    Vietnam needs to balance its sensitive ties with Beijing with the U.S. outreach and domestic opinion, Parameswaran said, noting that polls suggest Vietnam’s people have among the highest levels of pro-U.S. sentiment in Southeast Asia.

    Based in Yokosuka, Japan, the USS Ronald Reagan is the only forward-deployed American aircraft carrier. It is due to be replaced in that role next year by the USS George Washington, also a Nimitz-class carrier.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • US aircraft carrier makes Da Nang port call as America looks to strengthen ties with Vietnam

    US aircraft carrier makes Da Nang port call as America looks to strengthen ties with Vietnam

    [ad_1]

    BANGKOK — A U.S. aircraft carrier and two guided missile cruisers were visiting Vietnam on Monday, a rare port call that comes as the United States and China increasingly vie for influence in Southeast Asia.

    The USS Ronald Reagan, along with the guided missile cruisers USS Antietam and USS Robert Smalls, arrived in Da Nang on Sunday for the visit.

    Neighboring China is Vietnam’s largest trading partner but Beijing’s sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea have led to increasing friction with Vietnam, as well as with Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines.

    The U.S., meantime, has been on a diplomatic push to strengthen economic and military ties in the Indo-Pacific region.

    The aircraft carrier’s port call — only the third such visit since relations were reestablished after the end of the Vietnam war — follows visits to Vietnam this year from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and USAID Administrator Samantha Power.

    “Though aircraft carrier visits often spark media attention because of their highly visible nature, the broader question is how this will play into the development of ties, including Washington’s quest to upgrade relations,” Prashanth Parameswaran, a fellow with the Wilson Center’s Asia Program, wrote in a research note.

    “An overly narrow focus on carrier visits can distract from the broader trend of the more comprehensive development of U.S.-Vietnam defense ties and relations more generally,” Parameswaran added.

    Officers from the Ronald Reagan debarked Sunday and were greeted by Vietnamese officers after mooring in Da Nang, a port that was modernized and expanded by the United States during the war for its own use.

    Capt. Daryle Cardone, the Ronald Reagan’s commanding officer, said some of the more than 5,000 sailors from the ship will volunteer at several community relations events, play sports with local athletes and take part in other cultural and professional exchanges during the visit through June 30.

    “A few Reagan sailors call Vietnam home, but for most it will be their first time visiting,” Cardone said in a release from the U.S. Navy.

    Washington sees Hanoi as a key part of its strategy for the region and has sought to leverage Vietnam’s traditional rivalry with its much larger neighbor China to expand U.S. influence in the region.

    Japan, a strong U.S. ally, also made a port call in Vietnam last week with its largest destroyer, Izumo, following exercises in the South China Sea with the Reagan and other American ships.

    China has also been reaching out in an effort to mend fences, sending a navy training ship to make its own port call in Da Nang a month ago as part of what it called a goodwill tour that also took it to Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines.

    Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry called the Reagan’s port call part of a “normal friendly exchange for the sake of peace, stability, cooperation and development in both the region and the world.”

    Vietnam needs to balance its sensitive ties with Beijing with the U.S. outreach and domestic opinion, Parameswaran said, noting that polls suggest Vietnam’s people have among the highest levels of pro-U.S. sentiment in Southeast Asia.

    Based in Yokosuka, Japan, the USS Ronald Reagan is the only forward-deployed American aircraft carrier. It is due to be replaced in that role next year by the USS George Washington, also a Nimitz-class carrier.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • How the unconventional design of the Titan sub may have destined it for disaster

    How the unconventional design of the Titan sub may have destined it for disaster

    [ad_1]

    BOSTON — The deadly implosion of the Titan submersible raises questions about whether the vessel exploring the Titanic wreckage was destined for disaster because of its unconventional design and its creator’s refusal to submit to independent checks that are standard in the industry.

    All five people aboard the Titan died when it was crushed near the world’s most famous shipwreck, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger said Thursday, bringing an end to a massive multinational search that began Sunday when the vessel lost contact with its mother ship in the unforgiving North Atlantic.

    The Titan, owned and operated by OceanGate Expeditions, first began taking people to the Titanic in 2021. It was touted for a roomier cylinder-shaped cabin made of a carbon-fiber — a departure from the sphere-shaped cabins made of titanium used by most submersibles.

    The sphere is “the perfect shape,” because water pressure is exerted equally on all areas, said Chris Roman, a professor at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography. Roman had not been on the Titan but has made several deep dives in Alvin, a submersible operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts.

    The 22-foot long (6.7-meter long), 23,000-pound (10,432-kilogram) Titan’s larger internal volume — while still cramped with a maximum of five seated people — meant it was subjected to more external pressure.

    Elongating the cabin space in a submersible increases pressure loads in the midsections, which increases fatigue and delamination loads, said Jasper Graham-Jones, an associate professor of mechanical and marine engineering at the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom.

    Fatigue, he said, is like bending a wire back and forth until it breaks. Delamination, he said, is like splitting wood down the grain, which is easier than chopping across the grain.

    Furthermore, the Titan’s 5-inch thick (12.7 centimeters) hull had been subjected to repeated stress over the course of about two dozen previous dives, Graham-Jones said.

    Each trip would put tiny cracks in the structure. “This might be small and undetectable to start but would soon become critical and produce rapid and uncontrollable growth,” he said.

    OceanGate promoted the Titan’s carbon fiber construction — with titanium endcaps — as “lighter in weight and more efficient to mobilize than other deep diving submersibles” on its website. It also said the vessel was designed to dive four kilometers (2.4 miles) “with a comfortable safety margin,” according to court documents.

    But carbon composites have limited life when subject to excessive loads or poor design which leads to stress concentrations, Graham-Jones said.

    “Yes, composites are extremely tough. Yes, composites are extremely long lasting. But we do have issues with composites and the fact that composites fail in slightly different ways than other materials,” he said.

    OceanGate was also warned that a lack of third party scrutiny of the vessel during development could pose catastrophic safety problems.

    David Lochridge, OceanGate’s then-director of marine operations, said in a 2018 lawsuit that the company’s testing and certification was insufficient and would “subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible.”

    He advocated for “nondestructive testing,” such as ultrasonic scans, but the company refused.

    Ultrasonic testing can help spot areas inside the structure where the composites are coming apart, said Neal Couture, executive director of a professional organization called the American Society for Nondestructive Testing.

    “Once this thing is going down and going under stress, it’ll affect those materials, it’ll affect those composites,” Couture said Friday. “Nondestructive testing is how you would then assess those structures and say, ‘OK, they’re still viable,’ or, ‘they’re still susceptible.’”

    The Marine Technology Society, an organization of ocean engineers, technologists, policymakers and educators, also expressed concern to OceanGate about the size of the Titan, the construction material and the fact that the prototype wasn’t being examined by a third party.

    “We were very afraid that without that certification process, they might be missing something,” Will Kohnen, the organization’s chairman said Friday. He sent a letter to the company in 2018 warning that its “current experimental approach … could result in negative outcomes (from minor to catastrophic) that would have serious consequences for everyone in the industry.”

    Graham-Jones said it’s standard procedure in engineering to seek outside expertise the ensure that vessels conform to the highest industry standards.

    In a 2019 company blog post, OceanGate criticized the third-party certification process as one that is time-consuming and stifles innovation.

    “Bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation,” the post said.

    Famed undersea explorer Robert Ballard, who first located the Titanic wreckage in 1985, called the lack of outside certification and classification a “smoking gun” in the vessel’s failure.

    “We’ve made thousands and thousands and thousands of dives with other countries as well to these depths and have never had an incident,” he said Friday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

    “Titanic” director James Cameron, who has made multiple descents to the wreck, said there are several possible reasons for the submersible’s destruction, but the most likely is a failure of the composite hull.

    “The question is, was it the primary failure, or a secondary failure from something else happening?” he told “Good Morning America” on Friday. “And I’m putting my money on the composite because you don’t use composites for vessels that are seeing external pressure.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Past deep sea rescues show the challenges of saving those on board

    Past deep sea rescues show the challenges of saving those on board

    [ad_1]

    BOSTON — The desperate search for a submersible that disappeared while taking five people to view the Titanic wreckage has drawn attention to other deep-sea rescues.

    Those rescue efforts — from a submersible off Ireland to a submarine off the New Hampshire coast — offer some measure of hope for the passengers and their families. But some of those rescues were not as complex as the effort to find the Titan submersible. They were often in shallower waters and, in several cases, were much bigger crafts. Many ended with some, if not all, the passengers on board dying — demonstrating the inherent risk of operating in the deep ocean.

    ___

    PISCES III SUBMERSIBLE

    Fifty years ago, two British sailors sat trapped in a deep-sea submersible more than 1,500 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, facing an uncertain fate while an international team scrambled to figure out a way to free them.

    In an incident that echoes the efforts to find and retrieve those trapped in the Titan submersible, Roger Chapman’s and Roger Mallinson’s lives hung on the success of the mission — which turned out to be the deepest known successful underwater rescue.

    The operation illustrates the difficulty of carrying out deep water rescues.

    The ordeal for Chapman and Mallinson began as the two were laying a transatlantic telephone cable about 150 miles (241 kilometers) off the coast of Cork, Ireland on August 29, 1973.

    During what would otherwise have been a routine shift, water began flooding the aft section of the vessel, which measured only about six feet in diameter. The Pisces III would sink to about 1,575 feet (480 meters).

    Once the vehicle reached the sea floor, the two could do little more than check for leaks and do their best to conserve oxygen. Unlike Titan, they were able to maintain communication with those on the surface.

    The Pisces III was too deep for divers so the rescuers began searching for other options, One was a U.S. remote controlled submersible called CURV-III for Controlled Underwater Recovery Vehicle. The Canadian Coast Guard and the Royal Navy also responded. Two similar submersibles — Pisces II and Pisces V — were also dispatched to the scene.

    Rescuers managed to attach cables to the stranded submersible. With available oxygen running low and the two having eaten their only food — a can of lemonade and a cheese sandwich — rescuers began to hoist the Pisces III until it broke the surface of the water.

    Chapman and Mallinson had to wait a bit longer as workers struggled for 30 minutes to open the hatch and allow fresh air to rush in.

    The two had been in the capsule for more than 84 hours and had an estimated 12 minutes of oxygen left when they were able to exit the cramped quarters.

    ___

    USS SQUALUS

    Off the coast of New Hampshire, the diesel-electric submarine USS Squalus was on a test dive in March 1939 when a valve failure caused a portion of the sub to flood. The Squalus bottomed out at about 240 feet (73 meters) of water off the Isle of Shoals.

    Rescue operations began the following day, according to the Navy History and Heritage Command. For the first time, the Navy used the McCann rescue chamber — a pear shaped steel chamber — that was lowered down to the sub and successfully transported surviving crew members to the surface. Over the next 13 hours, 33 surviving crew members were rescued. Twenty-six others drowned in the initial accident.

    “During the emergency and the entire time we were on the bottom, all hands exhibited coolness and precision in carrying out the duties of their stations,” according to testimony from Lt. W.T. Doyle, one of the survivors. “Orders of the Commanding Officer were carried out promptly and efficiently. In spite of the low temperature and cramped quarters there were no complaints. A finer quality or higher spirited group of men, than those on the Squalus, will never be surpassed.”

    ___

    RUSSIAN MINISUB

    In 2005, a Russian AS-28 mini submarine sank in the Pacific Ocean after becoming entangled in a fishing net.

    The AS-28 was sent to investigate an underwater surveillance antenna that had been entangled in nets. As it surveyed the area, the sub became stuck in about 620 feet of water.

    Seven trapped sailors started writing farewell letters to loved ones as water supplies dwindled and the air thinned in the claustrophobic mini-sub on the Pacific floor. But with only several hours of oxygen to spare, a British robotic vessel was able to free the sub.

    Crew members recalled three days of darkness and frigid temperatures.

    “It was cold, cold, very cold. I can’t even describe it,” one crew member said as the sailors walked ashore with dazed looks and bloodshot eyes after their vessel was cut loose from cables that had snagged it.

    Soon after, Russia officials investigating the near-tragedy found problems with the rescue effort. Among them were reports that the Navy may have initially refused the sub’s request to be towed free, fearing damage to the underwater antenna assembly.

    The response brought to mind the bungled response to the 2000 Kursk submarine disaster, in which most of the 118 members of the crew were killed instantly. As the submarine sank to the bottom of the sea, only about 350 feet (108 meters) below the surface, 23 men were able to flee to a rear compartment, where they waited for help. But delays in launching a rescue effort and then seeking Western help had doomed the remaining crew who mainly died of suffocation.

    ___

    INDONESIAN SUB

    Two years ago, an Indonesian submarine disappeared off the resort island of Bali with 53 sailors aboard.

    The submarine lost contact after being granted clearance to dive. The Defense Ministry said a helicopter later spotted an oil slick near the dive’s starting position.

    The Navy launched a frantic search and predicted the sub would run out of oxygen in the next several days. An underwater robot equipped with cameras found the lost submarine lying in at least three pieces on the ocean floor at a depth of 838 meters (2,750 feet). All 53 crew members died.

    The cause of the German-built diesel-powered submarine sinking remains uncertain. The Navy previously said an electrical failure could have left the submarine unable to execute emergency procedures to resurface. Emergency survival suits that are normally kept in boxes were found floating underwater, apparently indicating the crew may have tried to put them on during the emergency.

    ———

    USS THRESHER

    In 1963, the crew of a rescue ship listened helplessly after receiving an ominous message “exceeding test depth” before the nuclear-powered USS Thresher disintegrated under the crushing pressure of the sea. Killed were 129 sailors and civilians on a routine test dive off Cape Cod.

    There was a massive search by air and surface forces using sonar, magnetometers and radiation detectors. Some floating debris was recovered. But it wasn’t until several months later that a deep-diving research bathyscaphe discovered the wreckage at a depth of about 8,500 feet (2,590 meters).

    The sub’s remnants cover a mile of ocean floor, according to oceanographer Robert Ballard, who used his 1985 discovery of RMS Titanic as a Cold War cover for the fact that he had surveyed the Thresher on the same mission.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • What to know about India’s ties with Russia

    What to know about India’s ties with Russia

    [ad_1]

    NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington in June was expected to reduce India’s dependence on Moscow for arms, economic ties and technology as New Delhi and Washington try to strengthen the Quad partnership, which also includes Japan and Australia, to contain growing aggression from China.

    India considers Russia a time-tested ally from the Cold War era with key cooperation in defense, oil, nuclear energy and space exploration. But the partnership has become complicated as Moscow builds closer ties with India’s main rival, China, in part because of the war against Ukraine.

    Here’s where things stand with India-Russia ties.

    HOW DID INDIA DEVELOP TIES WITH RUSSIA?

    India started building a strong relationship with the then-Soviet Union in the mid-1950s during the Cold War, then strengthened those ties over conflicts with Pakistan.

    The Soviet Union helped mediate a cease-fire between India and Pakistan to end the 1965 war over control of the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir. Then, during India’s war with Pakistan in December 1971, the Soviet Union used its veto power to support India at the United Nations, while the U.S. ordered a task force into the Bay of Bengal in support of Pakistan.

    India and the Soviet Union signed a treaty of peace, friendship, and cooperation in August 1971. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it was replaced by the Treaty of Indo-Russian Friendship and Cooperation in January 1993.

    WHAT’S INDIA’S STANCE ON RUSSIA’S WAR ON UKRAINE?

    India has so far avoided voting against Russia or criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin since the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

    Facing pressure from the United States and European nations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Putin in September, “Today’s era is not an era of war.” He said democracy, diplomacy and dialogue had kept the world together.

    Modi and Putin met in September on the sidelines of a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the city of Samarkand, in Uzbekistan.

    IS INDIA DEPENDENT ON RUSSIAN ARMS?

    India started looking for Soviet arms after its bloody war with China in 1962.

    In the early 1990s, the USSR represented about 70% of Indian army weapons, 80% of its air force systems, and 85% of its navy platforms.

    India bought its first aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, from Russia in 2004. The carrier had served in the former Soviet Union and later in the Russian Navy.

    India’s air force presently operates more than 410 Soviet and Russian fighters, comprising a mix of imported and license-built platforms. India’s inventory of Russian-made military equipment also includes submarines, tanks, helicopters, submarines, frigates and missiles.

    India has been reducing its dependency on Russian arms and diversifying its defense procurements, buying more from countries like the U.S., Israel, France and Italy. But experts say it may take 20 years to get over its dependence on Russian supplies and spares.

    HOW MUCH RUSSIAN OIL IS INDIA BUYING?

    After Russia invaded Ukraine, the United States and European nations set a cap of $60 a barrel for Russian oil to control Moscow’s rising revenue. India’s oil purchases from Russia have risen sharply despite the sanctions.

    Indian officials have defended buying oil from Russia, saying the lower price benefits Indian consumers.

    Russian oil now accounts for nearly 20% of India’s annual crude imports, up from just 2% in 2021, according to Indian media reports.

    European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell recently suggested that the EU should take a harder line on India reselling Russian oil into Europe as refined fuel. India says its understanding of the EU regulations is that Russian crude, if substantially transformed in a third country, is not treated as Russian anymore.

    HOW ARE INDIA’S TIES WITH THE US AND EUROPE?

    India, with the world’s second-largest army, fourth-largest air force and seventh-largest navy, is trying to develop into a defense manufacturing hub. But it lacks a strong industrial base for military equipment.

    India’s been acquiring new technologies and reducing reliance on imports.

    Under Donald Trump’s administration, the U.S. and India concluded defense deals worth over $3 billion. Bilateral defense trade increased from near-zero in 2008 to $15 billion in 2019, including long-range maritime patrol aircraft, missiles and drones.

    U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin discussed upgrading the partnership with India during his visit to New Delhi in early June.

    Joint production and manufacture of combat aircraft engines, infantry combat vehicles, howitzers and their precision ordnance were discussed in May at a meeting of the U.S.-India Defense Policy Group in Washington, and a decision is likely to be announced during Modi’s visit to Washington.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Russia says it downed 3 drones outside Moscow, suspects it was attack by Ukraine

    Russia says it downed 3 drones outside Moscow, suspects it was attack by Ukraine

    [ad_1]

    Two drones were brought down outside Moscow as they approached the warehouses of a local military unit, Russian authorities said Wednesday, in what could be the latest attempt by Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia during the early stages of Kyiv’s most recent counteroffensive.

    The drones came down near the village of Lukino, administratively part of the city of Moscow, Russian media reported. The wreckage of a third drone was reportedly found about 20 kilometers (12 miles) away. No damage or casualties were reported.

    Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed it was “an unsuccessful attempt at a terrorist attack” by “the Kyiv regime” on its facilities in the Moscow region, adding in a statement that all three drones were brought down by electronic jamming.

    Ukraine, which doesn’t usually confirm attacks on Russian soil, made no immediate comment. Previously, Ukrainian officials have emphasized the country’s right to strike any target in response to Russia’s invasion and war that started in February 2022.

    Last month, two drone attacks jolted the Russian capital, in what appeared to be Kyiv’s deepest and most daring strikes into Russia. The first one, on May 3, targeted the Kremlin itself but the Russian authorities announced the devices were shot down before they could do any damage. The second one, on May 30, brought the war home to Muscovites, although the actual damage was minimal.

    At the time of the attack on the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow’s air defense “worked in a satisfactory way,” but added it was “clear what we need to do to plug the gaps” in the system.

    Other drones have reportedly flown deep into Russia multiple times. Since February, when a UJ-22 crashed 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Moscow, Ukrainian drones have repeatedly approached the Russian capital.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, confirming Wednesday’s drone attack, said only that “the means of combatting drones did their job.”

    Meanwhile, train traffic was disrupted on the Crimean Peninsula on Wednesday, according to its Russian-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov.

    Aksyonov didn’t say what caused the disruption, but some Russian media outlets reported that the rail lines were blown up overnight in apparent sabotage operations. Rail lines through Crimea are crucial for supplying Russian forces at the front line in southern and eastern Ukraine.

    Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world considers illegal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that his country aims to reclaim the peninsula in a counteroffensive that began in recent weeks.

    In response to Ukraine’s military threat using advanced weapons supplied by Western allies, Russia has in recent weeks expended “significant effort” on assembling “elaborate” defensive lines on the approaches to Crimea, according to the U.K. Defense Ministry.

    For the Kremlin, ensuring control of Crimea is “a top political priority,” the ministry said in a tweet Wednesday. There is “intense fighting” in parts of southern Ukraine where Kyiv’s forces are testing Russian defenses, it added.

    ___

    Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Lawsuit: Insufficient prototype testing could put Titanic sub passengers in ‘extreme danger’

    Lawsuit: Insufficient prototype testing could put Titanic sub passengers in ‘extreme danger’

    [ad_1]

    SEATTLE — The company whose submersible vanished in the North Atlantic on a tourist dive to the wreck of the Titanic was repeatedly warned that there might be catastrophic safety problems posed by the way it was developed, documents show.

    With five people aboard a vessel that if still functioning would have a dwindling amount of oxygen, an expanding international fleet of ships and airplanes is searching for the Titan, operated by OceanGate Expeditions. The undersea exploration company based in Everett, Washington, has been making yearly voyages to the Titanic since 2021.

    In the first piece of good news since the search began, a Canadian aircraft detected underwater noises, though the vessel has not been found, the U.S. Coast Guard reported early Wednesday.

    David Lochridge, OceanGate’s director of marine operations, wrote an engineering report in 2018 that said the craft under development needed more testing and that passengers might be endangered when it reached “extreme depths,” according to a lawsuit filed that year in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

    OceanGate sued Lochridge that year, accusing him of breaching a non-disclosure agreement, and he filed a counterclaim alleging that he was wrongfully fired for raising questions about testing and safety. The case settled on undisclosed terms several months after it was filed.

    Lochridge’s concerns primarily focused on the company’s decision to rely on sensitive acoustic monitoring — cracking or popping sounds made by the hull under pressure — to detect flaws, rather than a scan of the hull. Lochridge said the company told him no equipment existed that could perform such a test on the 5-inch-thick (12.7-centimeter-thick) carbon-fiber hull.

    “This was problematic because this type of acoustic analysis would only show when a component is about to fail — often milliseconds before an implosion — and would not detect any existing flaws prior to putting pressure onto the hull,” Lochridge’s counterclaim said.

    Further, the craft was designed to reach depths of 4,000 meters (13,123 feet), where the Titanic rested. But, according to Lochridge, the passenger viewport was only certified for depths of up to 1,300 meters (4,265 feet), and OceanGate would not pay for the manufacturer to build a viewport certified for 4,000 meters.

    OceanGate’s choices would “subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible,” the counterclaim said.

    However, the company said in its complaint that Lochridge “is not an engineer and was not hired or asked to perform engineering services on the Titan.” He was fired after refusing to accept assurances from OceanGate’s lead engineer that the acoustic monitoring and testing protocol was, in fact, better suited to detect any flaws than a scan would be, the complaint said.

    OceanGate Chief Executive Stockton Rush defended the approach in a speech to a conference in Seattle last year hosted by the tech news site GeekWire. He described how he had taken a prototype down to 4,000 meters: “It made a lot of noise,” he said.

    So he brought the vessel back up, and on a second dive it made the same troubling noises, even though it should have been dramatically quieter. The company scrapped that hull, which had been constructed by a marine manufacturer, and built another one with an aerospace supplier, Rush said.

    In an emailed statement, a spokesman for the company said the missing sub was completed in 2020-21, so it would not be the same as the vessel referenced in the lawsuit.

    OceanGate also received another warning in 2018, this one from the Marine Technology Society, which describes itself as a professional group of ocean engineers, technologists, policy-makers and educators.

    In a letter to Rush, the society said it was critical that the company submit its prototype to tests overseen by an expert third party before launching in order to safeguard passengers.

    Rush had refused to do so.

    Rush was piloting the vessel that is now missing.

    The letter, reported by the New York Times, said society members were worried that “the current experimental approach adopted by Oceangate could result in negative outcomes (from minor to catastrophic) that would have serious consequences for everyone in the industry.”

    In a 2019 interview with Smithsonian magazine, Rush complained that the industry’s approach was stifling innovation.

    “There hasn’t been an injury in the commercial sub industry in over 35 years,” he said. “It’s obscenely safe because they have all these regulations. But it also hasn’t innovated or grown — because they have all these regulations.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Mexican authorities destroy 14 homemade armored cars used by drug cartels

    Mexican authorities destroy 14 homemade armored cars used by drug cartels

    [ad_1]

    Authorities in northern Mexico say they have destroyed 14 homemade armored cars of the kind used by drug cartels to fight land battles

    MEXICO CITY — Authorities in northern Mexico said Sunday they have destroyed 14 homemade armored cars of the kind used by drug cartels to fight land battles.

    The vehicles are usually adapted from commercial trucks, with steel plate armor welded on. Known in Mexico as “monstruos,” or “Monsters,” some of the vehicles junked were truly monstrous.

    Many had thick steel ramming prows welded to the front. Others had firing ports and gun turrets. At least one was painted in green camouflage to resemble a Mexican army vehicle.

    Video distributed by the federal attorney general’s office showed a crane with a claw ripping one of the vehicles apart in Tamaulipas state.

    The state, which borders Texas, is home to at least two warring drug cartels, the Northeast and Gulf cartels. Prosecutors did not say which gang the vehicles belonged to or when they were seized.

    While such vehicles appear intimidating, they have proved vulnerable in practice. Because the steel armor adds so much weight, they tend to be slow, unwieldy and often break down. Easy to spot, they also appear to be vulnerable to incendiary devices or munitions. Many are found burned.

    Their use illustrates the lengths Mexican cartels have gone to fight rivals and authorities. The cartels’ weapons also include improvised explosive devices and bomb-dropping drones.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Sudan officials say airstrike kills 17 people, including 5 children, in capital Khartoum

    Sudan officials say airstrike kills 17 people, including 5 children, in capital Khartoum

    [ad_1]

    CAIRO — An airstrike in Sudan’s capital Khartoum on Saturday killed at least 17 people, including five children, health officials said, as fighting continued between rival generals seeking to control the country.

    The attack was one of the deadliest of the clashes in urban areas of Khartoum and elsewhere in Sudan between the military and a powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces.

    There was no immediate comment Saturday from either side of the conflict on the strike, and it was not clear whether the attack was by warplanes or a drone. The military’s aircraft have repeatedly targeted RSF troops and the RSF has reportedly used drones and anti-aircraft weapons against the military.

    The fighting broke out in mid-April, capping months of increasing tensions between the leaders of the military and the RSF.

    Saturday’s strike hit the Yormouk neighborhood in southern Khartoum, where clashes have centered in recent weeks, according to Sudan’s Ministry of Health. The area houses a military facility controlled by the army. At least 25 houses were destroyed, the ministry wrote in a Facebook post.

    The dead included five children and an unknown number of women and elderly people, and some wounded people were hospitalized, the ministry said.

    A local group that calls itself The Emergency Room and helps organize humanitarian aid in the area, said at least 11 people were wounded in the strike. It posted images it said were of houses damaged in the attack and people searching through rubble. Other images claimed to show a wounded girl and man.

    The conflict has plunged the African country into chaos and turned Khartoum and other urban areas into battlefields. The paramilitary force has occupied people’s houses and other civilian properties since the onset of the conflict, according to residents and activists.

    The clashes have killed hundreds of civilians and wounded thousands of others. More than 2.2 million people have fled their homes to safer areas inside Sudan or crossed into neighboring countries.

    Activists and residents have reported widespread looting in the capital. Diplomatic missions, including residences belong to the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, have been stormed and looted, allegedly by armed men wearing RSF uniforms. Almost all diplomatic missions in Sudan were evacuated in the first weeks of the war.

    “Looting was fairly extensive at some of the residences,” the U.S. Department of State told The Associated Press. “The damage was discovered during routine checks of the residences. There is some damage to the structures and personal property.”

    Sexual violence, including the rape of women and girls, has been reported in Khartoum and the western Darfur region, which have seen some of the worst fighting in the conflict. Almost all reported cases of sexual attacks were blamed on the RSF, which hasn’t responded to repeated requests for comment.

    The Darfur city of Genena has experienced some of the worst battles, with tens of thousands of its residents fleeing to neighboring Chad. The RSF and allied Arab militias have repeatedly attacked the city, especially areas of the non-Arab Masalit community, since late April, according to residents and activists.

    The attacks intensified earlier this month. Volker Perthes, the U.N envoy in Sudan, said last week that the fighting in Genena has taken on “an ethnic dimension,” with Arab militias and armed men in RSF uniforms showing “an emerging pattern of large-scale targeted attacks against civilians based on their ethnic identities.”

    On Wednesday, West Darfur Gov. Khamis Abdalla Abkar, who hails from the Masalit, was abducted and killed hours after he accused the RSF and allied Arab militias in a televised interview of attacking Genena. His slaying was blamed on the RSF, a charge the paramilitary force denied.

    Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, called for bringing those responsible for Abkar’s slaying to justice, “including those who bear command responsibility.”

    “Alongside liability of the direct perpetrator, Gov. Abkar was in the RSF’s custody, and it was the RSF’s responsibility to keep him safe,” Shamdasani told a news briefing in Geneva on Friday.

    Abkar was the second high-profile official killed in Genena within a few days. The older brother of the traditional chief of the Masalit, Tariq Abdelrahman Bahreldin, was also killed, Shamdasani said.

    Martin Griffiths, the U.N.’s top humanitarian official, decried the fighting in Darfur on Thursday, especially in Genena where trapped residents “are living a nightmare.”

    “Babies dying in hospitals where they were being treated; children and mothers suffering from severe malnutrition; camps for displaced persons burned to the ground; girls raped; schools closed; and families eating leaves to survive,” he said.

    Griffiths urged the international community to intervene to avert another cycle of violence such as the one Darfur experienced in the early 2000s when it was the scene of genocidal war. Ethnic Africans rebelled, accusing the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum of discrimination. Former dictator Omar al-Bashir’s government was accused of retaliating by arming local nomadic Arab tribes, known as Janjaweed, who targeted civilians. The Janjaweed later evolved into the RSF.

    “Darfur is rapidly spiraling into a humanitarian calamity. The world cannot allow this to happen. Not again,” Griffiths said.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed from Washington.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • North Korea opens key party meeting to tackle its struggling economy and talk defense strategies

    North Korea opens key party meeting to tackle its struggling economy and talk defense strategies

    [ad_1]

    With leader Kim Jong Un in attendance, North Korea has opened a key political conference to discuss improving its struggling economy and reviewing defense strategies in the face of growing tensions with rivals

    ByKIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press

    A TV screen shows an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, bottom center, during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, June 17, 2023. With leader Kim in attendance, North Korea opened a key political conference to discuss improving its struggling economy and reviewing defense strategies in the face of growing tensions with rivals, according to state media reports Saturday. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

    The Associated Press

    SEOUL, South Korea — With leader Kim Jong Un in attendance, North Korea opened a key political conference to discuss improving its struggling economy and reviewing defense strategies in the face of growing tensions with rivals, according to state media reports Saturday.

    The enlarged plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee came as the United States sent a nuclear-powered submarine to South Korea in the allies’ latest show of force against the North, which has ramped up its testing of nuclear-capable missiles to a record pace in recent months.

    During the first day of meetings Friday, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said, party officials reviewed the country’s economic campaigns for the first half of 2023, and discussed foreign policy and defense strategies to “cope with the changed international situation.”

    The agency didn’t specify what was discussed or mention any comments made by Kim. It said the meeting will continue for at least another day.

    The arrival Friday of the USS Michigan in the South Korean port of Busan came a day after North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern seas in response to U.S.-South Korean live-fire drills that took place near the inter-Korean border this week.

    With the deployment of the USS Michigan, the U.S. and South Korean navies are planning to conduct exercises focused on sharpening their special operation and joint combat capabilities in the allies’ latest combined training to cope with growing North Korean threats.

    Pyongyang has condemned the allies’ combined exercises as invasion rehearsals. North Korea has used the expanding U.S.-South Korean drills as a pretext to ramp up its own weapons demonstrations, including test-firing around 100 missiles since the start of 2022. Weapons tested by the North this year include a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile designed to reach the U.S. mainland, and various shorter-range weapons targeting South Korea and Japan.

    Experts say Kim’s aggressive weapons push has put further strain on North Korea’s isolated economy, which was already damaged by decades of mismanagement, crippling U.S.-led sanctions over his nuclear weapons program, and pandemic-related border closures that reduced trade with China, its main ally and economic lifeline.

    Thursday’s missile firings were North Korea’s first rocket activity since May 31, when a long-range rocket carrying the country’s first spy satellite crashed off the Korean Peninsula’s west coast.

    South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Friday that military search crews have salvaged what it believes is part of the crashed North Korean rocket. The debris was to be analyzed by the U.S. and South Korean militaries. The ministry released photos of the white, metal cylinder, which some experts said would have been the rocket’s fuel tank.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Navy admiral with Pacific experience tapped as next top naval leader

    Navy admiral with Pacific experience tapped as next top naval leader

    [ad_1]

    U.S. officials say a Navy admiral with extensive experience in the Indo-Pacific has been recommended to be the service’s next top leader

    ByLOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press

    FILE – Adm. Sam Paparo, U.S. Pacific Fleet commander, speaks at a news conference at Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii on Thursday, June 30, 2022. Recommended by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Paparo is on tap to be nominated as the next chief of naval operations, although President Joe Biden has not yet formally signed off on it, the officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because no public announcement has been made. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy, File)

    The Associated Press

    WASHINGTON — A Navy admiral with extensive experience in the Indo-Pacific has been recommended to be the service’s next top leader, officials said Monday.

    Adm. Samuel Paparo, current commander of the Navy’s Pacific Fleet, was recommended by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and is on tap to be nominated as the next chief of naval operations, although President Joe Biden has not yet formally signed off on it, the officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because no public announcement has been made.

    The selection of Paparo comes as a bit of a surprise, since he had long been expected to move up to take over U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the current vice chief of naval operations, had been widely mentioned as a leading candidate for the top Navy job.

    If Franchetti were selected she would have become the first woman to be a military service chief and the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Women have served as military service secretaries as political appointees, but never as their top uniformed officer. This was seen as a chance for a women to break another all-male precedent.

    Biden is expected to approve the recommendation, but all nominations for senior military jobs are currently stalled because one U.S. senator disagrees with Austin’s decision to have the Defense Department pay for travel when a service member has to go out of state to get an abortion or other reproductive care. Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama has brought virtually all key senior military promotions to a halt due to his opposition to that policy.

    Paparo is a naval aviator and a TOPGUN graduate with more than 6,000 flight hours in Navy fighter jets and 1,100 landings on aircraft carriers. A Pennsylvania native, he graduated from Villanova University and was commissioned into the Navy in 1987.

    Prior to his Pacific tour, he was commander of naval forces in the Middle East, based in Bahrain, and also previously served as director of operations at U.S. Central Command in Florida.

    Paparo’s selection was first reported by NBC News.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Russia claims it blew up advanced Ukrainian tank, but video shows its helicopter attacked a tractor

    Russia claims it blew up advanced Ukrainian tank, but video shows its helicopter attacked a tractor

    [ad_1]

    WASHINGTON — A grainy black-and-white gunsight video Russia released this week to bolster a claim its military blew up some of Ukraine‘s most fearsome tanks actually documented the destruction of a tractor, according to a visual analysis by The Associated Press.

    The Russian Embassy in Washington announced Monday on Twitter its forces had “annihilated” eight German-made Leopard tanks, among the most advanced and powerful weapons NATO countries have provided to Ukraine. The Russian Ministry of Defense then posted a video Tuesday on the social media network Telegram with text saying it showed “footage of the destruction of foreign armored vehicles, including Leopard tanks.”

    The video was shown extensively by Russian state-controlled broadcasters and news sites, which said it was recorded from the thermal imaging system of a KA-52 Alligator attack helicopter. Several black silhouettes of vehicles can be seen, before the helicopter launches a guided missile that strikes one, causing it to explode. “Direct hit!” says a voice on the recording, speaking in Russian.

    Germany announced earlier this year it would provide 18 Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, which hopes to receive around 100 donated by various NATO countries over next year. The Leopard 2 is one of the most maneuverable and heavily armored battle tanks in the world, featuring a 120mm gun capable of slicing through Russia’s Soviet-era tanks from more than 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) away, according to its manufacturer, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann.

    Ukrainian officials declined to comment this week on whether any of their Leopard tanks have been used in battle.

    Almost immediately after the Russian video spread online, multiple weapons experts and military bloggers began casting doubt on social media that the helicopter’s missile struck a tank, much less a Leopard.

    The visual analysis by the AP shows that the vehicles seen in the video, which was recorded at night, appear to be large pieces of stationary farm machinery parked in a field, specifically a self-propelled sprayer and two combines used to harvest corn and wheat.

    The vehicle struck by the Russian missile has four large wheels and sits high off the ground. Leopard 2 tanks are low slung and have treads, like a bulldozer.

    The Russian Embassy also claimed this week that its forces had destroyed three French-made AMX-10 light tanks, which do have wheels. But the AMX-10 has six wheels, not four.

    The silhouette of the vehicle destroyed in the video appears to more closely match a self-propelled sprayer, a type of specialized tractor common on modern farms.

    Thermal imaging systems like that on the Russian helicopter detect sources of heat to target enemy tanks and trucks in smoky or low light conditions. The stationary vehicles in the video appear black, meaning their engines were cold.

    Tank crews operating at the front lines typically conceal themselves in vegetation or behind buildings, emerging only to move and shoot, two experts in military vehicles told the AP. It would be highly unusual for tanks to be parked in the open, where they make easy targets for enemy gunners, they said.

    The two experts, who watched the Russian video, said the vehicle struck by the helicopter’s missile was not a Leopard tank nor any other type of armored vehicle.

    “The silhouette of that particular vehicle or object did not look commensurate with what I’d be expecting for a Leopard tank,” said George Barros, who leads the Geospatial Intelligence Team for Russia and Ukraine at the Institute for the Study of War. “I agree … that it was probably a piece of heavy farm equipment.”

    Valentin Châtelet, a research associate at The Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, also said the objects in the video were clearly not Leopard tanks.

    “They are pointing their thermal camera at three vehicles that appear to be harvesters,” said Châtelet, who is based in Brussels. “And the first target they’re hitting is most likely a sprayer.”

    Though both Ukraine and Russia have at various times sought to downplay their battlefield losses, the analysts said the Russian military was particularly notorious for making claims of great victories later proven to be false.

    “If you follow what they post and what they claim, you will find that they’ve been outrageously wrong about a variety of different things, be it weapons systems hit that had never been delivered into the theater or official announcements of the Russians capturing particular villages or settlements multiple consecutive times without ever having gotten there in the first place,” Barros said.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Lynn Berry contributed.

    ___

    Follow AP Global Investigative Reporter Michael Biesecker at twitter.com/mbieseck.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • US, Japanese, Philippine coast guard ships stage law enforcement drills near South China Sea

    US, Japanese, Philippine coast guard ships stage law enforcement drills near South China Sea

    [ad_1]

    ABOARD BRP CABRA, Philippines — U.S., Japanese and Philippine coast guard ships staged law enforcement drills in waters near the disputed South China Sea on Tuesday as Washington presses efforts to reinforce alliances in Asia amid an increasingly tense rivalry with China.

    Witnessed by journalists onboard a Philippine coast guard patrol boat, the BRP Cabra, the drills focused on a scenario involving the interdiction and boarding of a vessel suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction off the Bataan Peninsula, Philippine coast guard spokesperson Commodore Armand Balilo said.

    Shots rang out as heavily armed coast guard personnel rapidly boarded the vessel from a speedboat and herded the crew members toward the stern. A helicopter hovered as U.S. and Japanese coast guard ships helped rescue crew members who jumped off the target vessel during the mock assault.

    “We are not just all display,” Philippine coast guard deputy spokesperson John Ybanez said. “All these exercises that we do will help us help each other in possible scenarios in the future.”

    The U.S. Coast Guard deployed one of its most advanced cutters, the 418-foot (127-meter) Stratton, in the June 1-7 exercises hosted by the Philippines, Washington’s oldest treaty ally in Asia. The Stratton has been conducting exercises in the region to share expertise in search and rescue and law enforcement, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

    “This first trilateral engagement between the coast guards of these nations will provide invaluable opportunities to strengthen global maritime governance though professional exchanges and combined operations,” the Stratton’s commanding officer, Capt. Brian Krautler, said at the start of the exercises. “Together we’ll demonstrate professional, rules-based standards of maritime operations with our steadfast partners to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

    Japan deployed a large coast guard ship, the Akitsushima, while four Philippine coast guard vessels joined the exercises.

    The Biden administration has been strengthening an arc of military alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China, including in the South China Sea and in any future confrontation over Taiwan, the self-governing island which Beijing regards as a Chinese province.

    Washington lays no claims to the strategic South China Sea, where China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysian, Taiwan and Brunei have been locked in tense territorial stand-offs for decades. But the U.S. says freedom of navigation and overflight and the peaceful resolution of disputes in the busy waterway are in its national interest.

    Philippine officials say such joint exercises with U.S. forces do not target any country. But China has warned that increased U.S. security deployments in Asia target Beijing’s interests and undermine regional stability.

    The U.S. Pacific Command said over the weekend that a U.S. guided-missile destroyer and a Canadian frigate were intercepted by a Chinese warship in the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese vessel overtook the American ship and veered across its bow at a distance of 150 yards (about 140 meters) in an “unsafe manner,” it said.

    Last month, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said a Chinese J-16 fighter aircraft flew directly in front of a U.S. Air Force RC-135 plane in an “an unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” while the American reconnaissance plane “was conducting safe and routine operations over the South China Sea in international airspace, in accordance with international law.”

    In April, Japan adopted a new five-year ocean policy that calls for stronger maritime security, including bolstering its coast guard’s capability and cooperation with the military. It cited a list of threats, including repeated intrusions by Chinese coast guard ships into Japanese territorial waters.

    The Philippine coast guard, meanwhile, has intensified patrols in the South China Sea and taken extra efforts to document and publicize assertive Chinese behavior in the waterway following a Feb. 6 incident in which a Chinese coast guard ship aimed a military-grade laser that briefly blinded some crew members on a Philippine patrol boat off a disputed reef.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Source link