Mar Cinese Meridionale ... la controversia fra Cina e Stati Uniti prosegue ...
Chinese officials are pushing back against the U.S. statement contesting Beijing’s claims to the South China Sea, while other nations in the region are attempting to stay out of the public conflict between the two nations.
On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a formal statement rejecting China’s claims to much of the offshore resources in the South China Sea as unlawful and accused Beijing of coercing its neighbors.
“We are making clear: Beijing’s claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them,” he said.
La Cina avrà a disposizione, nel prossimo futuro, nuovi mezzi che favoriranno il suo espansionismo nel Mar Cinese Meridionale ...
With an endurance of 12 hours, the AG600 is able to depart from the Chinese military base in Hainan Island and reach anywhere in contested areas or its reclaimed bases in the South China Sea for resupply missions or maritime patrol.
Ships would require around a week to navigate from Hainan to the southernmost point of China’s areas of interest.
The aircraft has a maximum takeoff weight of approximately 117,700 pounds (53.6 tonnes) and is about 11 percent larger than the Shinmaywa US-1A and more than twice the size of the Canadair CL-215.
Meanwhile, the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) has responded to a series of requirements for the latest amphibious carrier for the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), unofficially known as the Type 076.
Some items, including an electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) and a 30-tonne aircraft elevator, suggest that the Chinese are planning to place fixed-wing aircraft on their amphibious assault ships.
Armi ipersoniche ... ultimo test vincolato sotto l'ala di un B-52 per lo AGM-183A ...
The AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), the Air Force’s first hypersonic weapon, completed its last captive-carry test flight on a B-52 on Aug. 8.
During the test, which was conducted off the coast of Southern California, the AGM-183A Instrumented Measurement Vehicle-2 transmitted telemetry and GPS data to ground stations at the Point Mugu Sea Range.
The test verified the weapon’s integration with the B-52, and practiced a concept of operations to be used in its first Booster Test Flight, to be held later this year, according to an Air Force release (*).
L'elicottero (un AS-3H) che appare nel filmato dovrebbe far parte di un ordine che venne effettuato presso l'Agusta dall'Iran (allora ancora imperiale) negli anni '70 ...
Un esemplare, recante la livrea bianca della Marina Imperiale Iraniana, venne esposto al Salone di Parigi nel 1977 ...
Tensione con la Cina ... l' India invia rinforzi al nord ...
In light of the prevailing situation on the border, HAL produced two Light Combat Helicopters (LCH) have been deployed for operations at high altitude (Leh sector) at short notice to support IAF missions.
“It is the lightest attack helicopter in the world designed and developed by HAL to meet the specific and unique requirements of Indian Armed Forces reflecting the crucial role of HAL in Atma Nirbhar Bharat”, says Mr R Madhavan, CMD, HAL.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has released a Request for Information (RFI) for a new hypersonic missile demonstrator under its Expendable Hypersonic Multi-Mission Air-Breathing Demonstrator (Mayhem) program.
Through the Mayhem program, the AFRL is interested in the design, fabrication, integration, and necessary research needed to enable a larger-scale expendable air-breathing hypersonic multimission flight demonstrator.
The Mayhem System Demonstrator (MSD) will need to be capable of carrying larger payloads over distances further than current hypersonic capabilities allow.
The payload bay will be modular and capable of carrying/delivering at least three distinct payloads in order to execute multiple Government-defined mission sets.
Anche i piloti russi, alle volte, prendono solenni cantonate ...
According to a spokesman for Russia’s National Defense Management Center, a Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker on QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) was scrambled to identify and escort an Italian Atlantic that was approaching Russia’s state border on Aug. 14, 2020.
“A Su-27 fighter plane from the Southern Military District’s air defense quick reaction alert forces was scrambled to identify the target. The Russian fighter’s crew consistently approached the aerial object at a safe distance and identified it as an Italian Atlantic maritime patrol aircraft. After the Italian plane moved away from Russia’s state border, the Russian fighter safely returned to its home airfield” the Center said according to the TASS News Agency.
Even before the Italian Ministry of Defense denied any Italian aircraft was operating in the area, the whole story sounded at least weird: in fact, while it has operated the BR-1150 Atlantic MPA (Maritime Patrol Aircraft) with ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) capabilities for some 45 years, logging 260,000 flight hours with a fleet of 18 aircraft, the Italian Air Force has retired the type once and for all in November 2017.
"Mayhem" ... un programma aperto soltanto ai più importanti nomi dell'industria aerospaziale USA ... forse ...
The Air Force is seeking a new, air-breathing hypersonic system, nicknamed “Mayhem,” that would be larger than the AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, and carry multiple payloads, perhaps performing an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance mission in addition to attack.
USAF intends to solicit concepts for a new hypersonic system exclusively from hypersonics-knowledgeable contractors, namely Boeing, Lockheed Martin’s Skunkworks, and Raytheon, with contracts to be awarded in the first quarter of fiscal 2021, according to an Aug. 5 notice. Any companies that feel they are capable of doing the work and that they’ve been unfairly excluded need to contact the Air Force Research Laboratory within two weeks of the solicitation.
The system is officially called the Expendable Hypersonic Air-Breathing Multi-Mission Demonstrator Program, but USAF refers to it as “Mayhem,” or “Mayhem System Demonstrator” for short.
Violazioni di spazio aereo e comportamenti di volo rischiosi ...
A Russian fighter jet pursuing an Air Force B-52 violated Danish air space on Aug. 28, the same day a separate set of Russian fighters intercepted another B-52 in a manner U.S. officials say was unprofessional and unsafe.
The recent anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons test this year, reported by the UK and US Governments, and denied by the Russians, is another indicator that in-orbit tests and direct ascent tests (DA-ASAT) appear to be on the rise.
According to the Secure World Foundation the Russians have conducted a possible ten ASAT tests since 2014, over the same period the Chinese have conducted four tests and the Indians two.
This trend is worrying to all actors in space including the UK space commercial sector.
On 15 July 2020, a Russian military satellite Kosmos 2543 released a high speed projectile from the main body of the spacecraft and, although there was no indication the projectile collided with another satellite, this action, according to US Space Command, was ‘consistent with a test of a new anti-satellite capability’.
Dalla pagina "Contracts" (sezione AIR FORCE) del DoD in data 8 Settembre 2020 ...
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Roy, Utah, has been awarded a $13,293,562,839 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for a tested and fully qualified design of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD).
The GBSD will replace the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Weapon system.
This contract will provide for the engineering and manufacturing of the GBSD. Work will be performed in Roy, Utah, and multiple other locations nationwide, and is expected to be completed February 2029. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and one offer was received. Fiscal Year 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $85,000,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity (FA8219-20-C-0006).
Northrop Grumman will officially move ahead as the sole company in the Air Force’s competition to design a new intercontinental ballistic missile, under a $13.3 billion contract, the service said Sept. 8.
Northrop’s design for the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent will replace the 400 Minuteman III missiles that are scattered in silos around Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming, as well as 200 or so additional missiles used as replacements, for testing, and for other development.
The engineering and manufacturing development contract formally unseats Boeing as the Air Force’s future ICBM provider after more than 60 years as the primary contractor.
“I have built a nuclear – a weapons system that nobody’s ever had in this country before. We have stuff that you haven’t even seen or heard about," Trump told Woodward.
"We have stuff that Putin and Xi have never heard about before. There’s nobody – what we have is incredible."
In protests over the U.S. Undersecretary for Economic Affairs Keith Krach’s visit to Taiwan, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) turned up the heat against Taiwan, consecutively carrying out military flights into its air defense identification zone, and testing the ability of the Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) to respond to them.
If China invaded Taiwan, how would it play out on the Internet and mobile devices?
How could the U.S. Air Force use that public information to the military’s benefit?
It’s a 21st-century dilemma the service is beginning to understand.
Over the course of four weeks in late August and early September, Airmen in the 16th Air Force information warfare organization explored how to mine social media and other forms of public information to address an undisclosed scenario involving China and Taiwan.
They used a toolkit built by Virginia-based BlackHorse Solutions that was paid for by the Air Force Warfighting Integration Capability team, a group based at the Pentagon that studies how the service should be structured and what tools it needs to fight in the future.
Pacific Air Forces is pushing back against a Chinese military propaganda video depicting an H-6K bomber targeting Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, calling it attempted intimidation in the region.
The video, released Sept. 19, shows the bombers flying alongside fighter aircraft, and firing a missile at a Google Maps-style picture of Andersen’s flight line.
“It is yet another example of their use of propaganda in an attempt to coerce and intimidate the region,” PACAF said in a Sept. 23 statement.
“Maintaining the safety of our personnel and resources, as well as our allies and partners, is of the utmost importance and we remain committed to ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific for all nations.”
"Dovreste fare di più per contrastare l'espansione della Cina !!!" ...
Palau’s recent offer to permit the United States to build bases and airfields could provide a model for Washington to use to counter China’s territorial claims in the Pacific, a senior security expert told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.
“Washington should seek new allies and partners,” Elbridge Colby, co-founder of the Marathon Initiative, told the HASC.
“Focus on states with shared threat perceptions [like China]. This is true whether they are democracies are not,” like Vietnam.
Operarazioni navali USA al largo del Venezuela ...
Destroyer USS William P. Lawrence (DDG-110) performed a freedom of navigation operation on Wednesday off the coast of Venezuela, U.S. Southern Command announced (*).
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer sailed through the Caribbean Sea for the exercise, SOUTHCOM said in a news release.
Lawrence is in the SOUTHCOM area of operations for anti-drug missions, the command said.
Terre rare ... Ordine Esecutivo del Presidente degli Stati Uniti ...
Our dependence on one country, the People’s Republic of China (China), for multiple critical minerals is particularly concerning.
The United States now imports 80 percent of its rare earth elements directly from China, with portions of the remainder indirectly sourced from China through other countries.
In the 1980s, the United States produced more of these elements than any other country in the world, but China used aggressive economic practices to strategically flood the global market for rare earth elements and displace its competitors.
Since gaining this advantage, China has exploited its position in the rare earth elements market by coercing industries that rely on these elements to locate their facilities, intellectual property, and technology in China.
For instance, multiple companies were forced to add factory capacity in China after it suspended exports of processed rare earth elements to Japan in 2010, threatening that country’s industrial and defense sectors and disrupting rare earth elements prices worldwide.
A bipartisan pair of U.S. senators are urging the Trump administration to impose economic sanctions on Turkey over buying and activating Russian S-400 Triumf air defense systems, concerned that Turkey is allowing Russia to access sensitive data on NATO aircraft.
In an Oct. 7 letter to Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, Senate appropriators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) raised concerns that Turkey may have used its S-400s “to detect U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets returning from the Eunomia exercise” held in August.
The exercise involving Cyprus, France, Greece, and Italy was a “response to Turkey’s unwarranted aggression in the Eastern Mediterranean,” the lawmakers said.
Turkey had sent oil exploration vessels into disputed areas around Cyprus.
Corea del Sud ... i Capi di Stato Maggiore chiedono che il programma di costruzione della futura portaerei leggera venga accelerato ...
Amid the growing naval capabilities of neighbouring countries, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) have requested that construction plans for the Republic of Korea Navy’s (RoKN’s) next-generation light aircraft carrier be brought forward.
Officials from the Ministry of National Defense (MND) in Seoul told Jane's on 8 October that the JCS want the carrier’s basic design to be included in the MND’s Defense Mid-Term Plan covering the period from 2021–25, meaning that design work could start as early as next year.
Questa notizia mi è arrivata sullo smartphone ... e la riporto qui ...
«Mezzogiorno eterno»: è questa più o meno la traduzione del nome, «Steadfast noon», dell'esercitazione militare segreta sull'uso di bombe nucleari in corso in questi giorni in Germania con la partecipazione, annunciano i «media» locali, dell'Aeronautica militare italiana, forza armata di un Paese, il nostro, che da 45 anni ha rinunciato a sviluppare propri armamenti atomici.
Le operazioni si svolgono soprattutto nella base aerea di Nörvenich, poco più di 40 chilometri a sud ovest di Colonia, con gli equipaggi dei cacciabombardieri Tornado della Nato – l’Alleanza Atlantica (Germania, Italia, Olanda e Belgio) impegnati a montare e smontare sotto le loro carlinghe le bombe nucleari americane B-61 e a simulare lo sgancio di questi ordigni (mai portati realmente in volo però), ognuno dei quali può sviluppare una potenza distruttiva fino a 20 volte maggiore delle bombe atomiche che nel 1945 rasero al suolo Hiroshima e Nagasaki.
... se ne prospettano ora altre ... non meno importanti ...
The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) of one hundred thirty-five (135) AGM-84H Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) Missiles and related equipment for an estimated cost of $1.008 billion.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today.
The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) of six (6) MS-110 Recce Pods and related equipment for an estimated cost of $367.2 million.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today.
La Turchia avrebbe testato i nuovi missili acquistati dalla Russia ...
Reports, following the appearance of videos on social media, suggest that Turkey has begun live-fire testing of its controversial Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missile system. Doing so risks provoking the wrath of traditional allies, especially the United States, which has threatened new sanctions in the past if Turkish authorities were to take this step.
Video footage emerged on social media earlier today of the reported “comprehensive test” of the S-400 system in the country’s Sinop province on the Black Sea coast.
Though unconfirmed, they show narrow columns of smoke snaking into the sky over that region that do appear to be broadly consistent with S-400 missile launches that we’ve seen in the past.
... senza, però, precisare dove questa si trovi ... 
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