South China Sea Strategies for other nations (Not China)
- Thread starter PanAsian
- Start date
joshuatree
Captain
I would suggest cutting and pasting the quote to something like Notepad, then recopying it from there. Usually, all bold, font, italic settings get removed from this process.
As for blimps, always felt it was an inexpensive means of providing localized 24/7 coverage. Useful especially in an environment where threat level for being shot down is low.
@SamuraiBlue
It's a generic analysis because there are so many possibilities in terms of size, depth, endurance, sensors, comms etc. It's not worth going into the details.
But to address your specific scenario, suppose a cheap unmanned mothership is on the surface, which provides power and comms to a tethered underwater drone. So the drone and mothership are completely silent and can connect to the command and control network via above surface radio.
Or that mothership is simply a tethered communications buoy.
Or you could have weaponised drones that are deployed from a Frigate, and receive sonar instructions from the VDS or from sonar pulses from other drones with a communications tether.
The possibilities are literally endless because of developments in AI and technology miniaturisation, which is why both the US navy and Chinese navy believe this is the future.
And both these countries are most certainly thinking about underwater attack drones. After all, in a wartime blockade situation, every ship becomes a legitimate target so there's no need to worry about drones killing innocent targets in the waters off Shanghai or San Francisco or Tokyo.
More illegal fishing in the South China Sea ... I started tracking this to prove a point, but the frequency of occurrences is getting a bit ridiculous now.
The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) captured a Vietnamese fishing vessel with 14 crew members on April 17 accused of illegally fishing in waters off Tok Bali, Kelantan state.
Vietnamese fishermen were captured on April 17 accused of illegal fishing in Malaysia
The vessel was detained by a MMEA patrol boat while fishing illegally about 75.6 nautical miles off the beach at 22:20, the New Straits Times quoted MMEA District 10 maritime director Nurul Hizam Zakaria as saying.
The agency seized one ton of fish and the boat valued at 2 million ringgits (510,000 USD), Nurul Hizam Zakaria told a press conference in Pasir Putih, adding that the skipper failed to produce valid documents.
The fishermen, aged from 23-58, will be remanded for 14 days beginning from April 18 for further investigation, he said.
Earlier, another Vietnamese boat with six fishermen was detained for fishing in Malaysian waters about 70 nautical miles from Kuala Kemaman.
None of the fishermen had proper documents or fishing permits.
The fishermen, from 18-50 years old, were detained while the boat and its equipment worth 200,000 ringgits (more than 51,000 USD) was confiscated.
Equation
Lieutenant General
IF Washington depends on this world wide criticism on China to maintain that status quo, than they are in trouble. Heck the rest of the world didn't even follow the US advice on NOT to join China led AIIB. That tells you how desperate Washington is, therefore in need of the help from the media (soft power) to get enough people to rile up against China's action in the SCS. The problem is not too many people care about it because there is no lost of lives lives affected due to the dispute with the other players, yet. In order to be effective the situation has to be dire in order to get the world's attention for action, for example the Ukraine turmoil or the Middle East refugee crisis.
Another new organization has been created to push an agenda with regard China's actions in the South China Sea. This new organization, The , is chaired by Dennis Blair, former US admiral and Director of National Intelligence. The Maritime Awareness Project is backed by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. What's the Sasakawa Peace Foundation?
This is a picture of Dennis Blair and Shinzo Abe attending a presser backed by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation - that rising sun over water logo is the Sasakawa Peace Foundation logo.
If you check out his comments in various publications, you'll find that Blair is uncomfortably close to the Japanese, especially for someone who once held titles of his stature.
In fact, others have raised serious questions concerning his relationship to the Sasakawa Peace Foundation:
Another article on the Sasakawa Peace Foundation
They do have some recently published images from the that I haven't found elsewhere.
However, when you see articles and analysis in the future coming from the Maritime Awareness Project, you should take that with a grain of salt.
This is a picture of Dennis Blair and Shinzo Abe attending a presser backed by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation - that rising sun over water logo is the Sasakawa Peace Foundation logo.
If you check out his comments in various publications, you'll find that Blair is uncomfortably close to the Japanese, especially for someone who once held titles of his stature.
In fact, others have raised serious questions concerning his relationship to the Sasakawa Peace Foundation:
Another article on the Sasakawa Peace Foundation
They do have some recently published images from the that I haven't found elsewhere.
However, when you see articles and analysis in the future coming from the Maritime Awareness Project, you should take that with a grain of salt.
joshuatree
Captain
So highlighting some pics on eastern part of West Reef using multiple sources. We see as recently as Jan 2010, eastern part of West Reef was nothing more than a submerged reef.
joshuatree
Captain
Reclamation starts around 2012. Looks pretty extensive and complex by 2016. Yet, hardly any noise about it.
Feb 2014
April 2015
Jan 2016
Feb 2014
April 2015
Jan 2016
Looks like the US sent two HH-60Gs and four A-10C Thunderbolt IIs on a mission around Scarborough Shoal on the 19th, and are planning to continue these missions over the next several weeks. They must really believe that reclamation of Scarborough is going to happen soon.
The aircraft are part of the newly stood up Air Contingent here conducting operations ranging from air and maritime domain awareness, personnel recovery, combating piracy, and assuring all nations have access to air and sea domains throughout the region in accordance with international law.
The A-10s and HH-60s conducted a flying mission through international airspace in the vicinity of Scarborough Shoal west of the Philippines providing air and maritime situational awareness. These missions promote transparency and safety of movement in international waters and airspace, representing the U.S. commitment to ally and partner nations and to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region’s continued stability now and for generations to come.
“Our job is to ensure air and sea domains remain open in accordance with international law. That is extremely important, international economics depends on it – free trade depends on our ability to move goods,” said Col. Larry Card, Commander of the Air Contingent. “There’s no nation right now whose economy does not depend on the well-being of the economy of other nations.”
The A-10 missions enhance the U.S. military assets in the region upholding freedom of navigation and over flight.
“We are out here and we’re going to do the best we can to achieve the mission; there is no doubt in my mind we will be successful,” Card said.
That success is achieved in part by the close partnership held between the U.S. and Philippine militaries. The two countries’ air and ground forces maintain a close bilateral bond through consistent military exercises
“Interoperability with the Philippine military is at the forefront of our mission,” Card said. “The standup of the Air Contingent promotes this collective focus as we build upon our already strong alliance, and reaffirm our commitment to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.”
Card said it takes more than just aircraft to accomplish this feat, however, as he explained the critical role his Airmen play in this mission’s overall success.
“Our Airmen are the top. I’ve worked with the majority of these guys for the last month already and they’ve excelled; they’ve blown me away with their ability to generate air power and I expect nothing less as we move into this next phase.”
All personnel in this first deployment are Air Force Airmen assigned to various Pacific Air Forces bases, and include aircrew, maintainers, logistics and support personnel.
“I have a lot of pride in our Airmen; and their ability to quickly understand a mission they’re not accustomed to and within minutes be motivated and execute that mission is truly phenomenal,” the colonel said. These Airmen truly are the best of the best.”
U.S. Pacific Command plans this first iteration of the Air Contingent mission to last for the next several weeks. Future Air Contingent deployments will be fulfilled with various platforms and personnel from either Air Force or other service components.
A U.S. Air Force HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter, with the 33rd Rescue Squadron, Kadena Air Base, Japan, flies overhead after taking off from Clark Air Base, Philippines, April 19, 2016. Two HH-60Gs and four A-10C Thunderbolt IIs, with the 51st Fighter Wing, Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea, took off today marking the first mission in a several week long deployment.
Two U.S. Air Force HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters, with the 33rd Rescue Squadron, Kadena Air Base, Japan, return to Clark Air Base, Philippines, April 19, 2016, after flying their first operational mission in the region.
A U.S. Air Force A-10C Thunderbolt II, with the 51st Fighter Wing, Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea, takes off from Clark Air Base, Philippines, April 19, 2016. The A-10Cs flew as part of a newly stood up Air Contingent in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. The air contingent will promote interoperability and provide greater and more transparent air and maritime situational awareness to ensure safety for military and civilian activities in international waters and airspace
Four U.S. Air Force A-10C Thunderbolt IIs, with the 51st Fighter Wing, Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea, fly overhead after returning from their first mission out of Clark Air Base, Philippines, April 19, 2016.
Rest of the pics can be found here: