Monday, February 4, 2013

DTN News - KOREAN PENINSULA NEWS: S. Korea, U.S. Conduct Joint Naval Drill Amid Nuclear Test Tension

Defense News: DTN News -  KOREAN PENINSULA NEWSS. Korea, U.S. Conduct Joint Naval Drill Amid Nuclear Test Tension
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources  By Kim Eun-jung  - Yon Hap News
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 4, 2013: South Korea and the United States on Monday began a joint naval drill along the eastern coast, military officials said, sending what appears to be a warning to North Korea as it threatens to conduct a third nuclear test.

   The three-day exercise kicked off earlier in the day in the East Sea to test the combat readiness of the two allies, in an apparent effort to give a warning to North Korea ahead of its possible nuclear test in the northeastern tip of the country.

Two U.S. ships equipped with long-range cruise missiles -- the USS San Francisco, a 6,800-ton nuclear submarine, and the 9,800-ton Aegis cruiser Shilo -- were mobilized for the exercise held near the eastern port city of Pohang.

   The South Korean Navy deployed 10 vessels, including one 7,600-ton Aegis destroyer, a corvette and its newest Type-214 submarines as well as anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircrafts and maritime helicopters.

   "Naval forces of South Korea and the United States started to carry out drills in the East Sea," an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. "The exercise involves naval maneuvers, submarine detection, live-fire drills and anti-ballistic missile drills."

   Gen. Jung Seung-jo, the JCS Chairman, last Friday said the joint drill aims to guard against possible North Korean provocations involving submarines.

   North Korea has a large fleet of submarines, and one of them is suspected to have torpedoed a South Korean Navy warship in the Yellow Sea in March 2010 killing 46 sailors.

   The latest move comes after Pyongyang has threatened to carry out its third nuclear test in response to United Nations Security Council sanctions imposed for its December long-range rocket launch.

   On Sunday, the North's state media said Kim Jong-un made an "important" decision regarding the communist state's security and sovereignty, fueling expectations for an imminent nuclear test.

   South Korean and American intelligence officials have been analyzing daily updates from satellite imagery of the Punggye-ri site, where one of three tunnels has been recently covered with a camouflage net in an attempt to foil their efforts to detect early signs of a nuclear test.

   Earthquake monitoring stations and military officials have been on standby to detect seismic tremors and measure increased radiation in the air in case of a detonation.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Kim Eun-jung  - Yon Hap News
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - IRAN DEFENSE NEWS: Iran Unveils Its Very Own Stealth Fighter

Defense News: DTN News - IRAN DEFENSE NEWS: Iran Unveils Its Very Own Stealth Fighter
*Iran claims to have produced a stealth fighter, proof of the country's will to "conquer scientific peaks", according to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Telegraph UK
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 4, 2013: Iran has unveiled its newest combat jet, a domestically manufactured fighter-bomber that military officials claim can evade radar.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a ceremony broadcast on state TV that building the Qaher F-313, or Dominant F-313, shows Iran's will to "conquer scientific peaks."

The Qaher is one of several aircraft designs the Iranian military has rolled out since 2007. 

Tehran has repeatedly claimed to have developed advanced military technologies in recent years, but its claims cannot be independently verified because the country does not release technical details of its arsenals.

The Islamic republic launched a self-sufficient military program in the 1980s to compensate for a Western weapons embargo that banned export of military technology and equipment to Iran. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles, torpedoes, drones and fighter planes.

"Qaher is a fully indigenous aircraft designed and built by our aerospace experts. This is a radar-evading plane that can fly at low altitude, carry weapons, engage enemy aircrafts and land at short airstrips," Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said.

Vahidi said advanced materials were used to manufacture the body of the aircraft, making it Iran's best stealth plane.

However, some reports suggest that Iran's program relies on equipment supplied by major international defense contractors and that it incorporates parts made abroad or uses outside engineered technologies in its domestic designs.

Still photos of the Qaher released by the official IRNA news agency and pictures on state TV showed a single-seat jet. They described it as a fighter-bomber that can combat other aircraft and ground targets.

Iran's English-language state Press TV said Qaher was similar to the American-made F/A-18, an advanced fighter capable of dogfighting as well as penetrating enemy air defenses to strike ground targets.

But Hasan Parvaneh, an official in charge of the project, said the physical design of the Iranian plane was unique and bore no resemblance to any foreign fighter jet.

"Development depends on our will. If we don't have a will, no one can take us there," Mr Ahmadinejad told the inauguration ceremony in Tehran. "Once we imported cars and assembled them here. Now, we are at a point where we can design, build and get planes in the air."

Mr Ahmadinejad said Qaher was built for deterrence.

"It's not for expansionism. It's for deterrence," he said, claiming the aircraft was among the most advanced fighter jets in the world.

In 2007, Iran unveiled what it said was its first domestically manufactured fighter jet, called Azarakhsh or Lightning. In the same year, it claimed that Azarakhsh had reached industrial production stage.

Saeqeh, or Thunder, was a follow-up aircraft derived from Azarakhsh. Iran unveiled its first squadron of Saeqeh fighter bombers in an air show in September 2010

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Telegraph UK
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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