DEFENSE UPDATES WEEKLY NEWS ROUND-UP 27th SEP - U.S PLANS TO ADD MASSIVE CAPABILITY IN ARCTIC!

 Alaskan Senator Dan Sullivan has stated that the US Air Force would deploy 150 F-22 and F-35 fighter jets to his state. He also added the construction of America'sfirst deepwater port in the Arctic Circle will be initiated Sullivan said it will send a ‘message’ to Russia and China about US power projection capabilities in the Arctic. 

The 150 Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and F-35Lightning II jets expected to be deployed to Alaska will constitute one of the largest, if not the biggest single US deployment of fifth-generation stealth fighters anywhere in the world. 

Viewers may note that the U.S Air Force at present operates 187 F-22s and about 250 F-350s in total. The 356th Fighter Squadron at Eielson Airforce Base in central Alaska received its first two F-35s in April, with four more on loan from Hill Air Force Base in Utah for training purposes. The 356th was reactivated in October 2019. 

As per reports, by December 2021 the base will double its personnel, and the Pentagon expects to spend some $500 million on base construction to accommodate the new troops and aircraft. This video is sponsored by the free-to-play military vehicle combat game War Thunder. We talk a lot about military vehicles on this channel, but what about trying them out for yourself? In War Thunder, you can choose from more than1200 playable vehicles from the 1930s to the 1990s and go to battle on more than 80 theaters of war. You can fly aircraft, helicopters, drive tanks, and command ships of all types and sizes, which have all been carefully recreated from their real-world counterparts. 

It's available as a free download on PC, PlayStation4and Xbox One with cross-platform support, so grab your friends and give it a try! All viewers of Defense Updates that register using the link in the description below will also get a free premium tank or aircraft or ship and three days of premium account time as a bonus. Japan’s new prime minister Yoshihide Suga has stated that the nation's ballistic and cruise missile defense (BMD) architecture is one of the priority policy decisions he is up to.

 Japan faces a multitude of missile threats from North Korea and China and needs a proper solution. Currently, it is over-dependent on U.S & Japan’sAegis Enabled warships for BMD. The situation was made complicated after the Japanese defense ministry decided not to acquire two land-based Aegis Ashore (AA) systems for use at separate sites.

 This was because of the concerns from the civilian population living in the vicinity of the proposed site that falling rocket boosters from the system’s interceptors could cause damage in the area. Other options are also one table which includes placing the Aegis Ashore batteries on specially constructed naval vessels rather than on land resolve the safety issue of the local community.

But this has its own drawbacks. Admiral Hiroshi Yamamura of Japan’s MaritimeSelf Defense Force has brought to the attention that Japan’s additional BMD capability must not be influenced by the weather or climate. Naval vessels may not be a stable platform for the Aegis Ashore system during rough weather or sea conditions and hinder its operation. 

A U.S Army report has provided insight into Russian snipers groups tactics in eastern Ukraine. It states, “Russian Forces in Ukraine have employed snipers in elements up to platoon size. These units will operate on a small frontage of only several hundred meters. They will layer their assets in roughly three ranks with spacing determined by a range of weapons systems and the terrain. The first rank will be composed of proxy forces trained as designated marksmen. Behind them will be a mixed force of better-trained proxies/mercenaries and Russian soldiers. 

The final rank consists of highly trained snipers and will be the best equipped. All of these ranks focus on one target area together.” The tactics seem to be geared towards pinning down a decent sized force instead of trying to score individual kills. The report has also provided details of weapons used, stating, “During the rapid modernization of the Russian army after 2008, the Russian army made large purchases of western made sniper rifles to include the Barret and Arctic Warfare Magnum (AWM). The Russian company ORSIS also makes the T-5000, one of the most capable bolt action sniper rifles in the world. 

These are currently the signature weapons used by Russian snipers.” Australia’s 2020 Defense Strategic Update and Force Structure Plan indicates that it will be taking up a more proactive role in Indo-Pacific. The document seems to be taking into consideration many factors of which the Chinese coercive actions in the region are weighing heavily. 

Viewers may note that this comes after Australia announced that it would spend $186 billion on its military – including long-range missiles– over the next decade amid rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific region. Though Prime Minister Scott Morrison refrained from naming China as he pressed home Australia’s needs by defining a post-COVID world “that is poorer, that is more dangerous and that is more disorderly.” Australia plans to arm its fleet of SuperHornets with long-range anti-ship missiles purchased from the United States. 

It is also looking to deploy long-range hypersonic missiles that could be launched from land. In a speech to the Australian Defense ForceAcademy in Canberra, Morrison had said his country “must face the reality that we have moved into a new and less benign strategic era.” A Russian Navy warship left Danish waters after colliding with a civilian cargo ship in the Baltic Sea. The mishap involved the Parchim-class corvetteKazanets and the Swiss cargo ship Ice Rose. 

The collision occurred on September 23, 2020, south of the five-mile Øresund Bridge that spans the strait between Denmark and Sweden. The Danish Armed Forces announced the next day that the Kazanets had left the area and also released a photo of the damage to these Rose which depicts a large cut that has been torn on the vessel’s starboard side, towards the stern, penetrating the hull above the waterline. 

The collision between the corvette and refrigerated cargo ship took place in what the Danish Armed Forces Operations Center described as “very dense fog.” Ice Rose is over 475 feet long and has a cargo capacity of 14,567 tons while Kazanets has 800 tons displacement and a length of just over 236 feet. The good news is that there were no injuries to those onboard either vessel, neither was there any spillages of oil or other chemicals.

A Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet experienced an engine fire and was forced to land at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia. This is less than two weeks after a similar incident at the same air station. According to the Naval Safety Center, the two-seater aircraft made a safe arrested landing at the Virginia Beach air station. Cmdr. Jennifer Cragg, a Naval Air Force Atlantic spokeswoman, told Military.com that the emergency landing took place around noon and involved Super Hornet from Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 

11. She added that the incident took place while training over the Virginia Capes. Cragg said in a statement, "The aircraft landed safely at NAS Oceana without incident. An aviation mishap investigation has been initiated to determine the cause of the incident. 

There were no injuries.” Viewers may note that the U.S Navy is still investigating a Sept. 10 mishap involving a different F/A-18F Super Hornet, Cragg stated that "At this point, it is too early to speculate the causal factors for the in-flight engine fire with both VFA-103and VFA-11, but an investigation will determine the contributing factors," As of now, it is not clear if the two SuperHornet mishaps have any connection.