The South China Sea's Gathering Storm
"Is it really true that almost everyone has a far better standard of living than in Soviet days? I get the impression life is still very primitive outside Moscow and St Petersburg."
Its certainly a lot less comfortable than in the big cities but there's no doubt that the average standard of living is higher - and there are a lot more consumer durables etc
You just have ot look at the large number of Russian tourists these days
Its certainly a lot less comfortable than in the big cities but there's no doubt that the average standard of living is higher - and there are a lot more consumer durables etc
You just have ot look at the large number of Russian tourists these days
Facing all those possible new pacific conflict scenarios, wouldn't it be wise to expand the USMC now? More aircraft, helicopters, marine assault capabilities? And then better repair all those lost island bases in the pacific in time.
A bun fight within the Pentagon and within Congress would need to happen first before that course of action were taken.
Of some interest in terms of what you'd expect to see in terms of manpower:
U.S. Military Personnel 1954-2014: The Numbers (historyinpieces.com)
I'd need to muddle around looking for more recent figures, but you can see how the comparative manpower stack ups trend.
As an aside, recruiting has been impacted by some demographic problems.
The pool of those eligible to join the military continues to shrink, with more young men and women than ever disqualified for obesity, drug use or criminal records. Last month, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville testified before Congress that only 23% of Americans ages 17-24 are qualified to serve without a waiver to join, down from 29% in recent years.
2022 End Strength.
To pay for new capabilities and accommodate a flat budget top line, the Marine Corps cuts active-duty end strength on a path to about 172,000, the level before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Ground forces gain long-range precision fires but give up three infantry battalions, tanks, and most counterinsurgency capabilities.
Most artillery convert from cannon to missile units. These changes are all underway. Final designs for logistics, reserve, and reconnaissance forces are still under development.
Marine aviation gets smaller, consistent with cuts in the ground forces.
Emerging concepts imply cuts to manned aircraft, particularly the F-35, but such plans are still under development.
Ground forces gain long-range precision fires but give up three infantry battalions, tanks, and most counterinsurgency capabilities.
Most artillery convert from cannon to missile units. These changes are all underway. Final designs for logistics, reserve, and reconnaissance forces are still under development.
Marine aviation gets smaller, consistent with cuts in the ground forces.
Emerging concepts imply cuts to manned aircraft, particularly the F-35, but such plans are still under development.
Last edited by Lonewolf_50; 20th Sep 2023 at 12:53.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Thread Starter
The U.S. government (🇺🇸
is reportedly considering supplying Vietnam (🇻🇳 with F-16 jets.
The deal ''could come together within the next year'' but ''is still in its early stages.''
Vietnam currently operates Su-22, Su-27 and Su-30 jets.
is reportedly considering supplying Vietnam (🇻🇳 with F-16 jets.The deal ''could come together within the next year'' but ''is still in its early stages.''
Vietnam currently operates Su-22, Su-27 and Su-30 jets.
Probably figuring that spares and replacement supplies from Russia will be scarce for a while
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Thread Starter
Jackal now heading east to Taiwan thanks to the UK…
Previous post: Jackal & Martlet
https://www.defensenews.com/unmanned...jackal-drones/
Taiwan moves closer to acquiring 160 Turkish-made Jackal drones
MERSIN, Turkey — Taiwanese company GEOSAT Aerospace and Technology has inked an agreement with British firm Flyby Technology that paves the way for the purchase, technology transfer and production of 160 Turkish-made Jackal drones.
The memorandum of understanding, signed during the Taipei Aerospace Defense Technology Exhibition this month, involves the transfer of technology to the Asia-Pacific region and other geographic areas, according to a GEOSAT news release.
“Based on this, we will further develop and produce a new generation product, 160 JACKAL drones,” the company’s statement said. “UK-based Flyby Technology has agreed to provide payload solutions, testing and production planning for the new 160 JACKALs product and other Flyby authorized products.”…..
Previous post: Jackal & Martlet
https://www.defensenews.com/unmanned...jackal-drones/
Taiwan moves closer to acquiring 160 Turkish-made Jackal drones
MERSIN, Turkey — Taiwanese company GEOSAT Aerospace and Technology has inked an agreement with British firm Flyby Technology that paves the way for the purchase, technology transfer and production of 160 Turkish-made Jackal drones.
The memorandum of understanding, signed during the Taipei Aerospace Defense Technology Exhibition this month, involves the transfer of technology to the Asia-Pacific region and other geographic areas, according to a GEOSAT news release.
“Based on this, we will further develop and produce a new generation product, 160 JACKAL drones,” the company’s statement said. “UK-based Flyby Technology has agreed to provide payload solutions, testing and production planning for the new 160 JACKALs product and other Flyby authorized products.”…..
Kim Jong-un vows to build up North Korea’s nuclear weapons
In]In The Times this afternoon.
Kim Jong-un warned of a “new Cold War”, and promised to rapidly expand his arsenal of nuclear missiles and warheads against the “Asian-version Nato”, in one of the starkest articulations so far of the military confrontation taking shape in East Asia.
The North Korean leader was speaking at a gathering of the country’s tame parliament, which on Wednesday revised the constitution to enshrine the country’s status as permanent nuclear state. His talk of a new Cold War comes days after he returned from a visit to Russia, where he and Vladimir Putin promised one another military and technological aid.
“Now that the US, steeped in the Cold War mentality, has gone to extremes in its anti-DPRK military provocations, it is very important for the DPRK to accelerate the modernisation of nuclear weapons in order to hold the definite edge of strategic deterrence,” Kim told the Supreme People’s Assembly, using the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
He spoke of “the need to push ahead with the work for exponentially boosting the production of nuclear weapons and diversifying the nuclear strike means”, and said that “the DPRK’s nuclear force-building policy has been made permanent as the basic law of the state, which no one is allowed to flout”.
Kim’s reference to the Cold war spells out what has become pronounced in the past five years – the existence of two polarised camps in east Asia, divided politically and diplomatically, and now engaged in an increasingly tense military confrontation.
The US and South Korea, which used to avoid rising to North Korean provocations, now respond to them in kind, dispatching aircraft carriers, nuclear capable bombers and nuclear submarines to conduct exercises around the peninsula in deliberate and co-ordinated shows of force.
As Kim and Putin has moved closer, on the other side of the divide Japan and South Korea have overcome historical resentments to build up a three-way partnership with the US.
“The US … has maximised its nuclear war threats to our Republic by resuming the large-scale nuclear war joint drills with clear aggressive nature and putting the deployment of its strategic nuclear assets near the Korean peninsula on a permanent basis,” Kim said.
“The accelerated establishment of the triangular military alliance with Japan and the ‘Republic of Korea’ finally resulted in the emergence of the ‘Asian version Nato’, the root cause of war and aggression,” Kim told his audience in Pyongyang. “This is just the worst actual threat, not threatening rhetoric or an imaginary entity.”
According to state media, the change to Article 58 of Chapter 4 of the North Korean constitution sets out the principle that “the DPRK, a responsible nuclear weapons state, develops highly nuclear weapons to ensure the rights to existence and development of the country, deter war and defend peace and stability in the region and the rest of the world”.
Although it does not in itself change anything concrete, the amendment confirms North Korea’s self-proclaimed status as a full nuclear state and indicates how far the world is from disarming Kim.
Five years ago, he was meeting Donald Trump to discuss denuclearisation. A year ago, the last gathering of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) passed a law abandoning the policy of no first-use of nuclear weapons, saying the North could launch a preemptive strike if the leadership was threatened. This week, the SPA declared the North to be on a par with other nuclear powers such as the US, China, Russia and Britain.
Shin Won-sik, the nominee to be South Korea’s next defence minister, promised to “firmly punish” the North for any future military provocations.
The North Korean leader was speaking at a gathering of the country’s tame parliament, which on Wednesday revised the constitution to enshrine the country’s status as permanent nuclear state. His talk of a new Cold War comes days after he returned from a visit to Russia, where he and Vladimir Putin promised one another military and technological aid.
“Now that the US, steeped in the Cold War mentality, has gone to extremes in its anti-DPRK military provocations, it is very important for the DPRK to accelerate the modernisation of nuclear weapons in order to hold the definite edge of strategic deterrence,” Kim told the Supreme People’s Assembly, using the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
He spoke of “the need to push ahead with the work for exponentially boosting the production of nuclear weapons and diversifying the nuclear strike means”, and said that “the DPRK’s nuclear force-building policy has been made permanent as the basic law of the state, which no one is allowed to flout”.
Kim’s reference to the Cold war spells out what has become pronounced in the past five years – the existence of two polarised camps in east Asia, divided politically and diplomatically, and now engaged in an increasingly tense military confrontation.
The US and South Korea, which used to avoid rising to North Korean provocations, now respond to them in kind, dispatching aircraft carriers, nuclear capable bombers and nuclear submarines to conduct exercises around the peninsula in deliberate and co-ordinated shows of force.
As Kim and Putin has moved closer, on the other side of the divide Japan and South Korea have overcome historical resentments to build up a three-way partnership with the US.
“The US … has maximised its nuclear war threats to our Republic by resuming the large-scale nuclear war joint drills with clear aggressive nature and putting the deployment of its strategic nuclear assets near the Korean peninsula on a permanent basis,” Kim said.
“The accelerated establishment of the triangular military alliance with Japan and the ‘Republic of Korea’ finally resulted in the emergence of the ‘Asian version Nato’, the root cause of war and aggression,” Kim told his audience in Pyongyang. “This is just the worst actual threat, not threatening rhetoric or an imaginary entity.”
According to state media, the change to Article 58 of Chapter 4 of the North Korean constitution sets out the principle that “the DPRK, a responsible nuclear weapons state, develops highly nuclear weapons to ensure the rights to existence and development of the country, deter war and defend peace and stability in the region and the rest of the world”.
Although it does not in itself change anything concrete, the amendment confirms North Korea’s self-proclaimed status as a full nuclear state and indicates how far the world is from disarming Kim.
Five years ago, he was meeting Donald Trump to discuss denuclearisation. A year ago, the last gathering of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) passed a law abandoning the policy of no first-use of nuclear weapons, saying the North could launch a preemptive strike if the leadership was threatened. This week, the SPA declared the North to be on a par with other nuclear powers such as the US, China, Russia and Britain.
Shin Won-sik, the nominee to be South Korea’s next defence minister, promised to “firmly punish” the North for any future military provocations.
Put another way: nothing new under the sun.
While I realise it's not aviation related, given the nature of this thread, I'm surprised there's been no mention of Taiwan unveiling it's first domestically produced submarine.
Or have I missed that post on here?
Or have I missed that post on here?
Kim would be mad to give up his nuclear weapons - he can read the newspapers and can see what happened to Gaddafi and the Ukraine
They both gave up nuclear weapons and look what happened to them.
Besides, Kim’s father made his son swear an oath never to stray from the nuclear weapons path. This is for his father’s memory as much as anything.
Besides, Kim’s father made his son swear an oath never to stray from the nuclear weapons path. This is for his father’s memory as much as anything.
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But in the Kim family your own skin comes first of course
We appear to be drifting off course from the South China Sea.
The Kim family gets its own thread. (There's one in Jet Blast that seems to have been resurrected of late).
North Korea is up there around the Sea of Japan, and the Yellow Sea.
Mea culpa is offered for contributing to the thread drift.
The Kim family gets its own thread. (There's one in Jet Blast that seems to have been resurrected of late).
North Korea is up there around the Sea of Japan, and the Yellow Sea.
Mea culpa is offered for contributing to the thread drift.
well the Chinese have extended their dashed line up north..................
The Economist take:-LATE LAST month the government in Beijing published a “standard map” of China and all its territorial claims. It did a strikingly efficient job of upsetting the neighbours, from India to Japan, but above all those around the South China Sea. Vietnam objected to the map’s inclusion of the Paracel Islands, which China seized from it in 1974. The Philippines protested over the Scarborough Shoal, from which China has barred it by force since 2012, even though it lies well within the Philippines’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). And the map’s inclusion of the Spratly Islands—a welter of islets, atolls and reefs spread out across a vast swathe of the South China Sea a very long way from China itself—angered those countries and Malaysia, too.
Yet that much was predictable. South-East Asians have long suffered from Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea. China’s notorious “nine-dash line” is both symbol and tool of its extravagant claims: a U-shaped tongue of passive cartographic aggression, it encompasses almost the entire sea. In 2016 an arbitral tribunal at The Hague, in a case brought by the Philippines, ruled among other things that the line had no basis in law. Yet the new standard map even includes an extra dash to the line, placed east of Taiwan. This new, tenth dash has bred the most consternation. Some sense that it opens a new front in China’s grandiose claims. Is that likely?
The concerns are overdone, writes Bill Hayton in Fulcrum, house journal of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, a regional research outfit in Singapore. This is not the first time Chinese cartography has included a tenth dash. Besides, Mr Hayton explains, the nature of the U-shaped line, which dates back to the 1940s, has always been vague and subject much of the time to “happenstance and incompetence”. Back then, Chinese mappers were not really clear what lay inside the line, which was intended as merely a schematic outer marker of what might in future be claimed within it. In recent decades, vagueness has suited the Chinese Communist Party as it has asserted (though never officially) absurd “historic rights” over everything inside the line. Maximalist claims, in turn, help China bully neighbours over things like fisheries and hydrocarbons exploration. The basis of the new line, says Mr Hayton, is as nonsensical as was the original.
Yet that much was predictable. South-East Asians have long suffered from Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea. China’s notorious “nine-dash line” is both symbol and tool of its extravagant claims: a U-shaped tongue of passive cartographic aggression, it encompasses almost the entire sea. In 2016 an arbitral tribunal at The Hague, in a case brought by the Philippines, ruled among other things that the line had no basis in law. Yet the new standard map even includes an extra dash to the line, placed east of Taiwan. This new, tenth dash has bred the most consternation. Some sense that it opens a new front in China’s grandiose claims. Is that likely?
The concerns are overdone, writes Bill Hayton in Fulcrum, house journal of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, a regional research outfit in Singapore. This is not the first time Chinese cartography has included a tenth dash. Besides, Mr Hayton explains, the nature of the U-shaped line, which dates back to the 1940s, has always been vague and subject much of the time to “happenstance and incompetence”. Back then, Chinese mappers were not really clear what lay inside the line, which was intended as merely a schematic outer marker of what might in future be claimed within it. In recent decades, vagueness has suited the Chinese Communist Party as it has asserted (though never officially) absurd “historic rights” over everything inside the line. Maximalist claims, in turn, help China bully neighbours over things like fisheries and hydrocarbons exploration. The basis of the new line, says Mr Hayton, is as nonsensical as was the original.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Thread Starter
Reference the above.
Confirmation of the story of 31st August from US Chinese sources…
https://www.americaoutloud.news/brea...in-yellow-sea/
Confirmation of the story of 31st August from US Chinese sources…
https://www.americaoutloud.news/brea...in-yellow-sea/
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