EXCLUSIVE: New satellite imagery obtained by Fox News shows that China, for the first time, has deployed a drone with stealth technology to a contested island in the South China Sea, in another sign of escalating tensions in the region.
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The new development comes as President Obama visits Japan. He lifted an arms embargo against Vietnam while visiting Hanoi earlier this week, drawing criticism from the Chinese government about stoking tensions in the region.
The newly obtained satellite images from ImageSat International (ISI) show a Chinese Harbin BZK-005 long range reconnaissance drone on Woody Island in the South China Sea.
The drone can remain airborne for up to 40 hours.
The Chinese drone did not appear armed in the satellite image taken last month. For the time being, the BZK-005 does not have the capability to fire missiles, unlike other drones in China’s inventory.
Other satellite images show some of the recently deployed HQ-9 surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island transferred from one cluster on the northern part of the island to other locations in a move most likely to make them more difficult to destroy in a potential air strike.
In February, Fox News first reported the deployment of the missiles to Woody Island as President Obama hosted leaders from 10 Southeast Asian nations in Palm Springs, California.
>>30085742
The Chinese HQ-9 is similar in design to the Russian S-300 missile system according to U.S. defense officials and has a range of 125 miles.
Asked about the deployment of the Chinese drone to the island, a senior Pentagon official said he could not comment on intelligence matters.
When asked about the increasing drone threat by China in the South China Sea at a press briefing Thursday, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook did not address the issue directly, but acknowledged the Pentagon had “concerns” about China’s behavior in the region along with other countries.
“You've heard us talk at length [about] our concerns about militarization in the South China Sea, not just by China,” said Cook. "There are concerns about what's happening.”
The Chinese first built a runway on Woody Island in the 1990s. Located in the Paracel chain of islands in the South China Sea, Woody Island is also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam in addition to China.
Separately, China has constructed 3,200 acres of artificial islands atop former rocks and reefs farther south in the Spratly Islands according to a recent Pentagon report to Congress.
Over $5 trillion in cargo and natural resources pass through the South China Sea each year.
The LA Times recently reported that China has sold its armed drone, the CH-4, to Nigeria, Pakistan and Iraq, raising concerns about the proliferation of this type of technology. In December, Iraq claimed to have successfully used a CH-4 against ISIS.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Navy sailed a guided-missile destroyer near Fiery Cross Reef, one of China’s man-made islands in the South China Sea.
The “freedom of navigation” operation as the Pentagon calls them, took the U.S. Navy warship within 12 nautical miles of the Chinese island, sending a message to China that the United States does not recognize China’s territory.
>>30085758
>The Chinese HQ-9 is similar in design to the Russian S-300 missile system according to U.S. defense officials and has a range of 125 miles.
Isn't that comment a bit weird?
>>30085758
In response, China launched fighter jets. Early this year, China tested commercial airliners on a new runway on Fiery Cross Reef. Defense officials tell Fox News, that China has sent fighter jets and other military equipment there recently.
A week after the U.S. destroyer sailed near Fiery Cross Reef, two Chinese J-11 fighter jets buzzed a Navy EP-3 reconnaissance aircraft flying 50 miles east of Hainan Island where a large Chinese submarine base is located.
The Pentagon called China’s action “unsafe” and claimed the Navy EP-3 was flying in international airspace.
Chinese officials were quoted Thursday as saying China is ready to deploy nuclear-armed submarines in the Pacific, as a result of the United States moving more weapons to the region.
China has said previous freedom of navigation operations by the Navy “violated Chinese law” and called the actions “provocative.” A Chinese military spokesman vowed “dangerous consequences” if similar operations from the American warships continue in the future.
When China’s President Xi visited the White House in September, he vowed not to militarize the South China Sea.
China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, reiterated that pledge when Secretary of State John F. Kerry visited Beijing in February, but said some “self-defense” weapons were necessary to protect the Chinese islands.
Last month, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter visited the Philippines, where U.S. military forces have returned for the first time since the Subic Bay naval base was closed in 1992.
After Carter’s visit, a flight of U.S. Air Force A-10 attack planes flew near Scarborough Shoal, located only 200 miles from Manila, where U.S. defense officials have seen Chinese ships surveying the area for another potential dredging operation.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/05/26/new-satellite-imagery-shows-chinese-drone-on-contested-island.html
SitRep: Exclusive: Iran Arms Taliban, Chinese Drone on Disputed Island.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/05/27/situation-report-iran-working-with-the-taliban-chinese-drone-spotted-on-disputed-island-u-s-commandos-on-the-move-in-syria-tracking-al-baghdadi-and-lots-more/
China has begun using drones with stealth capabilities in South China Sea
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3613173/Satellite-image-reveals-China-begun-using-drones-stealth-capabilities-South-China-Sea.html
Satellite image reveals China has begun using drones with stealth capabilities in the South China Sea
http://www.mo4ch.com/satellite-image-reveals-china-has-begun-using-drones-with-stealth-capabilities-in-the-south-china-sea/
>>30085742
China Reportedly Will Send Nuclear-Armed Submarines to Patrol Pacific
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/05/27/china-reportedly-will-send-nuclear-submarines-patrol-pacific.html
China To Send Nuclear Armed Submarines To The Pacific
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/the-times/china-to-send-submarines-into-pacific-with-nuclear-warheads/news-story/d8d0dfeca2af4cb94884f152dd1f055d?nk=372663f8075ceefb3a5a35e3f4e171f5-1464389307
>this thread
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_0OVHcIMh0
Chinese state television revealed during the first week of May that a Xian Aircraft Corporation (XAC) H-6K bomber of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) flew over China's new base on Fiery Cross Reef, indicating China's willingness to employ strategic assets to enforce its claims in the disputed South China Sea.
An episode of the Chinese state television series Military Life revealed the H-6K deployment to Fiery Cross Reef. However, the programme provided no indication of the date of the deployment, the number of H-6Ks flying that mission, or whether they actually landed on the newly reclaimed island base.
The deployment was not a main part of the television show's storyline, which concerned the career of an H-6K pilot named Liu Rui. Alert Chinese military fans found a very brief video segment showing a picture of Fiery Cross as seen from the front windscreen on an H-6K.
The deployment of the PLAAF's latest bomber is significant because it demonstrates China's willingness to use a strategic weapon system that can deploy nuclear weapons to defend its new island bases and larger claims in the South China Sea.
First revealed in 2007, the H-6K is the latest version of XAC's H-6 bomber series, a copy of the Soviet-era Tupolev Tu-16 'Badger', which began production in China in the late 1960s. The H-6K uses the more powerful 10-tonne thrust Russian Soloviev D-30KP-2 turbofan, has a redesigned nose employing a large radar, and an electro-optic targeting system.
It also has six wing pylons that can carry the 1,500 km range KD-20 (DF-10) optionally nuclear warhead equipped land attack cruise missile or non-nuclear anti-ship cruise missiles such as the 250-500 km-range, Mach 4 maximum speed, ramjet-powered YJ-12.
This latest television programme also showed an H-6K carrying the older 200 km range KD-63 optically-guided ground attack cruise missile.
http://www.janes.com/article/60277/chinese-h-6k-bomber-flies-over-fiery-cross-reef-in-south-china-sea
US pledges $18 million to Vietnam for Metal Shark patrol boats
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/government/157080/us-pledges--18-million-to-vietnam-for-metal-shark-patrol-boats.html
The White House statement dated May 23 said that the two sides have expanded cooperation on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, including through the Pacific Partnership and Pacific Angel engagements and joint humanitarian training exercises.
“The United States is strengthening security cooperation with Vietnam, including helping the government build its maritime security capabilities, by providing more than $45.7 million since FY 2014 through the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing and law enforcement capacity building programs,” the press release said.
Additional assistance is provided through the Department of Defense’s Cooperative Threat Reduction Program and Maritime Security Initiative (MSI) funding, a regional initiative for which the Department of Defense has committed $425 million over five years.
According to the announcement, the US will provide 18 MetalShark 45-foot patrol boats, as well as training and maritime law enforcement equipment to the Vietnam Coast Guard. The two Navies are working more closely together to ensure maritime security and safety.
The US stressed that relations between the two countries are at a historic high following the establishment of the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership in 2013 and the celebration of 20 years of diplomatic relations in 2015. The US President’s visit to Vietnam built on this positive momentum to cement the progress of the last few years and propel our bilateral relationship to the next level.
US President Barack Obama made an official visit to Vietnam from May 23 to 25. During a joint press conference with President Tran Dai Quang on May 23, President Obama announced that the US completely removed arms embargo against Vietnam.
>>30086138
MetalShark's Inside
Disputes: China's low-bat support vs Philippine backers
http://www.manilatimes.net/disputes-chinas-low-bat-support-vs-philippine-backers/264578/
Beijing's naval drill in South China Sea targeted no one: Chinese rear admiral http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1956346/beijings-naval-drill-south-china-sea-targeted-no-one
A major Chinese naval drill in the South China Sea and beyond targeted no one; its commander told state media on Friday.
Rear Admiral Zhou Xuming, vice-commander of the South Sea Fleet and commander of the strike group, said media speculation about the drill involving some of China’s most advanced warships were “misunderstandings” as the exercise was aimed at “improving the capability and quality of the troops”.
“We … do not target at any particular heated spot or region,” Zhou was quoted by China News Agency as saying on the drill.
“It is only our fleet’s regular training, an annual routine,” he said.
A strike group of three guided-missile destroyers, two frigates and a supply ship, in addition to submarine and aircraft carrier of the South Sea Fleet of the People’s Liberation Army Navy have been conducting exercises in the disputed South China Sea, as well as the western Pacific Ocean and eastern Indian Ocean since the beginning of this month.
The drill attracted international attention amid the US military’s increasing sea patrol and flyover in the disputed region, while China expedited construction of its facilities and arms deployments in the islands.
The group had sailed 8,000 nautical miles through six important straits over the past 23 days, Zhou said.
It led a garrison to conduct an attack and defence exercise off Subi Reef. The ships patrolled six other Chinese-controlled reefs in the Spratly Islands, including the Fiery Cross Reef only a day before the US guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence navigated within 12 nautical miles of it.
It also conducted live-fire combat drills under the close surveillance of the US and Japanese navy vessels in the western part of the Pacific Ocean.
