This is pretty significant that the US, ROK and Japanese Navies continue to do this interoperability missile defense exercises. Hopefully a new administration in the ROK does not stop ROK participation in the future:
The United States, South Korea and Japan kicked off naval missile-defense drills Friday, joining forces to counter the growing threat from North Korea.
The three-day exercise began amid fears that the North may test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile or stage another provocation in connection with Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony on Friday.
The Yokosuka, Japan-based guided-missile destroyer USS Stethem, Japan’s JDS Kirishima and South Korea’s Sejong the Great participated in missile detection and tracking drills in the waters off the divided peninsula and Japan. [Stars & Stripes]
This probably the legal answer they are giving to avoid responsibility of violating international law by stealing the US Navy drone:
The Chinese navy on Thursday seized the drone, which the Pentagon said was being operated by civilian contractors to conduct oceanic research. The U.S. lodged a formal diplomatic complaint and demanded the drone back.
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun issued a statement late Saturday saying that a Chinese navy lifeboat discovered an unknown device in the South China Sea on Thursday.
“In order to prevent this device from posing a danger to the safe navigation of passing ships and personnel, the Chinese lifeboat adopted a professional and responsible attitude in investigating and verifying the device,” Yang said.
The statement said that after verifying that the device was an American unmanned submerged device, “China decided to transfer it to the U.S. through appropriate means.”
The U.S. said that “through direct engagement with Chinese authorities, we have secured an understanding that the Chinese will return” the unmanned underwater vehicle, according to a statement from Peter Cook, spokesman for U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter. [Associated Press]
I think this is an accurate assessment of why the Chinese stole the US Navy glider earlier this week:
As mentioned above, this incident does leave one thinking of the 2001 Hainan and 2009 USS Impeccableincidents as tests by China of an incoming administration. Indeed, Donald Trump’s recent moves on China — including his call to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and repeated criticism of Chinese economic and security practices, including in the South China Sea — may well have caught Chinese policymakers off-guard. Trump’s flirting with a revision to the U.S. “one China” policy in particular has raised particular concern in Beijing, which regards U.S. compliance with its “one China” principle as a sine qua non for diplomatic relations.
Deriving Chinese intentions from the glider-seizure is but an exercise in speculation at this point, but it isn’t unthinkable that Beijing, recognizing Trump’s highly unusual diplomatic style, is choosing to test his rhetorical response thresholds at least before he enters office. [The Diplomat]
You can read more at the link, but I like the idea of sailing a US Navy ship on a freedom of navigation patrol right through their 12 mile territorial limit around one of their artificial islands. The islands have been declared illegal by an international court so the Chinese would have no legal standing to complain. It will be interesting to see how the Obama administration responds to this; they may not want an international crisis on their hands shortly before leaving the White House.
This looks like something the Chinese had planned as a provocation since they shadowed the US ship waited for the drones to emerge from the water and then snatched one. They also made sure to snatch a drone that did not have sensitive US military technology which could have really increased the scale of a possible US response to this action:
This file picture shows the Chinese Navy frigate Daqing 576 approaching the waterfront in San Diego, Calif., with a U.S. aircraft carrier on the North Island base in the background in December. The Three People’s Liberation Army (Navy) ships were visiting San Diego as part of a routine port visit. [USA Today]
China “unlawfully” seized an unmanned US naval probe in international waters in the South China Sea, the Pentagon said Friday, a move sure to heighten tensions around Beijing’s military presence in the disputed area.
The underwater vehicle was taken around 50 nautical miles (90 kilometers) northwest off Subic Bay in the Philippines late Thursday in a non-violent incident, said Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.
The event unfolded as the civilian-crewed USNS Bowditch was retrieving a pair of “naval gliders” that routinely collect information on water temperatures, salinity and sea clarity.
A Chinese Dalang-III class submarine rescue ship then stopped within 500 yards (meters) of the Bowditch and snatched one of the probes. The Americans safely hoisted the other one back onto their ship.
Davis said he could not recall another time when something like this has happened, and the Pentagon issued a statement calling on Beijing to “immediately” return the probe that it had “unlawfully seized.”
The US personnel “were asking over bridge-to-bridge radio to please leave it there,” Davis said.
Other than a brief acknowledgment that it had received the message, the Chinese ship did not respond.
“The only thing they said after they were sailing off into the distance was: ‘We are returning to normal operations,'” Davis said.
Washington has issued a formal request through diplomatic channels to ask for the probe back.
“It is ours. It is clearly marked as ours. We would like it back, and we would like this not to happen again,” Davis said.
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said China had acted unlawfully.
“The UUV (unmanned underwater vehicle) is a sovereign immune vessel of the United States. We call upon China to return our UUV immediately, and to comply with all of its obligations under international law,” Cook said in a statement. [AFP]
Here is what they stole:
Davis said the seized vessel is off-the-shelf technology that is commercially available for about $150,000. Data it gathers are unclassified and can be used to help submarines navigate and determine sonar ranges in murky waters.
You can read the rest at the link, but here is what Donald Trump had to say:
China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters – rips it out of water and takes it to China in unprecedented act.
Beijing hit back in the diplomatic spat over its seizure of a US Navy drone in the South China Sea after Donald Trump claimed in a message on Twitter that China has stolen the device.
Chinese officials had earlier indicated there would be a “smooth” resolution of the diplomatic incident, but after the President-elect’s tweet, they accused Washington of “hyping up” the issue. [UK Independent]
Stealing seems pretty accurate to me, did the Chinese want him to say they are borrowing the drone?
Any tri-lateral cooperation like this good between the US, ROK and Japan:
The destroyer USS McCampbell sails with a South Korean ship in waters off the Korean Peninsula on Oct. 15, 2016. The McCampbell will join Japanese and South Korean forces Oct. 22-23 in an exercise focused on detecting and stopping ships carrying weapons of mass destruction. Christian Senyk/U.S. Navy
The United States, Japan and South Korea will practice detecting and stopping ships carrying weapons of mass destruction during a sea exercise this weekend.
The trilateral exercise comes in light of North Korea’s continued work on its nuclear weapons and missile program, South Korean defense officials told reporters in Seoul on Thursday.
The maritime interdiction operation will be held Saturday and Sunday in international waters south of South Korea’s Jeju Island, Yonhap News reported.
The sea services also will conduct search and rescue exercises aimed at rescuing personnel on disabled ships, the report said. [Stars & Stripes]
Here is the latest exercise held between the ROK and the United States to further deter North Korea:
This photo taken on Oct. 14, 2016, shows a Super Hornet jet landing on the USS Ronald Reagan during a flight operation unveiled to South Korean reporters in the sea north of Jeju Island. (Yonhap)
The flight deck of the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier was bustling with sailors and planes Friday to demonstrate air flight operations to dozens of South Korean reporters who arrived on board after an hour-long flight from a U.S. air base near Seoul.
The first thing that greeted reporters was pilots in the cockpits of their Super Hornet fighter jets getting ready to take off and the flight deck crew assisting in the operations in waters some 240 kilometers from Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, and north of Jeju Island.
Before the planned demonstration, Rear Adm. Charles Williams, commander of the carrier battle group of the U.S. 7th Fleet, delivered a short briefing on the ongoing joint exercise between South Korean and U.S. navies amid ever-growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.
“Our operations on the Korean peninsula are part of the ongoing partnership with our Republic of Korea Navy counterparts that has been around for more than 5 decades now. The work we have done with our counterparts has proven to strengthen our alliance,” the flag officer said.
As for the meaning of the combined exercise, Lt. Commander Aaron V. Kakiel, a spokesman for Carrier Strike Group 5, which the nuclear carrier is a part of, said, “This exercise has been planned for a very long time. We’ve been working with our Korean counterparts to exercise our interoperability in this area. It is not a direct response to any (provocative) actions (by any country). It is meant to be training for us to work together for a stronger alliance.”
During the 30-minute demonstration, nine fighter jets took off and 15 fighter jets made landings. Most of the fighter jets were FA-18 Super Hornets. Others were the E-2C Hawk Eye early warning plane and the EA-18G Growler, the fleet’s electronics warfare plane.
U.S. and South Korean navy officials said the joint exercise will further improve interoperability to be fully ready to strike back against any military attacks by North Korea. [Yonhap]
Here is a story of yet another senior military officer getting in trouble:
It wasn’t an encounter with a female junior enlisted sailor that led the Navy to strip a warship commodore of his command in August, it was his attempt to mislead investigators after being confronted about the incident.
According to a 40-page investigation received by The Virginian-Pilot through the Freedom of Information Act on Thursday, Capt. Anthony L. Simmons cast his visit to a Chesapeake Wild Wing Cafe as a 20-minute stop to pick up a take-out order during which he had a beer, spoke with the sailor and bought her and one other person a drink, all while his wife waited in the car.
But investigators found that Simmons entered the restaurant alone, dressed in civilian clothes around 6 p.m. Aug. 5 and went to the bar. His take-out food sat there for nearly an hour after he initiated conversation with the female sailor from a few seats away. As other patrons arrived at the restaurant, Simmons moved closer to her and attempted to buy her a drink. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but the junior enlisted sailor reported him for sexual harassment after he tried to pick her up at the bar.
Looks like someone should find something else to do with their life instead of joining the military:
The sailor referred to San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who made headlines in August when he opted to take a knee for the anthem, saying he was not going to “show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”
“[The stanza] basically says land of the free, home of the brave, except for hirelings and slaves and I just can’t support anything like that,” the sailor said. “I think Colin had a really good point when he said we had bodies in the streets.”
In the video, the sailor, who is dressed in civilian workout clothing near a Pensacola barracks building, expresses anxiety that other Marines or sailors will notice her filmed protest and confront her about it.
Military regulations require troops to stop in place, stand and salute during the brief ceremony.
“My heart is racing. This is not an easy thing,” she said.
While the anthem is played, the sailor sits on a picnic bench with a raised fist, a symbol of solidarity in the Black Power movement. When the anthem concludes, she expresses relief and pride in her protest.
“Today I actually did something, and it was small but significant for me,” she said. “Until this country shows they’ve got my back as a black woman … I can’t, and I won’t and I won’t be forced to [stand].” [Military.com]
