Inside the Ring: New naval harassment in Asia*

The Chinese ship also warned the Navy vessel it was operating “illegally” despite being in undisclosed international waters. The Chinese also said the ship was not a “noncombatant” ship.
“The American vessel USNS Impeccable is far from being a noncombatant,” the Chinese posting stated. “The Impeccable is one of five American surveillance ships equipped with passive and active low-frequency towed-array sonar, and it is effective at detecting submarines, directly serving the American naval fleet by doing so.”
The Navy is stepping up surveillance of China’s submarine force, which has expanded by more than 50 submarines in the past two decades.
The Sinocism posting stated that the U.S. ship was within 100 nautical miles of the Chinese coast and that China had not granted permission for it to operate in that region.
The Chinese photos appear to have been taken by a cellphone camera from a distance of about 10,000 yards. Analysts suggested the Chinese were engaged in long-distance countersurveillance, thus raising questions about Chinese claims of a “fierce” encounter.
A video of the confrontation posted on another website shows a Chinese security officer on ship speaking into a microphone and demanding that the U.S. ship must first get China’s permission to be in the area.
An unidentified U.S. official was then heard in the radio message as saying the Impeccable was operating legally in international waters. (The video can be viewed at cjdby.net/redianzhuizong/2013-07-04/military-4476.html.)
The last time the Impeccable was harassed by the Chinese was in March 2009 when five Chinese ships shadowed the surveillance vessel and sprayed it with water in what the Pentagon at the time said was a “dangerous” effort to force the ship out of its operating zone. Another spy ship, the Victorious, also was harassed several years ago.
A U.S. Pacific Command spokesman would not address the U.S.-China ship incident. Capt. Chris Sims, the spokesman, referred Inside the Ring to comments made last week by Adm. Samuel J. Locklear, head of U.S. Pacific Command.
Asked about an increase in Chinese naval activity around Guam and Hawaii, in apparent retaliation for U.S. naval spying on China, Adm. Locklear said the United States and China disagree on U.N. definitions of controlled waters.
“We believe, the U.S. position is that those activities are less constrained than what the Chinese believe,” the four-star admiral said in a meeting with reporters July 11.
Adm. Locklear said economic exclusion zones cover “most of the major sea lines of communication” that are vital for trade and shipping.
Asked about earlier Chinese military provocations and if the Chinese today are less provocative, Adm. Locklear said, “I would say it’s not provocative certainly. I’d say that in the Asia-Pacific, in the areas that are closer to the Chinese homeland, that we have been able to conduct operations around each other in a very professional and increasingly professional manner.”
“Some of this had to do with the lessons that were learned a number of years ago by some of the unfortunate encounters,” he added.
The U.S. military is holding an “ongoing dialogue” with the Chinese military with the aim of creating “rules of the road,” as China’s navy expands and operates farther from its coast, Adm. Locklear said.
“The U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific’s not going anywhere,” he said. “So we have to manage our ability to operate around each other. And I think that’s a doable thing.”
The official said there is serious concern within the Pentagon about what will happen under the new “Samantha Power doctrine,” if she is confirmed for the U.N. post.
“People are shuddering over its implication” for the Department of Defense, the official said.
The official noted that during her nomination hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, Ms. Power did not back down from her past contention that the United States was guilty of “war crimes,” apparently carried out by omission or commission by the U.S. government and military.
“DOD senior officials believe she is very influential with the left wing of the administration, so they are following closely what senators are asking and her replies,” the official said.
Ms. Power supports humanitarian intervention, including aid to Syrian rebels. She was the key policy driver behind the “leading-from-behind” policy used to oust Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi that has left the oil-rich North African nation unstable and facing a growing problem with Islamist militias.
Pentagon officials are concerned there will be policy disputes between Ms. Power and Defense SecretaryChuck Hagel, who opposes all U.S. interventions and argues that there is no budget for military intervention because of the Pentagon’s current funding crunch.
Ms. Power came under sharp questioning during her Senate hearing Wednesday from Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican.
Mr. Rubio asked the Ireland-born Ms. Power about a 2003 article she wrote calling for a “historical reckoning with crimes committed, sponsored or permitted by the United States.”
After repeating several times how much she likes the United States, Ms. Power then explained that she was referring to the lack of response by the Clinton in administration to the 1994 Rwanda tribal genocide.
Mr. Rubio pressed her to explain what crimes the United States had committed or sponsored in Rwanda.
Ms. Power sidestepped the question, saying only: “I think this is the greatest country on Earth. I — we have nothing to apologize for.”
“But do you believe the United States has committed or sponsored crimes?” Mr. Rubio asked.
She repeated that she believed the United States is the greatest country on Earth.
Ms. Power did no repudiate her demand for an accounting of U.S. crimes but suggested she “would absolutely” have stated it differently.
OBAMA-PUTIN TALK SNOWDEN
President Obama last month dismissed any suggestion that he should get involved in bringingEdward Snowden to justice for disclosing top-secret National Security Agency programs and documents obtained while he worked as a computer technician contractor for the agency.
The president appeared to be signaling to the U.S. and international press that dealing with the illegal release of U.S. secrets and getting a leaker to face prosecution was something below his paygrade.
“I’m not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker,” Mr. Obama said June 27 at a news conference in Senegal during his weeklong trip to Africa.
“I’m not going to have one case with a suspect who we’re trying to extradite suddenly be elevated to the point where I’ve got to start doing wheeling and dealing and trading on a whole host of other issues, simply to get a guy extradited so he can face the justice system.”
That apparently changed Friday when Russian President Vladimir Putin called Mr. Obama to discuss the Snowden case.
The White House “readout” of the call said the two leaders spoke about “the status of Mr. Edward Snowden” among other issues.
Asked if the president asked Mr. Putin to return Mr. Snowden, White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden did not answer directly.
“Our message to every country continues to be that there is a legal basis to expel Edward Snowden back to the U.S., and we want to see that happen without delay,” she said.
Russia made clear on Wednesday that it would not return the renegade NSA contractor, who has requested temporary asylum in Moscow.
Mr. Putin, however, said relations should not be upset by “squabbles between special services.”
“We have our own goals as regards development of Russian-American relations,” he said.
“We won’t behave the way other countries do. We are an independent country and we have an independent foreign policy.”

*Notícia publicada al Washington Times.

US to deploy drones over Diaoyutais*

An RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle conducts tests over Naval Air Station Patuxent River in the US state of Maryland in an undated photo supplied by the US Navy.

Photo: Reuters

The US will use its most advanced unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to monitor Chinese activity in waters surrounding the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), the object of an acrimonious dispute between Beijing and Tokyo, Japanese media are reporting.

The decision was made during a meeting between Japanese Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto and US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta at the Pentagon on Sunday, NHK and the Yomiuri Shimbun said, adding that the drones would also conduct surveillance around Okinawa.

At least three unarmed Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk drones have been deployed at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam since September 2010, bolstering the operational intelligence capabilities of US forces in the Asia-Pacific.

Operating at an altitude of about 18,000m, the RQ-4 provides near-real-time, long-range intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance imagery by means of a high-resolution synthetic aperture radar. It played a role in damage assessment following the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in March last year.

Amid rising tensions between Japan and China over the disputed islets, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force has mostly relied on P-3C “Orion” surveillance aircraft to monitor Chinese naval activity in the area.

Taiwan also claims sovereignty over the islands.

Tetsuo Kotani, a fellow at The Japan Institute of International Affairs in Tokyo, said the deployment sends an important message.

“One of the urgent issues for the US-Japan alliance is to enhance intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance [ISR] cooperation,” he told the Taipei Times yesterday. “The Global Hawk can serve as a symbol of allied ISR cooperation.”

“This is an important step for the alliance and sends a strong message to Beijing thatWashington stands firmly with Tokyo,” he said.

Although the US does not officially take a position on the sovereignty dispute, some believe the Diaoyutais fall within the scope of Article 5 of the US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Co-operation and Security.

However, Kotani said Beijing should not misunderstand the real message.

“This is US reassurance to Japan. As long as Japan is reassured by the US, Japan does not have to take provocative actions vis-a-vis Beijing over the Senkakus,” he said. “No country wants to increase the tensions.”

The Diaoyutais are known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan.

During Sunday’s meeting, Panetta and Morimoto also agreed to explore eventual revisions of the Guidelines for Japan-US Defense Cooperation, which govern cooperation between the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the US military during crises.

Passed in 1978, the guidelines were substantially revised in 1997 in response to the North Korean nuclear program.

“We shared the view that it’s important to jointly study and discuss [security matters], taking into consideration changes in the security environment and what Japan-US cooperation should be,” Morimoto told a press conference.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, the review will focus on defense cooperation on the Nansei Islands in response to Chinese military expansion and increasing activity in waters surrounding Japan, as well as North Korea’s nuclear and missile development and post-disaster cooperation.

No specific procedures or timeline for the review were discussed.

* Notícia publicada al Taipei Times. Que la situació a les Senkaku / Diaoyutai és tensa, no és cap novetat. Ara bé, el possible destí d'aparells com el Global Hawk nord-americans és tot un missatge.

Northrop introduces US Navy's first MQ-4C BAMS UAS*

Northrop Grumman has introduced the first MQ-4C broad area maritime surveillance unmanned aircraft system (BAMS UAS) for the US Navy at its facility in Palmdale, California, US.

Formally named Triton, the MQ-4C BAMS UAS will provide persistent surveillance for the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force (MPRF) to carry littoral strike missions.

Duke Dufresne, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems sector vice president and general manager for unmanned systems, said that the MQ-4C Triton UAS was a BAMS UAS programme's key element that represents the future of naval aviation and a strategic element of the US Navy.

"The BAMS UAS programme will revolutionise persistent maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance," Dufresne said.

Unmanned aviation and strike weapons programme executive officer rear admiral Bill Shannon added: "Their efforts will enable the BAMS system to provide the fleet a game-changing persistent maritime and littoral intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability."

The naval version of the US Air Force's RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft, the MQ-4C BAMS UAS has been designed to conduct maritime surveillance, gather enemy battle information, carry out battle damage assessment and port surveillance missions.

The BAMS UAS provides reliable intelligence information about potential maritime surface threats for the military commanders to efficiently patrol a wide range of open ocean and littoral regions.

The navy is planning to buy nearly $12bn worth of MQ-4Cs, including five test aircraft, while the first MQ-4C aircraft is expected to be operational in 2015.

The programme is managed by the Navy's program executive office (unmanned aviation and strike weapons) and the persistent maritime unmanned aircraft systems program office.

The US Navy's Fifth Fleet is currently using Northrop-built Block 10 RQ-4 BAMS demonstrator, equipped with maritime sensors, which provides full persistent capabilities glimpse of the Triton's 360° multi-function active sensor (MFAS) radar.

* Notícia publicada a Naval Technology. L'endrada en servei del RQ-4 BAMS serà tot un pas endavant en matèria de vigilància marítima persistent. L'obtenció d'informació no només és cabdal per guanyar conflictes, també ho és per evitar que esclatin.

Teledyne Webb Research - Oceanographic Research and Monitoring Instruments*

Teledyne Webb Research (TWR) is a world leader in the design and manufacture of scientific instruments for oceanographic research and monitoring. Teledyne Webb Research specialises in three areas of ocean instrumentation: neutrally buoyant, autonomous drifters and profilers; autonomous underwater gliding vehicles; and moored underwater sound sources.

APEX autonomous drifting sensor platform

APEX® (Autonomous Profiling Explorer) is an autonomous drifting sensor platform that uses a variable buoyancy engine to move from the surface to user-defined drift and profile depths. TWR's APEX profiling float makes up over two-thirds of the floats deployed for the worldwide Argo program, the largest oceanographic experiment ever undertaken. Over 7,000 APEX floats have been shipped to date.
APEX can be configured with a variety of sensors to measure conductivity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, chlorophyll, carbon dioxide, and nutrients. The collected data is transmitted to shore via either the Argos or Iridium networks. TWR employs a team of dedicated APEX engineers who are constantly working on integrating customer-specific sensors and challenging the state of science in profiling floats.
With active lifetimes that can exceed five years, programmable schedules, user defined park and profile settings and active depth control, APEX is one of the most efficient basin scale oceanographic sensors in use. APEX also has the flexibility needed to handle new operational requirements, such as integration of passive acoustic sensors to monitor everything from seismic activity to beaked whales.

APEX profiling float for both military and civil ocean and weather numerical models

That is primarily why developer Douglas Webb set out to commercialise the profiling float. He and his colleges realised that even with the combined resources of every nation on the planet there would never be enough ships to measure the ocean with sufficient resolution in time and geospatial density to improve our understanding of the planet. Born from the original ALACE and PALACE floats, APEX profiling floats are the low cost, highly reliable, robust sensor platform needed to continue to grow our understanding of the complex physical phenomena that are driving our oceans, modifying our weather, and impacting our climate.

• Provides autonomous profiles from depths to 2,000m
• Provided ready to deploy, with automated self-test software
• Nominal 150 ascents, four years; routinely achieve longer life
• Automatic depth control: isobaric, isopycnal or isothermal tracking
• Seasonally variable sampling modes
• Automatic pressure activation
• Ice avoidance algorithms
• First profile returned within 24 hours of launch

Remote sensing AUVs

 

Slocum® G2 Glider is a versatile remote sensing AUV for ocean research and monitoring. Buoyancy driven, the long range and duration capabilities of Slocum gliders make them ideally suited for water column observation at a regional scale. Missions and data transmission downloads can be programmed by the user before the start of a mission or in-situ. The relatively low cost for operation and the ability to command multiple vehicles with minimal personnel make the Slocum glider perfect for fleet applications.

• Ocean Observation Initiative (OOI) - Coastal Glider Contract
• Ocean Observation Initiative (OOI) - Open Ocean Glider Contract
• US Navy - Littoral Battlespace Sensing - Glider (LBS-G) Contract

Slocum Gliders offer:

• Modular design with interchangeable science bays
• Standard and custom sensor integration
• Deep ocean capabilities
• World-class customer support

* Article publicat a Naval Technology. Els "thermal gliders" són una tecnologia enormement interessant en diversos aspectes. Tant per la investigació oceanogràfica com per la vigilància costanera o d'alta mar ofereixen un munt de possibilitats, amb una mínima signatura acústica a causa de ser "planadors" sub-aquàtics.

Strait of Hormuz standoff: Iran films US aircraft carrier*

The commander of Iran's navy said the reconnaissance mission was proof that his fleet had "control over the moves by foreign forces" but it was unclear what intelligence could be derived from the grainy video, which was played triumphantly on state television.

Admiral Habibollah Sayyari's statement came as Iranian ships, helicopters and submarines continued a 10-day war game exercise designed to give credibility to the country's threat to close the Strait and choke off the world's oil supplies if the West moves ahead with sanctions.

The drill is underway in international waters near the Strait and only a few hundred miles from America's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet. The US Navy has vowed to prevent any closure of the channel, through which 15 million barrels of oil pass every day.

A Navy spokeswoman would not comment on the footage but confirmed that the USS John C Stennis, one of the fleet's largest carriers, was on a "routine transit" through the Strait to provide support to Nato forces in Afghanistan.

Despite the Fifth Fleet's advantage in firepower, a senior Revolutionary Guard commander vowed yesterday that "Any threat will be responded [to] by threat."

"We will not relinquish our strategic moves if Iran's vital interests are undermined by any means," General Hossein Salami told Press TV.

This afternoon, the US also announced it was selling more than 80 F-15 strike aircraft to Saudi Arabia, an American ally and Iran's main rival for military dominance in the Middle East. Without specifically naming Iran, the State Department said the sale was intended as "a strong message to countries in the region that the United States is committed to stability in the Gulf and broader Middle East."

Barry Pavel, Director of the Brent Scowcroft Centre on International Security at the Atlantic Council, said that Iran's navy was potentially capable of closing the Strait but would be unlikely to do so because of the country's dependence on revenues from oil exports. "It would have to be a very extreme situation for Iran to basically shut down its own economy," he said.

The Iranian threat to close the narrow shipping lane was made after the EU, backed by the US, announced it was tightening sanctions on Iran for pressing ahead with its nuclear programme. Europe buys around 20 per cent of all Iranian oil exports and a full embargo would cause serious damage to Iran's economy.

* Notícia publicada al Telegraph. No sabem fins a quin punt el "shadowing" realitzat per l'Iran és realment efectiu en termes d'obtenció d'intel·ligència. No obstant, Teheran no es limita només a la retòrica contra els Estats Units. Cal no perdre de vista cap dels moviments d'aquest règim teocràtic.

Belgrano was heading to the Falklands, secret papers reveal*

For decades debate and recrimination has raged over where the ship was heading when it was torpedoed by a Royal Navy submarine.

Britain received international criticism after the sinking after the Argentine Junta announced that the warship had been returning to its home port and was outside the 200 mile exclusion zone imposed by Whitehall.

But Major David Thorp, who spent 34 years working as a signals expert in military intelligence, has disclosed for the first time that he was asked to carry out a trawl of all the intelligence on the sinking at the direct request of Margaret Thatcher a few months after the end of the war.

He was ordered to compile a report for the Prime Minister called “The Sinking of the Belgrano” that has never been published.

From his own signals intercepts and those from other Government agencies, he proved that the Argentine cruiser was heading into the exclusion zone. 

Major Thorp was in charge of a top secret signals interception section hidden on the amphibious warship Intrepid as it steamed with the Task Force. 

Around Ascension Island, 4,000 miles from the Falklands, his team began picking up naval communications sent to the Argentine fleet which they were easily able to decipher. 

The report states that in late April 1982, they intercepted a message sent from naval headquarters ordering the Belgrano and its escorts to a grid reference within the exclusion zone and not back to base as the Argentines later claimed. 

The Belgrano was sunk by two torpedoes fired by the hunter-killer submarine Conqueror on May 2 with the loss of 323 lives a number of miles outside the exclusion zone. 

“For some reason they decided on a rendezvous point still within the exclusion zone,” Major Thorp said. “Whether they were trying to raise a thumb at us I don’t know. At the time I thought it was strange thinking why didn’t they go straight into port?” 

In his new book, The Silent Listener, Major Thorp wrote: “The findings of my final report stated the destination of the vessel was not to her home port as the Argentine Junta stated but the objective of the ship was to relocate to a prearranged RV within the exclusion zone.” 

Despite the report being read by Mrs Thatcher she never disclosed the information either in Parliament or elsewhere possibly because she did not want to reveal Britain’s eavesdropping capabilities. 

But during her infamous BBC exchange with the schoolteacher Diana Gould who confronted her on the sinking Mrs Thatcher made an intriguing reference to the report saying: "One day, all of the facts, in about 30 years time, will be published." Mrs Gould died earlier this month. 

In recent years the Argentine navy has accepted that the sinking of the Belgrano was a legitimate act of war.

In his book, that was cleared by the security services, Major Thorp also discloses for the first time how the British code-cracking operation gave the force a significant advantage. 

Shortly before the Battle of Goose Green, Lt Col “H” Jones, the commander of 2nd Bn The Parachute Regiment, boarded Intrepid after hearing about the eavesdroppers through SAS colleagues. 

“That morning we had picked up 10 grid references on intercepts and H looked at the map and realised that they were his own troops’ locations. He said “bloody hell we are sharing the same hill as the enemy.’” 

“He wanted to know the strengths and weaknesses of the Argentines, then we looked at calibre of people on ground and he came to the conclusion that perhaps 600 Paras were worth 1,500 Argentines.” 

The intelligence gave the commanding officer the “peace of mind” to start the battle that would lead in his own death, a posthumous Victoria Cross award and ultimately victory in the campaign. 

* Notícia publicada pel Telegraph. Creiem que, malgrat el temps passat, és bó que es conegui la veritat sobre l'enfonsament del Belgrano, que fou un acte de guerra perfectament legítim.