Ashton Carter briefs the press at the Pentagon

The United States is facing five global strategic challenges, while at home sequestration poses a great risk to the funding of critical investments, Defense Secretary Ash Carter told lawmakers here today.

“Today’s security environment is dramatically different from the last 25 years, requiring new ways of investing and operating,” Carter said at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on the fiscal year 2017 defense budget request.

He testified with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., and Defense Department Comptroller Mike McCord.

Carter listed Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and terrorism as the five evolving strategic challenges that are driving the DoD’s planning and budgeting, he told the panel.
The defense budget request totals $582.7 billion — $523.9 billion in the base budget and $58.8 billion in the overseas contingency operations fund. The funding request takes the “long view” of current and evolving security threats, Carter said.

Sequestration Poses Risk
Last year’s bipartisan budget act gave the Defense Department “much-need stability after years of gridlock and turbulence,” Carter said. But he warned the greatest risk to the department is losing that predictably and having uncertainty and sequester in future years.

Avoiding sequestration would prevent $100 billion in automatic cuts and allow the department to maintain stability and sustain critical investments, he said.
Challenges from Russia, China

Addressing the challenges from Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and terrorism requires new investments, new posture in some regions, and also new and enhanced capabilities, the secretary said.

“All the while, we’re continuing to help protect our homeland,” Carter said. “We’re accelerating our overall counter-ISIL campaign. We’re backing it up with increased funding for 2017 — requesting 50 percent more than last year.”

Key to the approach is being able to deter advanced competitors, he said.

“We must have and be seen to have the ability to ensure that anyone who starts a conflict with us will regret doing so,” Carter said. “In our budget, our capabilities, our readiness, and our actions, we must and will be prepared for a high-end enemy — what we call full-spectrum.”

He described Russia and China as the most “stressing competitors” that have both developed and continue to advance military systems that seek to threaten U.S. advantages in specific areas.

The Defense Department is taking a “strong and balanced approach to deter Russian aggression” in Eastern Europe, Carter said.

“The other challenge is in the Asia-Pacific, where China is rising, which is fine, but behaving aggressively, which is not,” he said.

The U.S. military is continuing its rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region to maintain the stability the U.S. has underwritten for the past 70 years, allowing many nations to rise and prosper, Carter said. He described the region as the “single most consequential region for America’s future.”

Counter-ISIL Momentum
The U.S. is seeking a lasting defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Carter said. He outlined momentum against the “parent tumor” in Iraq and Syria, as well as other areas where it is “metastasizing,” including Africa and Afghanistan.

“Notably, the Iraqis retook Ramadi, and are reclaiming further ground in Anbar province,” he said.

The U.S. and its partners have supported capable and motivated local forces in Syria to retake the eastern Syrian town of Shaddadi, Carter said. That is the last major northern artery between Raqqa and Mosul — between ISIL in Iraq and ISIL in Syria, he pointed out.

Coalition partners have committed to increase contributions to help defeat ISIL, strikes on ISIL-held cash depots and oil revenues have increased, and there have been strikes against ISIL in Libya as well, he noted.

North Korea, Iran
Forces on the Korean Peninsula remain ready to “fight tonight,” he said, noting North Korea poses a threat to regional security and stability.

Iran is demonstrating “reckless and destabilizing behavior,” Carter said. The United States, he said, seeks to counter Iran’s aggression, counter its malign influence, and uphold our “ironclad commitments” to regional allies, notably Israel.

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The Philippines on Sunday hailed a new accord giving the US military access to five of its bases, saying this would strengthen its defensive capabilities and maritime security.

The agreement between the two close allies comes as the Philippines and other countries are embroiled in a tense dispute with China over conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Under the agreement, US forces would be able to rotate through five Philippine bases including those close to the South China Sea.

“The five agreed locations… reaffirms the shared commitment of the Philippines and US to strengthening their alliance in terms of ensuring both countries’ mutual defence and security,” Foreign Department spokesman Charles Jose said in a statement.

Defence Department spokesman Peter Galvez said separately the agreement “would greatly enhance our capabilities” in maritime security and disaster relief.

Philippine and US officials meeting in Washington on Friday announced that they had agreed to the rotation of US military personnel under the Enhanced Defense Co-operation Agreement (EDCA), which went into effect in January.

One of the installations is the Antonio Bautista Air Base in the western Philippine island of Palawan, directly facing the South China Sea.

Another is Basa Air Base north of Manila, home of the Philippines’ main fighter wing, which is also close to disputed waters.

China claims virtually all the South China Sea despite conflicting partial claims by Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines.

It has been asserting its claim by occupying more reefs and outcrops in these waters, and building artificial islands including airstrips on some of them.

Tense confrontation
Bautista Air Base is just 300 kilometres (186 miles) east of Mischief Reef, an outcrop occupied by China in the 1990s despite angry protests by the Philippines.

Basa Air Base is about 330 kilometres from Scarborough Shoal, occupied by Chinese vessels after a tense confrontation with Philippine ships in 2012.

The other bases through which US forces can rotate through are a major army training camp with its own airstrip in the north, and two air bases in the central and southern islands of the archipelago.

US State Department spokesman John Kirby said the two sides at their Friday meeting discussed next steps for implementation of the EDCA “and how it will support the United States efforts to help modernize the armed forces of the Philippines, develop capacity and capability for maritime security and domain awareness, and provide rapid humanitarian assistance to the people of the Philippines.”

Asked at a Washington briefing on Friday about a possible adverse Chinese reaction to the bases agreement, he said: “It’s not about selling it to the Chinese or to anybody. It’s about meeting our security commitments in a serious alliance with the Philippines.”

Press reports quoted US ambassador Philip Goldberg as saying in Washington that US personnel and equipment would arrive “very soon.”

Philippine officials said they did not know when the US forces would arrive.

The Philippines, a US colony from 1898 to 1946, hosted two of the largest overseas US military bases until 1992 when the senate voted to terminate their leases amid growing nationalist sentiment.

But since then Manila has been seeking closer ties with Washington as China has become more assertive in the region.

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US military personnel involved in a devastating air strike on a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders in Afghanistan have been or will be punished, officials said Thursday.

The bombing last October of the MSF hospital in Kunduz — which came as NATO-backed Afghan forces clashed with insurgents for control of the northern provincial capital — left 42 people dead.

The US military carried out an investigation and blamed human error.

“I can tell you that those individuals most closely associated with the incident have been suspended from their duties and were referred for administrative action,” said Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for US Central Command.

More than 10 military personnel face administrative action, another official said.

He said this can range from ‘negative counseling’, or being told not to do something again, to a letter of reprimand, which generally blocks further promotion. Removal of command is also a possibility.

Next week, the Pentagon is due to publish a version of its report on the attack. It will be redacted to remove classified material.

President Barack Obama has apologized for the Kunduz attack and the Pentagon has said it will pay compensation to the families of those killed.

Doctors Without Borders has appealed in vain for an international investigation of the air strike.

It came shortly after the Taliban briefly seized Kunduz the previous month, in their biggest military victory since being ousted in the US invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.

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A TV screen shows a file footage of the missile launch conducted by North Korea, at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 10, 2016. North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Thursday, South Korea's military said, a likely show of anger at continuing springtime war games by rivals Washington and Seoul and another ratcheting up of hostility on the already anxious Korean Peninsula. The screen reads "North Korea launched the missiles into East Sea." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

North Korea test fired two medium-range ballistic missiles on Friday, just days after leader Kim Jong-Un promised a series of nuclear warhead tests and missile launches amid surging military tensions.

Friction on the divided Korean peninsula has deepened since the North carried out its fourth nuclear test on January 6, followed a month later by a long-range rocket launch that was widely seen as a disguised ballistic missile test.

US defence officials said they had tracked two launches — both believed to be medium-range Rodong missiles fired from road-mobile launch vehicles.

The Rodong is a scaled-up Scud variant with a maximum range of around 1,300 kilometres (800 miles).

South Korean military officials said the first missile was launched from Sukchon in the country’s southwest at 5:55 am (2055 GMT Thursday) and flew 800 kilometres before splashing down in the East Sea (Sea of Japan).

The second, fired about 20 minutes later, disappeared off radar early into its flight.

They came a day after US President Barack Obama signed an order implementing tough sanctions adopted earlier this month against North Korea by the UN Security Council, as well as fresh unilateral US measures.

Strike threats
For the past two weeks, Pyongyang has maintained a daily barrage of nuclear strike threats against both Seoul and Washington, ostensibly over ongoing, large-scale South Korea-US military drills that the North sees as provocative rehearsals for invasion.

To register its anger at the joint exercises, the North fired two short-range missiles into the East Sea on March 10.

A few days later, Kim Jong-Un announced that a nuclear warhead explosion test and firings of “several kinds” of ballistic missiles would be carried out “in a short time”.

South Korea’s defence ministry said Friday’s launches were clearly the result of Kim’s order.

“North Korea appears to be speeding up test launches to advance its nuclear capabilities,” said ministry spokesman Moon Sang-Gyun.

Calling the move a direct challenge to the UN Security Council and the international community, Moon said the South’s military stood ready to respond immediately to any North Korean threat to national security.

Existing UN sanctions ban North Korea from the use of any ballistic missile test, although short-range launches tend to go unpunished.

A Rodong test is more provocative, given its greater range, which makes it capable of hitting most of Japan.

The last Rodong test was in March 2014, when two of the missiles were fired into the East Sea.

Japan ruffled
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned the launch and said his government would coordinate its response with the US, South Korea and other nations concerned.

“We are taking full and necessary measures for alert and surveillance activity so that we can deal with any and all situations,” he said, after earlier ordering an assessment on the safety of shipping in the splashdown zone.

The US State Department issued a statement calling on Pyongyang to refrain from any actions that could “further raise tensions.”

While North Korea is known to have a small stockpile of nuclear weapons, its ability to deliver them accurately to a chosen target on the tip of a ballistic missile has been a subject of heated debate.

There are numerous question marks over the North’s weapons delivery systems, with many experts believing it is still years from developing a working inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) that could strike the continental United States.

Kim’s announcement of further tests on Tuesday came as he monitored a simulated test of the warhead re-entry technology required for such a long-range nuclear attack.

The test was a complete success, state media said, and provided a “sure guarantee” of the warhead’s ability to withstand the intense heat and vibration of re-entering the earth’s atmosphere.

South Korea said it doubted the North had mastered re-entry technology, although it was less sceptical a few days before when Kim said it had miniaturised a nuclear warhead that could fit on a missile.

Earlier this week, South Korean President Park Geun-Hye said North Korea’s endless threats and provocative behaviour reflected a “sense of crisis” in Pyongyang at its increasing diplomatic and economic isolation.

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During the Network Integration Evaluation 16.2 Fleet Build, two medic Soldiers inspect their vehicle after arriving at the Integration Motor Pool at Fort Bliss, Texas.

Before Soldiers can evaluate the latest version of the Army’s on-the-move communications network this spring, hundreds of Army tactical vehicles are receiving technological upgrades within the Integration Motor Pool at Fort Bliss, Texas.

Preparation for the Network Integration Evaluation 16.2, also referred to as NIE, is in full swing. NIEs and Army Warfighting Assessments (AWAs) are complementary events designated to continually assess and rapidly improve the Army’s communications network — including systems that reside on tactical vehicles so Soldiers can stay connected as they cover vast distances and challenging terrain.

Engineers, technicians and Soldiers work together to accomplish the technological upgrades on vehicles in two phases. The first phase is the Golden Vehicle Build, which was completed in February and consists of creating unique prototype vehicles that carry the specific systems to be evaluated in each NIE or AWA event. The second phase is the Fleet Build, when the Golden Vehicle prototypes are utilized as the physical blueprint for the rest of the fleet.

“The ability to configure hundreds of vehicles for NIE and AWA within a few weeks is accomplished with vast preparations and a great team,” said Col. Terrece Harris, director, Capability Package. “Not only do we do this in a short span of time, but we also do this twice a year. It may be tough but we keep in mind our mission is to get this equipment into the hands of our Soldiers.”

The Capability Package Directorate, known as CPD, is responsible for integrating network equipment onto the vehicles utilized during NIE and AWA. It is part of the Army’s System of Systems Engineering and Integration Directorate, which executes the NIEs and synchronized fielding for the network Capability Sets that are proven during the events.

Participating NIE vehicles, equipment and systems are delivered to Fort Bliss from organizations nationwide that support Army modernization. CPD brings all the efforts together by integrating platforms with communications systems, thus making them functional for the NIE’s array of operational tests, evaluations, risk reduction events and demonstrations.

“Without vehicles and associated equipment, there is no NIE,” said Bob Rivas, chief of CPD’s System Integration Division. “We build, install, and integrate all the systems onto platforms that are going to be in the field for Soldiers to operate.”

Preparing such a large number of vehicles requires a detailed schedule and logistics plan — and the ability to adjust both on the fly.

“You need to make sure you have all the vehicles in place, the metal needed to install each system, all the cables, associated hardware, the systems themselves, and most of all you need to have flexibility,” Rivas said.

While the vehicles are being integrated, Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division learn how to operate the technologies through New Equipment Training, or NET. Multiple classes are provided by Program Executive Offices, Project Managers and industry representatives to instruct Soldiers on how to use their equipment. Once the vehicles are built, users get additional hands-on training and reinforcement to prepare them for operational evaluations.

“Once Fleet Build comes to completion, Soldiers are able to utilize the equipment hands-on,” explained Mario Hernandez, lead training specialist for CPD. “Since the technology is new, continuous training and reinforcement is necessary to ensure our Soldiers are familiar with using the equipment, and so they become more proficient before going to test.”

Training is a joint effort between acquisition organizations and the Brigade Modernization Command. Together they determine which Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) need to be trained on each system, to best maximize the proficiencies of Soldiers. Bringing Army and industry instructors and Soldiers together allows for more feedback, informing the development of the technology from an experienced Soldier’s perspective.

Continuously assessing technology with Soldier feedback has become crucial to modernization efforts, which is why the spring NIEs will focus on formal evaluations, while the fall AWAs will have a more experimental environment to shape concepts and requirements.

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The prospect of Donald Trump winning the US presidency represents a global threat on par with religious militancy destabilizing the world economy, according to British research group EIU.

In the latest version of its Global Risk assessment, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked victory for the Republican front-runner at 12 on an index where the current top threat is a Chinese economic “hard landing” rated 20.

Justifying the threat level, the EIU highlighted the tycoon’s alienation towards China as well as his comments on Islamist extremism, saying a proposal to stop Muslims from entering the United States would be a “potent recruitment tool for militant groups”.

It also raised the specter of a trade war under a Trump presidency and pointed out that his policies “tend to be prone to constant revision”.

“He has been exceptionally hostile towards free trade, including notably Nafta (the North American Free Trade Agreement), and has repeatedly labelled China as a ‘currency manipulator’.” it said.

“He has also taken an exceptionally right-wing stance on the Middle East and militant terrorism, including, among other things, advocating the killing of families of terrorists and launching a land incursion into Syria to wipe out the militant IS (and acquire its oil).

“By comparison it gave a possible armed clash in the South China Sea an eight — the same as the threat posed by Britain leaving the European Union — and ranked an emerging market debt crisis at 16.

A Trump victory, it said, would at least scupper the Trans-Pacific Partnership between the US and 11 other American and Asian states signed in February, while “his hostile attitude to free trade, and alienation of Mexico and China in particular, could escalate rapidly into a trade war. “

“There are risks to this forecast, especially in the event of a terrorist attack on US soil or a sudden economic downturn,” it added.

However, the organization said it did not expect Trump to defeat his most likely Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, in an election and pointed out that Congress would likely block some of his more radical proposals if he won November’s election.

Rated at 12 alongside the prospect of a Trump presidency was the threat of IS, which the EIU said risked ending a five-year bull run on US and European stock markets if terrorist attacks escalated.

The break-up of the eurozone following a Greek exit from the bloc was rated 15, while the prospect of a new “cold war” fueled by Russian interventions in Ukraine and Syria was put at 16.

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Radar detectors signaling speeding motorists of police presence are about to get a run for their money as the Army is developing innovative radar technology that could someday be common practice for users wanting to mask their radar emissions.

Over the past several years, the threat of being compromised has become an increasing issue for Soldiers in theater. The need to preserve radar system performance while operating in both a contested (adversarial attack) and congested (high traffic) radio frequency environment has presented a significant challenge to radar system designers.

These challenges led the U.S. Army Materiel Command’s Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, or CERDEC, to research and develop a tunable, noise-encrypted radar waveform referred to as Advanced Pulse Compression Noise, or APCN.

“The battlespace is continually evolving, and with that, comes the need to change the way we think about radar design. Techniques such as real-time re-programmable waveform synthesis and low probability of intercept/low probability of detection (LPI/LPD) provide added capability that will address the emerging electromagnetic spectrum challenges our Soldiers are likely to face in the future,” said Dr. Paul Zablocky, director of CERDEC’s Intelligence and Information Warfare Directorate.

The APCN waveform embodies select aspects from both traditional and non-traditional radar waveforms, and can be programmed in real-time to allow the system user (the Soldier) to optimize radar performance based on the particular scenario.

“Encrypting our radar waveforms limits the likelihood for adversaries to intercept and exploit our emissions. Programming the waveform in real-time takes this capability even further, and ensures operational effectiveness,” said Dr. Mark Govoni, a research scientist in CERDEC I2WD’s Radar Division who established the theory and patented the design for the APCN waveform.

This secure waveform could be used not just by Soldiers but civilian law enforcement agencies as well.

“Having the ability to transmit a radar waveform that’s continually changing, one that never repeats itself, and looks like noise, is extremely difficult to intercept and becomes advantageous for police because they can now remain anonymous to radar detectors,” Govoni said.

“Given the prevalence of software-defined capabilities, it’s totally conceivable to consider this type of technology as an alternative to what’s currently used with some of the more critical communication networks like GPS and emergency broadcasting,” he said.

Another benefit of the APCN waveform is its inherent robustness to frequency congestion. CERDEC researchers have investigated this aspect, and theorize that a follow-on approach called “cognitive radar waveform diversity” could further minimize challenges with interference.

For example, Soldiers using a programmable waveform like APCN, could someday rely on the system’s ability to dynamically adapt and diversify its radar emissions while operating in heavy congestion.

Currently, this process is done manually, but researchers are looking for it to one day be done autonomously, Govoni said.

“Autonomy can relieve the Soldier of unnecessary burden, which then affords more attention for his or her primary tasks,” Govoni said. “Technologies like waveform diversity and cognition provide exactly that, and are where we’re headed with future radar capability.”

CERDEC worked with the Army Research Laboratory to build an experimental demonstrator that served as the radar system for the APCN waveform. Researchers modified the existing waveform and interfaced with the system using custom-designed control software. The experimental system was successfully demonstrated at APG in 2012.

CERDEC researchers are currently working to conduct additional experiments with advanced radar waveforms.

“There’s a growing desire to consolidate systems operating in the electromagnetic spectrum. As a (large) tenant of this spectrum, radar is an attractive candidate. The kind of technology we’re researching here at CERDEC gets us one step closer to real-time coordinated and cooperative operation with other systems,” Govoni said. “It’s a great example of where Army technologists are pushing the state-of-the-art.”

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The Islamic State group has lost 22 percent of the territory it held at the start of 2015, military analysts IHS Jane’s said Wednesday, as US and Russian air strikes have helped the ISIS’s opponents advance.

IS controls swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria but lost 14 percent of it last year and a further eight percent this year, according to the IHS Conflict Monitor.

IHS Jane’s said the jihadists controlled 73,440 square kilometres (28,360 square miles) of ground as of Monday, an area equivalent to around half the size of England.

The Syrian government has made gains in the west of the country and is now five kilometres outside the ancient city of Palmyra, which was overrun by IS fighters in mid-2015.

“The Islamic State is increasingly isolated, and being perceived as in decline,” said IHS senior analyst Columb Strack.

He said the group’s reversal of fortunes “plays into the hands” of its main rival, Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate the Al-Nusra Front.

“Isolation and further military defeats will make it harder for the Islamic State to attract new recruits to Syria from the pool of foreign jihadis,” said Strack.

Following the loss of the strategically important town of Tal Abyad on Syria’s border with Turkey last year, IHS began to register signs that IS was struggling financially, it said.

Financial difficulties including tax hikes, increases in the cost of IS-run public services such as rubbish collection and security, and cuts of up to 50 percent in fighters’ salaries have been further exacerbated by US-led and Russian air strikes on their sources of oil revenue, said IHS.

Russia announced Monday it would begin withdrawing its forces from Syria, saying its five-month bombing campaign had helped “radically change the situation in the fight against terrorism”.

In an assessment in January, US colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for the international coalition which carries out daily air raids against IS, said the group had lost about 40 percent of the territory it controlled in Iraq.

The group is on the rise in Libya, having significantly expanded its area of control in the troubled country, according to United Nations experts. It holds the coastal city of Sirte and has gained recruits from sub-Saharan Africa.

The group also has a toehold in Yemen, experts say.

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By the end of May of this year, two more Project 636.3 submarines are due to be in service with the Russian Navy. On March 2, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the fifth diesel-electric submarine, called Veliky Novgorod, will be launched on March 18. The submarine will be floated out in Saint Petersburg on the 110th anniversary of the Russian Navy’s underwater forces.

The MoD’s announcement of Veliky Novgorod’s launching was preceded by a Tass News Agency report that cited a source in the Navy as saying the launch would be on March 17. According to the same source, the Navy will launch Kolpino, the sixth and last submarine of this project, in May. [ii] Both of these submarines will join the others in the Black Sea Fleet.

The Project 636.3 submarines, built by Admiralty Shipyard, are an improved version of the initial Kilo class submarines, which entered service in the 1980s. The first of these improved submarines, Novorossiysk, was laid down in August 2010 and entered service four years later. Since then, three others – Rostov-on-Don, Stary Oskol, and Krasnodar – have entered service with the Russian Navy.

Russian media have touted the stealth features of the Improved Kilo class submarines, noting that the Rostov-on-Don, in particular, “is believed to be the quietest [submarine] in the world.” [iii] The NATO Alliance appears to view the Project 636.3 submarines similarly, dubbing them “black holes” for their stealth capabilities.

In November 2015, as Krasnodar was being launched, Adm. Viktor Chirkov, commander of the Russian Navy, stated that this type of submarine could be built for Russia’s other fleets too.[iv] Though Moscow at first did not seem interested in procuring more of the Improved Kilo class submarines after the first six, delays to the Lada class submarines (which are supposedly even stealthier) have caused Russia to change course and order six more Improved Kilo class submarines, which will eventually join the country’s Pacific Fleet.[v]

With the entrance of these submarines into service, Moscow has wasted no time in showing off their operational ability. In December 2015, Russia released footage of Rostov-on-Don taking part in Russia’s intervention in Syria. From the Mediterranean Sea, the submarine fired Kalibr cruise missiles at Islamic State positions in Raqqa,[vi] inflicting “significant damage,” according to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Russia’s Kalibr missile launches from surface ships in the Caspian Sea, which occurred several months prior to Rostov-on-Don engaging the Islamic State, were described by U.S. officials to Defense News as being “really about messaging to the world and us that this is a capability that they have and they can use it.”[vii] The use of Rostov-on-Don in the Syria campaign to bomb the Islamic State sends a similar message

Russia is intending to demonstrate to NATO its ability to deploy cruise missiles from both surface and underwater vessels to hit strategic targets in the Middle East theater, a region that had until recently been primarily dominated by NATO. Moscow is also demonstrating that it is strengthening its military appearance in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, in the face of what it sees as an expansionist NATO. The six Improved Kilo class submarines are an important component of that effort.

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Su-25 Frogfoot - Russian Air Force

Vladimir Putin surprised his country and the world on March 14 by ordering the start of a partial withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria, less than six months after the beginning of an air campaign that followed a swift and secretive buildup on the ground. What are the motives and messages behind the announcement?

A Signal to Assad
Coming on the first day of new UN-mediated talks on ending the five-year-old war in Syria, a key goal of the start of a pullout may be to make clear to President Bashar al-Assad that it is time to negotiate — and that while Russia was willing to come to his aid and turn the war’s tide when his back was to the wall, he will not have Moscow’s support for the military solution he spoke of last month when he vowed to retake all of Syria.

That pledge — which Assad delivered hours before Russia, the United States, and other powers reached agreement on a cessation of hostilities in Syria — seemed to irk Moscow. Russian analysts have emphasized that the Kremlin cannot allow Assad to call the shots.

The caveat here — a big one — is that there’s no way of knowing how closely Putin and Assad are huddling on plans for Syria’s future. Despite Assad’s claim that the withdrawal was the product of “complete coordination” between Moscow and Damascus, the answer could conceivably lie anywhere between little or no joint planning to a detailed, long-term blueprint for military action and diplomacy — including the talks in Geneva.

A European diplomat told Reuters that the Russian move “has the potential to put a lot of pressure on Assad and the timing fits that,” but added, “However, I say potentially because we’ve seen before with Russia that what’s promised isn’t always what happens.”

In any case, on the surface Putin seems to have succeeded in sending a warning to Assad without retreating an inch from Russia’s insistence that his exit from power — whether at the beginning of a transitional period, at the end, or at any other time — cannot be a precondition of the negotiations. In case that was lost on anyone, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that when Putin phoned Assad to inform him of the decision, the two did not discuss the Syrian president’s future.

A Message to the West
In addition to the start of a withdrawal of the “main part of our military contingent” in Syria, Putin ordered an intensification of Russia’s diplomatic efforts to end the war there. In Putin’s mind, presumably, the West’s takeaway should be that Russia is ready to give its all to the push for peace in Geneva.

On March 15, Peskov said that “the main task today is to comprehensively assist a peace settlement.”

Whether the United States and Europe will believe that is another question. Many in the West will reserve judgment, given Russia’s penchant for using past negotiations — not only on the war in Syria, but also on the conflict in Ukraine — to play for time and alter the military “facts on the ground” in its favor.

While Putin’s announcement seemed to take the United States by surprise, the Kremlin’s assiduousness in asserting that it had nothing to do with Assad’s fate was not lost on Washington. Following a telephone conversation with Putin after his announcement, the White House said that Obama “underscored that a political transition is required to end the violence in Syria.”

But the announcement that a withdrawal is under way potentially deprives Assad’s opponents of a fat target for criticism, considering that Russia’s air strikes are estimated to have killed some 1,700 civilians in Syria. It also gives Russia ammunition to blame others — the Syrian opposition, its regional backers, and the West — if the negotiations fail.

Sop to Russians
There was no banner and no shipboard celebration, but Putin’s televised statement that “the task put before the Defense Ministry and Russia’s armed forces has, on the whole, been fulfilled” echoed of former U.S. President George W. Bush’s “mission accomplished” moment in Iraq.

And while Western leaders have stressed that few of Russia’s bombs have targeted Islamic State militants, Putin’s boast that Russia helped Syrian forces “achieve a fundamental turnaround in the fight against international terrorism” may have found more sympathetic ears at home. Russia’s state TV audience is also being fed the more contentious claim that they did so with no collateral damage.

Not everybody in Russia is convinced. In a blog post on the website of Ekho Moskvy radio, journalist Arkady Babchenko contrasted countries whose decisions on military action play out in public over weeks or months with Russia, where “nothing was portended in the morning…and in the evening it was suddenly, ‘Honey, we won the war in Syria!'”

He said Putin left many questions unanswered: “What aims did we achieve, how many people did we kill, who did we kill, how many people did we lose, why did we go in, why are we going out?”

But Putin may be satisfied that he can tell Russians he has avoided a quagmire, improved Moscow’s position in the Middle East, and boosted its clout worldwide.

Putin has said the costs of Russia’s military operations in Syria are manageable. But even if you take that claim at face value, cutting those outlays won’t hurt his image at a time when persistent economic problems are hitting many Russians hard.

It’s the Sanctions, Stupid
Russia’s economic woes stem largely from the collapse in world prices for oil, its chief export, but the sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union, and other countries over Moscow’s interference in Ukraine have also had an effect — along with the restrictions Putin slapped on many Western food imports as a retaliatory measure.

Russia denies any link between its actions in Ukraine and Syria, and Western countries including the United States say there can be no quid-pro-quo deals with the Kremlin.

But Putin may hope that a partial pullout from Syria will make Russia look more like part of the solution than part of the problem, and nudge the EU — where there are already cracks in the resolve to continue punishing Russia for its seizure of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine — to lift sanctions that come up for renewal in July. Italy and Hungary said on March 14 that there could be no automatic extension of the sanctions.

Putin may also believe that he has increased his chances of achieving what is widely perceived as a major goal for Russia — a seat beside the United States in working out global and regional problems, but from a stronger position now that it has shown it will use force when it sees fit.

Fine Print and Footprints
The headlines have screamed “withdrawal,” but Russia is not planning a full pullout.

Putin also said forces would remain at the Mediterranean seaport of Tartus, which Russia’s navy has used since long before the war, and at the Hmeimim air base in Latakia Province. Russia will keep about 1,000 military personnel at the two bases, a senior lawmaker said on March 15.

With the outcome of the negotiations in Geneva, the fate of Assad, and even the future territorial integrity of Syria still hard to predict, the bases could give Russia a substantial military presence in a key part of the volatile country for years to come.

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Technicians prepare Ilyushin Il-76TD long-haul cargo aircrafts for the upcoming MAKS-2015, the International Aviation and Space Show, in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, on August 21, 2015.

US Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Russia next week to discuss the Syria crisis, Washington said, after Moscow began withdrawing most of its forces from the country.

Kerry said on Tuesday he would hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to “try to take advantage of this moment,” which he described as the best opportunity in years to end the bloodshed.

Russia’s withdrawal has spurred hopes for peace talks being held in Geneva to try to end Syria’s brutal five-year conflict, which has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced millions.

Putin ordered the “main part” of Russia’s forces out of Syria on Monday, but pledged to keep some air and naval bases in the war-torn nation.

A senior official said strikes would also continue against “terrorist targets”, and a monitoring group said Russian aircraft had struck the Islamic State group around the ancient city of Palmyra.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura described the withdrawal as a “significant development” for the talks, after the regime and rebel delegations submitted their roadmaps for a political solution.

“We hope (this) will have a positive impact on the progress of the negotiations,” he said.

The White House said “the earliest indications are that the Russians are following through” on the withdrawal, and some Russian aircraft had left Syria.

Kerry is expected to go to Moscow some time after Tuesday when he returns from a trip to Cuba.

“As we mark the fifth anniversary of the start of this horrific war, we may face the best opportunity that we’ve had in years to end it,” he said.

“I will be traveling next week to Moscow… to discuss how we can effectively move the political process forward and try to take advantage of this moment.”

‘Increase the pressure’
The first of Russia’s warplanes to leave Syria received a hero’s welcome at an airbase outside the city of Voronezh, where they were greeted by a ceremonial flypast and dozens of cheering supporters.

Pilots were tossed in the air as they disembarked, before being given a traditional present of a loaf of bread and salt, while a robed Orthodox priest offered them an icon to kiss.

Some governments expressed hope the Russian move could pressure its long-time ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to negotiate — although the Kremlin has denied that was its intention.

Germany’s foreign minister said a Russian withdrawal “increases the pressure” on Assad to negotiate, while France added: “Anything that helps towards a de-escalation in Syria should be encouraged.”

The Syrian president’s fate remains a key sticking point in the Geneva talks, which are also looking at how to form a new government, a fresh constitution and hold elections within 18 months.

De Mistura said both sides had submitted their views on how to move forward, and he would try to “analyze” their positions to find any possible common ground.

“We… exchanged some papers but also ideas on how to get deeper at the next meeting on the issue of transitional processes,” the envoy said after the second day of negotiations.

If they make progress, Syria’s main opposition group told AFP Tuesday it would be ready to negotiate in the same room with the regime instead of via a mediator.

Russia bombs Palmyra
Delegates at the talks held a moment of silence on Tuesday to mark the fifth anniversary of the beginning of Syria’s civil war, which has seen more than four million people flee the country.

The UN’s new refugee commissioner Filippo Grandi said he would ask the international community to take in another 400,000 Syrian refugees as the country’s neighbors struggle to cope with the exodus.

Fighting has eased since a temporary ceasefire began on February 27, despite accusations of some violations, though clashes have continued with jihadist groups not covered by the truce.

A commander told AFP Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front was preparing to launch a new offensive “within the next 48 hours” to recapture territory from the regime.

“The Russians withdrew for one reason,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“(Russia) will not make any more sacrifices for a regime that has basically collapsed,” he added.

Government troops have made significant advances since Moscow began its air strikes in support of Assad’s army in September.

Russian warplanes carried out fresh strikes on Tuesday around Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage site which Islamic State fighters have systematically destroyed since capturing it last May.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that “Russian helicopters and warplanes, that are likely Russian” had struck IS targets around the ancient city.

There was no official confirmation from Moscow.

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Pakistan Air Force (PAF) JF-17 Thunder presented a scintillating aerial display at the culmination of North Thunder Military Exercise held at King Khalid Military City in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia today.

King Salman bin Abdul Aziz along with Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and General Raheel Sharif, Chief of the Army Staff witnessed the spectacular ceremony. Heads of States, Senior government and military officials of various countries witnessed the aerial display.

It was a momentous occasion when PAF JF-17 Thunder presented spectacular aerial display in the skies of Saudi Arabia for the first time. The audience was left spell-bound to see the stunning maneuvers of this aircraft, which was flown by Squadron Leader Jawad Gilani.

The formation of PAF K-8 Advanced Jet Trainer Aircraft, commonly known as “Sherdils”, the aerobatics team of Pakistan Air Force Academy, Risalpur also presented some breath taking aerobatics as it appeared on the horizon spreading various colours.

North Thunder Exercise commenced on 14th February 2016 in Saudi Arabia and Armed Forces of 20 countries participated in the largest military drill in the world.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered an upcoming nuclear warhead test and multiple ballistic missile launches, escalating Pyongyang’s face-off with the international community just days after being slapped with tough UN sanctions.

The order came after Kim monitored what was described as the successful simulated test of the warhead re-entry technology required for a long-range nuclear strike on the US mainland, the North’s official KCNA news agency said Tuesday.

Military tensions have been soaring on the divided Korean peninsula since the North carried out its fourth nuclear test on January 6, followed a month later by a long-range rocket launch that was widely seen as a disguised ballistic missile test.

The UN Security Council responded earlier this month by imposing its toughest sanctions on North Korea to date.

Pyongyang, meanwhile, has maintained a daily barrage of nuclear strike threats against both Seoul and Washington, ostensibly over ongoing, large-scale South Korea-US military drills that the North sees as provocative rehearsals for invasion.

Tests ‘in a short time’
In order to boost the reliability of the nation’s nuclear deterrent still further, Kim said a nuclear warhead explosion test and firings of “several kinds” of ballistic rockets would be carried out “in a short time”.

“He instructed the relevant section to make pre-arrangement for them to the last detail,” KCNA said.

The order came days after state media released photos of Kim posing with what was claimed to be a miniaturized nuclear warhead capable of fitting on a ballistic missile.

Meeting with her cabinet ministers on Tuesday, South Korean President Park Geun-Hye said North Korea’s endless threats reflected a “sense of crisis” in Pyongyang at its increasing diplomatic and economic isolation.

“If North Korea continues its provocations and confrontation with the international community and does not walk the path of change, it will walk the path of self-destruction,” Park said.

While North Korea is known to have a small stockpile of nuclear weapons, its ability to deliver them accurately to a chosen target on the tip of a ballistic missile has been a subject of heated debate.

There are numerous question marks over the North’s weapons delivery systems, with many experts believing it is still years from developing a working inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) that could strike the continental United States.

Tuesday’s KCNA report was accompanied by photos of Kim personally monitoring a test simulating the intense heat a nuclear warhead would experience during atmospheric re-entry.

Re-entry ‘guarantee’
Protected by “newly developed heat-resisting material” the warhead was reportedly subjected to thermal flows five times hotter than those associated with ICBM flight.

The test was a complete success, the agency said, and provided a “sure guarantee” of the warhead’s ability to withstand re-entry — a major step in the North’s push towards a genuine ICBM nuclear strike capability.

South Korea’s defence ministry said it was skeptical of the claim.

“According to our military analysis, North Korea has not yet secured re-entry technology,” ministry spokesman Moon Sang-Gyun told reporters.

North Korea has never tested an ICBM, although it has displayed such a missile, known as the KN-08, during recent mass military parades in Pyongyang.

“It seems highly likely that North Korea is on the verge of conducting a long-range ballistic missile test, involving re-entry,” said Chang Yong-Seok, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University

“It wants to show that sanctions are not effective and to boost the credibility of its deterrent,” Chang said.

Melissa Hanham, an expert on North Korea’s WMD program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California, voiced concerns over just how far the North would go to “prove” its technical abilities.

China tested a medium-range ballistic missile with a 12-kiloton nuclear warhead in 1966, the only time a country has flight-tested a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile over populated areas.

“I don’t know how North Korea’s neighbors could distinguish testing a nuclear-tipped KN-08 from an attack. It would be very dangerous, very destabilizing,” Hanham said.

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Airbus Helicopters has signed a contract with Japan Coast Guard (JCG) for the purchase of an additional H225. JCG, which already operates five H225s, has ordered this additional aircraft as part of its fleet renewal plans. The helicopter is scheduled for delivery by the end of 2018.

This H225 will be equipped with the most advanced search and rescue mission systems and operated in security enforcement, territorial sea guard duties as well as disaster relief missions.

“We feel honoured to have signed this contract with Japan Coast Guard for their sixth H225 and are grateful for our customer’s renewed trust in the aircraft”, said Stéphane Ginoux, President of Airbus Helicopters in Japan. “We are proud to see that the H225’s outstanding performance in challenging search and rescue missions, as well as our comprehensive support and services offer are being recognised and valued. To ensure our customer’s complete satisfaction, we remain committed to high availability rates for JCG’s H225 fleet, thanks to our domestic footprint and our broad range of services”.

The H225, member of Airbus Helicopters’ Super Puma family, is an 11-ton-category twin-turbine rotorcraft which accommodates up to 19 passengers. Equipped with state-of-the-art electronic instruments and autopilot, the H225 offers outstanding endurance and fast cruise speed and can be fitted with various equipment to suit any role and purpose. Currently, more than 180 H225s are operating in 22 countries and have logged nearly 500,000 hours of flight time.

A total of 24 helicopters from the Super Puma family are operated in Japan by civil and parapublic users for search and rescue, offshore operations and passenger transport missions.

Airbus Helicopters, a division of Airbus Group, provides the most efficient civil and military helicopter solutions worldwide. Its in-service fleet includes nearly 12,000 helicopters operated by more than 3,000 customers in 154 countries. Airbus Helicopters employs more than 22,000 people worldwide and in 2015 generated revenues of 6.8 billion Euros.

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In a surprise move, President Vladimir Putin has instructed Russia’s armed forces to start pulling out of Syria.

Putin told Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on March 14 that Russian military forces had largely fulfilled their objectives in Syria.

“I am therefore ordering the defense minister, from tomorrow, to start the withdrawal of the main part of our military contingent” from Syria, he added.

Speaking on the day UN-brokered talks between the warring sides in Syria resumed in Geneva, Putin expressed hope that the withdrawal of Russian troops will be a stimulus for a political resolution of the conflict.

Russia has more than 50 jets and helicopters in Syria and a small ground component protecting them, along with a number of advisers and special forces operating with the Syrian military.

The Russian leader said Russian forces would stay on at the Mediterranean naval base at Tartus and at the Hmeimim air base in Latakia Province, from which Russia has launched most of its air strikes.

The Syrian presidency said President Bashar al-Assad and Putin agreed the Russian move in a telephone call. It also said Russia had pledged to continue its support for Syria in “combating terrorism.”

Meanwhile, Syria’s army said it will continue to combat the Islamic State group, Al-Nusra Front, and “other terrorist groups linked to them”

A statement issued by the military command said the armed forces would fight in coordination with “friends and allies” until security and stability were restored “to every inch of national territory.”

Syria’s opposition cautiously welcomed the Russian announcement. “If there is seriousness in implementing the withdrawal, it will give the [peace] talks a positive push,” said Salim al-Muslat, spokesman for the opposition High Negotiations Committee.

“If this is a serious step it will form a major element of pressure on the regime, because the Russian support prolonged the regime,” Muslat added.

The president of the United Nations Security Council said all 15 members view the partial Russian withdrawal as “positive.”

Angola’s UN Ambassador Ismael Gaspar Martins said he sees “a mood” in the council toward “a more positive outcome” in Syria.

“When we see forces withdrawing it means war is taking a different step, so that’s good,” he said.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Twitter that the “Russian move could be positive if part of real commitment to Syrian-led political transition and continuation of cessation of hostilities.”

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the withdrawal of Moscow’s forces from Syria will increase the pressure on President Assad to negotiate a “political transition.”

The White House said Presidents Barack Obama and Putin in a phone conversation discussed Russia’s partial withdrawal from Syria and next steps required to fully implement the cessation of hostilities.

Putin ordered the launch of air strikes against “terrorists” in Syria more than five months ago, a move that helped to shore up Assad.

The United States and other Western countries maintain that the Russian air strikes have mostly struck Syrian antigovernment rebel targets and not the Islamic State extremist group, which Russia has claimed to be targeting.

In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro on March 14, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Russia had all but stopped hitting moderate rebels.

The talks in Geneva are aimed at capitalizing on a shaky truce between Syrian government forces and opposition fighters.

The UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said a resumption of peace talks is a “moment of truth” and insisted the “only Plan B available is return to war.”

De Mistura, speaking to reporters moments before resuming talks in Geneva, added that agreeing on political transition in Syria is the “mother of all issues.”

The long-awaited talks, which open on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the outbreak of the conflict, mark the latest bid to end the bloodshed that has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced millions.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered further nuclear tests, state media said Friday, as military tensions surge on the Korean peninsula with South Korean and US forces engaged in large-scale joint exercises condemned by Pyongyang.

Since the joint drills began Monday, the North has issued daily warnings and statements, talking up its nuclear strike capabilities and threatening to turn Seoul and Washington into “flames and ashes.”

Just days after he was photographed posing in front of what state media described as a miniaturised nuclear warhead, Kim said the weapon required further testing.

Overseeing a ballistic missile launch on Thursday, Kim ordered “more nuclear explosion tests to estimate the destructive power of the newly produced nuclear warheads,” the North’s official KCNA news agency said.

Experts are divided as to just how far the North may have gone in shrinking warheads to a size capable of fitting on a ballistic missile — a major step forward in strike capability that would present a heightened threat to South Korea, other countries in the region and, eventually, the US mainland.

Nuclear strike drill
According to KCNA, Thursday’s launch of two short-range ballistic missiles, which traversed the eastern part of the country before falling into the East Sea (Sea of Japan), was part of a nuclear strike exercise.

The aim was to simulate conditions for “exploding nuclear warheads from the preset altitude above targets in the ports under enemy control,” the agency said.

Watching the exercise, Kim reiterated an earlier threat to launch an immediate nuclear attack if the “sabre-rattling” South Korea-US drills should harm “even a single tree or a blade of grass” on North Korean territory.

“I will issue a prompt order to launch attack with all military strike means,” he said.

Military tensions on the divided Korean peninsula have been on the rise since the North carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by a long-range rocket launch last month.

South Korea and the United States responded by scaling up their annual joint drills, which Pyongyang has always condemned as provocative rehearsals for invasion.

‘Decapitation’ strike
The North’s anger has been fuelled this year by reports that the drills included a “decapitation strike” scenario in which the North Korean leadership and command structure is taken out at the start of any conflict.

In light of such drills, “our self-defensive countermeasures should adopt a more preemptive and offensive mode,” Kim said.

The UN Security Council responded to the North’s latest nuclear test and rocket launch by adopting tough, new sanctions, which Pyongyang condemned as a “gangster-like” provocation orchestrated by the United States.

Reacting to Kim’s call for more nuclear tests, South Korea on Friday said the North Korean leader was being “rash” and displaying his ignorance of international opinion.

“The international community is imposing strong and comprehensive sanctions and this only goes to prove why they are necessary,” said Unification Ministry Spokesperson Jeong Joon-Hee.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday voiced grave concern over the growing tensions, and urged North Korea to avoid any further “destabilising acts.”

Kim, however, chose to highlight the need for a diversified nuclear strike force, capable of delivering warheads from the ground, air, sea and underwater.

The North has conducted a number of what is says were successful tests of a submarine launched ballistic missile.

Outside experts have questioned the results of those tests, suggesting Pyongyang had gone little further than a “pop-up” test from a submerged platform.

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As the complexity and number of security challenges in the world are increasing, creating new requirements for combatant commanders, the Army's commitment to readiness here on Okinawa remains razor sharp.

For the Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, readiness means staying as sharp as the Yarborough knives the Green Berets earn after graduating the Special Forces Qualification Course — a tradition since August 2002. The knife isn’t just any knife, but a combat field knife that serves as a link to the brotherhood of unconventional warriors.

The “First in Asia” Soldiers recently conducted a Full Mission Profile spanning from receipt of mission and mission planning, to infiltration and actions on the objective.

“Periodic FMPs ensure mission readiness as the military’s alert force in Asia,” said Team Leader Capt. John, whose name is being withheld for security reasons. “The hope is that the Soldiers come away with a better understanding of the planning process and integration of enablers while maintaining individual and collective skills,” he said.

In his initial message to the Army, the 39th Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Mark A. Milley placed readiness at the top of his list of priorities.

“Our fundamental task is like no other — it is to win in the unforgiving crucible of ground combat,” said Milley in his first message to the force. We must ensure the Army remains ready as the world’s premier combat force. Readiness for ground combat is — and will remain — the U.S. Army’s No. 1 priority. We will always be ready to fight today, and we will always prepare to fight tomorrow,” he said.

The Green Berets on Okinawa hone their edge with exercises and training events like the FMP in an exceptional setting, which often forces them to adapt and integrate with sister service components.

“Training on Okinawa is unique as the restrictions and concerns specific to Okinawa teach units to be creative,” said John. “When planning [and] training, the unit must take into account external concerns, such as noise concerns of the Japanese citizens, and work within a joint environment, navigating the similar but different cultures of the Marine Corps and [Air Force Special Operations Command]. Furthermore, these experiences foster cultural understanding, both internationally and inter-service, which ultimately makes for a more aware, well-rounded Soldier,” he said.

As the complexity and number of security challenges in the world are increasing, creating new requirements for combatant commanders, the Army’s commitment to readiness here on Okinawa remains razor sharp.

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North Korea hit out at Washington and Seoul Saturday, pledging to launch a blitzkrieg in the Korean peninsula, as the United States and South Korea launched their largest-ever joint landing drill.

The official KCNA news agency, citing a statement from military chiefs, warned of a “pre-emptive retaliatory strike at the enemy groups” involved in the joint US-South Korean exercise.

Pyongyang said it would respond to the drills with an “operation to liberate the whole of South Korea including Seoul” with an “ultra-precision blitzkrieg”.

Responding to the statement, South Korea’s defence ministry warned Pyongyang against further provocations, according to Yonhap news agency.

The new round of threats came as South Korea and the US launched the “Ssangyong” (twin dragons) landing drill.

The exercise involved 17,200 soldiers — 12,200 US troops and 5,000 South Korean soldiers — at the southeastern port of Pohang, a South Korean defence ministry spokesman said.

Later on Saturday, North Korean state media boasted of the nation’s right to launch a “pre-emptive nuclear attack” and issued a final warning to Washington.

“A nuclear war against the DPRK would bring a final ruin to the US,” read an article published in the North’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper.

“This is the last warning of the DPRK to Obama and his cronies in the White House.”

Meanwhile, news reports said a North Korean submarine had gone missing earlier this week, sparking a search by the North’s navy.

The unknown class of vessel had been reportedly operating off the North Korean coast earlier in the week when it disappeared.

A South Korean defence ministry told AFP Seoul was investigating the reports, while Pentagon officials declined to comment.

The US military had been observing the submarine off the North’s eastern coast, CNN said, citing three US officials familiar with the incident.

American spy satellites, aircraft and ships have been watching as the North Korean navy searched for the missing sub, the report added.

The United States is unsure if the missing vessel is adrift or whether it has sunk, CNN reported, but officials believe it suffered a failure during an exercise.

The US Naval Institute (USNI) News said the submarine was presumed sunk.

“The speculation is that it sank”, an unidentified US official was quoted as telling the USNI News.

“The North Koreans have not made an attempt to indicate there is something wrong or that they require help or some type of assistance.”

North Korea’s navy operates a fleet of some 70 submarines, most of them rusting diesel submarines that are capable of little more than coastal defence and limited offensive capabilities.

But the old, low-tech submarines still pose substantial threats to South Korean vessels.

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