{"id":31125,"date":"2017-03-28T12:30:40","date_gmt":"2017-03-28T01:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=31125"},"modified":"2017-03-29T10:12:42","modified_gmt":"2017-03-28T23:12:42","slug":"sea-air-land-and-space-updates-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/sea-air-land-and-space-updates-26\/","title":{"rendered":"Sea, air, land and space updates"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Sea State<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force\u2019s second Izumo<\/em>-class helicopter carrier, the Kaga<\/em>, entered service last week. The warship<\/a> is expected to embark Mitsubishi-Sikorsky SH-60K Seahawk anti-submarine warfare helicopters and AgustaWestland\/Kawasaki MCH-101 aircraft for mine-countermeasures. That commission takes Japan\u2019s deployment capability another step forward (see last week\u2019s Sea State<\/em><\/a>). There\u2019s little doubt where the ship\u2019s resources will be directed\u2014Japan\u2019s Vice Minister of Defence said<\/a> at Kaga<\/em>\u2019s ceremony that China is \u2018raising security concerns,\u2019 and by exerting pressure \u2018is altering the status quo\u2019 in the South China Sea. And Japan isn\u2019t the only one setting sail. Last week, the Philippine Navy sent the BRP Ramon Alcaraz<\/em><\/a> to patrol Benham Rise<\/a>, an underwater plateau in the Philippine\u2019s extended continental shelf, after Chinese survey vessels performed oceanographic research in the area.<\/p>\n

There was an interesting read in Foreign Affairs <\/em>last week on \u2018Why Europe is Floating Egypt\u2019s Navy\u2019. Egypt is being increasingly sought out as a military partner against security threats in the Mediterranean, including sea-faring terrorists and migrants.<\/p>\n

The US Office of Naval Research posted a video<\/a> last week, showing a test fire of BAE\u2019s electromagnetic cannon. The Navy\u2019s railgun project has been in the works since 2005, and is reportedly still expected to be in service by 2025. This article<\/a> from The Drive <\/em>talks pros and cons of the experimental weapon. (ASPI\u2019s James Mugg has some views too<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Flight path<\/strong><\/p>\n

The air forces of Sudan and Saudi Arabia will kick off<\/a> two weeks of military exercises in Sudanese airspace on Wednesday, reflecting Khartoum\u2019s growing closeness to Riyadh after it joined the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen in 2015. The exercises aim to improve<\/a> the operational capabilities, and will involve more than two dozen Saudi and Sudanese aircraft, including<\/a> the MiG-29, Sukhoi Su-25, F-15 and Eurofighter Typhoon.<\/p>\n

On 23 March, senior Indian Air Force officials confirmed that India will participate<\/a> in the \u2018Blue Flag\u2019 exercise for the first time later this year. Dubbed the \u2018largest and most complex air exercise in history\u2019<\/a>, the biennial air drills will also involve 100 aircraft<\/a> from the air forces of America, France, Italy, Poland, Greece and Germany; they\u2019ll manoeuvre in Tel Aviv\u2019s airspace for two weeks.<\/p>\n

Finally, if you\u2019re an academic or defence industry wonk and think you can improve the RAAF\u2019s command and control (C2) capabilities, consider participating in the C2 Options Development Industry Workshop<\/a> taking place in Canberra this May, which feeds into the Command and Control Futures Study<\/em>. To apply, you just need to respond to some questions about how RAAF should be approaching C2 out to 2027. Details here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rapid Fire<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dozens of Russian tanks<\/a> were\u00a0seen near the Ukrainian border on Friday.\u00a0Arriving in the southern Rostov region on cargo trains, the tanks were deployed near\u00a0a Russian village, just six miles from the border. Russia\u2019s military often holds overt military drills<\/a> at their bases in the Rostov region however, this most recent development has many worried due to the sheer number of tanks involved. Responding to NATO\u2019s increased military presence in Poland and the Baltic states last May, Russian officials stated that they too would \u2018reinforce their western and southern flanks<\/a>.\u2019 A reporter for Reuters<\/em> witnessed the movement of tanks and filmed a video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to Al Jazeera<\/em>, Turkish authorities are interested in purchasing advanced S-400 surface-to-air missile defence systems<\/a> from the Russian Federation.\u00a0Such weaponry would allow Ankara greater control over Turkish airspace and provide the ability to \u2018project air-defence deterrent beyond Turkey\u2019s borders\u2019. As well as increasing Turkey\u2019s knowledge of missile proliferation technologies, that deal could also pave the way to greater Turkish\u00ad\u2013Russian defence cooperation<\/a>. Such a development would arguably worry<\/a> other NATO members.<\/p>\n

Zero Gravity<\/strong><\/p>\n

While times were tough<\/a> in Washington this week<\/a> (not that that\u2019s setting any precedents in 2017), the White House zeroed in on the good news, making NASA the subject of the 3\/25\/17 Weekly Address<\/a>. The 2017 NASA Transition Authorization Act<\/em> was signed<\/a> on 21 March, the first such bill since 2010. It details policy and recommended funding levels<\/a> and enables appropriations bills. NASA essentially got what it asked for, but not everybody was happy. SpaceX<\/a> receives billions in contracts from NASA, so Elon Musk\u2019s criticism is rare<\/a>. Nonetheless, he tweeted his discontent<\/a>: \u2018[it] changes almost nothing\u2026 there is no added funding for Mars.\u2019<\/p>\n

The worry for critics is that, absent clear prioritisation, the targets discussed in the bill (a potential 2033 Mars mission<\/a>) will be eclipsed by earthly concerns. That worry isn\u2019t entirely unfounded\u2014during the signing ceremony, the bill\u2019s focus on the transport-oriented Space Launch System<\/a> led to the suggestion that President Trump would be remembered<\/a> as the \u2018father of the interplanetary highway system.\u2019 \u2018Well, that sounds exciting,\u2019 Trump replied, \u2018but first we want to fix our highways.<\/p>\n

If the Mars focus comes to pass, funding for existing projects will need to be rethought. One such decision point<\/a> will be the future of the International Space Station. There\u2019s provisional funding out to 2024, but after that, privatisation<\/a> is on the cards. Lawmakers in the US met this week to discuss<\/a> the best ways to make that happen. In short: \u2018Somebody just buy the ISS already<\/a>.\u2019<\/p>\n

Note: an earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the\u00a0<\/em>Kaga was the second Japanese helicopter carrier.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sea State The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force\u2019s second Izumo-class helicopter carrier, the Kaga, entered service last week. The warship is expected to embark Mitsubishi-Sikorsky SH-60K Seahawk anti-submarine warfare helicopters and AgustaWestland\/Kawasaki MCH-101 aircraft for mine-countermeasures. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":597,"featured_media":31126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[225,824,130,1640,1869],"class_list":["post-31125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-air-power","tag-land-power","tag-naval-capabilities","tag-space","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSea, air, land and space updates | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/sea-air-land-and-space-updates-26\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sea, air, land and space updates | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sea State The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force\u2019s second Izumo-class helicopter carrier, the Kaga, entered service last week. 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