The Philippines has granted the United States expanded access to its military bases, greatly enhancing Washington’s presence in the region at a time of growing concern about Chinese aggression. Washington would be given access to four additional military bases in “strategic areas of the country”, without specifying the locations, the Philippines’ Department of National Defence said on Thursday in a statement. The expanded access will fill a crucial gap in US positioning in the region, say analysts, and enable it to better monitor Chinese activity in the South China Sea…
Tag: US military
‘We’re in a space race’: Nasa sounds alarm at Chinese designs on moon
The US is locked in a space race with China and the country needs to “watch out” that its rival does not gain a foothold and try to dominate lunar resources, Nasa’s top official has warned. The assessment came from the Nasa administrator, Bill Nelson, a former astronaut and Florida senator, who went on to warn that China could eventually claim to “own” the moon’s resource-rich areas. The contest between the US and China, he added, was intensifying and the next two years could determine which country achieves an advantage.…
Chinese navy jet flies within 10ft of US air force plane over South China Sea
A Chinese military plane came within 10ft (three meters) of a US air force aircraft over the contested South China Sea last week and forced it to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision in international airspace, the US military said. The close encounter followed what the US called a recent trend of increasingly dangerous behavior by Chinese military aircraft. The incident, which involved a Chinese navy J-11 fighter jet and a US air force RC-135 aircraft, took place on 21 December, the US military said in a statement. “We…
Mark Dreyfus approves extradition of former US marine over charges of training Chinese pilots
The federal government has approved a request to extradite former US marine corps aviator Daniel Duggan to the US, where he faces charges of training Chinese military pilots. An unsealed indictment, filed in a Washington district court earlier this month, alleges that Duggan broke American arms control laws by teaching fighter pilots to land on aircraft carriers. The naturalised Australian is also accused of having provided military training to Chinese pilots through a test flying academy in South Africa between 2010 and 2012. Duggan was arrested by Australian federal police…
US asks Australia for extradition of former Marines pilot Daniel Duggan
The US government has sent an extradition request to Australia for former US Marines pilot Daniel Duggan, who is accused of breaking US arms control laws by training Chinese military pilots to land on aircraft carriers. “The US has made a formal request for extradition for Mr Duggan,” Trent Glover, a lawyer for the US government, told a Sydney local court on Friday. Australia’s attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has until 25 December to make a decision under a bilateral extradition treaty, said Glover. Outside the court, Duggan’s lawyer, Dennis Miralis,…
Shrouded in secrecy: the Australian trial of a former Marines pilot facing extradition to the US
Planes are Daniel Duggan’s passion. His professional life has been spent flying military aircraft and training others. His social media is filled, almost exclusively, with videos of aircraft from around the world. But a man so often untethered to the ground has now spent 45 days in segregated and high-security custody in New South Wales. He still does not know the charges against him. The arrest of Daniel Edmund Duggan, an Australian citizen and former US Marines fighter pilot, on secret charges is a “politically motivated injustice”, his wife has…
Pentagon unveils first strategic bomber in over 30 years to counter China
The Pentagon unveiled its first new strategic bomber in more than 30 years on Friday, a nuclear-capable bat-wing plane that will become a central component of the US effort to counter China’s military build-up when it enters service around 2027. Almost every aspect of the B-21 Raider is classified, but in a tightly-controlled unveiling at the Air Force’s Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, currently home of Lockheed-Martin’s legendary Skunk Works, the new strategic plane was briefly shown to the public. “This isn’t just another airplane,” Lloyd Austin, the defense secretary,…
China carries out anti-missile tests amid opposition to US systems in South Korea
China carried out a test of “ground-based midcourse anti-missile intercept technology” that “achieved its expected purpose”, the defence ministry in Beijing has said, describing it as defensive and not aimed at any country. Beijing has tested missile interceptors before; the most recent previous public announcement of a test was in February 2021, and before that in 2018. State media has said China has conducted anti-missile system tests since at least 2010. China has been ramping up research into all sorts of missiles, from those that can destroy satellites in space…
China has fully militarized three islands in South China Sea, US admiral says
China has fully militarized at least three of several islands it built in the disputed South China Sea, arming them with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, laser and jamming equipment and fighter jets in an increasingly aggressive move that threatens all nations operating nearby, a top US military commander said Sunday. US Indo-Pacific commander Admiral John C Aquilino said the hostile actions were in stark contrast to the Chinese president Xi Jinping’s past assurances that Beijing would not transform the artificial islands in contested waters into military bases. The efforts…
The Biden doctrine: Ukraine gaffe sums up mixed year of foreign policy
Joe Biden marked his first anniversary in office with a gaffe over Ukraine that undid weeks of disciplined messaging and diplomatic preparation. The president’s suggestion that a “minor incursion” by Russia might split Nato over how to respond sent the White House into frantic damage limitation mode. Officials insisted Biden had been referring to cyber attacks and paramilitary activities and not Russian troops crossing the border. That failed to entirely calm nerves in Kyiv and other European capitals, especially as Biden also raised eyebrows by predicting that Vladimir Putin would…