Why Modi Government Engaged Pakistan in Secrecy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi & his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif meeting in Paris

The outcome of the Bangkok NSA-level talks underscores that Pakistan has got exactly what it wanted -- talks at different levels, talks on Kashmir, talks on mutual concerns regarding terrorism, talks on ceasefire on the border. What if any has been India’s gains remains unexplained, says Ambassador M K Bhadra kumar.

There can be no two opinions that the resumption of talks between India and Pakistan is always a welcome development. India’s obdurate stance on dialogue had become unsustainable.

The Indian stance on talks with Pakistan, which was forcefully articulated by none other than External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in August in a memorable press conference in Delhi, had completely collapsed.

However, if the Indian public tends to see the meeting between the national security advisors of the two countries that took place in Bangkok on Sunday as a grand betrayal, the government can only blame itself.

The government made no effort to take the public into confidence following the 167-second meeting between the two prime ministers in Paris over a week ago to put across the point of view that a pressing need has arisen to re-engage Pakistan.

At a minimum, Delhi could have avoided the shroud of secrecy beneath the four-hour long engagement in Bangkok yesterday in a “candid, constructive and constructive atmosphere”. It is all too funny for words.

What explains the need for such cloak-and-dagger Kissinger-style diplomacy? Was it to cover up the dramatic U-turn in the government’s Pakistan policy?

One would like to believe that Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself had a profound rethink and decided that it is in the national interest to resume the dialogue with Pakistan. 

But, then, the spin being given to the Bangkok meeting by government sources is dripping with sophistry. It is pathetic to hear the spin that while the Kashmir issue came up during the Bangkok meeting, it was only about the ‘law and order’ part of the issue and not the ‘political part’.

The public expects and deserves a credible explanation. To be sure, the government can make a convincing case to explain to the public that a fundamental rethink in the country’s Pakistan policy has become necessary and unavoidable.

Any number of convincing reasons can be advanced to explain why India will be far better off without carrying the Albatross of the Kashmir issue, without the border tensions, without having to live under the shadow of terrorism.

The emergent new Cold War tensions and a strong likelihood of South Asia becoming a major theatre where big-power rivalries play out; the fragile regional security scenario; the spectre of the Islamic State haunting the region; the Afghan endgame; the imperatives of regional cooperation for India as an emerging power -- all these are compelling reasons why India ought to remain engaged with Pakistan in the present fluid climate of regional and international politics.

The country knows that a reintegration of the Taliban with the mainstream Afghan national life is what the international community demands today. On the other hand, it also knows that Pakistan today cannot pose any real threat to India and is focused largely on its own internal problems.

Clearly, our ‘containment strategy’ against Pakistan has not worked. Indian diplomacy has failed to isolate Pakistan in the world community.

On the contrary, Pakistan has successfully projected itself as a reasonable interlocutor, open to dialogue with India without pre-conditions to resolve differences peacefully through discussions, and has been far more optimal than India in the pursuit of a multi-vector foreign policy, which is attuned to the multipolar world.

In sum, what India needs is indeed a leap of faith in its Pakistan policy so that an uninterruptible engagement with that country becomes possible.

Modi is likely to visit Pakistan in November next year. Sufficient ground can be covered in the 11-month period ahead so that Modi’s Pakistan visit becomes a landmark event in the history and politics of the subcontinent.

Of course, it is a daunting challenge to resolve the longstanding differences with Pakistan unless there is a national consensus behind it. The best hope, therefore, is that Modi has girded up his loins to marginalize the “hawks” in his own camp, and in a chastened mood after the crushing defeat in the Bihar state elections, proposes to turn a new leaf.

But, then, things are not as simple as they might seem. The point is, the Modi government is entrapped in its own legacy. The majority opinion in the country favors normalisation with Pakistan, while it is the government’s “natural allies” who are clamouring for Hindu rashtra, Akhand Bharat, annexation of the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and the Northern Areas and such other bizarre ideas.

Unless these “natural allies” are reined in, it becomes problematic for the Modi government to pursue a consistent policy aimed at normalisation of India’s relations with Pakistan.

All in all, the secretive air about the scheduling of the Bangkok meeting and the laboured explanations since being given to it engender the uneasy feeling that the government remains a prisoner of its hardline constituency of militant nationalism.

In the absence of any rational explanation, the only conclusion one can draw is that the government may be acting under international pressure -- plainly put, Modi may have caved in under pressure from the US and simply going through the motions of engagement with Pakistan.

However, the great difficulty with such an explanation is that if it is indeed the case, the government is once again lurching toward an engagement with Pakistan without a coherent agenda or ‘big picture’ in view.

The danger here is that such on-again, off-again engagements with an adversarial power like Pakistan cannot have a happy ending. This fresh splurge in “constructive engagement” of Pakistan without a coherent agenda and a big picture in mind -- and simply to please Barack Obama or David Cameron -- can prove a costly misadventure, because, make no mistake, Islamabad knows precisely what it wants and it has not budged an inch from the position it took in August.

The widespread feeling in Pakistan is that normalisation with India will have to wait for the post-Modi era. If anything, Pakistan’s position has only hardened since August.

According to the grapevine, Islamabad plainly ignored Modi’s repeated overtures in September for a meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, before finally condescending to the 167-second meeting and the handshake in Paris -- and that, too, only after the visits by Prime Minister Sharif and army chief Gen Raheel Sharif to the US, which shored up American support for Pakistan’s core concerns such as talks with India on Kashmir, “strategic balance” in South Asia, “mutual concerns” with India regarding terrorism, peace and tranquility on the border, etc.

The outcome of the Bangkok talks underscores that Pakistan has got exactly what it wanted -- talks at different levels, talks on Kashmir, talks on mutual concerns regarding terrorism, talks on ceasefire on the border. What if any has been India’s gains remains unexplained.

Someone in the government should throw light on this area of darkness.

 

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Doval Dossier Exposes Pakistan State Actors’ Terror Link

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval flagged terror, especially Pakistan’s direct involvement in terror financing, at the unannounced and ‘secret’ meeting with his counterpart Nasser Khan Janjua in Bangkok on Sunday.
Express has accessed copies of documents that India has given to Pakistan at the meeting. In the dossiers, India bluntly told Pakistan that terror factories continue to operate on its soil because state-backed terror financing mechanism has been allowed to grow by state actors. India also handed over clinching evidence to Janjua establishing the role of Pakistan’s state actors in terror funding. In fact, India provided detailed accounts of cases that tie Pakistan to terror outfits.
The documents say Hafeez Sayeed’s Jamaat-Ud-Dawah is using a charity organisation Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) as a front to fund Lashkar-e-Toiba’s terror activities but no action has been taken by Pakistani authorities. Hizbul-Mujahideen, which emerged as the biggest threat in Jammu & Kashmir by recruiting locals, is using Al Hilal trust as a front to generate funding.
Both FIF and Al Hilal are sheltered by Pakistan authorities and the ISI. India also raised the issue of Dawood Ibrahim, 26/11 and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, military commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba and key planner of Mumbai terror attacks. Despite overwhelming evidence provided by India and Pakistan’s own federal investigative agency, the trial of 26/11 accused has been delayed by Pakistani authorities. India believes evidence was not produced on time in the court to nail the terrorists behind the attacks.
Besides, the Indian dossiers named suspects behind terror outfits and their finances while giving details of intelligence gathered by Indian agencies as well as inputs received from foreign agencies and those gleaned from interrogation of arrested operatives. A suspect arrested in September last year had given the name of an ISI official deputed to coordinate and finance activities of Sikh militants sheltered by Pakistan authorities.
As per the intelligence agencies’ disclosures, secret funds generated by the ISI are used for funding Sikh militants’ anti-India operation. The major general level officer is part of a larger network involving Pakistani civil and even foreign officials. India has asked Pakistan to take immediate action against the racket and crackdown on charities funding the terror outfit.

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Russian Kilo-class sub with cruise missiles in Mediterranean off Syria coast - reports

A Russian advanced Kilo-class submarine has appeared near the Syrian coast, according to a source in the Russian MoD cited by Interfax. The Rostov-on-Don sub is equipped with modern Russian Kalibr cruise missiles.

In mid-November, there were reports of the same submarine allegedly striking targets in the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa.
The reports were neither denied nor confirmed by the Russian MoD. Russia struck Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) targets in Syria with modern Kalibr cruise missiles fired from its warships in the Caspian Sea in early October.
18 cruise missiles were fired from Russian warships in late November as well.
Known as 'Improved Kilo' under a NATO code name, the Rostov-on-Don (B-237) is the first trade-off model of the third generation submarines of the Varshavyanka class (Project 636) subs. The diesel-electric stealth sub is believed to be the quietest in the world. It also possesses an extended combat range and its relatively small size helps it maneuver in shallow waters.

The sub is armed with 533mm torpedoes and reportedly Kalibr-PL (submarine modification) water-to-surface cruise missiles. The sub weighs 4,000 tons, reaches underwater speeds of 20 knots (37kmp/h) and can dive to a depth of 300 meters. It has a 52-man crew and can spend 45 days at sea before needing to go to port. NATO has called this type of submarine a “black hole” for its ability to remain undetected.

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China to build navy base in Djibouti: Djiboutian minister

China is to build its first naval base in Djibouti, the Djiboutian foreign minister said Friday, in the latest sign of China’s growing international security presence.

Djibouti is seen as a key strategic location in the Horn of Africa, with United States, France and Japan already having facilities in the country.

“The negotiations have come to an end and the naval base will be built in Djibouti,” Mahamoud Ali Youssouf told AFP on the sidelines of a summit of African leaders in Johannesburg.

“The goal of the base is to fight against pirates… and most of all to secure the Chinese ships using this very important strait that is important to all the countries in the world.”

“For Djibouti, it’s an additional strategic ally.”

A former French colony, Djibouti guards the entrance to the Red Sea and, ultimately, the Suez Canal, and has been used by international navies as a hub in the fight against piracy from neighbouring Somalia.

“For a few years with the instability in Somalia, this region has become a refuge for pirates and the terrorist movements,” Youssouf said.

In May, Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh told AFP that talks over the military base were underway.

Guelleh met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the summit in Johannesburg, where China announced $60 billion of assistance and loans for Africa.

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India's First Indigenous Aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant to be Delivered in December 2018 India's minister of defense announced that the indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant will be delivered to the Indian Navy in December 2018. The non-availability of warship grade steel, delayed ordering of propulsion system integration and delay in russian approvals for design and equipment supply are the reasons for the hold back. India on June 10th 2015 undocked its first indigenously-built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant at Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) in the South West of the country. The ship is currently undergoing final outfitting. The launch of the 37,500-tonnes, 260 metres long and is 60 metres wide vessel was behind schedule by three years. It is expected to start its sea trials in 2016. Maximum speed of the ship is announced at 28 knots, the ship reported range is 7,500 nautical miles at a speed of 18 knots. INS Vikrant is set to receive a large crew complement composed of 160 officers and 1,400 sailors. The aircraft carrier will be able to accommodate 30 fighters and helicopters, including Mig-29K fighters and Ka-31 helicopters. India's first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant. Picture: Indian Navy source

Russia deployed two S-400 air defense missile regiments in Arctic in 2015 — General Staff

S-400 air defense system

ST. PETERSBURG, December 8. /TASS/. In 2015, Russia has activated and deployed to the Arctic two separate S-400 Triumph air defense (AD) missile regiments, a source in the Russian General Staff told TASS on Tuesday.
"Two S-400 regiments have been activated and deployed to the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago and the city of Tiksi in Yakutia this year under the program on reinforcing the 2014-formed Arctic force, with the program dubbed Northern Fleet - Unified Strategic Command," the officer told TASS during the 5th Arctic - Today and Tomorrow International Forum.
According to the source, Pantsir-S AD missile/gun system batteries have been deployed along with the S-400 regiments to provide close-in defense for the S-400s. In addition, a Bastion (SSC-5) coastal defense missile battalion has been deployed to Novaya Zemlya to defend against sea-to-shore attacks. "The units are on alert round the clock," the source stressed.

He said the coastal defense missile, AD missile and AD missile/gun units have also been deployed and placed on alert duty on all other Arctic islands and in some areas on Russia’s Arctic mainland, with some elements having been stationed in Kotelny and Wrangel islands since November last year. "Aircraft control posts and radio-technical, radar and space surveillance unit positions have been established in all of their stations along the Northern Sea Route from the Kola Peninsula and Novaya Zemlya to Anadyr and Cape Schmidt in the east. All of them are on alert duty," the source added.
Protection of Arctic frontiers has been included in the list of the Russian Armed Force’s tasks since 2014. Russia has also established a united strategic command for the North.
Head of the National Defense Control Center Mikhail Mizintsev has said Russia will build 13 aerodromes, one aviation training range and 10 technical positions of radar units and aviation guidance points in the Arctic.
The Russian Defense Ministry has formed military groupings on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, the Frantz Joseph Land Islands, the New Siberian archipelago, Wrangel Island and Cape Schmidt and has started to create seven aerodromes in Yakutia, Taimyr and Chukotka.
The army groupings have received the status of the fifth military district in Russia whose area of responsibility also includes the Northern Pole.

Russia is set to build six military cantonments in the Arctic along the western part of the Northern Sea Route. The projects are under way on the Alexander Land Island, the village of Rogachyovo on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, the Sredny Island on the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, Cape Schmidt and the Wrangel Island in Chukotka and on the Kotelny Island on the New Siberian archipelago.
A total of 57,700 tons of construction materials were delivered to these areas in the first half of this year and another 24,200 tons are ready for dispatch.
The Russian Arctic is protected by the advanced S-400 air defense missile system and the Pantsir-S1 missile and gun complexes. Deputy Commander of the 1st air defense division Sergey Denisov has said a radar unit has been deployed in the village of Rogachyovo on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago and an antiaircraft missile regiment will be established there. A radar unit will also be deployed on Sredny Island.

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Russia reportedly achieved equipping six military bases in Arctic region

Russia has completed equipping its six military bases in the Arctic, a high-ranking source in the Russian army’s General Staff told TASS on Monday. "According to the General Staff’s execution documents, the work for the deployment and equipment of six military bases on the Arctic islands and in the polar part of mainland Russia is completed," the source said at the fifth international forum that discusses the Arctic and its present and future.

The source said that the bases were deployed on the islands of Kotelny (New Siberian Islands), Alexandra Land (part of the Franz-Joseph Land archipelago), Sredny (Severnaya Zemlya), as well as in the Rogachevo settlement (Novaya Zemlya), on Cape Schmidt and Wrangel Island (part of the Chukotka autonomous area).

In 2014, President Vladimir Putin included the defense of the country’s Arctic borders in the list of the main tasks of the Armed Forces. To this end, the Arctic Joint Strategic Command North was established in 2014 by the Russian military on the basis of the Northern Fleet, then it was reinforced with manpower and hardware from the Western, Central and Eastern Military Districts stationed in circumpolar areas.

The ground element of the command will incorporate two Arctic motorised infantry brigades, Air Defense forces consisting of Pantsir-S1 missile and other systems, and the Northern Fleet will become its main striking force. Furthermore, by 2017 the Tiksi airport complex will be operational, and it will be garrisoned with upgraded MiG-31 interceptors.

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U.S. Navy Next Generation Destroyer Zumwalt (DDG 1000) Headed to Sea for Trials

The future USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) sailed out of General Dynamics-Bath Iron Works shipyard in Bath, Maine, yesteday for the very first trials (called builder trials). Zumwalt is the largest destroyer ever built for the U.S Navy. This initial builder sea trials will help check basic systems onboard as well as the seaworthiness of the inverse bow design.

The Zumwalt-class destroyer represents the next-generation of multi-mission surface combatants and will enable access in the open ocean, littoral and ashore. The Navy has procured three Zumwalt-class destroyers.

The ship includes new technologies that deliver capability now and serve as a springboard for incorporation into future ship classes. DDG 1000 is the first U.S. Navy surface combatant to employ an innovative and highly survivable Integrated Power System which will provide power to propulsion, ship's service, and combat system loads from the same gas turbine prime movers. DDG 1000's power allocation flexibility allows for potentially significant energy savings and is well-suited to enable future high energy weapons and sensors.

As the prime mission systems integrator for the DDG 1000 ship class, Raytheon provides the multi-mission, integrated combat system capability for the program. General Dynamics-Bath Iron Works is the shipbuilder.

The ship features two advanced gun systems firing long-range land attack projectiles that reach up to 63 nautical miles, providing precision, high volume and persistent fire support to forces ashore, along with an approximate five-fold improvement in naval surface fire range. DDG 1000 will employ active and passive sensors and a multi-function radar capable of conducting area air surveillance, including over-land, throughout the extremely difficult and cluttered sea-land interface.

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India and Russia close to sign deal for Ka-226T multirole helicopters

India intends to purchase Russian Ka-226T multirole helicopters, after which discussions will be held about their joint production in one of the South Asian republics, says an official report received by the Russian news agency TASS from the Indian Defense Ministry.

"The Defense Procurement Council of India has approved the request for acquisition and subsequent coproduction of Ka-226T helicopters for the ground troops and air forces of India," the Defense Ministry specified. The number of helicopters India plans to acquire is not disclosed, but a TASS source, close to the Indian AF, mentioned "a possible initial order of roughly 50 machines."

"Initially it could be a total of 200 Ka-226T helicopters, including those acquired "off-the-shelf" and co-produced in India," he pointed out.

A proposal for co-production of Ka-226T was first discussed at the meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to New Delhi in December 2014. Back then the sides noted that the joint company could produce helicopters, including for export to third countries.

In late August 2015 a trilateral agreement was signed between Russia’s companies The Russian Helicopters and Rosoboronexport and their Indian partner, the private company Reliance Defense, for co-production of 200 Ka-226s. Appointed as the leading integrator of licensed production with the technology transfer from Russia was the Reliance Helicopters Joint Venture in which the Reliance is to get 51% of shares with the remaining 49% going to the Russian side.

The terms of the contract envision the transfer of all Ka-226T manufacture technologies to the Indian side and the production of at least half of the helicopters from the Indian-manufactured components.

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China's New Anti-Stealth Radar Material: Technology Could Make Jets, Ships Harder To Detect

An aircraft that is reported to be a Chinese stealth fighter is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan province, in this picture taken Jan. 7, 2011. Reuters/Kyodo

Chinese scientists have created a special material that could make stealth jets and ships even harder to detect by using current anti-stealth radar. While stealth materials already exist that effectively can absorb most of the specialized microwaves that are fired into the sky by radars to detect aircraft, it has always been too thick and heavy for modern jets to carry, a report published Thursday in the Journal of Applied Physics said.
Now, scientists in China have developed a far thinner and lighter stealth material. “Our proposed absorber is almost 10 times thinner than conventional ones,” Wenhua Xu, one of the team members from China’s Huazhong University of Science and Technology, said in the report.
The new technology demonstrates how China is rapidly catching up in an area of defense the U.S. traditionally has dominated. 
It’s not yet clear if the Chinese military has adopted the technology on its two stealth jets already in production, the Chengdu J-20 and the Shenyang J-31, or if it will attempt to advance the technology in the future to be even more
effective.
If it does, the capability of the Chinese military in the air and at sea will be increased dramatically and help close the technology gap between Beijing and the Pentagon. It could be argued that varying degrees of stealth technology enabled the U.S. military to dominate in the last century, stopping most technological gains by its Soviet enemy during that time.
“In the 1970s, Secretary of Defense Harold Brown, working closely with Undersecretary -- and future Defense Secretary -- Bill Perry, shepherded their own offset strategy, establishing the Long-Range Research and Development Planning Program that helped develop and field revolutionary new systems, such as extended-range precision-guided munitions, stealth aircraft, and new intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms,” former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said at a November 2014 event outlining the Pentagon’s newest technological push.
The result of the offset strategy was the Lockheed Martin F-35, long touted as the stealthiest fighter in production. However, in 2009, China was reported to have hacked into U.S. defense computers and stolen design and electronic data on the program, Reuters reported. While China denied the hack, both its most recent jets look nearly identical to the F-35.
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Flight tests of Russia’s 5th-generation fighter jet “practically completed”

The tests confirming the flight characteristics of Russia’s fifth-generation PAK FA (Prospective Airborne Complex of Frontline Aviation) fighter jet have been actually completed, Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV Channel on Monday.
“Several planes are now primarily testing airborne avionics. The tests proving the aircraft’s flight characteristics have practically been completed,” the deputy defense minister said.
Deputy Defense Minister Borisov earlier told the media the Russian military would purchase only a squadron of PAK FA fighter jets, compensating this with a larger order for Sukhoi Su-35 (NATO reporting name: Flanker-E) fighters.
The Sukhoi PAK FA (Prospective Airborne Complex of Frontline Aviation) is a fifth-generation fighter program of the Russian Air Force. The T-50 is the name of the prototype aircraft designed by Sukhoi for the PAK FA program. The aircraft is a stealthy, single-seat, twin-engine jet fighter, and will be the first operational aircraft in Russian service to use stealth technology. It is a multipurpose fighter designed for the air superiority and attack roles. The fighter is planned to have super-cruise, stealth, super-manoeuvrability and advanced avionics to overcome the prior generation of fighter aircraft as well as ground and maritime defences.
The PAK FA is intended to be the successor to the MiG-29 and Su-27 in the Russian Air Force and serve as the basis for the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft being co-developed by Sukhoi and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force. PAK FA fighter first flew in 2010.

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Russia Loses Advanced Military Satellite After Launch

A Russian Soyuz-2.1v rocket launches two satellites on Dec. 5, 2015

MOSCOW — Russia has lost communication with a newly developed military satellite after it apparently failed to separate from the booster rocket after its launch, a source in the country’s air and space forces told TASS state news agency on Monday.

“The spacecraft ... is recognized as lost since it is impossible to use it according to its purpose,” the source said, adding that a repeat attempt to separate the satellite from the upper-stage rocket was unsuccessful.

A Soyuz-2.1B rocket carrying two satellites blasted off from Plesetsk cosmodrome on Saturday.

On Sunday, RIA Novosti state news agency reported that one of the two satellites had apparently not separated from the upper-stage rocket, citing a source in the space industry.

The lost satellite called Kanopus-ST, named after the star Canopus, is both for civilian and military use, reported Kommersant business daily, citing sources in the space industry.

It was developed to scan the Earth’s oceans and weather systems from space including spotting submarines for the military. The satellite took 10 years to develop and was considered highly promising.

A member of the commission set up to investigate the incident told Kommersant that the problem appeared to be with the attachment of the upper-stage rocket to the satellite, which did not open up on time.

The satellite will fall back to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere in the next two or three days, a source told Kommersant.

Moscow has not yet officially commented on the space incident.

Russia has lost a number of costly satellites, which it launches commercially for other countries as well as for its own needs. Most recently it lost a Mexican satellite in May.

In 2014, a Russian rocket carrying its most advanced communication satellite to date fell back to Earth in a blow to the space industry.

In 2013, a Russian Rocket carrying three Russian-made Glonass navigation satellites also failed.

 

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PLZ04/05 155mm Self Propelled Howitzers update.

PLZ04/05 155mm Self Propelled Howitzers update.

In a series of photos and CCTV reports released by the PLA (here) recently, it appears that they have significantly upgraded the fire power of their infantry divisions belonging to the Nanjing Military Region with PLZ04/05 155mm Self Propelled Howitzers.

The PLZ04/05 is the pride of the PLA artillery, capable of firing guided rounds to a maximum range of 100KM, a major jump over their old 152mm PLZ83 (D20 based) workhorse.    Together with other supporting arms of the PLA, a PLZ04/05 Abteilung consists of 6 tubes in a 18-gun battalion, organic to the divisional headquarters.   Additionally, more PLZ04/05 tubes are available to the Nanjing MR from its1st Artillery Division. 1st Group Army.


91st Amphibious Infantry Division, 31st Group Army traded in their old PLZ83 152mm SPH for the new PLZ05.

PLZ83

2nd PLZ05 Battalion belonging to the Artillery Regiment,  1st Amphibious Mechanized Infantry Division, 1st Group Army, confirmed.   The 1st Amphibious Mechanized Infantry Division now enjoys the firepower of 36 PLZ05 tubes, a first for a PLA infantry division.

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Photo of certain construction site at South China Sea.

Photo of certain construction site at South China Sea. 

 China has been rapidly piling sand onto reefs in the South China Sea, creating seven new islets in the region. It is straining geopolitical tensions that were already taut.

The speed and scale of China’s island-building spree have alarmed other countries with interests in the region. China announced in June that the creation of islands — moving sediment from the seafloor to a reef — would soon be completed. Since then, China has focused its efforts on construction. So far it has constructed port facilities, military buildings and an airstrip on the islands, with recent imagery showing evidence of two more airstrips under construction. The installations bolster China’s foothold in the Spratly Islands, a disputed scattering of reefs and islands in the South China Sea more than 500 miles from the Chinese mainland. China’s activity in the Spratlys is a major point of contention between China and the United States and was a primary topic of discussion between President Obama and President Xi Jinping of China during the Chinese president’s visit to the White House in September. On Monday, the United States sent a Navy destroyer near the islands, entering the disputed waters.

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China Is Building The World's Second Stealth Air Force

"2017"

"2017" prototype heralds the end of an era for J-20 fighter jet testing, start of another era

Prototype "2017" is the eighth J-20 stealth fighter, its most noticeable exterior improvement is a redesigned cockpit canopy. The ceremony surrounding its November 24, 2015 maiden flight (note brightly dressed civilians in the background) suggests that the J-20 project has hit a major milestone, with LRIP likely to start next year.

The eighth J-20 prototype "2017" made its maiden flight on November 24, 2015 at the Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC) factory in Chengdu, China. Complete with a red carpet launch ceremony, the event was well attended by AVIC dignitaries, J-20 program personnel and government officials. After several months of preliminary flight testing, "2017" is likely to be taken by the Chine Test Flight Establishment (CTFE) to remote northern China, where it can conduct more significant testing away from prying eyes.

Eight in a row

"2017"'s roll out further solidifies China's position as the leading aviation power in Asia.

www.fyjs.cn

The most significant change in the new prototype is the reshaped cockpit canopy, which provides the pilot with greater visibility. The lack of othergreat design changes suggest that "2017" is very close to the final J-20 production configuration. Since "2017" is likely the last J-20 prototype, low rate initial production (LRIP) of the J-20 is likely to being next year. Assuming serial production, the first Chinese squadron of J-20s will start flying in 2017, about six years after the J-20's first flight in January 2011.

Black Dragons

The first squadrons of LRIP J-20 stealth fighters will have less powerful engines, but their stealth, radars and avionics would still put them ahead of any non fifth generation fighter in Asia, or the world.

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If those projections hold, China be the second country in the world, after the U.S., to field an operational stealth fighter force in the "fifth generation" category. While the initial batch of J-20s may not be as fast as the F-22 (but will be fast as the F-35), they will still possess stealthy features, advanced radars, jammers, infrared sensors and long range missiles, providing new competition in the arms race to dominate the skies. 

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'US AID' to Pakistan will be used against India, not terrorists : Former Pakistan diplomat

As the US prepares to sell F-16s to Pakistan, the country's former top diplomat has warned the Congress that such fighter jets would end up being used against India and not against terrorists.

Describing sale of such military hardware and even reported talk of a civil nuclear deal as an appeasement policy towards Pakistani military, the former top Pakistani diplomat has urged the US to tell the leaders in Pakistan that their ambition of rivalling India is akin to Belgium trying to rival France or Germany.

"The Obama administration's consideration of a nuclear deal with Pakistan, just like its decision a few months ago to sell almost USD 1 billion in US-made attack helicopters, missiles and other equipment to Pakistan will fuel conflict in South Asia without fulfilling the objective of helping the country fight Islamist extremists or limit its nuclear arsenal," said Husain Haqqani, the former Pakistani Ambassador to the US.

In a prepared remark submitted ahead of a Congressional hearing on 'Civil Nuclear Cooperation with Pakistan: Prospects and Consequences to the Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade Subcommittee of the Committee on Foreign Affairs', Haqqani said Pakistan's failure to tackle its jihadist challenge is not the result of a lack of arms but reflects an absence of will.

"Unless Pakistan changes its worldview and its compulsive competition with its much larger neighbour even in violation of international commitments, American weapons will end up being used to fight or menace India and perceived domestic enemies instead of being deployed against jihadists," he said.
Currently, director of South & Central Asia at the Hudson Institute, a top American think-tank, Haqqani said competition with India remains the overriding consideration in Pakistan's foreign and domestic policies.

"By aiding Pakistan over the years - over USD 40 billion since 1950, according to the Congressional Research Service - the US has fed Pakistan's delusion of being India's regional military equal. Seeking security against a much larger neighbour is a rational objective but seeking parity with it on a constant basis is not," he said.

"Instead of discussing civil nuclear deals and selling more military equipment to Pakistan, US officials should convince Pakistan that its ambitions of rivalling India are akin to Belgium trying to rival France or Germany," Mr Haqqani wrote.

India's population is six times as large as Pakistan's while India's economy is 10 times bigger, and India's USD two trillion economy has managed consistent growth whereas Pakistan's USD 245 billion economy has grown sporadically and is undermined by jihadist terrorism and domestic political chaos.

Mr Haqqani said unlike other countries, Pakistan did not raise an army to match the threats it faces. Pakistan inherited 33 per cent of the British Indian army, raised for the Second World War, at independence in 1947 and has sought to identify threats that match the size of that army.

Asserting that since the 1950s, US policy has ended up nurturing Pakistan's military and keeping alive its dream of parity with India, Mr Haqqani told lawmakers that "it is time, the US adopted a policy towards Pakistan that supports the aspirations of its people for a better standard of living instead of allowing its military and civilian hardliners in pursuing unwinnable competition with India."

"The US government has been giving the signal that Pakistan is too important for the US to ignore, which reinforces all of Pakistan's wrong policies. These are policies that both the US and a significant section of the Pakistani intelligentsia would like changed," Mr Haqqani said.

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Sri Lanka seeks to bridge India and China COLOMBO -- The newly elected Sri Lankan government is seeking to be a "bridge" between its giant Asian neighbors -- India and China -- in the Indian Ocean, a region where they are generally viewed as competitors, the island nation's finance minister has said. In an interview with the Nikkei Asian Review, Ravi Karunanayake said Sri Lanka followed a non-aligned, neutral policy for both countries and referred to his country as a "genuine friend of India and China." At the same time, Karunanayake said Sri Lanka envisioned a greater role for itself in the economic regionalism of the Indian Ocean. "Singapore brought China and Taiwan together. If we bring China and India together in Sri Lanka, what a platform it would be!" he said, adding that one is a powerhouse, the other a consumer hub, with Sri Lanka in the middle. "India is looking at the export market, China is looking at the silk route, we can prove to be a nodal point." "Our input [in Indian Ocean economic regionalism] would be a genuine working relationship with India and other regional neighbors. [We will] keep the leadership that they expect from us and give a sense of confidence that things can be done here," he added. Karunanayake belongs to the United National Party that swept into power in the August general election, smashing hopes of a political comeback by former president and "pro-China" leader Mahinda Rajapaksa. On coming to power, the new leadership, under Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, moved to stall some infrastructure projects, including the $1.13 billion China-funded Colombo Port City, on the grounds that the agreements entered into by the previous government needed to be investigated. However, construction on the controversial project is likely to begin soon following some amendments to the earlier agreement. "For Colombo Port City ... freehold land will no more be given at all. Now it will be leasehold. There will be amendments to the present model. China has accepted it and are going forward. It is already in motion, now it is up to them to begin construction," Karunanayake said. He added that now was the time for India to come forward and build another port city, promising cooperation as long as the projects brought "economic return." He said Sri Lanka was open to investments from any country with good intentions. "China, Japan, Korea. Why exclude anybody? We have a friendly foreign policy. Friends with all, enemies with none," the finance minister said. Colombo has been working on a "rebalancing" act, resuming ties with India while not completely distancing itself from China. Located virtually at the center of the Indian Ocean, the island nation is strategically important as it stands as a maritime gateway to Africa, the Middle East and Europe. China has already invested billions of dollars in Sri Lanka, with an eye to transforming the country into something of a "Maritime Silk Road," in line with its strategy of building a "string of pearls" along vital Indian Ocean shipping routes. The Sri Lankan government sees the balancing act as key to its domestic economy too, as it aims for economic expansion at around 6.5% next year and a narrower budget deficit. The country is also grappling with a high external debt, to the tune of 8.9 trillion Sri Lankan rupees ($62 billion). "We will be putting a lot of focus on the services industry, financial services, tourism, into the areas of education and then we will look at the industrialization of agriculture and going to industries such as shipping, and ship breaking," Karunanayake said. "We intend to make Sri Lanka a hub for financial services. So instead of people going to Dubai and Singapore for their money, we want them to come to us." He listed affordable living, stability and coherence as some of the immediate priorities for his government, while also seeking foreign direct investments and portfolio investments instead of depending on external aid. The island nation is also hoping to catch a piece of India's "Make-in-India" initiative, becoming a focal point for India's export activities. "Why do we want to compete when we can work together? Why do you want to build 10 ports in India when you can use Colombo's port? Why just compete and double your costs?" he reasoned. source

Baghdad: Turkish troops must leave northern Iraq within 48 hours

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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Baghdad has given Turkish troops 48 hours to leave Iraq, following a late night meeting Sunday by Iraq’s National Security Council.

“Turkey’s forces have entered Iraq without our consent and the Iraqi government has not been informed. We consider the act as a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and disrespecting a neighbor,” said the statement, following the meeting presided by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

“Baghdad has all right to use all means against Turkey including contacting the (UN) Security Council if Turkish forces do not leave the land in 48 hours,” it warned.

Turkish army sources said Saturday they had been training Peshmerga forces in four provinces in northern Iraq to combat Daesh, as the government said it was sending in 150 fresh troops.

The deployment was first announced by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday.

According to Turkey’s official Anadolu Agency, the first Turkish troops were sent to the region more than two years ago, aimed to train the Kurdish forces.
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Both San Bernardino Attackers ‘Were Radicalized And Have Been For Some Time’: FBI

Authorities now believe that the two attackers who killed 14 people here last week were both radicalized and had been for quite a while, an FBI official said Monday.”Both subjects were radicalized and have been for some time,” David Bowdich the assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles Field Office, said at a news conference.
Bowdich touched on the question of whether one of them guided the other down the path of radicalization, saying that police did not know yet when or how this occurred.”How did that happen and by whom and where did that happen?” he said. “I will tell you right now, we don’t know those answers at this point.”
He added that it was possible there was no “whom” responsible for this, but said investigators were still exploring all possibilities.
Investigators have found evidence of “pre-planning,” Bowdich said. Both attackers went to shooting ranges in the Los Angeles region for target practice, including one such visit just days before the shooting, he said.
The federal investigation – which Bowdich described as “massive in scale” – has involved more than 400 interviews, he said.
County officials had said earlier Monday they were returning to work in an attempt to resume normal business, five days after 14 people were killed in a massacre at an event for government workers.
The only exception is the Division of Environmental Health Services, where work will be suspended for at least another week, county officials said at a news conference. One of the two killers, Syed Rizwan Farook, was a department employee.
In an effort to help employees cope with the effects of last week’s violence, the county has established a counseling center and hotline, and managers in county government have been asked to look for signs of stress among their staff.
San Bernardino has already taken steps since the Dec. 2 shooting at the Inland Regional Center to enhance security in county facilities, including increasing the number of armed guards at certain facilities, and is considering additional measures.
County officials and physicians from hospitals that treated shooting victims stressed that San Bernardino would seek to remain united and would rally around those affected by the massacre.
“The purpose of terrorism is to make ordinary people afraid to do the ordinary things that make up their lives,” said Janice Rutherford, a member of the county Board of Supervisors. “We can’t be afraid of our lives, of our community, of our neighbors, of our coworkers.”
Of six victims who were admitted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center after the attack, five have gone home.
The wide-ranging investigation into the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001, continued Monday, as officials sought answers about the attack, the suspects and any ties they may have to other people.
Law enforcement agents on Sunday again searched the home of a man suspected of providing Farook with the military-grade rifles he and his wife used to gun down 14 people.
A team of three officials spent about 30 minutes inside the home of Enrique Marquez, a former neighbor of Farook’s, and left carrying a large cardboard box. The box’s contents were unknown, and the officials declined to identify themselves or their agency to reporters outside.
The search at the modest suburban home, the second in two days, took place as new details surfaced about Marquez, who officials say bought the DPMS and Smith & Wesson AR-15 rifles that Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, used in the Dec. 2 rampage.
Marquez, who works as a Walmart security guard, checked himself into a mental health facility Friday; it is not yet clear whether he has already been questioned by authorities or if he will be charged.
On Monday, Bowdich said he would not comment on Marquez’s status.
A picture has begun to take shape of the couple’s past and their apparent radicalization even as their lives followed a seemingly ordinary course: work, marriage, child. The couple’s daughter, born in May, is in the care of child protective services.
The Marquez and Farook families lived next door to each other on the quiet residential street in Riverside, California, for years. Like Farook, Marquez, 29, attended La Sierra High School. Both young men shared a love of cars.
Neighbor Jared Rork said Farook and Marquez would sometimes be seen working on cars and listening to music in one of their garages. “They seemed like everyday, normal Americans,” he said.
One of his coworkers at Walmart, who asked to go only by his last name, Dandy, said Marquez had worked at the store only a few months.
When he heard about Marquez’s possible role in supplying the weapons used on Dec. 2, Dandy was shocked.
“I was just blown [away], man,” he said. “I couldn’t believe something like that could come here.”
Friends and family described Farook, who was born in Illinois and grew up in California, as devout and conservative. Those who prayed with him at local mosques said the 28-year-old spoke about his personal life to few people.
On Sunday, Italian publication La Stampa published an interview with Farook’s father, also named Syed, in which he said his son had harbored anti-Semitic animosity. Reached at his son Raheel’s home on Sunday morning, the elder Farook said his views differed from those of his son.
“He was going towards [conservatism],” he told reporters through the gate of the home. “His views were conservative, my views were liberal.”
He also said that Syed Farook had quarreled with a Jewish coworker. One of the fellow county health inspectors killed in the attack was Nicholas Thalasinos, who converted to the Messianic Jewish movement of Christianity three years ago and who frequently posted online about Israel and politics.
Kuuleme Stephens, a friend of Thalasinos’s, said she had spoken with him by phone about two weeks before the attack, reaching him when he was having a conversation with Farook about the nature of Islam and Israel’s place in the Middle East.
But she played down the significance of the conversation. “It wasn’t an argument,” she said. “No one was raising their voices.”
Investigators are also working to determine what other attacks the couple may have planned. The rifles they used had been altered to make them more lethal, and a major arsenal was found in their two-story townhome, including what authorities said were a dozen pipe bombs and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
On Monday, Bowdich said authorities had found 19 pipes that could have been used for pipe bombs, rather than the dozen pipe bombs previously described.
During an appearance on Fox News on Sunday, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said investigators are trying to establish where the couple got the money to buy their weaponry.
“There’s a serious investigation ongoing into what she was doing in Pakistan and in Saudi,” McCaul said. “We think that she had a lot to do with the radicalization process and perhaps with Mr. Farook’s radicalization from within the United States.”
“The wild card here is the wife, Malik,” he added.
One of the few known clues about Malik’s beliefs was a posting she made on Facebook around the time of the attack, pledging loyalty to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The Islamic State has described the couple as followers but has not expressed the same close association with the attack that it has with other recent examples of violence, such as the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris.
On Sunday, Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told reporters that his government was investigating Malik’s past.
He said Pakistan was offering the United States “all possible legal assistance” but added that Pakistan should not be held responsible for the actions of a single person.
“Such heinous acts also lead to serious difficulties for millions of Muslims who live in Western and other countries, and the extremists and nationalist elements in those societies look at Muslims with suspicions,” he said.
So far, the Pakistani government has not found any links between the 29-year-old Malik, who was born in Pakistan, and extremist groups, he said.
Reporters’ ability to look into Malik’s roots was made more difficult by the presence of intelligence agents at sites she is known to have visited in the town of Multan, where she lived with her mother and sister while undertaking her college studies. The family moved in 2014, one neighbor said.
On Sunday, three professors at Bahauddin Zakariya University, which Malik also attended, told Reuters that security agencies had told them not to speak to reporters. A professor, who was not identified, told Reuters that security officials had removed records and pictures of Malik from the university Saturday.
A former college roommate, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said she stayed in touch with Malik after she moved to the United States in the summer of 2014, but gradually lost touch.
“She was initially responding to our calls and Facebook messages,” the woman said in a text message. “But then [she] stopped replying to our messages after December 2014.”
A local cleric, Attaul Manan, who runs a madrassa and mosque near Malik’s former home, said the Malik family largely stayed to themselves. “The people have been discussing how [Malik] had lived there, but no one ever saw her because the Malik family did not mix with others in the street,” he said.
But even the most basic facts of Malik’s background remain disputed.
While Pakistani officials say she lived in Saudi Arabia on and off for 25 years, the Saudi government on Sunday said she had spent little time there.
According to The Associated Press, Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said she had spent less than six months there in two visits in 2008 and 2013.
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ISRO Releases A Snap Of Solar System’s Largest Known Volcano, The Olympus

Continuing the interesting photo ops which ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission (more joyfully known as MOM) has been doing at mars, the space agency has today released an interesting set of pictures from the Red planet.
ISRO’s has released the latest pictures of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system taken from a height of 32,282 km by the Mars Colour Camera (MCC) aboard the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM). The MCC has successfully captured the presence of Water vapour clouds around the top of the mountain. This comes as further proof of the findings from NASA about the presence of water on Mars.
Olympus Mons holds the record as the largest volcano in the solar system. The height of Olympus Mons dwarfs the height peak on the Earth, the Mount Everest by a staggering three times.
ISRO has stated that the presence of water vapour is a common sighting on Mars during its current planetary cycle. Even at such altitudes though, these water vapours can be clearly identified, validating one of the most significant findings in the space exploration.
The MOM carries on board five scientific instruments namely the MCC, Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS), Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM), Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP) and Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA). MOM will help us understand the atmosphere on Mars, its surface mineralogy and the geography of the Red Planet.
The MOM was successfully launched with the help of PSLV-C25 from the First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota on 5th November 2013.
Even after two years of operation the MOM continues to function in optimum capacity. ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar has stated that the health of the MOM is extremely good.
ISRO is currently working towards the launch of Chandrayaan-2. The mission will see the landing of a rover onto the surface of the moon with high probabilities of a human exploration as well. The mission is likely going to be launched in 2017 and is aimed at collecting data about the environment on Moon and send it back to Earth.
ISRO is running on the slew of success accomplished during its Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan missions. This has promoted the premier space research organisation to launch another mission named Aditya, which is the name given to a satellite that will study various aspects of the Sun and overall nature of the solar eclipses.
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