{"id":38613,"date":"2018-04-17T12:30:13","date_gmt":"2018-04-17T02:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=38613"},"modified":"2018-04-17T12:10:27","modified_gmt":"2018-04-17T02:10:27","slug":"five-domains-update-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/five-domains-update-18\/","title":{"rendered":"The five-domains update"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

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

Spain and Saudi Arabia have finalised a \u20ac2 billion deal to supply five Avante 2200 corvettes to the Royal Saudi Naval Forces<\/a>. Constructed by Spanish shipbuilder Navantia, the Avante 2200 corvettes are based on the Guaiquer\u00ed-class patrol vessels currently in service with the Venezuelan navy. The deal includes arrangements to establish a naval construction facility<\/a> in Saudi Arabia. Navantia is constructing Australia\u2019s final air warfare destroyer, HMAS Sydney<\/em>, as well as competing to build future frigates<\/a> for both Australia and the United States<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Dallas<\/em> (SSN 700)<\/a> has been decommissioned after 38\u00a0years of service. USS Dallas<\/em> steamed over one million miles and visited over 30\u00a0countries. USS Dallas<\/em> will be replaced by a future Virginia-class, nuclear-powered fast attack submarine. Defense News<\/em> has an excellent interview with Rear Admiral Michael Jabaley<\/a> discussing the challenges of the Virginia-class shipbuilding program.<\/p>\n

The USS Little Rock<\/em> (LCS 9)<\/a> has finally made its way home to Mayport, Florida, after spending three long months trapped in Canadian ice. The littoral combat ship was commissioned in Buffalo in December last year and then attempted to transit the Saint Lawrence Seaway. It became trapped by ice in Montreal<\/a> on Christmas Eve. The ship was freed from the ice in early April, then stopped in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Virginia Beach on its way home.<\/p>\n

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

US think tank New America hosted<\/a> the Future of War Conference 2018 last week. Speaking about the US Air Force\u2019s future capabilities, Vice Chief of Staff of the USAF General Stephen Wilson said that while war\u2019s general calculus won\u2019t change, the speed of connectivity will<\/a>. As a result, the Air Force must focus on rapidly collecting and deciphering data, including in the space domain. Wilson also flagged artificial intelligence\u2019s potential to help pilots make decisions<\/a> and target adversaries. His comment adds to the debate about the role humans will play<\/a> in future autonomous weapons systems, as we highlighted last month. General Wilson said that humans should be kept in the loop, but analyst Peter Singer noted that the key question is how to define \u2018in\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The European Air Transport Command (EATC) kicked off<\/a> the European air-to-air refuelling training exercise (EART 2018) on 11 April in the Netherlands. The EATC comprises<\/a> seven EU countries, 60% of Europe\u2019s military air transport assets<\/a>, and supports NATO in strategic transportation. EART 2018 includes the US, the first non-European country to participate, and runs concurrently with exercise Frisian Flag<\/a> to improve<\/a> the simulation\u2019s realism. The move signals<\/a> increasing US military engagement with Europe despite questions<\/a> around US President Donald Trump\u2019s commitment to NATO.<\/p>\n

The number of times that Japan\u2019s Air Self-Defense Forces scrambled fighter aircraft in response to approaching foreign aircraft fell by 22.6% in FY 2017<\/a>, according to Japan\u2019s Ministry of Defence. This was largely explained by a drop in the number of times that Chinese aircraft approached Japanese airspace<\/a>, though Chinese activities have expanded to cover a larger area.<\/p>\n

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

Myanmar\u2019s military has been put on a UN blacklist<\/a> of government and rebel groups suspected of using rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war. Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security\u2019s extended policy brief<\/a> includes recommendations on the use of UN sanctions\u2014enabled by blacklisting\u2014to address sexual violence against the Rohingya community<\/a>. However, ongoing disputes among UN members on whether sexual violence is a priority in dealing with conflicts means that affirmative action following the decision is unlikely<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Armed Forces of the Philippines has unified its special operations unit<\/a> under a single command. While the move seeks to remedy a range of past challenges\u2014notably, the intelligence and information-sharing failures during the siege of Marawi<\/a> last year\u2014the restructure also suggests that the Philippines is still knee-deep in \u2018the greatest terrorism threat in Southeast Asia<\/a>\u2019. While the changes can help foster interoperability between units<\/a>, it\u2019s by no means a \u2018silver bullet<\/a>\u2019 for restoring stability in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

After dozens of Sudanese soldiers were killed<\/a> in Yemen by Houthis, Sudan reaffirmed its commitment<\/a> to the Saudi-led coalition despite mounting domestic opposition<\/a>. Withdrawal from the coalition would affect Sudan\u2019s stability<\/a> and its relations with the West. After Sudan severed its long-standing ties with Iran to gain Saudi support<\/a>, Saudi Arabia gave Sudan a platform from which to pursue friendlier relations with the US<\/a>. That spurred a range of developments, ranging from the removal of sanctions last year<\/a> to the release of 54 political prisoners<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n

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

CSIS and Secure World Foundation provide some \u2018light\u2019 reading about space. Secure World Foundation<\/a> outlines the current space capabilities of China, Russia, the US, Iran, India and North Korea, particularly focusing on the extent to which those capabilities are being used for military purposes. The report highlights Russia\u2019s significant use of electronic warfare in its military and space capabilities, for example to jam satellite communications and GPS receivers. And it outlines China\u2019s rapid development of both co-orbital and direct anti-satellite capabilities. The CSIS report<\/a>, which has a slightly more visually appealing layout, includes brief analyses on the kinetic, non-kinetic, electrical and cyber capabilities of Israel, Japan, Egypt, Libya, Ukraine and Pakistan, as well as of non-state actors.<\/p>\n

The first quarter of 2018 has already seen US$1\u00a0billion ploughed into commercial space ventures. The Space Investment Quarterly report<\/a> shows that rocket launches (approximately $700\u00a0million) account for over 72%\u00a0of total investment, followed by satellites (more than $250\u00a0million). It\u2019s no secret that Elon Musk\u2019s company SpaceX<\/a> leads the pack, and it alone received half of the total investment funds for the quarter in the form of a $500\u00a0million allocation from American financial services organisation Fidelity Investments.<\/p>\n

Forget about rockets and satellites: NASA\u2019s latest mission is sending sperm into space. NASA is researching the potential for humans to reproduce in space<\/a>, in particular to what extent microgravity affects sperm cells. Previous tests using animal sperm showed that microgravity causes sperm cells to activate much more slowly.<\/p>\n

Wired watchtower<\/strong><\/p>\n

China\u2019s national security hotline<\/a> received 5,000\u00a0tips last year as Chinese become increasingly suspicious of foreigners. The anti-espionage hotline offers a reward of up to RMB500,000\u00a0(US$79,590) for information that leads to the arrest of a spy. China\u2019s anti-espionage efforts are boosted by annual public campaigns, the most infamous being a 2016 comic strip<\/a> that warned of the dangers of dating foreigners\u2014who may be spies.<\/p>\n

Russia banned the encrypted app Telegram<\/a> to give Russia\u2019s security services increased access to private messages. A Moscow court considered the Russian government\u2019s request to ban the app for only 18 minutes before agreeing. The ban went into effect immediately. However, the ban puts the Kremlin in a somewhat unusual position because the app is used by many Russian government agencies<\/a>. Government officials have also said that Telegram can be easily replaced<\/a> by other services such as Viber.<\/p>\n

New Zealand is updating its national cybersecurity strategy<\/a> to keep up with emerging technologies and evolving cyber threats. Its 2015 Cyber Security Strategy and Action Plan will be \u2018refreshed\u2019 to strengthen partnerships with the private sector and assess government\u2019s and policing agencies\u2019 resources to address cybercrime. Given that New Zealand aims to make ICT the second-largest contributor to GDP by 2025<\/a>, this new cybersecurity strategy is pivotal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sea state Spain and Saudi Arabia have finalised a \u20ac2 billion deal to supply five Avante 2200 corvettes to the Royal Saudi Naval Forces. Constructed by Spanish shipbuilder Navantia, the Avante 2200 corvettes are based …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":757,"featured_media":38617,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1429,1276,370,1640,2173],"class_list":["post-38613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-future-frigate","tag-japan-self-defense-forces","tag-philippines","tag-space","tag-sudan"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe five-domains update | 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\/five-domains-update-18\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The five-domains update | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sea state Spain and Saudi Arabia have finalised a \u20ac2 billion deal to supply five Avante 2200 corvettes to the Royal Saudi Naval Forces. 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