Page 2 - Aerotech News and Review May 5 2017

Briefs
Blast kills U.S. service member outside Mosul
A U.S. service member in Iraq was killed April 29 by an explosive device outside Mosul, accord- ing to a statement released by the Pentagon.
The Pentagon said 1st Lt. Weston C. Lee, 25, of Bluffton, Ga., died from wounds sustained in an “explosive device blast,” stating further informa- tion would be released as appropriate.
The April 30 incident marks the second Ameri- can military fatality since the start of the Mosul operation against the Islamic State group more than six months ago. In October, just days after the oper- ation to retake Mosul was formally launched, Navy chief petty officer Jason C. Finan, 34, of Anaheim, Calif., died of wounds sustained in a roadside bomb attack north of Mosul.
Finan was part of a team of advisers assisting Iraq’s Kurdish fighters known as the Peshmerga.
The Pentagon has acknowledged more than 100 U.S. special operations forces are operating with Iraqi units in and around Mosul, with hundreds more playing a support role in staging bases farther from the front lines.
Lee, killed April 29, is the fifth combat death in Iraq since the U.S. launched military opera- tions against IS in August 2014. IS fighters be- gan growing in power in Iraq in early 2014 in the country’s west and in the summer of 2014 swept across much of the country’s north.
Since the beginning of the U.S. campaign against IS in Iraq, the number of U.S. troops in the country has steadily grown.
There are now more U.S. forces in Iraq than any time since the 2011 U.S. withdrawal, marking an intensifying war as Iraqi forces and the U.S.- led coalition work to push IS out of the last pock- ets of territory the extremists control in Iraq. AP
Trump: North Korea ‘disrespected’ China
President Donald Trump says North Korea “disrespected” China with its most recent ballistic missile test.
South Korea’s military said in a statement April 28 that North Korea had fired the missile from an area near the capital of Pyongyang, but provided no other details.
U.S. and South Korean officials say the launch apparently failed.
Trump did not answer reporters’ questions about the missile launch upon returning to the White House from a daytrip to Atlanta.
But he commented on Twitter, saying, “North Korea disrespected the wishes of China & its high- ly respected President when it launched, though unsuccessfully, a missile today. Bad!” AP
Thai gov’t approves purchase of $393 million submarine from China
Thailand’s government has approved the pur- chase of its first submarine in more than half a cen- tury, the country’s top defense official said April 25, calling the $393 million deal with China neces- sary and a bargain.
Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said the navy’s purchase of a Yuan Class S26T submarine would be conducted transparently, responding to concerns about corruption. He said the vessel would be delivered in five to six years.
Thailand’s navy has been seeking to buy subma- rines for almost a decade, having decommissioned its last one in 1951. The military government had said it also considered buying the vessels from Germany or South Korea, but last year announced plans to buy three from China at a total price of around $1 billion.
The purchase won the final go-ahead only after Thailand’s military seized power in a May 2014 coup, even though a $15 million submarine base and training center was inaugurated shortly after- ward, in July 2014. The purchase of such a major weapons system from China has political as well as defense ramifications because the ruling junta has
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sought closer relations with China to balance tra- ditional ties with the United States, which has been critical of Thailand’s turn away from democracy.
It will take about 11 years for all three subma- rines to be acquired, said Prawit, who is also deputy prime minister. It was not clear, however, whether agreements have been finalized for the purchase of the second and third submarines. Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkumnerd April 24 said details of further purchases were the navy’s busi- ness and would not be publicly announced as they involve security matters.
Sansern said there was nothing shady about the deal, which drew attention because it was approved at the previous week’s Cabinet meeting without being announced.
“The submarine we are buying is not expensive and it will be very useful in the Andaman Sea in a 200-mile radius area that we’ve never explored,” Prawit said.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said last month that China had offered the cheapest deal, amounting to a “buy-two, get-three” bargain. AP
Montenegro lawmakers back NATO mem- bership in historic move
Montenegro’s parliament April 28 supported the Balkan country’s membership in NATO in a his- toric turn toward the West amid protests by Russia and the pro-Russia opposition.
Lawmakers voted 46-0 in the capital of Cetinje to ratify the accession treaty with the Western mili- tary alliance. They then stood up and applauded the decision.
The parliament has 81 members, but pro-Russia opposition lawmakers boycotted the session. Sev- eral hundred opposition supporters gathered out- side the hall before the vote.
Montenegro has a small military of around 2,000 troops, but it is strategically positioned to give NATO full control over the Adriatic Sea. The other Adriatic nations — Albania, Croatia and Italy — already are in the alliance.
Russia has been angered by NATO’s expansion to Montenegro, which is in Moscow’s traditional area of interest.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry April 28 denounced the Montenegrin parliament’s ratification of NATO membership as “a demonstrative act of trampling all democratic norms and principles.”
The ministry took a dismissive swipe at the country’s size and military capability, saying that “given the potential of Montenegro, the North Atlantic alliance is unlikely to receive significant `added value.’” AP
Iraqi troops capture largest neighbor- hood in western Mosul
A senior military commander says Iraqi troops have driven out Islamic State militants from the largest neighborhood in the western half of the city of Mosul.
Special forces Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi told The Associated Press April 25 that the sprawl- ing al-Tanek neighborhood “is fully liberated and under full control” of the security forces. Al-Saadi didn’t provide more details.
Taking sprawling al-Tanek on the city’s west- ernmost edge is a major development.
To the east of al-Tanek, Iraqi forces have been facing tough resistance from IS in Mosul’s Old City along the Tigris River. Its narrow alleys and densely populated areas have made it hard for troops to move forward.
Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, fell to IS in the summer of 2014, along with large swaths of northern and western Iraq. AP
Air Force won’t supply clean water to pol- luted Michigan city
The U.S. Air Force is pushing back against a new law that requires it to provide safe drinking water to residents in a northeastern Michigan city
affected by chemical pollution from the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base.
Air Force officials argue they won’t provide clean water because the law is discriminatory, Mlive reported.
A state law that took effect in January says the military must supply safe drinking water to Osco- da residents whose wells were polluted with toxic chemicals from Wurtsmith.
“The Michigan law does discriminate as it only applies to federal and state agencies, not to all en- tities and persons,” Air Force spokesman Mark Kinkade said.
Republican Sen. Jim Stamas sponsored the bill after military officials informed him last year that the Air Force would supply an alternative water source to affected properties if Michigan passed a law requiring that.
“I am extremely disappointed in the U.S. Air Force for not living up to its word and its respon- sibilities,” Stamas said. “The federal government needs to be held accountable for what they did, and I will be asking Attorney General Bill Schuette to pursue action to enforce the law.”
The Air Force says the Department of Defense prevents it from spending money on alternative water unless a private well tests for chemical con- centrations above the federal health advisory level.
The latest testing shows the pollution is moving south of two waterways previously thought of as natural buffers. A well near Oscoda High School has also tested positive for chemical concentrations above the advisory level. AP
U.S. carrier heading for Korea trains with Japanese destroyers
An American aircraft carrier heading toward the Korean Peninsula began joint exercises Sunday with Japanese naval ships in the Philippine Sea.
Two Japanese destroyers joined the USS Carl Vinson and two other U.S. warships as they con- tinued their journey north in the western Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Navy said in a statement.
The Vinson had canceled a scheduled visit to Australia to divert toward North Korea in a show of force, though it still conducted a curtailed train- ing exercise with Australia before doing so. Ten- sions are elevated on the Korean Peninsula, with the Trump administration saying that all options are on the table, and indications that North Korea may be preparing to test a nuclear weapon or long- range missile.
Two Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force de- stroyers left Sasebo port in southern Japan April 21 to join the Vinson strike group. The U.S. group also includes a guided-missile cruiser and a guided- missile destroyer.
The Navy called the exercise “routine” and said it is designed to improve combined maritime re- sponse and defense capabilities, as well as joint maneuvering proficiency. AP
China, Philippines argue over defense chief’s island visit
China has protested the visit by Manila’s defense and military chiefs to a disputed island in the South China Sea, but the Philippine government main- tains it owns the territory where Filipino troops and villagers have lived for decades.
The public argument comes amid a thaw in once-frosty relations between the neighbors after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte took office last June and moved to rekindle Manila’s friend- ship with Beijing, which has been strained by the long-seething territorial disputes.
Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and military chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Ano flew to Pag-asa Island with dozens of journalists April 21 to inspect an eroded airstrip, which the govern- ment plans to reinforce and lengthen. They also met Filipino troops and villagers and took part in a flag-raising ceremony. AP
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