The only Giant in EAST ASIA

HTMS Chakri Naruebet (Thai จักรีนฤเบศร, meaning "In honour of the Chakri Dynasty"^[1]) is the flagship of the Royal Thai Navy (RTN), and Thailand's first and only aircraft carrier. Based on the Spanish Navy's Principe de Asturias-class design and constructed by Spanish shipbuilder Bazán, Chakri Naruebet was ordered in 1992, launched in 1996, and commissioned into the RTN in 1997.
The carrier is equipped with an air group of V/STOL aircraft and helicopters, and was intended for patrols and force projection in Thai waters, disaster relief, and amphibious warfare support. However, a lack of funding brought on by the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis means that the carrier has spent much of her career docked at the Sattahip naval base. The carrier has been deployed on several disaster relief operations, although her other departures from port consist primarily of a single training day per month, and transportation of the Royal Family of Thailand, leading to claims that the ship is merely an oversized royal yacht.

Design

When Typhoon Gay hit Thailand in 1989, the Royal Thai Navy, as the main unit responsible for search and rescue missions, found that its ships and aircraft were unable to withstand the rough weather at sea.^[3] Moreover, the Royal Thai Navy needed a new, high-technology ship to modernize its fleet.^[3]
The original plan was to acquire a 7,800 ton vessel from Bremer Vulcan, but the Thai government cancelled the contract on 22 July 1991.^[2] A new contract for a larger warship to be constructed at Bazán's shipyard in Ferrol, Spain, and was signed by the Thai and Spanish governments on 27 March 1992.^[2] The proposed vessel was based on the design of the Spanish Navy aircraft carrier Principe de Asturias, which in turn was based on the United States Navy's Sea Control Ship concept.^[4][5]

Chakri Naruebet (top) underway with the United States Navy supercarrier USS Kitty Hawk, showing the size difference between the two ships.

Chakri Naruebet is the smallest aircraft carrier in operation in the world. She displaces 11,486 tons at full load.^[1] The carrier is 164.1 metres (538 ft) long between perpendiculars, and 182.65 metres (599.2 ft) overall.^[1] She is 22.5 metres (74 ft) wide at the waterline, with a maximum beam of 30.5 metres (100 ft), and a draught of 6.12 metres (20.1 ft).^[1] The warship has a ship's company of 62 officers, 393 sailors, and 146 aircrew.^[1] Up to 675 personnel can be transported; commonly soldiers of the Royal Thai Marine Corps.^[1][6]
Chakri Naruebet is propelled by a combined diesel or gas (CODOG) system.^[1] Each of the two, five-bladed propellers is connected to a Bazán-MTU 16V1163 TB83 diesel engine (providing 5,600 brake horsepower (4,200 kW), used for cruising speed), and a General Electric LM2500 gas turbine (providing 22,125 shaft horsepower (16,499 kW), used to reach top speed for short periods).^[1] Chakri Naruebet has a maximum speed of 25.5 knots (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph), although she can only reach 17.2 knots (31.9 km/h; 19.8 mph) with the diesels alone.^[1] She has a maximum range of 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) with a constant speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph), and 7,150 nautical miles (13,240 km; 8,230 mi) at 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph).^[1]

Armament and aircraft

Chakri Naruebet is fitted with two 0.5-inch machine guns, and three Matra Sadral sextuple surface-to-air missile launchers firing Mistral missiles.^[2][6] The missile launchers were installed in 2001.^[2] The vessel is also fitted for but not with an 8-cell Mark 41 Vertical launch system for Sea Sparrow missiles, and four Phalanx close-in weapon systems.^[5]
The carrier's standard air group consists of six to eight AV-8S Matador V/STOL aircraft (an export version of the Harrier acquired secondhand from the Spanish Navy) and four to six S-70B Seahawk helicopters.^[1][4][6] By 1999, only one Matador was operable.^[7] Chakri Naruebet is also capable of carrying up to fourteen additional helicopters; a mix of Sikorsky Sea King, Sikorsky S-76, and CH-47 Chinook.^[1] There is only enough hangar space for ten aircraft.^[2][6]
The flight deck measures 174.6 by 27.5 metres (573 by 90 ft).^[2] A 12° ski-jump is fitted to assist the Matadors in taking off.^[2] There are two aircraft lifts, each capable of lifting 20 tons.^[2]

Sensors and countermeasures

The sensor suite of Chakri Narebet consists of a Hughes SPS-52C air search radar on the E/F band, and two 2 x Kelvin-Hughes 1007 navigational radars.^[2] There are provisions to install an SPS-64 surface search radar and a hull-mounted sonar, but neither has been fitted as of 2008.^[2][6] Fire control facilities are also yet to be fitted.^[2]
The carrier is equipped with four SBROC decoy launchers, and an SLQ-32 towed decoy^[6]

Construction

Work on the Thai carrier commenced in October 1993, although it was not until 12 July 1994 that the hull was laid down.^[2][5] Chakri Naruebet was launched on 20 January 1996^[5] by Queen Sirikit.
Sea trials were conducted from October 1996 to January 1997, the latter part of which was in coordination with the Spanish Navy.^[2][5] This was followed by aviation trials at Rota, Spain.^[2] The carrier was handed over on 27 March 1997, when she was commissioned into the RTN.^[1][2] She arrived in Thai waters at the start of August 1997, and formally entered service on 10 August.^[5]
Chakri Naruebet cost US$336 million to build.^[7]

Role and operational history

Chakri Naruebet is the first aircraft carrier to be operated by a South East Asian nation.^[5] She is assigned to the Third Naval Area Command, and her intended duties include operational support of the RTN's amphibious warfare forces, patrols and force projection around Thailand's coastline and economic exclusion zone, disaster relief and humanitarian missions, and search-and-rescue operations.^{[1][2][4][5][7]} However, at the time the carrier entered service, the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis prevented the necessary funding to operate the ship from being available.^[5][7] The limited defensive armament compounded the problem; consequently, Chakri Naruebet is usually only operational for a single day per month for training, with the rest of the time spent alongside as a "part-time tourist attraction".^[1][5][7] The ship rarely leaves the proximity of the Sattahip naval base, and when she does, it is usually to transport and host the Royal Family of Thailand.^[1][5] Naval commentators consider Chakri Naruebet to be less an aircraft carrier and more the world's most expensive royal yacht, while the Thai media have nicknamed the ship "Thai-tanic", and consider her to be a white elephant.^[5][7]

Stern view of Chakri Naruebet

Between 4 and 7 November 1997, Chakri Naruebet participated in disaster relief operations following the passage of Tropical Storm Linda across the Gulf of Thailand and the Kra Isthmus.^[8] The carrier's main task was to search for and assist any fishing vessels affected by the storm.^[8]
Flooding in the Songkhla Province resulted in the carrier's mobilisation in late November 2000.^[8] Chakri Naruebet was anchored at an island marina off Songkhla, and used as a base for helicopters and small boats transporting food, supplies, and wounded.^[8]
In January 2003, anti-Thai riots were sparked in Phnom Penh by incorrect news reports of a claim by a Thai actress that the Angkor Wat temple complex belonged to Thailand, not Cambodia. Chakri Naruebet was sent to help with any evacuation of Thai citizens from Cambodia.^{[clarification needed][8]}
Following an undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean, tsunamis struck multiple regions around the Indian Ocean, including the Andaman Sea coast of Thailand. The personnel of Chakri Naruebet were part of a 760-strong response by the Thai military to the disaster.^[8] This task force was involved in search-and-rescue around Phuket and the Phi Phi Islands, treatment of wounded and handling of dead, and repair work to schools and government facilities.^[8]
During the August 2005 filming of Rescue Dawn, a dramatised biographical film of US Navy pilot Dieter Dengler and his capture during the Vietnam War, the flight deck of Chakri Naruebet was used to represent the carrier USS Ranger.^{[citation needed]}
In 2010, it was involved in flood relief.^[9]

Elbit Selling Hermes Drones to Brazilian Air Force

ERUSALEM - Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems said Jan. 19 that it will supply the Brazilian Air Force with unmanned aerial vehicles.
The Hermes 450 drones will be supplied by Elbit's Brazilian subsidiary, Aeroeletronica Ltd.

The deal is part of efforts by the Brazilian Air Force "to establish independent Unmanned Aircraft Systems capabilities," the company said.
Elbit did not say how many aircraft are involved or value the deal, saying only that "the contract is not in an amount that is material to Elbit Systems."
Ackerman said the Hermes, a medium size drone, was in operation with 20 countries.
Israel is the world's largest exporter of drones, selling more than 1,000 to more than 40 countries in recent years.

Deadline Emerges For India's $10B Warplane Deal

NEW DELHI - India could award the $10 billion Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) contract by the end of the year, according to the country's defense minister.
M.M. Pallam Raju, the minister of state for defense, said on the sidelines of a Jan. 19 conference here that the warplane contest could be decided by December. The conference was hosted by an industrial lobby group, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India.

"I am hopeful of awarding it by the end of this year," Raju said.
The MMRCA program, for the purchase of 126 planes, is running behind schedule, The Indian Defence Ministry has made no formal announcement on the short-listing of aircraft after flight trials last year.
Raju said the ministry still has to carry out a comparative analysis of different vendors in terms of offset and transfer of technology offers before the financial bids are opened.
Earlier this month, a secret file pertaining to the MMRCA's offset program was lost and later recovered by Delhi police. An internal inquiry by the Defence Ministry has so far not named any individual behind the lapse, sources said.
Six aircraft vying for the MMRCA contract went through field evaluations, a series of flight trials and ground tests, in mid-2010. They include two U.S. fighter jets, Boeing's F/A-18 and Lockheed Martin's F-16, as well as the Rafale, built by France's Dassault; the MiG-35, built by RAC MiG of Russia; the Eurofighter Typhoon; and the Gripen, built by Saab of Sweden.

Bolivia Set To Receive 6 Karakorum Combat Jets From China

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Bolivia is set to receive six Chinese-made combat aircraft to be used to fight drug trafficking, the head of the Bolivian Air Force said Jan. 18.
Air Force Commander Gen. Tito Gandarilla told local journalists that the K-8 Karakorum jets are scheduled to be delivered in April, at a cost of $58 million.

The aircraft, bought through a loan from China, will be the first of their kind for Bolivia, which currently has only training and freight aircraft.
Gandarilla explained that the jets "have a lifespan of 15 to 20 years" and have the ability to intercept illegal crafts that "in Bolivian airspace without authorization."
The aircraft will be used mainly around Cochabamba in central Bolivia, where there is heavy production of coca plants used to make cocaine.
The Bolivian government also plans to buy 10 Russian-built cargo helicopters for use by the police.
In 2008, President Evo Morales ordered the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to leave after accusing it of having had a hand in political unrest and drug-trafficking in Bolivia.
The U.S. State Department has identified Bolivia as a major drug-transit or drug-producing country.

Top Iran nuke envoy blames US for cyberattack

WASHINGTON: Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili blamed the United States for a cyberattack on what he insisted is a nuclear energy -- not weapons -- program, in an interview broadcast Monday.

Days ahead of a high-profile talks over the Islamic republic's nuclear program later this week, Saeed Jalili told media an Iranian investigation found the United States was involved in a cyberattack that apparently shut down a fifth of Iran's nuclear centrifuges in November.

"I have witnessed some documents that show... their satisfaction in that" the United States participated in the cyberattack -- using the Stuxnet computer worm -- that also helped delay Iran's ability to make its first nuclear weapons.

But he said the effort did not wreak as much damage as some media have reported. "Those who have done that could see now that they were not successful in that and we are following our success," Jalili said, warning the United States was "also weak and vulnerable" to cyberattacks.

His comments came after a US daily reported over the weekend that US and Israeli intelligence services collaborated to develop the destructive computer worm in a bid to sabotage Iran's efforts to make a nuclear bomb.

Tehran has also blamed its enemies for the killing of three top nuclear scientists last year, and on Monday, it vowed to sue its archfoe Israel for the murder of one of them -- Masoud Ali Mohammadi.

Iran accuses the intelligence services of Israel, the United States and Britain of being behind bomb attacks against the other two nuclear scientists on November 26.

"We believe that there is a meaningful relation between the UN Security Council resolution (sanctioning Iran over its nuclear program) and these kind of activities," Jalili said of the attacks.

"It is a big question for the international community, and a big kind of question in that the name of the scientists of a country mentioned in the United Nations council resolution and then following that the terrorists assassinated them."

WELLINGTON: The New Zealand parliament in central Wellington was evacuated and surrounding streets cordoned off Thursday after a suspicious package was found near the building, police said. Police said a suitcase was found in bushes near the distinctive building, known as the Beehive, early Thursday afternoon. "Specialist police are currently travelling to the scene to examine the package," police said.

Two Nato service members killed in Afghan attacks

ABUL: Nato on Thursday said two of its service members died in insurgent attacks in Afghanistan.It said one service member was killed Thursday in the north, while another was killed Wednesday in the south. It did not identify their nationalities or gave further details.
More than 20 Nato troops have been killed in Afghanistan so far this month — a bloody start to a year that Nato officials have said they expect to be particularly violent as they push further into insurgent strongholds to undermine the strength of the Taliban enough to allow troops to start drawing down.

Insurgents kill four in attack on Thai military

NARATHIWAT, Thailand: Dozens of armed militants killed at least four Thai soldiers and injured several more in a raid on a military camp in Thailand’s troubled Muslim-majority south, an army spokesman said Thursday.
In an unusually brazen attack in the insurgency-plagued region, about 50 militants attacked the unit in Narathiwat province on Wednesday evening, sparking a gun battle, Colonel Banphot Poonpien said.
“Four soldiers died in the attack and seven were injured. Of these, four are in a critical condition,” he told AFP.
The militants took more than 50 rifles and about 5,000 bullets during the raid, setting off bombs and burning two houses and a tent within the base before retreating, a statement from the southern Thai army headquarters said.
The troops killed were said to be aged between 22 and 33.
Shadowy insurgents have waged a violent campaign in the southern region bordering Malaysia since early 2004, leaving more than 4,400 people dead, both Muslims and Buddhists.
On Tuesday, Thailand extended emergency rule in most of the Muslim-majority southern region for another three months, despite rights groups’ concerns about the powers given to the military.
Suthep Thaugsuban, the deputy prime minister who oversees national security, said the militants staged the latest raid to terrify local residents.
“They want to show their capability,” he told reporters, a day after he made a visit to the troubled part of the country.
A security force of more than 60,000 is stationed in the region, battling militants whose precise aims are unclear.
Critics accuse the government of failing to address the grievances of Thailand’s Malay Muslim minority, including alleged abuses by the military and a perceived lack of respect for their ethnic identity, language and religion.

UN council considers Israeli settlement issue

UNITED NATIONS: Palestinian diplomats found international support Wednesday for their complaint that Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory are illegal, but the US strongly opposed bringing the matter up in the UN Security Council.
During a council session that lasted most of the day, representatives of dozens of countries supported Palestinian complaints about continued construction of settlements while peace efforts falter.
Although a draft council resolution circulated on the matter never came to a vote Wednesday – and would surely have failed because of US objections – the Palestinians drew renewed attention to their grievances in a campaign to isolate and pressure the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In another move for international recognition, Palestinians raised their flag over the PLO diplomatic mission in Washington for the first time on Tuesday.
Early in Wednesday’s UN session, the US, among five permanent members on the 15-country council with veto power, signaled it would not back the resolution sponsored by Lebanon. An additional 122 countries signed on as co-sponsors.
It was presented as the council engaged in open debate on the Middle East, including Palestinian issues.
It is unclear when a vote on the matter may be scheduled, but Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian observer to the UN, suggested it may not be considered for some time.
“If it was up to us, we would love to see the Security Council acting on it immediately,” Mansour said during a session break, acknowledging that US opposition would make it difficult.
Key Middle East peace issues “can be resolved only through negotiations between the parties – and not by recourse to the Security Council,” said Rosemary A. DiCarlo, deputy US representative to the UN. “We therefore consistently oppose attempts to take these issues to this council.”
But DiCarlo said the US remains committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, if agreed to by both parties.
The proposed resolution reiterates demands that Israel halt all settlement building in Palestinian territory. It says that settlements built in occupied territory since 1967, including disputed East Jerusalem, “are illegal and constitute a major obstacle to the achievement of a just, lasting and comprehensive peace.”
The resolution also calls on Israel and the Palestinians to continue negotiations to wrap up final issues by September 2011 as called for by the so-called Quartet of Mideast peacemakers – the US, the UN, the European Union and Russia. It said international and regional diplomatic efforts should be intensified to support and invigorate the peace process.
Israel did not participate in the Security Council debate Wednesday because of a labor dispute involving Israeli foreign service employees, the country’s mission to the UN said.
But in Jerusalem, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev suggested the proposed resolution was counterproductive and pointed out that the Palestinians in the past committed to direct talks.
“The Palestinians have made a series of commitments that all the issues of dispute between us and them should be resolved in direct negotiations,” said Regev. “By refusing to negotiate, they are breaking their most fundamental commitments to what the process is about.”
US-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, launched in September, quickly broke down over Israel’s refusal to extend a 10-month moratorium on housing starts in West Bank settlements and to include east Jerusalem, both claimed by the Palestinians, along with the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians have said they will not resume talks unless settlement construction is halted.
Briefing the council, B. Lynn Pascoe, the UN undersecretary-general for political affairs, said that U.N. officials are worried about a lack of progress on a negotiated peace settlement and noted that the Quartet peacemakers will meet in Munich on Feb. 5.
“Peace and Palestinian statehood cannot be delayed,” he said.
Pascoe repeated Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s calls for Israel to freeze all settlement activity.
“Further settlement expansion in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, continues to undermine trust and prejudices final status discussions,” Pascoe warned.
He said there had been a sharp increase in settlement construction since a building moratorium ended on Sept. 26, with construction started on as many as 2,000 units in the West Bank since then.
Pascoe also said UN officials remain “extremely concerned” about increased tensions in Gaza, and condemned the “indiscriminate” firing of rockets and mortar shells by Palestinian militants into civilian areas in Israel.

Viewpoint: China's hubris colours US relations

One Chinese scholar dated the year 2000 as the peak of American power

When Barack Obama became US president, one of his top foreign policy priorities was to improve relations with China. Yet on the eve of President Hu Jintao's state visit to Washington, US-China relations are worse, rather than better.

Administration officials feel their efforts to reach out to China have been rebuffed.
Ironically, in 2007, President Hu Jintao had told the 17th Congress of the Communist Party that China needed to invest more in its soft, or attractive, power.
From the point of view of a country that was making enormous strides in economic and military power, this was a smart strategy.
By accompanying the rise of its hard economic and military power with efforts to make itself more attractive, China aimed to reduce the fear and tendencies to balance Chinese power that might otherwise grow among its neighbours.
But China's performance has been just the opposite, and China has had a bad year and a half in foreign policy.
Rising nationalism For years, China had followed the advice of Deng Xiaoping to keep a low profile.
However, with its successful economic recovery from the recession, China passed Japan as the world's second largest economy, and America's slow recovery led many Chinese to mistakenly conclude that the United States was in decline.

US-China relations have been a focus of Mr Obama's presidency

Given such beliefs, and with rising nationalism in China as it prepares for the transition of power to the fifth generation of leaders in 2012, many in China pressed for a more assertive foreign policy.
In 2009, China was justly proud of its success in managing to emerge from the world recession with a high 10% rate of economic growth.
But many Chinese believed that this represented a shift in the world balance of power, and that China should be less deferential to other countries, including the US.
Chinese scholars began writing about the decline of the US. One dated the year 2000 as the peak of American power.
"People are now looking down on the West, from leadership circles, to academia, to everyday folks," said Professor Kang Xiaoguang of Renmin University.

“Start Quote

China's new attitudes alienated the Obama administration”

End Quote

This Chinese view is seriously mistaken and China is unlikely to equal American economic, military or soft power for decades to come.

Nonetheless, this over-confidence in power assessment (combined with insecurity in domestic affairs) led to more assertive Chinese foreign policy behaviour in the last two years.
China miscalculated by deviating from the smart strategy of a rising power and violating the wisdom of Deng Xiaoping who advised that China should proceed cautiously and "skilfully keep a low profile".
But perceptions matter, even when they are wrong. China's new attitudes alienated the Obama administration.
China stage-managed President Obama's trip to Beijing in November 2009 in a heavy-handed way; it over-reacted to Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama, and the administration's long-expected and relatively modest arms sales to Taiwan.
When asked why they reacted so strongly to things they had accepted in the past, some Chinese responded, "because we were weaker then".
Obama administration officials began to believe that efforts at co-operation or conciliation would be interpreted by the Chinese as proof that the US was in decline.
Alienation and irritation China's new assertiveness affected its relations with other countries as well.

China's leaders may draw back from what many in the region see as an overly assertive posture

Its policies in the South China Sea created fear among the Asean nations; and its over-reaction to Japan's actions after a ship collision near the Senkaku Islands put an end to the Democratic Party of Japan's hopes for a closer relationship with China. Instead, the Kan administration reaffirmed the American alliance.
Beijing alienated South Korea by failing to criticise North Korea's shelling of a South Korean island; irritated India over border and passport issues; and embarrassed itself in Europe and elsewhere by over-reacting to the Nobel Peace Prize granted to the jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo.
How will these issues play out in the coming year?
It is likely that China's leaders will draw back somewhat from the overly assertive posture that has proven so costly.
President Hu Jintao's stated desire to co-operate on terrorism, non-proliferation and clean energy will help to lead to a reduction of tensions, but powerful domestic interest groups in the export industries and in the People's Liberation Army will limit economic or naval co-operation.
And most important, given the nationalism that one sees on the blogosphere in China, it will be difficult for Chinese top leaders to change their policies too dramatically.
Mr Hu's state visit will help improve matters, but the relationship will remain difficult as long as the Chinese suffer from hubris based on a mistaken belief in American decline.
Joseph Nye is a professor at Harvard and author of The Future of Power. He was formerly US Assistant Secretary of Defence for International Security Affairs and chairman of the National Intelligence Council.

Harpoons: India to pay US almost three times more than Pak

The defence ministry is set to procure 21 AGM-84L Harpoon Block II missiles and its five training varieties of ATM 84L Harpoon Block II from the US government for a total of $ 200 million (approximately Rs 909 crore).

But this price is about 200 per cent more than what Pakistan paid four years ago for the same missiles, the Harpoon Block II. While the average unit cost of the missiles for India is a little less than $ 8 million (approximately Rs 36 crore), Islamabad paid only about $ 3 million (approximately Rs 13 crore) per unit. Pakistan's consignment of 130 units had cost $ 370 million (approximately Rs 1,682 crore).

While the defence ministry refused to comment on the deal in response to a written questionnaire, the US government's Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has notified the US Congress about the impending deal under the foreign military sales (FMS) programme.

The corporate beneficiary of the contract will be Boeing Inc, which was the original manufacturers of the missile.

The quoted price of $ 200 million for the missiles is not negotiable as, under the FMS, after notification and a clearance from the US Congress, Washington will be sending a ' letter of offer and agreement', which can only be accepted.

The navy spokesperson, Commander PVS Satish, who confirmed the details of the deal said: " I had handled a similar FMS contract some time ago. As far as I know, the offer price is the final price." The defence ministry can argue that the Indian contract has associated equipment, parts and logistical support. But the deal with Pakistan also had similar components.

The S-300P Surface To Air Missile