The stories you want. The opinions that matter.
No, thanks
Tag: submarine
North Korea Claims Ability To Mount Nuclear Warhead On Missile

North Korea Claims Ability To Mount Nuclear Warhead On Missile

By Andrew Davis, Bloomberg News (TNS)

HONG KONG — North Korea said it has developed the technology to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile, signaling the country may now have the ability to launch a nuclear attack against the United States.

South Korea and the U.S. military have been divided over whether North Korea could shrink a warhead sufficiently to fit it on a nuclear-tipped missile. A spokesman at the National Defense Commission in Pyongyang said the military has mastered the engineering and will diversify its nuclear weapons, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Wednesday.

North Korea has successfully detonated three nuclear devices at a test site and has been improving the range of its ballistic missiles in defiance of United Nations sanctions over its weapons program. The U.S., China, and South Korea have been unable to convince the Kim Jong Un regime to return to disarmament talks, and there are signs that North Korea is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal.

The announcement comes weeks after the country released video of Kim watching what the official media said was the launch of a ballistic missile from a submarine. U.S. and South Korean officials have questioned the veracity of the test, with Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min Seok saying on May 11 that the North was still likely years away from being able to master a submarine missile launch.

South Korea has also questioned whether its rival can miniaturize a warhead, with Kim Min Seok saying in February there was no evidence that the government in Pyongyang has the ability to tip a missile with a nuclear warhead.

That assessment contrasts with the position of William Gortney, the head of the U.S. Northern Command, who said April seventh that North Korea does have the technology and has also managed to deploy a road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile — the KN-08 — capable of reaching the U.S.

“Our assessment is that they have the ability to put a nuclear weapon on a KN-08 and shoot it at the homeland,” Gortney said. “We have not seen them do that” and “we haven’t seen them test the KN-08.”

North Korea last tested a nuclear device in February 2013; just how many warheads North Korea has been able to build remains a mystery. Top Chinese nuclear weapons experts have increased their estimates of North Korean warhead production beyond most previous U.S. projections, the Wall Street Journal reported on April 23.

The Kim regime has 20 warheads and has the capacity to produce enough weapons-grade uranium to double its arsenal by next year, the paper reported, citing people briefed on the matter. That compares with the estimate of 10 to 16 warheads released in February by U.S. researcher Joel Wit.

Photo: Steve Herman via Flickr

Two Sailors In Custody After Airsoft Pistol Scare At Submarine Base

Two Sailors In Custody After Airsoft Pistol Scare At Submarine Base

By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times

SAN DIEGO—Two enlisted sailors were taken into custody Thursday after a report of “suspicious behavior” involving a gun touched off a “shelter-in-place” order to personnel at the Point Loma submarine base.

The two were using airsoft pistols to fire from their barrack’s window at a mirror on an adjacent structure, the Navy said. Airsoft pistols fire pellets and often have a realistic appearance.

Someone saw one of the pistols and made an emergency call that led to the “shelter in place” order, the Navy said. The sailors were contacted by their command chief and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

NCIS, FBI, SWAT, base security and San Diego police rushed to the scene. The two sailors were taken into custody without incident.

“The safety and security of our personnel and resources are our primary concerns,” said Capt. Scott Adams, commanding officer of Naval Base Point Loma.

The Navy frequently conducts “active-shooter” drills, officials said, along with an annual anti-terrorism exercise.

No announcement was made about whether the two sailors will face charges or other punishment.

AFP Photo/Noel Celis

Mini-Sub To Dive Again After Aborting First MH370 Search

Mini-Sub To Dive Again After Aborting First MH370 Search

Perth (Australia) (AFP) – A mini-sub hunting missing Flight MH370 was set to sweep the Indian Ocean seabed again Tuesday after cutting short its first mission, as Malaysia vowed to reveal any ‘black box’ data found.

The unmanned submarine equipped with sonar gear was deployed Monday night from the Australian ship Ocean Shield, which has spearheaded the hunt for the Boeing 777 that vanished on March 8 with 239 people aboard.

But the dive by the Bluefin-21 detected nothing of interest before it automatically aborted the mission after breaching its maximum operating depth, the U.S. Navy said in a statement.

The Australian agency coordinating the search said the Bluefin-21 “exceeded its operating depth limit of 4,500 meters (15,000 feet) and its built-in safety feature returned it to the surface.”

The unmanned Autonomous Underwater Vehicle was undamaged and set for a second sonar sweep during the day, weather permitting, officials said.

U.S. Navy Captain Mark Matthews said the vehicle had exceeded programmed operational limits and automatically resurfaced.

“In this case the vehicle’s programmed to fly 30 meters over the floor of the ocean to get a good mapping of what’s beneath,” he told CNN from Perth.

“It went to 4,500 meters and once it hit that max depth, it said ‘This is deeper than I’m programmed to be’, so it aborted the mission.”

Officials said the crew would now refine the task to cope with the depth encountered.

“To account for inconsistencies with the sea floor, the search profile is being adjusted to extend the sonar search for as long as possible,” the US Navy statement said.

Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Center chief Angus Houston announced Monday officials would end three weeks of listening for signals from the plane’s black boxes and launch the submarine operation.

The mini-sub would conduct a sonar survey of the silty ocean floor for 16 hours at a time in hopes of finding some wreckage from the Malaysia Airlines flight which vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The US navy estimated it would take the Bluefin-21 from six weeks to two months to scan the entire search area, which has been deduced using satellite data and the detection of electronic pulses linked to black box recorders which were last heard a week ago.

Houston has described the detections as the best lead in the hunt for the plane, and added Monday that an oil slick had also been sighted in the search area.

It would take several days to test a sample of the oil ashore, but Houston said he did not think it was from one of the many ships involved in the hunt.

The cause of the plane’s disappearance, after being diverted hundreds of miles off course, remains a mystery. No debris has been found despite an enormous search involving ships and planes from several nations.

It is 39 days since the plane vanished, presumably crashing into the southern Indian Ocean, and the batteries powering the black box tracker beacons had a life of only around 30 days.

Ocean Shield detected four signals linked to the black boxes, but the last ping came on Tuesday last week and officials suspect the batteries are now dead.

Houston has stressed the enormous difficulties of working at great depths in such a remote location and cautioned about the difficulties of finding the black boxes.

If they are ever found, Malaysia’s Transport Minister pledged Tuesday to make public any data recovered, as the government battles widespread criticism over the transparency of its investigation.

“It’s about finding the truth. And when we… find out the truth, definitely we have to reveal what’s in the black box,” Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters.

“So there is no question of it not being released.”

The Malaysian government has been tight-lipped about its ongoing investigation into the disappearance of the jet, adding to the anger and frustration of relatives.

It has come under fire for a seemingly chaotic initial response, while the scarcity of official information on MH370 has prompted questions over its transparency.

Hishammuddin said at the weekend that Malaysia’s attorney general had been sent abroad to confer with the International Civil Aviation Organisation and determine which country would have custody of the black box, if it is ever found.

But he shrugged off the importance of the custody issue on Tuesday.

“I don’t think it’s important who gets custody as far as I’m concerned,” he told reporters.

Malaysian authorities insist they are hiding nothing but need to be cautious on commenting on ongoing investigations.

Hishammuddin also said an “international investigation team” that Malaysia plans to set up to probe MH370’s disappearance would be transparent and operate in accordance with international standards.

AFP Photo/Malaysian Maritime Enforcement