US deploys fighter jets in Poland and Lithuania amid Ukrainian turmoil

F-16 Fighting Falcon (AFP Photo)

The US is sending a dozen F-16 fighter jets and nearly 300 service personnel to Poland by Thursday as part of a training exercise in response to the crisis in neighboring Ukraine, the Polish defense ministry confirmed.

The agreement to deploy US military forces in Poland was made between US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, and Poland’s Minister of National Defense Tomasz Siemoniak during a telephone conversation on Sunday, March 9, 2014, according to a statement on the official website of the Polish Ministry of National Defense.

“The squadron will number twelve F-16 planes and will transport 300 soldiers,” Polish Defense Ministry spokesman, Jacek Sonta, confirmed to AFP.

Initially, the training exercise was planned to be smaller but was increased and pushed forward because of the “tense political situation” in neighboring Ukraine, added Sonta.

The ministry also said that the aim of sending the units is to “strengthen Polish – American cooperation.” Part of the preparation team of US Air Force has already arrived on Polish territory.

The fighters were sent on the initiative of the Polish government, an initiative immediately accepted by Washington.

Poland is a western neighbor of crisis-torn Ukraine – between the countries’ capitals, Warsaw and Kiev, there is less than 700 km.

Earlier, the Polish media reported that US fighter jets would be stationed at the Lask air force base in central Poland.

Washington is also sending four F-15 planes to Lithuania in response to “Russian aggression in Ukraine and increased military activity in Kaliningrad,” according to the Lithuanian Defense Ministry.

On Saturday, US Navy destroyer, the USS Truxtun, crossed Turkey’s Bosphorus and entered the Black Sea. The ship, with around 300 crew, was heading to “previously planned” training exercises with the Bulgarian and Romanian navies. When the vessel appeared in the Black Sea, Fox News declared that NATO’s bolstering presence in the Black Sea is a “defensive” measure to counter “Russian military aggression” in Ukraine.

USS Truxton, one of the largest destroyers ever built for the US navy, will reportedly stay in the Black Sea till mid-March as the Montreux Convention allows a warship of any non-Black Sea country to stay in the region for 21 day only.

The situation in Ukraine is close to financial and humanitarian catastrophe after the armed coup which took place in February. There are mass protests in eastern and southern parts of the country against the self-proclaimed authorities in Kiev.

The Autonomous Republic of Crimea has scheduled a referendum for March 16 on whether it wants to remain part of Ukraine, or join Russia.

Source: RT

End the Lie – Independent News

US deploys fighter jets in Poland and Lithuania amid Ukrainian turmoil

Japan Scrambles Jets In Response To Chinese Military Planes

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Japan Scrambles Jets In Response To Chinese Military Planes

Japan Scrambles Jets In Response To Chinese Military Planes

Just in case the world did not have enough potential geopolitical flashpoints and near-crises, here comes old faithful – the simmering nationalist rivalry between China and Japan, which may have been pushed to the backburner in light of the grand return of Cold War 2.0, but is neither forgotten nor resolved. In fact, recent developments which have seen Japan fully back the US strategy in Ukraine while China has voiced its support for Russia, will probably only enflame the direct tension between the two Asian superpowers. Moments ago we got the latest manifestation of precisely this when Japan scrambled military jets on Sunday to counter three Chinese military planes that flew near Japanese airspace, defence officials said.

From SCMP:

One Y-8 information gathering plane and two H-6 bombers flew over the East China Sea, travelling in international airspace between southern Japanese islands and went to the Pacific Ocean before returning towards China on the same route on Sunday morning, according to a spokesman at the Joint Staff of the Ministry of Defence.

“They flow above public seas, and there was no violation of our airspace,” he said, declining to release more details about the incident.

Japan and China are locked in a bitter territorial row over islands in the East China Sea administered by Japan as the Senkaku Islands, but which China calls the Diaoyu Islands.

Chinese government ships and planes have been seen off the disputed islands numerous times since Japan nationalised them in September 2012, sometimes within the 12 nautical-mile territorial zone.

And then there was the curious case of Libya which threatened on Saturday to bomb a North Korean-flagged tanker if it tried to ship oil from a rebel-controlled port, in a major escalation of a standoff over the country’s petroleum wealth. Because obviously the Mediterranean is far too boring with Greece and Italy now fixed.

BlackListedNews.com

Japan Scrambles Jets In Response To Chinese Military Planes

Chinese jets shadowed US and Japanese planes in new air defense zone

RT
November 29, 2013

Chinese fighter jets were scrambled and followed US and Japanese planes that had entered the newly-proclaimed Chinese air defense zone in the disputed area of the East China Sea, Xinhua reports.

The Chengdu J-10 was designed to be a multi-role, all-weather aircraft. Credit: Retxham via Flickr

Two US surveillance aircraft and 10 Japanese F-15 jets were ‘tailed’ by Chinese pilots on Friday.

China ordered an urgent dispatch of its Su-30 and J-10 fighter jets to an area in the East China Sea after the foreign aircraft “invaded” the air defense zone, they said.

The reported intrusions came in defiance of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), established by Beijing last week.

China’s move has triggered outrage from several states in the region and critical rhetoric from the US, as the vast zone covers disputed areas, including the islets claimed by both China and Japan.

Earlier on Thursday, the Chinese Air Force conducted its first air patrol flights over the zone, as Japan and South Korea sent their own military aircraft into the zone’s airspace in an act of defiance.

China has stressed its decision to enforce the airspace identification zone – which requires all aircraft flying over or near it to identify themselves – follows common international practices and “is a necessary measure in China’s exercise of self-defense rights.”

No international flights will be affected by the setup of the zone, Chinese Air Force spokesman, Shen Jinke, told Xinhua.

Japan and its US ally blasted the decision as “unacceptable” and rejected the “unilateral” declaration, saying it would create dangerous tension. However, Chinese officials gave a reminder that both countries have long had their own ADIZ, and that the Japanese never discussed theirs with their neighbor.

“If they want it revoked, then we would ask that Japan first revoke its own air defense identification zone and China will reconsider it after 44 years,” China’s Defense Ministry spokesman, Yang Yujun, said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website on Thursday.

While possible action against the zone’s infiltrators has been vaguely defined as “defensive emergency measures,” The Global Times, a Chinese state media newspaper, on Friday called for “timely countermeasures without hesitation,” should Tokyo violate the new ADIZ.

At the same time, the paper suggested China could ignore violations by some other states, including the US. Two US military B-52 bombers flew over the area on Monday without prior notice, with a Pentagon spokesman telling Reuters we “have continued to follow our normal procedures.”

This article was posted: Friday, November 29, 2013 at 2:34 pm

Tags: domestic news, foreign affairs, war

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Infowars

Chinese jets shadowed US and Japanese planes in new air defense zone

Chinese jets shadowed US and Japanese planes in new air defense zone

Chinese jets shadowed US and Japanese planes in new air defense zone
http://isbigbrotherwatchingyou.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/01fea__national_security_agency__112913j10.jpg

RT
November 29, 2013

Chinese fighter jets were scrambled and followed US and Japanese planes that had entered the newly-proclaimed Chinese air defense zone in the disputed area of the East China Sea, Xinhua reports.

The Chengdu J-10 was designed to be a multi-role, all-weather aircraft. Credit: Retxham via Flickr

Two US surveillance aircraft and 10 Japanese F-15 jets were ‘tailed’ by Chinese pilots on Friday.

China ordered an urgent dispatch of its Su-30 and J-10 fighter jets to an area in the East China Sea after the foreign aircraft “invaded” the air defense zone, they said.

The reported intrusions came in defiance of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), established by Beijing last week.

China’s move has triggered outrage from several states in the region and critical rhetoric from the US, as the vast zone covers disputed areas, including the islets claimed by both China and Japan.

Earlier on Thursday, the Chinese Air Force conducted its first air patrol flights over the zone, as Japan and South Korea sent their own military aircraft into the zone’s airspace in an act of defiance.

China has stressed its decision to enforce the airspace identification zone – which requires all aircraft flying over or near it to identify themselves – follows common international practices and “is a necessary measure in China’s exercise of self-defense rights.”

No international flights will be affected by the setup of the zone, Chinese Air Force spokesman, Shen Jinke, told Xinhua.

Japan and its US ally blasted the decision as “unacceptable” and rejected the “unilateral” declaration, saying it would create dangerous tension. However, Chinese officials gave a reminder that both countries have long had their own ADIZ, and that the Japanese never discussed theirs with their neighbor.

“If they want it revoked, then we would ask that Japan first revoke its own air defense identification zone and China will reconsider it after 44 years,” China’s Defense Ministry spokesman, Yang Yujun, said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website on Thursday.

While possible action against the zone’s infiltrators has been vaguely defined as “defensive emergency measures,” The Global Times, a Chinese state media newspaper, on Friday called for “timely countermeasures without hesitation,” should Tokyo violate the new ADIZ.

At the same time, the paper suggested China could ignore violations by some other states, including the US. Two US military B-52 bombers flew over the area on Monday without prior notice, with a Pentagon spokesman telling Reuters we “have continued to follow our normal procedures.”

This article was posted: Friday, November 29, 2013 at 2:34 pm

Tags: domestic news, foreign affairs, war

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Infowars

Read more about Chinese jets shadowed US and Japanese planes in new air defense zone and other interesting subjects concerning NSA at TheDailyNewsReport.com

China jets scrambled in air zone

29 November 2013
Last updated at 11:43 ET

China says it scrambled fighter jets to monitor US and Japanese planes as they flew in its newly declared air defence zone in the East China Sea on Friday.

The zone covers territory claimed by China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.

China said last week that all aircraft crossing through the zone must file flight plans and identify themselves or face “defensive emergency measures”.

The US, Japan and South Korea say they have since defied the ruling and flown military aircraft in the area.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

The United States and its allies appear to be trying to call China’s bluff over its new air defence perimeter.

Japan, South Korea and the United States have all flown what they called patrols through the zone, in defiance of China’s instruction to identify themselves and maintain radio contact.

China now says it has scrambled fighters for the first time to identify and monitor intruders – the first indication that it may be prepared to risk an encounter in the air above the East China Sea.

The contest is threatening to develop into a war of nerves as the US and its allies seek to test China’s true intentions and how far it is prepared to go in enforcing the new zone.

Beijing may have intended its move to increase pressure on Japan over disputed islands but it is also risking a broader confrontation with Washington, which remains the overwhelming naval power in the western Pacific.

The air defence identification zone (ADIZ) covers a vast area of the East China Sea, including a group of islands claimed by Japan, China and Taiwan.

South Korea claims a submerged rock, known as Ieodo, also within the zone.

The establishment of the ADIZ has caused widespread anger, with the US state department calling it “an attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the East China Sea” which will “raise regional tensions and increase the risk of miscalculation, confrontation and accidents”.

‘Firm but calm’

On Thursday, China had announced it was deploying warplanes in the area for surveillance and defence.

Then on Friday, Air Force spokesman Col Shen Jinke said warplanes had been scrambled that morning to monitor two US surveillance aircraft and 10 Japanese planes – including early warning aircraft, surveillance aircraft and fighter jets – crossing through the ADIZ.

Col Shen said the jets had tracked the flights and identified the planes, state media reports.

Japanese officials gave no details of the flights, but said they were continuing to conduct routine operations in the region and had encountered no “abnormal instances so far”.

Earlier, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said China had a right to patrol the region and that the ADIZ was not aimed at any specific country.

“If some worry has emerged about the situation, it’s agitated by some individual countries,” he told a regular briefing.

If disputes existed, China wanted to solve them through “peaceful means via friendly negotiation,” he said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday that Japan would respond “firmly but in a calm manner” to China’s move, the Kyodo news agency reports.

Foreign Minister Fumio Kushida said the issue would be discussed with US Vice-President Joe Biden, who is due to begin a three-day visit to Japan on Monday.

The disputed group of uninhabited islands in the zone are known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in Chinese.

They are controlled by Japan, but have been the subject of rising tensions in recent years because of their proximity to important shipping lanes, fishing grounds and potential fossil fuel reserves.

South Korea has complained to China that the ADIZ also overlaps its own similar defence zone, and encompasses the Ieodo rock.

A number of regional commercial airlines – including Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Korean Air – have said they will comply with China’s new requirements.

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China jets scrambled in air zone

Boeing Turns Old F-16 Fighter Jets Into Drones

By: NaturalBlaze Contributor Profile | More Stories

Tuesday, September 24, 2013 14:58

(ALTHeadlines)

Dees Illustration

Activist Post

As debate continues about increased drone use in theaters of war, the U.S. drone business continues to boom. This has caused a drone arms race that has seen more than 50 other countries begin drone surveillance and weaponization programs.

International human rights groups have issued a 50-page cautionary report about the potential for losing control over systems that are increasingly autonomous. Cambridge University issued a separate warning through a study officially known as the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, where they have warned that one of the greatest threats that humanity faces are “terminators.” Nevertheless, the Navy has successfully tested autonomous drone takeoffs and landings at sea, while war profiteers defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Atomics, and Boeing have expanded the overall mission to increase the use and range of conventional drones and autonomous systems.

The video below demonstrates a successful test of a new plan by Boeing to modify retired Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets to become QF-16 drones — they say for target practice. While they are currently being controlled by humans on the ground, it’s not much of a stretch to see where this is heading. This is just the latest indication that despite the outcry from citizens across the world, the military-industrial complex marches on toward widespread remote control killing.

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ALT Headlines

Boeing Turns Old F-16 Fighter Jets Into Drones

Britain sends Typhoon jets to Cyprus

The MoD says Britain has deployed six Typhoon jets to Cyprus base near Syria.

Britain has deployed six Typhoon jets to its Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus as the Western rhetoric of war continues against Syria, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) says.

“We can confirm that as part of ongoing contingency planning, 6 RAF Typhoon interceptor fast jets are deploying this morning to Akrotiri in Cyprus,” said an Royal Air Force (RAF) spokesman.

The MoD said the RAF fighters were flying to the Mediterranean on Thursday, ahead of a potential foreign military intervention in Syria over the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government.

The MoD also claimed that the deployment of jets was not aimed at conducting a military strike on the Arab country, but served as a “purely precautionary measure.”

The Typhoons flying from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, east England, were reported to have been fitted with advanced short range air-to-air missiles, medium range air-to-air missiles, and a Mauser cannon.

On August 21, the militants operating inside Syria and the foreign-backed Syrian opposition claimed that 1,300 people had been killed in a government chemical attack on militant strongholds in Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar.

However, the Syrian government categorically rejected the baseless claim, and announced later that the chemical attack had actually been carried out by the militants themselves as a false flag operation.

SSM/MOS/HE

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Britain sends Typhoon jets to Cyprus

Fighter jets intercept helicopter off LA coast

Posted on August 3, 2013 by Blogger

Fox 8 Live

New Orleans, La. – Two F-15 fighter jets intercepted a helicopter off the coast of Louisiana Thursday morning.  The Joint Reserve Base New Orleans Defense Command responded to an AW-139 helicopter that was out of communication as it entered U.S. airspace from the Gulf of Mexico.  

The NORAD controlled F-15 fighter jets intercepted the helicopter which landed at a heliport in Leeville, LA,  NORAD’s mission – in close collaboration with homeland security – is to prevent air attacks against North America, responding to unknown, unwanted and unauthorized air activity.   A NORAD spokesman says the group was contacted after the helicopter came close to the Louisiana coast without communicating with the FAA.

The investigation has now been turned over to the FAA, which has been interviewing the pilot of the helicopter.  So far, it’s not known why the pilot wasn’t communicating or if a technical problem was to blame.

http://www.fox8live.com/story/23019926/fighter-jets-intercept-helicopter-off-la-coast

This entry was posted in News. Bookmark the permalink.

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Fighter jets intercept helicopter off LA coast

Obama: "I"m Not Going To Be Scrambling Jets To Get A 29-Year-Old Hacker"

“I have not called President Xi personally or President Putin personally. And the reason is because, number one, I shouldn’t have to. This is something that routinely is dealt with between law enforcement officials in various countries. And this is not exceptional from a legal perspective,” President Obama said at a news conference in Senegal.

“I’m not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker,” he also said.

RealClearPolitics Video Log

Obama: "I"m Not Going To Be Scrambling Jets To Get A 29-Year-Old Hacker"

U.S. puts jets in Jordan, fuels Russian fear of Syria no-fly zone

BEIRUT (Reuters) – The United States said on Saturday it would keep F-16 fighters and Patriot missiles in Jordan at Amman’s request, and Russia bristled at the possibility they could be used to enforce a no-fly zone inside Syria.

Reuters: Top News

U.S. puts jets in Jordan, fuels Russian fear of Syria no-fly zone