U.S. to Vietnam: Stop letting Russia refuel planes at base

U.S. to Vietnam: Stop letting Russia refuel planes at base

Friday, March 13, 2015 / No Comments

The U.S. has urged Vietnam to stop letting Russia refuel military planes at a key Vietnamese base because of concerns it could raise tensions in the Asia-Pacific, the State Department said Thursday.

That could put some strain on growing ties between Hanoi and Washington. U.S. officials have said in recent months that Russia has increased air patrols around Japan and South Korea, and is operating as far as the California coast and U.S. territory of Guam.

Last year, a NORAD spokesperson said two F-22 fighter jets were scrambled after a pair of Russian bombers were spotted 50 miles off the coast of California.

The State Department did say that it is aware of an agreement allowing Russia to operate Il-78 refueling planes out of Cam Ranh Bay, a U.S. base during the Vietnam War.

But the department also said the U.S. respects Vietnam's right to enter into agreements with other countries. Spokeswoman Jen Psaki nevertheless urged Vietnamese officials to ensure that Russia doesn't use its access "to conduct activities that can raise tensions in the region."



Vietnam has sought a closer relationship with the U.S. as it looks to counter China, with which it has territorial disputes in the South China Sea. In October, the Obama administration partially lifted a ban on lethal arms sales to Vietnam, and last week, the U.S. ambassador to Hanoi said that the chief of the ruling communist party, Nguyen Phu Trong, will visit Washington this year.

But Vietnam has also weighed its strategic relationships carefully, sustaining its ties with both of its large northern neighbors - China, and Russia.

The deep sea port at Cam Ranh Bay served as a major Soviet naval base after the Vietnam War, and Russia maintained a presence there until 2002. Vietnam subsequently upgraded the base, offering it as a site for maintenance of foreign naval ships and submarines.

In November, Russia's military announced that its long-range bombers would conduct regular patrol missions from the Arctic Ocean to the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, a show of muscle reflecting tensions with the West over Ukraine.

@cbsnews.com

These planes could someday replace the A-10 Warthog

These planes could someday replace the A-10 Warthog

/ No Comments

The impending mothballing of the A-10 Thunderbolt II attack jet has prompted outrage among its advocates in the active-duty military, hand-wringing on Capitol Hill and questions from analysts about whether the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter can be operated cheaply enough to support ground troops on a regular basis.

But it also has sparked a question: Which plane could the U.S. military adopt if it ultimately decides it needs a new, designated plane to provide close-air support?

The mission has been handled by a variety of aircraft in recent years, but it is the A-10, nicknamed the Warthog, that is beloved for its ability to loiter over a battlefield and target enemy fighters, tanks and vehicles. Even as it heads into retirement, it is carrying out about 11 percent of the combat sorties against the Islamic State militant group, Air Force Secretary Deborah James said in January.

Air Force Gen. Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, the commander of Air Combat Command, left open the possibility on Friday that the service could eventually need another plane to fill the close-air support mission. He called it the "A-X," with the "A" meaning its primary mission would be attacking enemy forces on the ground. (As opposed to fighter jets, which get the "F" prefix.)

But the Air Force isn't planning to pay for that anytime soon. Rather, it plans to retire the A-10 and rely on other existing planes like the F-15 Strike Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon to carry out close-air support. Defense officials want the F-35 to eventually take the mission over, but it isn't clear how long that will take. Getting rid of the Air Force's 283 A-10s will save $3.7 billion over five years, senior defense officials said.

Carlisle said that questions about "capacity" leave the door open to an "A-X" plane." Each variant of the F-35 costs more than $30,000 per hour to fly, according to Pentagon estimates that some critics consider conservative. The cost to fly the A-10 is closer to $11,500, according to an analysis by The Atlantic.

The A-10 and possible successors wouldn't fare well in dogfight with other advanced fighters. But against the variety of militant groups that have seized attention in the last year, they'd still be effective, and at a fraction of the price. Here are a few planes analysts discuss in the close-air support mission:

A-29 Super Tucano

The U.S. military thought enough of this turboprop aircraft to purchase a number of them for the nascent Afghan air force, which the Pentagon is funding and training. The first 20 arrived at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia in September, as the service prepares to train Afghan pilots there.

The Super Tucano, called the A-29 by the Air Force, is made by Brazilian aviation firm Embraer, and has been used by militaries across the world. It typically costs about $1,000 an hour to fly. It could be outfitted with a variety of bombs and machine guns, and has drawn interest from a variety of African militaries facing insurgencies. The Afghan version is made in the United States by Embraer and Sierra Nevada Corp.

Afghanistan won't receive its first Super Tucanos until December, Gen. Joseph Campbell, the top U.S. commander there, testified last week. The fact that the plane will not be available for fighting season this year is considered a setback for the Afghan military.

The Scorpion

The Scorpion jet has been developed by Textron, which includes Bell Helicopter, Cessna and other major aviation companies. It was first introduced in 2013, and recently reached 300 hours in flight testing, company officials said. It costs about $3,000 per flight hour, and has been pitched by the company as a cheap option to perform maritime security, close-air support and surveillance missions.

Carlisle left open the possibility that the Air Force might pursue the Scorpion when asked about it Friday. But he said other planes also are in play, without naming any.

"We have to keep thinking about those things because, frankly, we haven't been very good at predicting the future and what it's going to look like," the general said.

The aircraft has drawn interest from militaries across the world, and was displayed at an international airshow in Abu Dhabi, the International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX), last month.

The AT-6

Beechcraft's AT-6 has been used by the Air Force as a trainer plane for years, and used by the a variety of militaries abroad, including Iraq's and Mexico's. The single-prop plane can carry a variety of weapons on stations mounted on its wings, and has competed with the Super Tucano for contracts in the past.

The American version is sometimes known as the Texan II. Raytheon is integrating the 44-pound Griffin "mini-missile" onto it in the future, upping its firepower. The Griffin has been used on other U.S. aircraft, including the KC-130 gunship, which is equipped with a powerful Harvest Hawk weapons suite.

@stripes.com

Japanese battleship blew up under water, footage suggests

Japanese battleship blew up under water, footage suggests

/ No Comments

Debris scattered over a large area at the bottom of the sea near the Philippines indicate that the massive Japanese World War II battleship Musashi had blown up in an undersea explosion 70 years ago after it sank beneath the surface.

Experts from a research team analyzing a live feed from an unmanned submersible Friday said they believe the Musashi suffered at least one explosion while sinking to the 1,000-meter (3,280-foot) deep seafloor. The 2 1/2 hour feed provided the first detailed images of the ship.

The research team, sponsored by Microsoft co-founder and entrepreneur Paul Allen, first found the remains of the ship in early March after searching for it for eight years.

The Musashi, one of Japan's biggest and most famous battleships, sank in October 1944 in the Sibuyan Sea during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, losing half of its 2,400 crew. It was last seen disappearing into the water in one piece after being struck by torpedoes, but what happened subsequently was never known.

"The wreck is actually very damaged," said David Mearns, a marine scientist on the team. "It appears she suffered at least one, if not two, magazine explosions which would have sheered off the bow and the stern, and its entire middle section of its super-structure."

The footage showed fish and other marine creatures occasionally swimming by the rusted debris scattered over a wide area, some chunks covered by coral.

There were holes in the bow area, apparently made by U.S. torpedoes, and the ship's stern is upside down. A propeller is torn off from a shaft and gun turrets and catapults are broken off.

The feed also showed a round teak base on the bow that held the Imperial chrysanthemum seal that only a few battleships were allowed to carry — a key finding that convinced Japanese experts and some survivors that this was indeed the remains of the Musashi.

Historian Kazushige Todaka, head of the Yamato Museum and an expert on warships, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he was "100 percent positive" the ship is the Musashi.

The upright bow section and the upside-down stern mean the ship had an explosion, he said. "It shows there was a tremendous impact that tore the ship apart."

Todaka said closer examination of the video would help explain what happened to the ship as it sank to the sea bottom. He also hoped this would lead to discovery of other sunken warships that are unaccounted for.

Shigeru Nakajima, a 94-year-old former electrical technician on the Musashi, one of only a few hundred aboard who made it safely back to Japan, told the AP he was deeply moved by the footage he saw Friday at a community center near his home in Kashiwa, near Tokyo.

"The captain and those who went down (with the Musashi) must be delighted in heaven by the news of the discovery," he said.

The team says it is collaborating with the governments of Japan and the Philippines over the wreckage. Experts here say it would be difficult to pull up the ship, though technically it may be possible. Some people consider the wreckage as a place where the spirits of the victims rest and should be left at peace.

The timing of the discovery, coming shortly before the 70th anniversary of the war's end, is particularly significant, said Todaka, "as if telling us not to forget the tragedy of the war."

@stripes.com

Snowden Reveals Information on New Zealand's Secret Spy Base in Waihopai

Snowden Reveals Information on New Zealand's Secret Spy Base in Waihopai

Wednesday, March 11, 2015 / No Comments

The recent documents revealed by Edward Snowden show how closely New Zealand is working with the NSA to maintain surveillance coverage on the South-Pacific region.

Newly revealed documents from National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed the workings of the secret surveillance base in New Zealand.

The spy station located in Waihopai Valley, Marlborough is packed with sophisticated NSA spying technology, used by New Zealand to collect text messages, emails, phone calls, and other communications across the South-Pacific.

According to the information revealed by Snowden, New Zealand has worked closely with the NSA to maintain surveillance coverage of the region.

The spying station intercepts data from satellites, and is run by Government Communications Security Bureau, or GCSB, New Zealand's equivalent of the NSA.

The Waihopai station is codenamed IRONSAND. Its primary targets are large international telecommunications satellites that provide communications to and from all of New Zealand's Pacific Island neighbors and other Asia-Pacific nations.

All the phone calls and Internet communications intercepted and sorted at the base in Waihopai are then send into NSA databases to United States. The only difference between the two is that in Waihopai it is New Zealanders who come each day to maintain the NSA surveillance systems on their citizens.

GCSB is legally banned from spying on New Zealand citizens except under a warrant. According to a secret NSA document the governments of Cook Islands and Niue may be targeted, but not their citizens since they are permitted to hold New Zealand passports.

Cook Island opposition leader William Heather told the media that he was shocked to learn that the GCSB had spied on the island's residents. "We are only a small dot in the Pacific," he said, questioning why New Zealand would "spy on the family," media reports.

The New Zealand Labor party leader Andrew Little called the spying a "mass invasion of privacy."

Reacting to the latest revelations on Saturday, GCSB declined to comment. The agency's acting director, Una Jagose, said, "We do not comment on operational matters.

Everything we do is authorized under legislation and subject to independent oversight," media reported.

© Sputnik

Kaspersky Lab Cannot Confirm NSA Behind Espionage Program on 30 Countries

Kaspersky Lab Cannot Confirm NSA Behind Espionage Program on 30 Countries

/ No Comments

Ealier this week, the Moscow-based internet security company published a report saying that spying software operated by a hacker group had infected over 500 computers in over 30 countries including Iran, Russia, China and Syria. The revelations triggered media reports about the US NSA being behind the espionage.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko – Kaspersky Lab cannot confirm that the US National Security Agency (NSA) or any other intelligence agency is behind the discovered cyberespionage program affecting at least 30 countries, the company told Sputnik on Thursday.

On Monday, the Moscow-based internet security company published a report saying that spying software operated by a hacker group dubbed the Equation Group had infected over 500 computers in over 30 countries including Iran, Russia, China and Syria. The revelations triggered media reports about the US National Security Agency being behind the espionage.

'Our experts have never spoken about the relation of the Equation Group to any organizations. Kaspersky Lab does not have data sufficient to make any conclusions about the origins of this threat,' Kaspersky Lab communications officer told Sputnik.

The malware intercepts confidential data from computers in governmental bodies, embassies, as well as nuclear research, oil and gas, military and financial organizations. Moreover, the program targeted Islamic activists and scholars, as well as the media, particularly in Afghanistan.

'Perhaps most concerning of all is the fact that… the media in a number of countries were among the targets. This has profound implications for freedom of expression,' Canadian Internet advocacy group Open Media spokesman David Christopher told Sputnik.

The Kaspersky Lab spokeswoman explained that the vulnerability of computers could be reduced by using up-to-date anti-virus software.

Although Kaspersky Lab did not identify any country in particular as being behind the spying program, it said that the malware is similar to Stuxnet, a worm, allegedly used by the US National Security Agency (NSA) to infiltrate Iranian nuclear reactor systems in 2010.

© Sputnik