Sea State

The US’ incoming chief of naval operations (CNO) Admiral John Richardson has been invited by his Chinese counterpart, Commander in Chief of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy—Admiral Wu Shengli—to visit China to discuss US–China naval cooperation. Outgoing US Admiral Jon Greenert has pointed to China’s interest in the Rim of the Pacific naval exercise (RIMPAC), held every two years in Hawaii, claiming that Adm. Wu is ‘very interested in RIMPAC 2016 and making it work’. China took part in RIMPAC for the first time in the 2014.

On 27 August, Japan launched its second Izumo-class helicopter carrier, the largest warship built by Japan since World War II. The 24,000-tonne ship named Kaga can carry up to 14 helicopters and is designed for mine countermeasures or anti-submarine warfare. The new capability is aimed at countering China’s more powerful submarine force.  In March, an officer from the Japan Maritime Self Defense Forces told Japanese media outlet Asahi Shimbun that the ship ‘heightens our ability to deal with Chinese submarines that have become more difficult to detect’.

Meanwhile in Australia, NUSHIP Adelaide, RAN’s second landing helicopter dock, has completed its final sea ship trials in Port Phillip Bay. The 27,800 tonne vessel has returned to BAE System’s Williamstown shipyard and will be delivered to the Navy in September.

Flight Path

On 27 August, the Pentagon announced plans to pit the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter against the Cold War era A-10 Warthog in a close air support capabilities test. Air Force Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh dismissed this plan as a ‘silly exercise’, claiming that the F-35 was never intended to directly replace the A-10. Similar concerns have been raised by the F-35 Joint Program Office who stated that the test would be misleading as the new jet is designed to work best at long range, rather than in dog fights. Regardless, the office of the Director of Operational Tests and Evaluations (DOT&E) indicated that these comparative tests are vital in order to identify capability gaps, and are expected to take place in late 2017 or 2018.

Turkey launched its first airstrikes as part of the US-led coalition against ISIS positions in Syria on Saturday. Turkish fighter aircraft have already undertaken sorties in northern Iraq and south-eastern Turkey earlier this month. However, those actions were executed unilaterally and received criticism for the overt targeting of Kurdish PKK separatists instead of ISIS militants. This new agreement is thought to be the result of international pressure, with US Defense Secretary Ash Carter having urged Turkey to take responsibility for securing their border with Syria and Iraq.

And finally, last Friday, DARPA announced its intentions to develop a swarm of drones that can be launched and recovered in the air from a C-130 transport plane. Referred to as ‘Gremlins’, these drones would serve as an intermediate platform between single-use missiles and prohibitively expensive fighter jets, while also extending the range of UAV operations.

Rapid Fire

The big news in land warfare this week is the US Department of Defense announcement that a successor to the Humvee has been decided on. Oshkosh Defense has been awarded a US$6.75 billion initial contract for 17,000 L-ATV vehicles to be delivered by 2022. The US military currently operates some 280,000 Humvees, which have been in production since 1985.

The Russian military may be recommissioning up to four Soviet-era armoured trains as part of its $40 billion military revitalisation project. The trains were most recently used for missions in the Caucasus between 2002 and 2009 and were partially dismantled. Jokes about Russian military modernisation including technology that peaked during World War II aside, the trains could be used to transport a far more modern asset: the T-14 Armata main battle tank.

A third surface-to-surface missile has been launched into Saudi Arabian territory by Yemen’s Ansar Allah militant group. Saudi Arabia and regional allies have been conducting strikes against Houthi groups in Yemen since March of this year. The OTR-21 ballistic missile reportedly appears to have been aimed at a naval base in Jizan province, on the south-west coast of Saudi Arabia.

Sea State

Australia’s second Canberra-class Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD), HMAS Adelaide, is currently undergoing its final sea trials with a crew of BAE Systems employees and RAN personnel. Additionally, HMAS Canberra, the first of the LHDs, is in Townsville ahead of Sea Series amphibious exercises in Queensland’s far north.

A large Japanese delegation is visiting South Australia this week in support of Japan’s bid for Australia’s Future Submarine project, SEA 1000. The delegation is reportedly looking into negotiating local Australian industry participation in the project, should the Japanese bid be successful. French and German contenders, DCNS and TKMS, have also been touring Australia in support of their own bids for the submarine project.

David Shear, Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Asian-Pacific, has outlined the United States’ Asia–Pacific maritime security strategy in a Pentagon news conference. The strategy reiterates US desires to see territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas resolved peacefully. The US is also aiming to build greater transparency and risk reduction measures in the region to reduce the chances of ‘miscalculation’ around East Asian flashpoints.

Flight Path

Air strikes against Islamic State continue in Iraq and Syria. On 23 August, the Command Joint Task Force released a statement announcing that the US and coalition partners had launched 26 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria during a daily round of attacks that took place the previous day. The strikes reportedly hit tactical units, bunkers, vehicles, weapons and fighting positions.

Those airstrikes come on the back of Friday’s confirmation by the White House that Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali, the second-in-command of the Islamic State, was killed during a US air strike in Iraq last Tuesday.

On the technical side of the airstrikes; while the US Marine Corps continues to work up its F-35B fleet in Initial Operating Capability , its older AV-8B Harrier jump jets have entered the fray against IS in Iraq. A Marine expeditionary unit deployed in the Persian Gulf has begun flying the Harriers from amphibious assault ship USS Essex, striking multiple targets in Anbar province.

Meanwhile on the drone front, pictures of a crashed Iranian Shahed 129 drone have been doing the rounds on social media. Defense News reports that the indigenous high-end drone was found crashed in what appears to be Iranian territory close to the Pakistan border. The Shahed reportedly has a range of 1,700 km, can stay airborne for 24 hours, and can be armed with up to eight missiles.

Rapid Fire

Tensions escalated on the Korean Peninsula on 20 August when artillery fire was exchanged across the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ). North Korea fired a 14.5mm anti-aircraft round and multiple 76.2mm shells over the border, which resulted in the evacuation of Yeoncheon, a town only 60km north of Seoul. The military provocation only adds to the list of recent tensions caused by both South Korea’s annual joint military exercise with the US and the maiming of South Korean border patrol guards by landmines suspected to have been planted by North Korea.

Questions have been raised about the explosion of a warehouse at a US military base in Japan. The Sagami Depot, positioned on the outskirts of Tokyo, exploded in the early hours of Monday morning. The facility is home to the 35thCombat Sustainment Support battalion, which manages army supply and logistics as well as chemicals and ammunition. However, it’s claimed that the warehouse didn’t actually house any hazardous materials and an investigation is underway into the cause of the event. Videos of the incident were shared on social media; check out some of the footage here.

Finally, the Russian government is developing a heavy flame-throwing system based on its TOS-1 Buratino platform of the 1980s. This new generation of thermobaric weaponry is set to be delivered in just a few years, promising more power and greater range in land combat scenarios for Russian forces. The move is part of a larger military development underway in Russia in the context of its regional tensions with Ukraine and Baltic States.

Sea State

HMS Artful, the third of seven new Astute class nuclear attack submarines for the Royal Navy, was delivered by builder BAE to begin trials on 13 August. The 7,400 tonne boats are 97 metres long and can launch land-attack cruise missiles as well as Spearfish torpedoes. The United States Navy is under pressure to lower its anticipated order of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 due to budget constraints. The Navy is expected to order 12 of the F-35C variants each year, instead of the current plan to order an annual number of 20 of the stealth jets during the 2020s.

Meanwhile, Russia and China are set to stage naval drills in the Sea of Japan from the 20–28 of August which will include training for a beach landing. A Chinese squadron has departed from the port city of Qingdao and is headed to Vladivostok in Russia to take part in the naval exercises in the Peter the Great Bay. According to Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun the purpose of the drills were to ‘further enhance their capabilities of jointly coping with maritime security threats’.

Flight Path

The United States and allies conducted 22 airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in 24 hours over the weekend, according to the Coalition Joint Task Force. Reuters reported that fifteen strikes took place near Bajii, Fallujah, Mosul, Ramadi, Sinjar, and other areas in Iraq and were coordinated in conjunction with the Iraqi government. The airstrikes hit Islamic State buildings, tactical units, and equipment. In Syria, airstrikes struck targets in Hasaka, Aleppo, and Kobani, destroying tactical units, bunkers and fighting positions. Read the full media release on the strikes from the US Department of Defense here.

RAAF personnel are poised to begin flying deadly American Reaper drones over Syria, with the announcement that five people are now embedded in the United States Air Force’s 432nd Operations Group and are performing operational duties as remote pilots and sensor operators. This move extends Australian air force operations against the Islamic State from Iraq into Syria for the first time. Over in The Australian, ASPI’s executive director Peter Jennings asks what Australian airstrikes in Syria could achieve that would make a meaningful difference. Rodger Shanahan over on the Lowy Interpreter greeted calls for the RAAF to bomb Syria with the sceptical response, ‘Australia should bomb Syria because…?’

Finally, over in The National Interest James Hasik asks the ultimate ‘what if’ question: what if the US Air Force had long ago dropped the F-35A? For his answer check out the article here.

Rapid Fire

The Ulchi-Freedom Guardian (UFG) military exercises are beginning this week in South Korea (ROK). The annual exercise is designed to prepare US and ROK militaries for the possibility of an all-out attack by North Korea. Australia, New Zealand and five other states are participating under the auspices of the United Nations Command. Surprising no-one, North Korean (DPRK) officials have condemned the exercises as ‘little short of a declaration of war’.

In a previous post, Rapid Fire covered the news that US personnel in Ukraine were exposed to the significant power of Russian signal jamming technologies. The US Army is reportedly now testing its ability to operate anti-air and missile defence hardware against an opponent with advanced electronic warfare capabilities. The exercise produced some 70 terabytes of data, and will soon become an annual affair.

IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly recently discussed the Russian T-14 MBT with some armour experts, interrogating the tank’s supposed ‘invisibility’ to radar and thermal detection. In short, the experts are extremely sceptical, especially concerning the tank’s substantial infrared signature when moving or firing.

Finally, Australian SAS Corporal and Victoria Cross recipient Mark Donaldson attended the launch of a painting depicting the six Australian dogs killed in action during the Afghanistan War. Corporal Donaldson spoke about the loss of his ‘best friend,’ Devil, one of the dogs in the painting, saying ‘I think it is extremely important that dogs are as recognised as we are as Australian soldiers.’

Sea State

Last week Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced a new $89 billion domestic shipbuilding program, which includes the continuous build of surface warships in Adelaide. Here on The Strategist, Andrew Davies and Mark Thomson called the proposed plan ‘bold on two fronts’ and have questioned the soundness of a continuous build program. On the other hand, Peter Jennings welcomed the decision to create a ‘larger and more capable surface fleet’. Strategist contributor Sam Bateman thinks we should take a broader view, and over at The Interpreter James Goldrick considers some of the misconceptions of Australian naval shipbuilding.

Last week the US Navy detailed plans for its new Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare Increment II program. Over at The National Interest Zachary Keck reports that a 2017 start date will see the program replace the USN’s Boeing RGM-84 Harpoon with a more sophisticated anti-ship missile. Keck reports that the program is allegedly being motivated ‘being motivated by the growing anti-ship missile gap between the United States and countries like China.’ Watch the announcement here.

Maritime disputes in the South China Sea were front and centre at the 48th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Kuala Lumpur last week. When asked whether China would halt land reclamation activities in the contested region, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi replied, ‘China has already stopped. You just take an aeroplane to take a look.’ Despite Wang’s remarks, Bonnie Glaser over at the CSIS’s Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative points out that China actually hasn’t stopped construction or militarisation of existing land features.

Flight Path

On Thursday, Spain announced its plans to purchase US drone technology. In exchange for $27 million, Spain will become the lucky owner of four General Atomics MQ-9 Reapers that can fly for 24 hours straight and reach altitudes of 45,000 ft. This procurement plan will make Spain the fifth European nation to acquire US drones, along with Britain, France, Italy and the Netherlands.  However, Spanish officials have emphasised that their operational interests are limited to the drones’ reconnaissance capabilities, despite the Reaper’s capacity to carry bombs and missiles.

The US carried out its first airstrike on Islamic State from within Turkey with an unmanned drone on Tuesday. Turkey had previously limited the US to surveillance flights only from the Incirlik Air Base, but as of last week Operation Inherent Resolve has the green light to operate armed sorties from this strategic vantage point. The US further increased its Turkish presence on Sunday, bringing in six F-16s and 300 air personnel to support the Combined Joint Task Force against IS.

Last week, India’s Su-30MKI Flanker fighter planes took on top-notch RAF Typhoon FGR4 fighters in Within Visual Range (WVR) dogfight exercises in Lincolnshire, England. The Russian-designed jets’ manoeuvrability allowed the Indian Air Force to wipe the floor with the British pilots, achieving a resounding 12-0 victory. Check out a video about the joint air combat operations here.

Rapid Fire

Russia’s inaugural International Army Games, held just outside of Moscow, will come to a close at the end of this week. The two-week event is a show of Russian military might in a period of isolation and souring relations with the West, and have provided a stage for Russia to showcase its sizable arms industry. 16 nations have been invited to partake in the Games, including traditional Russian allies, regional neighbours and states with foreign policy agendas palatable to Russia.

In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has used the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki as a platform to renew his commitment to the three non-nuclear principles of not producing, possessing or allowing nuclear weapons on Japanese territory. This comes after nationwide criticism of his failure to address the issue of Japanese nuclear capabilities at the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing three days earlier.

Last week, Thales announced that it was about to begin to supply the Australian defence forces with F90 assault rifles under a new $100 million contract. Two versions will be delivered, a standard rifle with a 20-inch barrel, and a carbine with a 16-inch barrel. Vice-president of Thales Australia Armaments Kevin Wall said, ‘our soldiers deserve the best possible equipment and the F90 delivers on all counts’.

Sea State

The Philippine Government has voiced its interest in acquiring three more ex-Royal Australian Navy Balikpapan-class heavy landing craft (LCH). Retired in December 2012, the vessels have a military lift capacity of three medium tanks and offer a range of 3,000 nautical miles at 10 kt. President Benigno Aquino announced that the procurement process is going ahead and the Philippine Navy suggests that the LCHs will be stationed on the island of Palawan.

China and Russia have announced plans to conduct a joint naval exercise in the Peter the Great Gulf and Sea of Japan later this month. According to Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun, the exercise will include anti-aircraft and anti-submarine elements, as well as a joint landing operation. The proposed military drills are indicative of the growing strategic cooperation between Moscow and Beijing, and follow on from their maiden joint naval exercise, ‘Joint Sea 2015’, held in the Mediterranean earlier this year.

On Tuesday, Sweden declared its discovery of a century-old Russian submarine. This revelation comes nine months after the Swedish Navy undertook a high profile search for the suspected presence of a modern Russian submarine in the Swedish archipelago. However, Swedish Armed Forces have identified this vessel as the Som, a Czarist-era submarine, which sank after colliding with a Swedish vessel in 1916. Check out pictures of last year’s Swedish sub-hunt and footage of the newly discovered wreck here.

Flight Path

Last week Boeing rolled out the first of 12 EA-18 Growler airborne electronic attack aircraft for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) at a ceremony in St Louis. Receiving the aircraft on behalf of the RAAF was recently retired Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Geoff Brown, who predicted the Growlers will have the biggest strategic effect on the RAAF since the introduction of the F-111 in the 1970s. Uniquely equipped with the Raytheon ASQ-228 ATFLIR targeting pod, the second aircraft (part of the AUS$3 billion acquisition program) is due to be delivered this month.  Read more about the EA-18 Growler here.

Over at The New York Times, Turkey’s air campaign against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is reported to have sparked criticism after the majority of Ankara’s airstrikes have targeted Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) camps in Iraq. Turkey’s entry into the fray against Islamic State has aroused suspicion amongst Kurds as being a cover to counter Kurdish territorial and political gains rather than to fight Islamic State. In retaliation to the airstrikes, PKK militants have stepped up attacks on Turkish security forces, killing at least 16 members since 20 July.

Finally, for those following the F-35 debate, War is Boring has recently announced ‘War College’—a brand new podcast produced in partnership with Reuters. First up on the podcast? Listen to Everything That’s Wrong with the F-35. Click here to subscribe to War College on iTunes.

Rapid Fire

US military training staff in Ukraine have been learning a thing or two themselves. Ukrainian ground forces have been contending with Russian electronic warfare capabilities wielded by eastern separatists in Ukraine’s civil war. The experience has provided US forces with intelligence on the considerable sophistication of Russian signal jamming and other electronic warfare capabilities, as well as methods for operating in a ‘comms-degraded environment’.

In Afghanistan, reports of Taliban Leader Mullah Omar’s death have apparently not been exaggerated this time. The Afghan government publicly confirmed Omar’s death, although exactly how long ago he died is unclear. CSIS have published an analysis of the implications this revelation might have in maintaining security in Afghanistan, especially in the context of recent Islamic State activity in the country.

Last week, Wired interviewed hackers/researchers Runa Sandvik and Michael Augur as the pair demonstrated successfully hacking a computer-assisted sniper rifle. The TrackingPoint self-aiming rifle has a Linux operating system and a Wi-Fi connection. The hackers successfully tricked the rifle into missing its target and even managed to prevent the rifle from firing at all.

Last week, Rapid Fire covered news on the first class of female Ranger School candidates. It has been announced that two of the female candidates have progressed to the final stage of training, and are only one step short of graduation.