Chinese warship came within 45 yards of USS Decatur in South China Sea

Luis Martinez at ABC News is reporting that the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Decatur had to maneuver to avoid a collision on Sunday after a Chinese warship came within 45 yards of its bow as the American ship transited a disputed island chain in the South China Sea on Sunday, U.S. defense officials said.

he close encounter that the U.S. Navy characterized as "unsafe and unprofessional" comes at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and China.

"At approximately 0830 local time on September 30, a PRC LUYANG destroyer approached USS DECATUR in an unsafe and unprofessional maneuver in the vicinity of Gaven Reef in the South China Sea," said Capt. Charlie Brown, a U.S. Pacific Fleet Spokesman.

Gaven Reef is located in the Spratly Islands chain in the South China Sea where China claims seven man-made islands as its own.

The close encounter with the Chinese warship occurred as the American destroyer was carrying out a freedom of navigation operation (FONOPs) in the Spratlys, the U.S. said.

The U.S. Navy routinely undertakes FONOP missions worldwide to challenge excessive territorial claims of international shipping lanes.

USS Decatur had sailed within 12 nautical miles of Gaven and Johnson Reefs in the Spratly Islands when it was approached by the Chinese destroyer.

Over the last week, the U.S. and Chinese military relationship has deteriorated as both countries are engaged in a bitter trade dispute.

Last week, a U.S. Air Force B-52 flew a mission through the East China Sea and two other B-52 flights were carried out through the South China Sea.

Also last week, China refused a port of call in Hong Kong to the U.S. Navy ship USS Wasp slated for October and pulled a top admiral from a scheduled meeting with his U.S. Navy counterpart.

On Monday, a U.S. official confirmed that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had canceled a planned trip to China in October after China had downgraded the level of officials he was to meet.

The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Decatur had to maneuver to avoid a collision on Sunday after a Chinese warship came within 45 yards of its bow as the American ship transited a disputed island chain in the South China Sea on Sunday, U.S. defense officials said.

he close encounter that the U.S. Navy characterized as "unsafe and unprofessional" comes at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and China.

"At approximately 0830 local time on September 30, a PRC LUYANG destroyer approached USS DECATUR in an unsafe and unprofessional maneuver in the vicinity of Gaven Reef in the South China Sea," said Capt. Charlie Brown, a U.S. Pacific Fleet Spokesman.

Gaven Reef is located in the Spratly Islands chain in the South China Sea where China claims seven man-made islands as its own.

The close encounter with the Chinese warship occurred as the American destroyer was carrying out a freedom of navigation operation (FONOPs) in the Spratlys, the U.S. said.

The U.S. Navy routinely undertakes FONOP missions worldwide to challenge excessive territorial claims of international shipping lanes.

USS Decatur had sailed within 12 nautical miles of Gaven and Johnson Reefs in the Spratly Islands when it was approached by the Chinese destroyer.

Over the last week, the U.S. and Chinese military relationship has deteriorated as both countries are engaged in a bitter trade dispute.

Last week, a U.S. Air Force B-52 flew a mission through the East China Sea and two other B-52 flights were carried out through the South China Sea.

Also last week, China refused a port of call in Hong Kong to the U.S. Navy ship USS Wasp slated for October and pulled a top admiral from a scheduled meeting with his U.S. Navy counterpart.
On Monday, a U.S. official confirmed that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had canceled a planned trip to China in October after China had downgraded the level of officials he was to meet.

Read the full story at https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/chinese-warship-45-yards-uss-decatur-south-china/story?id=58210760

China holds war games near Korean border

Bill Gertz is reporting on the The Washington Free Beacon that
China’s military is holding large-scale military maneuvers near the North Korean border amid new signs of political instability in Pyongyang.

U.S. military intelligence assets in Asia—including satellites, aircraft and ships—are monitoring the war games by the 39th Army Group that are part of the Shenyang military region.

A defense official said the war games are routine winter training and do not appear related to the ouster of No. 2 North Korean leader Jang Song Thaek, confirmed by the Pyongyang regime Sunday night.

You can read the rest of this story by clicking here.

Troubled Waters -- Eastern Med/Syria Crisis Deepens

There is a lot of military hardware either sailing to or in the Eastern Med right now. MilcomMP has been going over all the reports and here is what we have been able to gleam from them.



Russian Destroyer Nastoychivy 610 (Photo by  CDR JAMIE MORRISON, USN 2005)

Russia is sending two destroyers, including the Nastoychivy, the flagship of the Baltic Fleet, and the Moskva missile cruiser (the Black Fleet flagship) to the region, according to an Interfax report, citing an unidentified Navy official.

The Moskva, set to arrive in a little over a week’s time, will take over operations from a naval unit in the region.

"The plans of the naval unit under the command of Rear Admiral Valery Kulikov had to be changed a little. Instead of visiting a Cape Verde port, the cruiser Moskva is heading to the Strait of Gibraltar. In about ten days, it will enter the eastern Mediterranean, where it will replace the destroyer Admiral Panteleyev as the flagship of the operative junction of the Russian Navy," a source told Interfax on Wednesday.

Panteleyev incidentally, only arrived in the east Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday after leaving the Far-Eastern port city of Vladivostok on March 19 to join the Russian standing naval force as its flagship.

Russian Missile Cruiser Moskva, flagship of the Black Sea fleet

That follows last week’s dispatch of a reconnaissance ship to the eastern Mediterranean, four days after the deployment of an anti-submarine ship and a missile cruiser to the area, which were reported by Interfax. Syria hosts Russia’s only military facility outside the former Soviet Union, at the port of Tartus.

Kashin Class Destroyer Smetlivy in the Red Sea

Two days ago the RIA-Novosti agency said two ships from Russia's Black Sea Fleet, the frigate Smetlivy would leave for the Mediterranean on September 12-14, and the corvette Shtil and missile boat Ivanovets would approach Syria at the end of the month. RIA is also reporting that the landing ship Nikolai Filchenkov is heading for the Eastern Med. There is an interesting article at http://defense-update.com/20130907_45211.html on the mission of the Nikolai Filchenkov going to Syria.

Russian Landing Ship Nikolai Filchenkov

According to AFP, three ships from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet sailed through Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait on Thursday Sep 6: the SSV-201 intelligence-gathering ship Priazovye, and the landing ships Minsk and Novocherkassk.



Russian Intel Gathering Ship Priazovye SSV-201

So let's see what we have here, if all of these reports are all accurate: RFS Nastoychivy 610, the flagship of the Baltic Fleet, the Moskva missile cruiser, the frigate Smetlivy, the SSV-201 intelligence-gathering ship Priazovye, the landing ship Minsk, the landing ship Novocherkassk, the landing ship Nikolai Filchenkov, the corvette Shtil, the missile boat Ivanovets, and probably some unknown number of Russian submarines that hang around their high value units like Moskva.

Russian Land Ship Minsk

Russian Landing Ship Novocherkassk

Russia is temporarily bolstering its naval presence in the region to improve its surveillance capability over U.S. ships and submarines deployed in the area and to ensure security for Russian citizens residing in Syria, according to a Russian official who asked not to be named, citing government policy.

According to the Russian news outlet Telegrafist.org, the People’s Liberation Army dispatched the Jinggangshan amphibious dock landing ship and the vessel was seen passing through the Red Sea towards the Suez Canal, the waterway in Egypt that leads to the Mediterranean Sea and waters off the coast of Israel, Lebanon and Syria.

 

Chinese Jinggangshan Amphibious Dock Landing Ship

 

According to the report, the ship has not been sent to engage in any aggressive actions but is merely there to “observe” the actions of Russian and US warships. However, the Jinggangshan is equipped for combat, has conventional armaments and secondary cannons, and was utilized as part of a “show of force” in maneuvers aimed at defending the South China Sea earlier this year.

 

The report states that additional PLA warships have also been sent to the region but that their identity is unknown.

Five U.S. Arleigh Burke destroyers (USS Ramage, USS Mahan, USS Gravely, USS Barry and the USS Stout, which may be relieving the Mahan) and an amphibious ship USS San Antonio are currently positioned in the eastern Mediterranean awaiting strike orders from DoD.

The USS San Antonio, with several helicopters and hundreds of Marines on board, is “on station in the Eastern Mediterranean” but “has received no specific tasking,” a defense official told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.

The USS Nimitz and three other warships from its Carrier Strike Group are also stationed in the nearby Red Sea. The other ships in the strike group are the cruiser USS Princeton and the destroyers USS William P. Lawrence, USS Stockdale and USS Shoup.

A US military official said the carrier strike group has not been assigned a mission, but was shifted in the event its resources are needed to “maximize available options.”
 
The USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and strike group is also in the northern Arabian Sea.

Another media report on naval assets in the area can be found at http://rt.com/news/naval-forces-syria-strike-514/.

That is probably the most fire power concentrated in that area of the world since the end of the Cold War.

Chinese Diplo Comms?

Eddy Waters on the UDXF newsgroup passed along the following intercepts a couple of days ago. Does anyone knowfor sure who in China originates these transmissions?

10265.97 :China 4+4 75/3000 LSB four number group messages 1135 (17 November 2012)

11141.97 :China 4+4 75/3000 LSB four number group messages 1052 (17 November 2012)

13931.97 :China 4+4 75/3000 LSB four number group messages 1112 (17 November 2012)

Thanks Eddie for sharing with the rest of us.

And from MT's Digital Digest guru Mike Chase-Ortiz:

10803.0  :China 4+4 HF modem, tfc UNID Chinese Diplo (on LSB)

So are these Diplo or Military comms? Anyone know for sure?

China to hold large-scale air force drill

Reuters India is reporting that China's air force begins a five-day exercise on Tuesday with fighter jets, spy planes and helicopters, state media said, against a backdrop of increased diplomatic and military tensions with Washington.

The increased activity comes as China and the United States have argued over joint U.S.-South Korean drills in the seas off South Korea, and coincides with Beijing's anger at U.S. comments about a sensitive territorial dispute in the South China Sea.

The new drills, featuring more than 12,000 soldiers, will take place across the central province of Henan and eastern coastal province of Shandong, which backs onto the Yellow Sea, the official Xinhua news agency said in a brief report.

Part of the "Vanguard 2010" exercises will take place at night, Xinhua said

China reacted with fury to joint U.S. and South Korean drills in the Yellow Sea last month, which ended up being largely shifted to the Sea of Japan.

Beijing said the manoeuvres threatened its security and regional stability. The United States and South Korea said they were aimed at deterring North Korea.

That spat was followed by another, this time involving the strategically-located South China Sea, an area disputed by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines.

China has repeatedly said its claims on the waters and islands of the sea are indisputable, and denounced U.S. comments on the issue at a security forum in Vietnam last month.

China's growing military might and increased defence spending have raised alarm bells around the region, especially in Japan and Taiwan, the self-ruled island over which Beijing asserts sovereignty.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

China PLA officer urges challenging U.S. dominance

Blog Editor Note: Not only does China have the world's largest shortwave broadcaster, but Asia is the world's hotbed of shortwave broadcast activity. Advanced shortwave broadcast listeners who monitor the world's hot spots need to keep a listening watch on Asia, specifically China and North Korea.

Reuters article by Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - China should build the world's strongest military and move swiftly to topple the United States as the global "champion," a senior Chinese PLA officer says in a new book reflecting swelling nationalist ambitions.

The call for China to abandon modesty about its global goals and "sprint to become world number one" comes from a People's Liberation Army (PLA) Senior Colonel, Liu Mingfu, who warns that his nation's ascent will alarm Washington, risking war despite Beijing's hopes for a "peaceful rise."

"China's big goal in the 21st century is to become world number one, the top power," Liu writes in his newly published Chinese-language book, The China Dream.

"If China in the 21st century cannot become world number one, cannot become the top power, then inevitably it will become a straggler that is cast aside," writes Liu, a professor at the elite National Defense University, which trains rising officers.

His 303-page book stands out for its boldness even in a recent chorus of strident Chinese voices demanding a hard shove back against Washington over trade, Tibet, human rights, and arms sales to Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own.

You can read the rest of this fascinating copyrighted piece online at
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6200P620100301

China readies military space station – launch coincides with shuttle phaseout

Craig Covault is reporting on the Spacefilght Now website that the Chinese is aggressively accelerating the pace of its manned space program by developing a 17,000 lb. man-tended military space laboratory planned for launch by late 2010. The mission will coincide with a halt in U.S. manned flight with phase-out of the shuttle.
You can read the complete story at http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0903/02chinastation/