Asian Defense: October 2013

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Libyan frigate arrives for repairs

The Libyan frigate Al Hani has arrived in Malta for repairs and maintenance at Cassar Ship Repair.

The frigate arrived under tow.
Libya has two vessels of this type, which are former Soviet KONI III class frigates. They carry surface-to-surface missiles and guns fore and aft.
The Al Hani is not carrying any weapons while in Malta. The frigate was also in Malta in 1991.

The Navy's stealthy Zumwalt destroyer went into the water on Monday, with shipbuilders moving the warship into the Kennebec River before it moves dockside for final construction.
The Zumwalt, the largest destroyer ever built for the Navy, looks like no other U.S. warship, with an angular profile and clean carbon fiber superstructure that hides antennas and radar masts.
"The Zumwalt is really in a league of its own," said defense consultant Eric Wertheim, author of the "The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World."
Originally envisioned as a "stealth destroyer," the Zumwalt has a low-slung appearance and angles that deflect radar. Its wave-piercing hull aims for a smoother ride.
The 610-foot ship is a behemoth that's longer and bigger than the current class of destroyers. It was originally designed for shore bombardment and features a 155mm "Advanced Gun System" that fires rocket-propelled warheads that have a range of nearly 100 miles.
Thanks to computers and automation, it will have only about half the complement of sailors as the current generation of destroyers.
Critics, however, felt the Navy was trying to incorporate too much new technology — a new hull, computer automation, electric propulsion, new radar and new gun — into one package. At one point, the program was nearly scrapped because of growing cost. Eventually, the program was truncated to three ships, the Zumwalt being the first.

The fifth prototype of the prospective 5^th - generation aviation complex (PAK FA, T-50) made its maiden flight in Komsomolsk-on-Amur at the Y.A.Gagarin KnAAZ aircraft plant of the Sukhoi Company. The plane was piloted by distinguished test pilot of the 1^st class Roman Kondratiev. The fighter aircraft spent 50 minutes in the air and landed safely on the factory airfield runway. The test flight was a success and in full accordance with the flight plan. The stability of the aircraft and the propulsion system were tested during the flight. The aircraft performed well in all phases of the planned flight program. The pilot confirmed reliability of all systems and equipment.
Upon completing the test flights program in Komsomolsk the aircraft will join the flight tests in the city of Zhukovsky near Moscow. Four 5^th– generation fighter aircraft have already joined these tests. Two more planes are involved in ground tests - one as a complex ground stand and the other undergoes static tests.

North Korea Expanding Long-Range Rocket Site, Institute Says

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North Korea is expanding its long-range rocket launch site, the latest sign Kim Jong Un’s regime is advancing its weapons program in defiance of United Nations sanctions, a U.S. institute said.
Satellite imagery from Oct. 9 indicates that the launch gantry at the Sohae site on the North Korea’s west coast is being upgraded, while a new mobile launchpad may be under construction, the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies said in a posting yesterday on its blog, 38 North. A road linking the pad with a missile assembly building and a railhead is also being built, the Washington, D.C.-based institute said.
“There is growing evidence to suggest that the projects under way are related to preparing for future tests of larger space launch vehicles and mobile missiles systems,” 38 North said.
Signs of expansion at the site may further complicate efforts to restart disarmament talks. The report comes weeks after South Korea’s intelligence chief confirmed the North had restarted its main nuclear reactor capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium. The North has so far refused U.S. and South Korean demands to begin rolling back its weapons program before restarting the talks that offered it aid.
The regime launched a long-range rocket from the Sohae site in December last year to put a satellite into orbit. The U.S. and South Korea called it a test of ballistic missile technology and the UN tightened sanctions against North Korea in January. The North followed with its third nuclear test in February and threats to carry out first strikes against South Korea and the U.S.

Indian Navy holds mega coastal drill

With both conventional and unconventional threats on the west coast figuring high on India's radar screen, the Navy is undertaking a major coastal defence exercise on the western seaboard.

Called the 'Defence of Gujarat Exercise', the wargames are being conducted under the aegis of the Mumbai-based Western Naval Command (WNC), with over 20 destroyers, frigates, corvettes, minesweepers and submarines, as also maritime fighters, aircraft and helicopters.

"The aim is to practice combat manoeuvres to defend coastal areas as well as vital offshore assets like oil refineries from any external threat. The week-long exercise is testing the operational readiness of the WNC in relation to littoral combat," said an official.

"Coast Guard patrol vessels, integrated into the operations, are playing a key part in providing multiple layers of defensive surveillance. In addition to ships, the exercise also involves intense flying activity by TU-142M, IL-38SD and Dornier patrol aircraft as well as Searcher and Heron UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles)," he added.

Vietnam will next month take delivery of a Russian submarine dubbed “a black hole in the ocean” by the US Navy for its undetectability when submerged, a military industry source told RIA Novosti on Monday.
Vietnam ordered a fleet of six Varshavyanka class diesel-electric submarines in 2009 in what has been seen as an effort to counterbalance China’s expanding maritime influence.
The contract, which also includes training for Vietnamese submarine crews in Russia, is reportedly worth $2 billion.
Project 636M submarines have very low noise emission and can hit targets at long distances without being detected by the enemy’s anti-submarine systems.
All total of six boats are being built for Vietnam at the Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg. They are due for delivery by 2016.
The vessels displace 3,100 tons, reach speeds of 20 knots, can dive to 300 meters and carry crews of 52 people.

China's nuclear-powered ballistic submarine is capable of conducting combat patrol missions around the Second Island Chain, according to military expert Li Li in an interview with the Party-run People's Daily online, while another analyst writes that the JL-2 missiles it carries could be launched from the Kuril islands in the north Pacific to strike the western seaboard of the United States.
The Second Island Chain extends from the Japanese main island of Honshu southward to New Guinea.
Only a few nations around the world are able to construct their own ballistic submarines because of the technical challenges involved, said Li. Larger pressurized water reactors are suitable for surface combat vessels but cannot be used for submarines. It is extremely difficult for most nations to build an adequately sized pressurized water reactor in their submarines.
The PLA Navy has solved these major problems through years of development. The earlier Chinese submarines designed during the Cold War were small, noisy and had a short attack range. China's new generation Type 094 Jin-class submarines however are able to reach the Second Island Chain. Equipped with 16 JL-2 missiles, their attack range extends 8,000km.

Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) is pushing for South Korea to cut the technical challenges of its proposed KF-X fighter program, offering a single-engine concept that probably has a distant connection with the Lockheed Martin F-16. KAI's KFX-E design should be cheaper to develop and build than the larger proposals put forward by the Agency for Defense Development (ADD), the chief proponent of the KF-X.

Also much smaller than and more differentiated from the Lockheed Martin F-35, the KFX-E may offer the further advantage of minimizing competition from that U.S. stealth fighter. But it may have Lockheed Martin or other U.S. intellectual property in its design, exposing it to a foreign veto over sales or even development.

Seoul will probably have a foreign alternative to consider, too. Western proposals for KF-X include twin-tail developments of the F-16 and Eurofighter Typhoon, and an advanced version of the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Those offerings were included as technology transfer in bids for the separate F-X Phase 3 program for 60 fighters. F-X Phase 3 has been abandoned, but a successor competition will be needed, probably reviving foreign KF-X proposals.

KAI has moved from cooperation to competition with ADD. For a decade, the manufacturer was a design contractor in support of the agency. But industry officials say that at least some KAI executives have long regarded ADD's plan to develop a twin-engine Typhoon-size KF-X as too ambitious. Meanwhile, the South Korean government has repeatedly deferred launching the KF-X. If it goes ahead, it cannot enter service before the mid-2020s. Cutting costs by accepting a smaller size would probably improve the program's chances.

In July, KAI coyly published a picture of a stealthy KF-X concept related to its T-50 supersonic trainer and called KFX-E (or KF-X-E). It gave no details then and did not respond to Aviation Week's request for comment (AW&ST July 22, p. 33). But now the company has stepped up to make its case for the aircraft, arguing at an official seminar that the KFX-E would meet all air force requirements, except for being powered by just one engine.

Liaoning Provincial Maritime Bureau issued a latest sailing warning on October 22, 2013 to notify that military operations will be implemented from 08:00 on October 23, 2013 to 08:00 on November 14, 2013 at waters within an area delimited by connecting lines of the following four points in northern Bohai Sea and any ships should not enter the sea area within the above mentioned time, according to CCTV news report.

　　1. 39°56′N 120°16′E

　　2. 39°56′N 120°38′E

　　3. 39°29′N 120°31′E

　　4. 39°29′N 119°54′E

The "Liaoning" aircraft carrier of the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLAN) unmoored on October 23 to continue its trip for scientific experiments and trainings.

It is said that the trip of the "Liaoning" aircraft carrier this time will mainly center on experiments and trainings on maritime test flight of shipboard fighters.

The scope of no-sail sea area this time is completely the same as that when "Liaoning" aircraft carrier carried out its last training missions, according to sources.