On May 23, the USS Mason (DDG-87) was awarded the 2016 Battenberg Cup, which is presented annually to the best-all around ship or submarine in the United States Navy’s Atlantic Fleet based on crew achievements. While the ship was recognized for the entire deployment, the citation singled out a string of incidents in the vicinity...
On May 21, North Korea carried out second successful flight test of its KN-15 medium-range solid-fuel missile. The missile was launched from the country of Pukchang, flying 500 km eastward, climbing to an altitude of 560 km before falling into the sea, a similar trajectory to its previous test on February 12, 2017. The test...
Multiple ruling party and government officials, including Defense Minister Tomomi Inada, have voiced support for the acquisition of the Aegis Ashore missile defense system. Anonymous officials cited the greater coverage area and lower cost of the system when asked why Aegis Ashore was preferred over a THAAD battery like the one currently being deployed to South Korea....
On May 14, North Korea test-fired a new intermediate range missile, the Hwasong-12. The missile flew on a lofted trajectory a distance of 787 kilometers, to an altitude of 2,111 kilometers. It is estimated that the Hwasong-12 could have a maximum range of up to 4,500 kilomters. The missile was transported on a vehicle previously...
On May 11, 2017, Turkey tested its first domestically produced “Bora” short-range ballistic missile, according to Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik. Launched from Sinop, a coastal region on the Black Sea, the test was deemed a success, with Isik claiming that “Turkey has now reached a situation where it can build its own missile.” Roketsan,...
At a meeting with the President of Lithuania on May 10, 2017, Secretary of Defense James Mattis suggested that the United States would consider deploying Patriot units to the country. The Patriot system will reportedly be used for U.S. military exercises in the summer and withdrawn before Russia begins their own military exercises in the Baltics in...
Japan is reportedly considering purchasing Tomahawk cruise missiles from the Unites States. The Japanese government is reportedly considering putting the Tomahawks on Japan’s Aegis-capable guided missile destroyers in its Maritime Self-Defense Force fleet, although the ships will require modification in order to do so. Despite the Japanese constitution prescribing an exclusively defensive posture, the growing...
On May 10, China’s Ministry of Defense announced that it successfully tested a new type of missile on the Bohai Coast between China and the Korean Peninsula. Although the exact type of missile tested is unconfirmed, analysts suspect that the missile was a variant of the DF-26, an intermediate-range ballistic missile. The test comes after the...
On May 3, the United States tested its Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile for the second time in recent weeks. As in the April 26 test, the unarmed missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and flew 4,200 miles, landing near the Marshall Islands. The Minuteman III is the only land-based missile...
On May 1, 2017, U.S. officials declared that the THAAD missile defense system in South Korea has reached initial operational capability. According to Col. Robert Manning III, a spokesman for the United States Forces Korea, the system “is operational and has the ability to intercept North Korean missiles.” The South Korean Defense Ministry echoed Manning’s...
