The situation in the East China Sea continues to be tense, the U.S. Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force held a joint exercise in the region on Monday (29), sending amphibious command ships and SHIELD destroyers to enhance the cooperation between the two sides, which is said to target China.
The U.S. Navy said Tuesday (March 30) that the Seventh Fleet flagship and amphibious command ship USS Blue Ridge and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s SHIELD destroyer USS Kongo conducted exercises in the East China Sea to test joint maritime skills and the ability to communicate with each other. The exercise included multiple ship formation sailing, training communications and maneuvering procedures to enhance and improve cooperation and interoperability between the two sides; Blue Ridge Captain Tim Waits was aboard the Kongo in a helicopter to communicate.
The U.S. Navy described the exercise as a demonstration of unity with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, providing important training and experience for both crews so they can work closely together while operating and communicating safely and effectively. The JMSDF said the exercise improved the tactical capabilities of the force and deepened interoperability with the U.S. Navy.
On the other hand, ship movement information shows that the Royal Canadian Navy frigate Calgary and the Royal Australian Navy frigate ANZAC are located in the South China Sea, with the former sailing from Brunei to Vietnam and the latter leaving Singapore.
Chinese maritime police ships frequently sailed into the waters near the Diaoyu Islands (known as the Senkaku Islands), causing Japan to protest. Japanese media “Sankei Shimbun” on Monday (March 29) cited government sources that The Japanese side found that Chinese warships sailing near the Diaoyu Islands, will turn off the radar during the handover to avoid detection of U.S. forces and Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, presumably China will be seen as a move to simulate actual combat. Japan’s Ministry of Defense is strengthening its vigilance and surveillance response.
Japanese government sources said, located in the Diaoyu Islands, about 90 kilometers north of the sea near the 27th parallel, there are often two Chinese warships sailing, it is believed to prevent access to the waters of the Diaoyu Islands marine police vessels encountered unpredictable, deliberately deployed on alert. But the warships on alert in the waters are not fixed, after a while there will be other ships handover. Since two or three years ago, the Chinese warships to the sea handover, from the departure of the port will turn off the water radar and air-to-air radar, until the arrival of the sea to turn on.
The report said that the warship does not turn on the radar navigation, will increase the risk of collision with fishing vessels or merchant ships. The Japanese government sources pointed out that if in wartime and other extraordinary conditions, there will indeed be warships off radar navigation, but in general is very rare. The analysis believes that the Chinese side of the move is to prevent the United States and Japan through the radar identification warships, so that the two countries are not easy to grasp the Chinese warships in the sea when the handover and related military details.
In addition, there are some Chinese warships will use the Japanese system of merchant ships with radar, may be used to avoid the outside world to identify which side of the ship. The Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military will not only use radar to identify Chinese warships, but will also use reconnaissance satellites to alert and monitor them, but because the satellites will not be able to observe Chinese warships in the East China Sea when they are in orbit, the Chinese side will also look at this Time to send warships out to hand over.
The US-Russia military tug-of-war has recently shown signs of escalation, with Russia sending bombers and anti-submarine patrol planes on a three-way long-range mission to the North Atlantic, Pacific Ocean and Sea of Japan on Monday (March 29), during which they were intercepted by NATO and Japanese warplanes. As these missions were carried out almost simultaneously, it is believed that the Russian side made a show of force to the United States and its allies.
Japan’s Defense Ministry’s Unification Bureau of Staff Supervision was the first to announce the movement of Russian aircraft, saying that two Russian IL-38 anti-submarine patrol aircraft flew over the Sea of Japan west of Honshu, but did not fly into Japanese airspace, and the Air Self-Defense Force urgently dispatched warplanes to respond. It is worth mentioning that the Chinese Navy’s 10,000-ton destroyer Nanchang earlier led two warships and trained in the Sea of Japan.
On the other hand, two Russian Tu 160 strategic bombers and two Tu 142 anti-submarine patrol planes departed from their respective bases, and then went on a joint cruise in the Barents Sea and Norwegian Sea, escorted by MiG 31s and Su 33s respectively. After the bombers returned to base, the anti-submarine patrol aircraft flew south to the North Sea and met Norwegian and Belgian F16s and British Typhoon fighters.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Monday that the bombers and anti-submarine patrol planes flew for about 8 and 11 hours, stressing that the long-range air force regularly carries out missions over neutral waters in the Arctic, North Atlantic, Black Sea, Baltic Sea and Pacific Ocean, and all flights strictly comply with international rules on the use of airspace. On the same day, two Russian MiG 31s took off from their base on Alexander Land Island in the Frans Josef Land archipelago, flew over the North Pole and landed on the Kola Peninsula for about five hours.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Alaska Command said two Russian Tu 142s flew into the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone at 4:50 a.m. local time on Monday (March 29), the second time this year, and did not enter U.S. or Canadian airspace this time. The command did not say whether the U.S. and Canadian forces had sent warplanes to intercept the aircraft, but only said they “identified and tracked the location of the aircraft in question”; it also stressed that it is always on alert and ready to protect U.S. and Canadian airspace, to deter, prohibit and repel all potential air and sea threats.
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