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Boeing [on Nov. 8 delivered three F-15K Slam Eagles to the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) at Daegu Air Base. The company delivered the first three of 21 F-15Ks it is producing under the Next Fighter II contract to the ROKAF in September. The remaining 15 aircraft will be delivered through March 2012. "Boeing is honored to deliver these highly advanced fighters to the ROKAF," said Roger Besancenez, Boeing F-15 Program vice president. "We will continue to work closely with our ROKAF customers to prepare for upcoming deliveries that will provide them with superior air combat capability, as we...

North Korea has developed a new type of midget submarine fitted with torpedo launch tubes, allowing it to attack South Korea warships more easily, a report said Tuesday. Satellite images of a naval base in the North's southwestern city of Nampo, published by JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, show what appears to be a 17-metre-long (56-feet) submarine with a tube-like structure attached to its top. "We have concluded that it is a torpedo launch tube," the paper quoted an unidentified Seoul intelligence source as saying. The paper said the new Daedong-B midget submarine moves faster than larger submarines and is harder for...

South Korea will swiftly and strongly respond with force until North Korea surrenders if the communist state launches another assault, the South's new defence minister said Saturday. Kim Kwan-Jin issued the warning during his inauguration speech after President Lee Myung-Bak officially appointed the retired four-star general as the new defence chief following a parliamentary confirmation hearing Friday. Kim Kwan-Jin replaced Kim Tae-Young, who came under fire over the military's allegedly feeble response to North Korea's deadly shelling of South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island near the tense Yellow Sea border on November 23. "If North Korea launches another military attack on our...

South Korea will hit back with air strikes at the North and "punish the attacker thoroughly" should the regime launch another assault, the defence minister-designate warned Friday. The tough words came as the largest ever US-Japan war games kicked off in waters off the tense Korean peninsula. The manoeuvres in the East China Sea dwarf US-South Korean exercises this week in the Yellow Sea. These were designed as a show of force to Pyongyang after its regime launched a deadly artillery strike against South Korea. In Seoul the nominated defence minister Kim Kwan-Jin told a parliamentary confirmation hearing that if...

Two top North Korean officials arrived in Beijing on Tuesday amid sharp tensions on the Korean peninsula following the North's artillery attack on the South, South Korean and Japanese media said. Kim Yong-Il, the head of the international department of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, arrived in Beijing on a flight from Pyongyang, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported separately that Choe Thae-Bok, chairman of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly and considered a close confidant of leader Kim Jong-Il, also arrived for a visit. China's Xinhua news agency had said that Choe would be visiting...

South Korea and the United States plan to stage maritime interdiction and aerial interception drills Tuesday on the third day of major naval exercises in the Yellow Sea aimed at warning North Korea against any future provocations, military officials here said. About 10 warships, including a nuclear-powered U.S. supercarrier, scores of aircraft and 7,300 military personnel, launched the four-day maneuvers Sunday in response to North Korea's bombardment on a South Korean island near the tense Yellow Sea border, killing two marines and as many civilians. "Today, we plan to hold maritime interdiction and defensive counter air drills as a key...

The George Washington Carrier Strike Group (GWCSG) entered the waters west of the Korean peninsula to participate in a combined military exercise with the Republic of Korea (ROK) on Nov. 28. The exercise is part of the series announced at the 2 + 2 meetings in July and is scheduled to run until Dec. 1. "While this exercise, which is defensive in nature, has been planned for some time, it underscores the importance of the ROK-U.S. alliance and our collective commitment to regional security and stability," said Rear Adm. Dan Cloyd, Commander, Task Force 70. The purpose of the four-day...

The United States and South Korea have agreed to "coordinate" any response to North Korea after Pyongyang's deadly artillery attack on a South Korean island provoked global condemnation. The assault Tuesday which killed two South Korean marines was one of the most serious border incidents since the 1950-1953 war. South Korea's military went on top alert, its troops fired back with cannon and the government met in an underground war room, officials said, in response to what Seoul called an atrocity against civilians. North Korea's supreme command, however, accused South Korea of firing first and vowed "merciless military attacks with...

South Korea's defence ministry Tuesday ruled out the redeployment of US nuclear weapons on its soil as a deterrent to North Korea, a day after its minister had raised the prospect. "Redeploying US tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea would cross the line set by the policy of denuclearising the Korean peninsula," Deputy Defence Minister Chang Kwang-Il told reporters. "We've not considered redeploying US tactical nuclear weapons and there has been no consultation with the US over the issue," he was quoted as saying by a ministry spokesman. The Pentagon also said Monday that the United States has no immediate...

The US military has deployed an upgraded A-10 Thunderbolt II ground attack aircraft to its base in South Korea. The new aircraft was deployed at the US air base in Osan near the South Korean capital Seoul late last month, the Korean news agency Yonhap reported Tuesday quoting a statement from the US Forces Korea (USFK). With this deployment, the 25th Fighter Squadron of the USFK has received its last batch of A-10C aircraft with “improved precision strike capability”, the statement said. The A-10 Thunderbolt is a twin-engine combat aircraft used to provide close-air support to ground forces and employs...

Japan’s Sankei Shimbun reported Wednesday that North Korea may be making preparations for a possible third nuclear test. The newspaper published satellite imagery from the North’s Punggye-ri nuclear site, which it alleged showed work toward the test in progress. The daily quoted an expert as saying, “Based on what’s been shown in the photos, it is clear that North Korea is preparing for a new experiment. Chances are high that something will happen in the next six months.” The report followed comments by Siegfried Hecker, a former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Charles Jack Pritchard, a former...

U.S. military planners have discovered that China's current arsenal of non-nuclear ballistic and cruise missiles could probably knock out five of six major American air bases in Japanese and South Korea. Oops. To make matters worse, this has become an issue as North Korea stumbles towards political collapse, and China indicates that it will assume control in the north if that happens. South Korea believes it should move north to deal with a collapse, and this plan is becoming a contentious issue with China. It's long been obvious that China planned a similar tactic against Taiwan. Wargames and detailed analysis...

Two Air Force pilots were killed when an RF-4C reconnaissance plane crashed into a mountain in North Jeolla Province on Friday during a low-altitude training mission. The Air Force is investigating whether the crash was due to mechanical problems or pilot error. The crash was the third one so far this year for the Air Force after F5 fighter jets crashed in March and June. The three crashes this year involved different aircraft, but all are more than 30 years old. The RF-4C was produced in the U.S. in 1966, and the Air Force bought and recycled them in 1990s...

Boeing and Korea Aerospace Industries have entered a memorandum of agreement for the Korean firm to design, develop and manufacture the conformal weapons bays for the former's F-15 Silent Eagle. The announcement is significant because South Korea is likely to issue a request for proposals for its F-X3 fighter contract in the first quarter of 2011. In a deal that could number up to 60 aircraft, the F-15SE will compete with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and Eurofighter Typhoon to replace the country's ageing Northrop F-5s and McDonnell Douglas F-4s. The F-15SE's conformal weapons bays will provide internal...

A report by U.N. experts saying North Korea is exporting banned nuclear and missile technology to Iran, Syria and Myanmar has been sent to the Security Council after China dropped its objections, U.N. diplomats said Wednesday. The findings by the seven-member panel monitoring the implementation of sanctions against North Korea were first reported by The Associated Press in May. The panel's report was submitted to the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against Pyongyang in early May but China, a close ally of North Korea, blocked its transmission to the full 15-member council, diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because...

One of the three F-15K aircraft delivered by U.S. aerospace company Boeing to the South Korean Air Force (ROKAF) in September had severe defects allegedly due to the poor quality of work at a St. Louis manufacturing facility, industry sources said Thursday. On Sept. 9, Boeing delivered three of the second batch of 21 F-15Ks ordered under a 2008 contract, following the delivery of 40 F-15Ks under a previous deal in 2002. But one of the newly arrived aircraft had an engine damaged by foreign objects, and fuel transfer and avionics glitches, the sources said, citing testimony of Korean technicians...

Boeing [NYSE: BA] today announced that the company has entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. (KAI) for KAI to design, develop and manufacture the Conformal Weapons Bay (CWB) for the F-15 Silent Eagle. "KAI is a leading aerospace company with world-class core technical capabilities that complement Boeing's," said Roger Besancenez, Boeing F-15 program vice president. "We are excited about KAI's growing role on the development and production of key technologies for Boeing aircraft." The CWB is an innovative internal carriage that will minimize the F-15SE's radar signature and significantly increase its tactical options. The F-15SE...

North Korea on Tuesday denied any involvement in sinking the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan based on what it claims was an internal investigation, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported. The statement was issued by the top decision-making National Defense Commission. Earlier on May 28, the commission held a press conference for domestic and foreign journalists to rebut the findings of an international probe that put the blame squarely on the North. A South Korean security official said Pyongyang "apparently decided to refuse South Korea's repeated demands for an apology as a precondition for massive aid requested by...

North Korea is trying to develop small nuclear weapons that can be delivered by missiles or aircraft, South Korea's defence minister said Tuesday. Kim Tae-Young told lawmakers the North is "constantly seeking to make its nuclear weapons smaller" for possible future delivery by ballistic missiles or bombers. Kim said the North is also believed to have 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of bomb-making plutonium, slightly less than previous estimates by the United States. He said it is "quite possible" that Pyongyang is also building nuclear weapons through uranium enrichment in addition to its plutonium operation. "The more you test the weapons,...

South Korea's navy fired warning shots Wednesday to drive back a North Korean boat which was fishing illegally in southern waters amid high tension along the Yellow Sea border, military officials said. The boat retreated to its side about two hours and 40 minutes after it had intruded across the disputed border, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. A South Korean navy boat fired 10 warning shots from a machine gun after broadcasting three verbal warnings, it said. No one was reported hurt. The North's vessel appeared to have been unable to move for a time because...