October 1, 2018 | International, Aerospace
By: Kyle Rempfer
If China goes forward with plans to establish another Air Defense Identification Zone in the region, the U.S. could be forced to change its military posture in Asia, a senior national security official said this week.
“We oppose China's establishment of an ADIZ in other areas, including the South China Sea,” Evan Medeiros, the senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council, said in an interview with Japan Times. “We have been very clear with the Chinese that we would see that [setting of another ADIZ] as a provocative and destabilizing development that would result in changes in our presence and military posture in the region."
An ADIZ is airspace over land or water in which the identification, location and control of aircraft is jointly performed by civilian air traffic control and military authorities in the interest of a country's national security.
China set up one ADIZ over the East China Sea in 2013, which many viewed as an attempt to try and bolster its claims over disputed territories, like the uninhabited Senkaku islands.
China began to elevate its claims to the Japan-controlled Senkaku Islands in the 1970s after studies indicated there may be vast oil reserves in the surrounding sea bed, according to Japan Times.
The United States is obligated to defend aggression against territories under Japanese administration under Article 5 of the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security.
Defense Secretary James Mattis reaffirmed in 2017 that the defense obligation extends to the Senkakus.
“I made clear that our longstanding policy on the Senkaku Islands stands,” Mattis said, according to a Pentagon transcript. “The United States will continue to recognize Japanese administration of the islands.”
U.S. officials have also criticized China for setting up an ADIZ that overlaps with similar zones operated by Japan, South Korea and Taiwan without prior consultation.
The Chinese have labeled recent missions by nuclear-capable U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers over the South China Sea as “provocative."
Two separate B-52s also flew over the East China Sea this week. The Pentagon called all of these flights routine.
“If it was 20 years ago and had they not militarized those features there, it would have been just another bomber on its way to [Naval Support Facility] Diego Garcia or wherever,” Mattis told the press, according to a Pentagon transcript. “So there's nothing out of the ordinary about it."
China has also been accused of militarizing the South China Sea — which includes important shipping routes, fisheries and hydrocarbons. The Chinese military has built islands on existing reefs and placed airstrips, radars, missiles and other military equipment on them.
Multiple other countries in the region, to include Vietnam and the Philippines, claim portions of the South China Sea as well.
July 13, 2021 | International, Land
Both Hisar A+ and Hisar O+ have modular structures as part of their family concept, and are designed to be compatible with different platforms, fire control systems, and command-and-control infrastructure.
March 23, 2022 | International, Aerospace
D'après Les Echos, la Direction générale de l'armement (DGA) a sélectionné l'offre de CS Group associé à Thales pour équiper la France d'une lutte anti-drones performante à l'horizon des Jeux Olympiques de Paris 2024. Selon son appel d'offres, le ministère des Armées envisage de consacrer un budget de 350 M€ sur dix ans à la lutte anti-drones. Les Echos du 22 mars
November 19, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — Despite increasing coronavirus cases in the U.S., the Pentagon's top weapons buyer on Wednesday sounded a note of confidence that defense companies would remain open throughout the winter and keep weapons production on track. “I am concerned about that — as we see within [the Defense Department] — the number of [COVID-19 positive] individuals still are increasing in industry,” Ellen Lord, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said during the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Ascend conference. However, she added she doesn't anticipate another wave of facility closures. “We're very hopeful that all of the steps that industry took during the pandemic — to space out [production] lines, to do telework, to find ways to comply with all the CDC regulations — that those have really prevented severe cases and the need to shut down,” she said, using an acronym for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “So I'm optimistic that although cases are going up, industry is going to continue to be very resilient. And we will continue at pretty impressive productivity rates,” she added. At the height of the pandemic earlier this year, almost 700 defense companies shut down operations in the hopes of quelling the spread of the virus. By June, that number had decreased to 33 businesses, according to data from the Defense Logistics Agency and the Defense Contracts Management Agency Currently, only one of those companies remains closed, Lord said. However, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has been trending upward in the country since the end of September, with a high of almost 195,000 new cases reported Nov. 12, according to CDC data. But there is cause for hope: On Wednesday morning, Pfizer announced that phase 3 trials of its vaccine showed it was 95 percent effective in preventing the virus, and the company could seek emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration within days, CNN reported. During the conference, Lord was asked whether defense contractors would get priority access to COVID-19 vaccines, given the defense industry's status as an “essential” business sector during the pandemic. “I don't have the answer to that,” she said. “That's being sorted out right now in the White House.” https://www.defensenews.com/2020/11/18/the-pentagon-is-bullish-on-health-of-defense-industrial-base-even-as-covid-19-cases-mount/