USA
U.S. Naval Update Map: Aug. 10, 2011
August 9, Wired – (National) Entire U.S. stealth fighter fleet grounded. Not one of the U.S. military's 170 F-22 Raptors and handful of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is available for service. The F-22 has been grounded with a possible faulty oxygen system since May. Production of the last few Raptors is on hold because the jets cannot fly from the factory. The week of August 1, test flights for the newer F-35 were suspended because of a valve problem in the plane’s integrated power package. It is the third time this year that Joint Strike Fighters (JSFs) have been grounded. Tests may resume as early as the week of August 15. The U.S. military August 8 committed to spending another $535 million to buy 38 more JSFs. The current cost for the JSF program is $382 billion and rising for more than 2,400 aircraft. Source: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/08/entire-u-s-stealth-fighter-fleetgrounded/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Wired DangerRoom+(Blog+-+Danger+Room)
EUROPE
August 9, ZDNet – (International) Hacking becomes latest weapon in London riots. RIM’s Inside BlackBerry blog was hacked into after the Canadian mobile phone maker agreed to cooperate and help British police forces during days of riots in England, ZDNet reported August 9. The hack was committed by an unknown group being referred to as “TeaMp0isoN.” The attack was politically motivated, but these hackers chose to go after RIM rather than a London police department Web site instead. From one perspective, this makes sense as they are trying to cut off the source of information. But also, these hackers were directly threatening RIM employees. Experts said the breach of RIM’s Web site serves as a warning to law enforcement officials and the tech companies working with them about the new face of cyber security threats that is growing in popularity — especially amongst younger generations — that is taking on a much more dangerous tone. A member of Britain’s Parliament called for RIM to suspend BlackBerry Messenger within the United Kingdom while the riots continue. While RIM is cooperating with law officials, it is not clear if they will actually bend to this request. Source: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/hacking-becomes-latest-weapon-in-londonriots-updated/54451
August 9, Christian Science Monitor – (National) American Muslim pleads guilty to using the Internet to solicit terrorism. A 22-year-old American Muslim from New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty August 9 to using an Internet Web site to urge Muslim radicals within the United States to engage in a wide range of terror attacks. He pleaded guilty in federal court in Pittsburgh to a single charge of solicitation to commit a crime of violence. The solicitations including urging like-minded individuals to sabotage train tracks; destroy phone lines, power lines, and cell phone towers; start forest fires; and engage in isolated attacks against Americans civilians, police, and military officials. The man was an active moderator on the English-language version of the militant Islamic Web discussion forum, Ansar al-Mujahideen Forum. The second count of his indictment charges that he posted and distributed on the Internet a 101page explosives course written by a professor who was once al-Qa'ida’s top chemical and biological weapons expert. “[He] placed a number of postings ⦠encouraging attacks within the United States,” the indictment said. ”He suggested the use of firearms, explosives, and propane tanks against targets such as police stations, post offices, synagogues, military facilities, train lines, bridges, cell phone towers, and water plants.” He suggested militant Muslims in the United States should attack civilian aircraft, banks, military installations, Jewish schools, and daycare centers, according to the indictment. After posting the “Explosives Course” online in late December 2010, agents with the FBI sought to question him. When two agents approached the man January 4, the encounter turned into a physical struggle. During a scuffle, he allegedly bit both agents, drawing blood, as he attempted to retrieve a loaded 9 mm handgun from his jacket pocket. He faces up to 10 years in prison, and a $125,000 fine. Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/0809/American-Muslim-pleadsguilty-to-using-the-Internet-to-solicit-terrorism
ASIA
China Flexes Naval Muscle
By JEREMY PAGE
BEIJING—China sent its first aircraft carrier to sea, a defining moment in its effort to become a top-tier naval power that seeks to challenge U.S. military supremacy in Asia and protect Chinese economic interests that now span the globe.
The carrier, based on an empty hull bought from Ukraine, sounded its horn three times as it plowed through fog around the northeastern port of Dalian early Wednesday to begin its first sea trials, according to a Twitter-like service by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
The vessel, nearly 1,000 feet long, is far from fully operational: It has a new engine, radar, guns and other equipment, but has limited combat potential without backup from other carriers and an array of support ships. For the moment, it will be used mainly for training personnel, especially fighter pilots who must learn to take off from and land on a moving deck.
China's carrier, designed to carry about 2,000 people and 50 fighter jets, is dwarfed by the nuclear-powered U.S. Nimitz-class "supercarrier," which can carry 6,250 people and launch planes with more fuel and weaponry thanks to a catapult system and longer runway. China's carrier, which isn't nuclear powered, is thought to have a gas-turbine or marine-diesel engine.
China has yet to name its carrier, and tried to play down its significance Wednesday, saying in a Xinhua commentary: "There should be no excessive worries or paranoid feelings on China's pursuit of an aircraft carrier, as it will not pose a threat to other countries."
The vessel nonetheless sends a powerful message both to China's domestic audience, for whom a carrier has for decades been equated with national strength, and to the U.S. and its regional allies, many of whom are embroiled in territorial disputes with Beijing.
It is the most potent symbol yet of China's long-term desire to develop the power both to deny U.S. naval access to Asian waters and to protect its global economic interests, including shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean and oil sources in the Middle East.
Its launch is thus seen as a milestone in relations between an ascendant China, bent on reclaiming its historical role as a global power, and a debt-ridden U.S. that wants to retain the military supremacy it has wielded in Asia since 1945.
China denies trying to match the might of the U.S. Navy, which now has 11 carriers, including one, the George Washington, that is based in Japan. Even Chinese experts admit it could take a decade to master the intricate choreography of a carrier group, which typically involves frigates, destroyers, submarines and satellites, all using an integrated command and control system.
But serving and retired Chinese officers make no secret of their country's aspiration to develop up to four larger, indigenous carriers by around 2020.
China has also alarmed the U.S. and its regional allies in the past year with a more combative stance on territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas.
The Pentagon is also playing down the carrier's significance. Some U.S. officials privately question the quality of Chinese engineering, which came into sharp relief last month with a deadly train crash on the country's high-speed rail network.
At the same time, the U.S. is countering China's military build-up by shoring up defense ties with old Asian allies Japan and South Korea as well as new partners like India and Vietnam.
Several Asian nations, including Japan and Australia, are beefing up their arsenals too, fearing that the U.S. security umbrella is being eroded by China's enhanced capabilities and possible U.S. defense budget cuts.
For Beijing, however, the carrier's short-term capabilities are less important than its symbolic significance, especially for Communist Party leaders courting military support ahead of a leadership change next year.
As if to exaggerate the achievement for a fiercely nationalistic audience, China's state television featured no images of the sea trials, and instead used footage of what appeared to be fighter jets taking off from Russian or U.S. carriers...
...They also point out that of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council—China, the U.S., Britain, France and Russia—China has been the only one without an operational carrier. India and Thailand have a carrier each, while Japan has one that carries helicopters.
"China is a big country and we have quite a large number of ships, but they are only small ships," said Chen Bingde, the chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army, at a July news conference with Adm. Mike Mullen, the visiting U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "This is not commensurate with the status of a country like China."
...China purchased a decommissioned Australian carrier for scrap in 1985. Chinese companies also acquired two small Russian carriers in 1998 and 2000, both of which are now used in amusement parks.
But the real breakthrough came when a Chinese company acquired the vessel, then called Varyag, for $20 million in 1998, on the understanding that it would be towed to the gambling enclave of Macao and used as a floating casino.
The plan to use it for the navy soon became an open secret because it was visible from much of Dalian, and military enthusiasts posted regular reports, photographs and videos of its refurbishment. Still, China officially confirmed its existence only last month, when it tried to ease regional concerns by saying it would be used for "research, experiments and training."
China's Defense Ministry didn't respond to a request to comment on the sea trials Wednesday, and Xinhua said only that they "would not take a long time." "After returning from the sea trial, the aircraft carrier will continue refit and test work," Xinhua said.
Analysts say Chinese pilots are unlikely to try flying from the carrier yet, though are thought to have practiced on a land-based mock-up of the deck.
Andrei Chang, Hong Kong editor of Kanwa Defense Review, which monitors China's military, said the first tests were probably designed to check the engines—a potential weak point—and that sea trials would continue sporadically for another year or two.
Once basic tests are concluded, however, analysts said the carrier could be used for limited patrols around China's territorial waters, as well as for conducting visits to foreign countries to present China's newfound naval strength in a nonthreatening manner...
...China, like most countries, considers at least three carriers necessary to be effective, so that one can be in action, one in transit and one in port for repairs and resupplies, according to Maj. Gen. Luo Yuan. But each active one requires its own carrier group, which could take at least 10 years to develop, according to retired Chinese navy Rear Adm. Yin Zhuo.
"China's 'starter carrier' is of very limited military utility, and will primarily serve to confer prestige on a rising great power, help the military master basic procedures, and to project a bit of power," wrote Andrew Erickson, an associate professor in the U.S. Naval War College's Strategic Research Department, in a research note.
RUSSIA
Russia: Early Warning Missile Radars To Be Deployed August 11, 2011
The Russian Space Forces, the branch of the Russian military charged with military space operations, will receive two Voronezh-DM early warning radars in December 2011 to ensure Russian nuclear parity in case a European anti-ballistic missile is deployed, Izvestia reported Aug. 11. One radar will be deployed in Armavir to supplement the capacities of the Gabalinskaya radar in Azerbaijan and the other will cover the western sector in the village of Pionerskoye in the Kaliningrad region. The Space Troops said Moscow will commission a third facility in Irkutsk Region in 2012 to cover the space from China to the U.S. western coast. The new radars can cover the skies and outer space up to 4,500 kilometers (about 2,800 miles).
IRAN
NOTHING SIGNIFICANT TO REPORT
IRAQ
NOTHING SIGNIFICANT TO REPORT
ISRAEL
Israel: Construction On 1,600 New Settler Homes Approved August 11, 2011
Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai approved the construction of 1,600 new settler homes in the Ramat Shlomo area of east Jerusalem, his spokesman Roei Lachmanovich said, AFP reported Aug. 11. Lachmanovich said the minster will approve the construction of another 2,000 homes in Givat Hamatos and 700 homes in Pisgat Zeev. The spokesmen said the approvals are driven by the economic crisis in Israel and places in Jerusalem are needed to build homes. He added that it was an economic move, not a political one.
AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan: President Will Not Seek Third Term August 11, 2011
Afghan President Hamid Karzai will not seek a third term as president, according to a statement from Karzai’s palace, AFP reported Aug. 11. Karzai said the Afghan constitution does not allow a president to serve more than two terms in office, and he made the announcement in response to rumors, according to the statement.
MIDDLE EAST
Egypt: Islamist Movements Oppose New Constitutional Declaration August 11, 2011
Egyptian Islamist movements and parties said they will demonstrate if the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) imposes guidelines for drafting a new constitution, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported Aug. 11. A Gamaah al-Islamiyah spokesman said his party will object to the guidelines and that any attempt to impose them will have a serious negative impact. A Freedom and Justice Party leader said the party is also against supra-constitutional principles and will confront any attempt to draft them with million-strong protests, adding that neither the SCAF nor any Cabinet head has the right to oppose popular will. Salafi Asala Party chairman Adel Afifi said Islamist forces will protest in Cairo and other governorates, while a Salafi Front spokesman said the Islamist groups will protest in governorates during Ramadan and return to Tahrir Square when the holy month ends.
SOUTH OF THE BORDER
Mexico Security Memo: Striking Los Zetas in the Northeast
MISC
Intelligence Guidance: Week of Aug. 7, 2011
Except where noted courtesy www.stratfor.com
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