Tag Archives: underwater drone

Moscow ready to cut time for nuclear strike on U.S. if necessary: Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the Federal Assembly, including the State Duma parliamentarians, members of the Federation Council, regional governors and other high-ranking officials, in Moscow, Russia February 20, 2019. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

By Andrew Osborn and Katya Golubkova

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Moscow will match any U.S. move to deploy new nuclear missiles closer to Russia by stationing its own missiles closer to the United States or by deploying faster missiles or both, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

Putin said Russia was not seeking confrontation and would not take the first step to deploy missiles in response to Washington’s decision this month to quit a landmark Cold War-era arms control treaty.

But in his toughest remarks yet on a potential new arms race, he said Russia’s reaction to any deployment would be resolute and that U.S. policymakers, some of whom he accused of being obsessed with U.S. exceptionalism, should calculate the risks before taking any steps.

“It’s their right to think how they want. But can they count? I’m sure they can. Let them count the speed and the range of the weapons systems we are developing,” Putin told Russia’s political elite to strong applause.

“Russia will be forced to create and deploy types of weapons which can be used not only in respect of those territories from which the direct threat to us originates, but also in respect of those territories where the centers of decision-making are located,” he said.

“These weapons, by their tactical and technical specifications, including their flight time to the command centers I’m talking about, will fully correspond to the threats that will be directed against Russia.”

Russian nuclear missiles already target the United States and vice versa.

Putin’s statement is likely to evoke memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 when the then Soviet Union responded to a U.S. missile deployment in Turkey by sending ballistic missiles to Cuba, sparking a standoff that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

FLIGHT TIME

Any U.S. move to place new missiles in Europe would cut the time it took some U.S. missiles to reach Moscow to 10-12 minutes, Putin said, something he called a serious threat.

Such a scenario, if left unmatched, would open up the possibility of Russia being hit by a nuclear strike before its own missiles fired in response could reach U.S. territory.

The Russian land-based missiles that currently target the United States are based on Russian territory and therefore the flight time to major U.S. population centers would be longer than for U.S. missiles deployed in Europe.

Putin did not confirm how, technically, Russia would deploy missiles with a shorter strike time. Possible options include deploying them on the soil of an ally near U.S. territory, deploying faster missiles on submarines, or using one of the hypersonic weapons Moscow says it has under development.

In his speech on Wednesday, Putin said that a submarine capable of carrying a new underwater drone with nuclear strike capability, which is called Poseidon, would be launched this spring, and also spoke of the successful development of a new hypersonic missile called Tsirkon.

Russian state television on Wednesday broadcast footage of Poseidon being tested for the first time, the RIA news agency reported.

TREATY WITHDRAWAL

Alleging Russian violations, Washington said this month it was suspending its obligations under the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) and starting the process of quitting it, untying its hands to develop new missiles.

The pact banned either side from stationing short and intermediate-range, land-based missiles in Europe and its demise raises the prospect of a new arms race between Washington and Moscow, which denies flouting the treaty.

Putin responded to the U.S. move by saying Russia would mirror Washington’s actions by suspending its own obligations and quitting the pact.

But the Russian leader, who has sometimes used bellicose rhetoric to talk up Russia’s standoff with the West, did not up the ante.

He did not announce new missile deployments, said money for new systems must come from existing budget funds and declared that Moscow would not deploy new land-based missiles in Europe or elsewhere unless Washington did so first.

On Wednesday, he made clear however that he was ready, reluctantly, to escalate if the United States escalated and that Russia was continuing to actively develop weapons and missile systems to ensure it was well prepared for such an eventuality.

Putin said Russia wanted good ties with the United States, but was ready with its defensive response if necessary.

“We know how to do this and we will implement these plans immediately, as soon as the corresponding threats to us become a reality.”

(Additional reporting by Polina Nikolskya, Tom Balmforth and Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Christian Lowe and Raissa Kasolowsky)

China returns underwater drone, U.S. condemns “unlawful” seizure

The oceanographic survey ship, USNS Bowditch, is shown September 20, 2002, which deployed an underwater drone seized by a Chinese Navy warship in international waters in South China Sea,

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING, Dec 20 (Reuters) – China has returned a U.S. underwater drone taken by one of its naval vessels in the
disputed South China Sea last week after what it said were friendly talks with the United States, which reiterated its criticism of the “unlawful” seizure.

The taking of the unmanned underwater vehicle in international waters near the Philippines triggered a diplomatic protest and speculation about whether it would strengthen U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s hand as he seeks a tougher line with China.

A Chinese naval ship took the drone, which the Pentagon says uses unclassified, commercially available technology to collect oceanographic data, on Thursday about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay in the Philippines.

China’s defence ministry said in a brief statement the drone had been given back to the United States on Tuesday.

“After friendly consultations between the Chinese and U.S. sides, the handover work for the U.S. underwater drone was smoothly completed in relevant waters in the South China Sea at midday,” the ministry said.

The defence ministry declined to give more details about the handover when contacted by Reuters.

The Pentagon said the vehicle had been handed over to the guided missile destroyer USS Mustin near where it had been “unlawfully seized”. It called on China to comply with international law and refrain from further efforts to impede lawful U.S. activities.

“The U.S. remains committed to upholding the accepted principles and norms of international law and freedom of navigation and overflight and will continue to fly, sail, and operate in the South China Sea wherever international law allows,” Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying referred questions about the handover and other details of the case to the defence ministry.

“The handling of this incident shows that the Chinese and U.S. militaries have quite smooth communication channels. We think that this communication channel is beneficial to timely communication and the handling of sudden incidents and prevention of miscalculations and misunderstandings,” she said.

“As to what the U.S. defence department said, I have to verify it with the military. But I think what they said is
unreasonable as we have always said that for a long time the U.S. military has regularly sent ships and aircraft to carry out close up surveillance and military surveys in waters facing China, which threatens China’s sovereignty and security,” Hua told reporters.

“China is resolutely opposed to this and has always demanded the U.S. end these kinds of activities. I think this is the cause of this or similar incidents.”

The seizure has added to U.S. concern about China’s growing military presence and aggressive posture in the disputed South China Sea, including its militarization of maritime outposts.

China is deeply suspicious of any U.S. military activity in the resource-rich South China Sea, with state media and experts saying the use of the drone was likely part of U.S. surveillance efforts in the disputed waterway.

The U.S. Navy has about 130 such underwater drones, made by Teledyne Webb, each weighing about 60 kg (130 lb) and able to stay underwater for up to five months. They are used around the world to collect unclassified data about oceans, including temperature and depth.

It is not clear how many are used in the South China Sea.

(Editing by Paul Tait and Lincoln Feast)

China seizes U.S. underwater drone in South China Sea

The USNS Bowditch, an oceanographic survey ship, is seen in this undated U.S. Navy

By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Chinese warship has seized an underwater drone deployed by a U.S. oceanographic vessel in the South China Sea, triggering a formal diplomatic protest and a demand for its return, U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday.

The drone was taken on Dec. 15, the first seizure of its kind in recent memory, about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay off the Philippines just as the USNS Bowditch was about to retrieve the unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), officials said.

“The UUV was lawfully conducting a military survey in the waters of the South China Sea,” one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“It’s a sovereign immune vessel, clearly marked in English not to be removed from the water – that it was U.S. property,” the official said.

The Pentagon confirmed the incident at a news briefing and said the drone used commercially available technology and sold for about $150,000.

Still, the Pentagon viewed China’s seizure seriously since it had effectively taken U.S. military property.

“It is ours, and it is clearly marked as ours and we would like it back. And we would like this not to happen again,”  Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said.

Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the seizure “a remarkably brazen violation of international law.”

U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Maybus cited a “growing China” as one of the reasons that the Navy needed to expand its fleet to 355 ships, including 12 carriers, 104 large surface combatants, 38 amphibious ships and 66 submarines.

The seizure will add to concerns about China’s increased military presence and aggressive posture in the disputed South China Sea, including its militarization of maritime outposts.

It coincided with sabre-rattling from Chinese state media and some in its military establishment after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump cast doubt on whether Washington would stick to its nearly four-decades-old policy of recognizing that Taiwan is part of “one China.”

A U.S. research group this week said new satellite imagery indicated China has installed weapons, including anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems, on all seven artificial islands it has built in the South China Sea.

Mira Rapp-Hooper, a senior fellow in the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, said China would have a hard time explaining its actions.

“This move, if accurately reported, is highly escalatory, and it is hard to see how Beijing will justify it legally,” Rapp-Hooper said.

SNATCHED AWAY

The drone was part of an unclassified program to collect oceanographic data including salinity, temperature and clarity of the water, the U.S. official added. The data can help inform U.S. military sonar data since such factors affect sound.

The USNS Bowditch, a U.S. Navy ship crewed by civilians that carries out oceanographic work, had already retrieved one of two of its drones, known as ocean gliders, when a Chinese Navy Dalang 3 class vessel took the second one.

Officials said the Bowditch was only 500 meters (yards) from the drone and, observing the Chinese intercede, used bridge-to-bridge communications to demand it be returned.

The Chinese ship acknowledged the communication but did not respond to the Bowditch’s demands, the Pentagon’s Davis said.

“The only thing they said after they were sailing off into the distance was: “we are returning to normal operations,” Davis said.

The United States issued the formal demarche, as such protests are known, through diplomatic channels and included a demand that China immediately return the drone. The Chinese acknowledged it but have not responded, officials said.

The seizure happened a day after China’s ambassador to the United States said Beijing would never bargain with Washington over issues involving its national sovereignty or territorial integrity.

“Basic norms of international relations should be observed, not ignored, certainly not be seen as something you can trade off,” Ambassador Cui Tiankai, speaking to executives of top U.S. companies, said on Wednesday.

He did not specifically mention Taiwan, or Trump’s decision to accept a telephone call from Taiwan’s president on Dec. 2.

The call was the first such contact with Taiwan by a U.S. president-elect or president since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of “one China.”

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; editing by James Dalgleish and Grant McCool)