9/01/2010

CARRIER-KILLER. By Eric Talmadge.




CARRIER-KILLER.
By Eric Talmadge,
Associated Press Writer.
Edited By Uncle Monty
At Prague-Praha, CZ.
...
:: NEWS UPDATE ::
OBAMA AND HIS FAMILY
TIED TO CIA FOR YEARS
By Sherwood Ross.
Friday, 3 September 2010, 10:59 am.
.
ABOARD THE USS GEORGE WASHINGTON –
Nothing projects U.S. global air and sea power more
vividly than supercarriers. Bristling with fighter jets
that can reach deep into even landlocked trouble
zones, America's virtually invincible carrier fleet
has long enforced its dominance of the high seas.
...
China may soon put an end to that.
...
U.S. naval planners are scrambling to deal with what
analysts say is a game-changing weapon being develo-
called the Dong Feng 21D that could be launched from
land with enough accuracy to penetrate the defenses
of even the most advanced moving aircraft carrier at
a distance of more than 1,500 kilometers (900 miles).
...
AP EDITOR'S NOTE — The USS George Washington
supercarrier recently deployed off North Korea in a
high-profile show of U.S. sea power. AP Tokyo News
Editor Eric Talmadge was aboard the carrier,
and filed this report.
...
Analysts say final testing of the missile could come
as soon as the end of this year, though questions
remain about how fast China will be able to per-
fect its accuracy to the level needed to threaten
a moving carrier at sea. The weapon, a version
of which was displayed last year in a Chinese
military parade, could revolutionize China's
role in the Pacific balance of power, seriously
weakening Washington's ability to intervene
in any potential conflict over Taiwan or
North Korea. It could also deny U.S. ships
safe access to international waters near
China's 11,200-mile (18,000-kilometer)
-long coastline.
...
While a nuclear bomb could theoretically sink
a carrier, assuming its user was willing to raise
the stakes to atomic levels, the conventionally-
armed Dong Feng 21D's uniqueness is in its
ability to hit a powerfully defended moving
target with pin-point precision. The Chinese
Defense Ministry did not immediately re-
spond to the AP's request for a comment.
...
Funded by annual double-digit increases in
the defense budget for almost every year of
the past two decades, the Chinese navy has
become Asia's largest and has expanded bey-
ond its traditional mission of retaking Taiwan
to push its sphere of influence deeper into
the Pacific and protect vital maritime
trade routes.
...
"The Navy has long had to fear carrier-killing
capabilities," said Patrick Cronin, senior director
of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the non-
partisan, Washington-based Center for a New
American Security. "The emerging Chinese anti-
ship missile capability, and in particular the DF
21D, represents the first post-Cold War cap-
ability that is both potentially capable of stop-
ping our naval power projection and
deliberately designed for that purpose."
...
Setting the stage for a possible conflict, Beijing
has grown increasingly vocal in its demands
for the U.S. to stay away from the wide swaths
of ocean — covering much of the Yellow, East and
South China seas — where it claims exclusivity. It
strongly opposed plans to hold U.S.-South Korean
war games in the Yellow Sea off the northeastern
Chinese coast, saying the participation of the USS
George Washington supercarrier (shown below),
with its 1,092-foot (333-meter) flight deck and
6,250 personnel, would be a provocation because
it put Beijing within striking range of U.S. F-18
warplanes. The carrier instead took part in man-
euvers held farther away in the Sea of Japan.
U.S. officials deny Chinese pressure kept it
away, and say they will not be told by Beijing
where they can operate. "We reserve the
right to exercise in international waters any-
where in the world," Rear Adm. Daniel Cloyd,
who headed the U.S. side of the exercises, said
aboard the carrier during the maneuvers, which
ended (three weeks ago). But the new missile, if
able to evade the defenses of a carrier and of
the vessels sailing with it, could undermine
that policy.
...
"China can reach out and hit the U.S. well before
the U.S. can get close enough to the mainland to
hit back," said Toshi Yoshihara, an associate pro-
fessor at the U.S. Naval War College. He said U.S.
ships have only twice been that vulnerable —
against Japan in World War II and against
Soviet bombers in the Cold War.
...
Carrier-killing missiles "could have an enduring
psychological effect on U.S. policymakers," he e-
mailed to The AP. "It underscores more broadly
that the U.S. Navy no longer rules the waves as
it has since the end of World War II. The stark
reality is that sea control cannot be taken
for granted anymore."
...
Yoshihara said the weapon is causing consid-
erable consternation in Washington, though
— with attention focused on land wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq — its implications
haven't been widely discussed in public.
...
Analysts note that while much has been made
of China's efforts to ready a carrier fleet of its
own, it would likely take decades to catch U.S.
carrier crews' level of expertise, training and
experience. But Beijing does not need to match
the U.S. carrier-for-carrier. The Dong Feng 21D,
smarter, and vastly cheaper, could successfully
attack a U.S. carrier, or at least deter it
from getting too close.
...
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned
of the threat in a speech last September at the
Air Force Association Convention. "When con-
sidering the military-modernization programs
of countries like China, we should be concerned
less with their potential ability to challenge the
U.S. symmetrically — fighter-to-fighter or
ship-to-ship — and more with their ability
to disrupt our freedom of movement and
narrow our strategic options," he said.
Gates said China's investments in cyber and
anti-satellite warfare, anti-air and anti-ship
weaponry, along with ballistic missiles, "could
threaten America's primary way to project
power" through its forward air bases
and carrier strike groups.
...
The Pentagon has been worried for years about
China getting an anti-ship ballistic missile. The
Pentagon considers such a missile an "anti-access,"
weapon, meaning that it could deny others access
to certain areas. The Air Force's top surveillance
and intelligence officer, Lt. Gen. David Deptula,
told reporters (last) week that China's effort to
increase anti-access capability is part of a worri-
some trend. He did not single out the DF 21D, but
said: "While we might not fight the Chinese, we
may end up in situations where we'll certainly
be opposing the equipment that they
build and sell around the world."
...
Questions remain over when — and if — China
will perfect the technology; hitting a moving
carrier is no mean feat, requiring state-of-the-
art guidance systems, and some experts believe
it will take China a decade or so to field a reliable
threat. Others, however, say final tests of the
missile could come in the next year or two.
...
Former Navy commander James Kraska, a
professor of international law and sea power
at the U.S. Naval War College, recently wrote
a controversial article in the magazine Orbis
outlining a hypothetical scenario set just five
years from now in which a Deng Feng 21D
missile with a penetrator warhead sinks
the USS George Washington.
...
That would usher in a "new epoch of inter-
national order in which Beijing emerges
to displace the United States."
...
While China's Defense Ministry never com-
ments on new weapons before they become
operational, the DF 21D — which would travel
at 10 times the speed of sound and carry
conventional payloads — has been much
discussed by military buffs online. A pseudo-
nymous article posted on Xinhuanet, website
of China's official news agency, imagines the
U.S. dispatching the George Washington
to aid Taiwan against a Chinese attack.
...
The Chinese would respond with three salvos
of DF 21D, the first of which would pierce the
hull, start fires and shut down flight oper-
ations, the article says. The second would
knock out its engines and be accompanied
by air attacks. The third wave, the article
says, would "send the George Washington
to the bottom of the ocean."
. - .
AP writer Christopher Bodeen in Beijing
and National Security Writer Anne Gearan in
Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
...
America's Supercarrier USS George Washington.
.
:: More American News Features ::
.
Jefferson, Obama and Four Mosques.
By Dallas Daring.
http://article.wn.com/view/2010/08/21/Jefferson_Obama_and_Four_Mosques/
(Dallas Daring’s Story Archives: http://beverlydarling.com/)
...
Exclusive: Al Qaeda Plans for Israel War.
By Bruce Riedel.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-08-18/al-qaeda-plans-for-war-with-israel/?cid=bs:archive1
.
Growing number of Americans believe Obama is Muslim.
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=118386#ixzz0xC2fgGxa
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=118386#axzz0xC2QfY2v
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Obama under pressure in test of principle that could define his presidency.
~ Politicians are stirring up opposition to a proposed mosque near
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Barack Obama, 'Muslim' president.
~ Like many Muslim Americans, I had high hopes – now dashed:
our brother drinks beer, eats pork and won't fast at Ramadan ~
By Wajahat Ali.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/20/obama-muslim-ground-zero-mosque
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Israel will attack Iran: Will Israel attack Iran?!
Article by World News Guest Writer Kourosh Ziabari.
.
US (Blackwater) security firm 'to pay $42m fine'
From Al Jazeera.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/08/20108215276443958.html
.
Black day for prison made famous by Johnny Cash.
By Guy Adams in Los Angeles.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/black-day-for-prison-made-famous-by-johnny-cash-2066155.html
“(California) is spending $10 BILLION a year on keeping people
locked up – roughly the amount that it spends on its entire
education system.”
.
~ Also Visit My Latest Blog ~
How The Big Issue Really STINKS!
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