USN Special Projects Patrol Squadron (VPU) 2 “Wizards” had a spy

Lt. Cmdr. Edward C. Lin faces several counts of espionage and other charges outlined during a April 8 Article 32 hearing in Norfolk, Va. Lin had a career as a signals intelligence specialist on the Navy’s Lockheed Martin EP-3E Aries II reconnaissance aircraft.   The U.S. Naval Institute said Lin also had been a department head with the Special Projects Patrol Squadron  (VPU) 2 “Wizards” at Kaneohe Bay, a highly secretive group that flies specially-modified spy planes and has been known to change aircraft paint schemes and identifying numbers to blend in with other Navy planes.

Lin’s job on the Aries II, which bear a resemblance to the maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare P-3C Orion, was to manage the collection of electronic signals from the aircraft – a central coordinator. The specifics of how the U.S. gathers signals from potential adversaries are among the military’s most closely guarded secrets. Knowing the methodology for how the U.S. gathers signals intelligence – information that Lin would likely have with his Aries II experience – could allow adversaries to devise ways to counter U.S. monitoring.

[July 20 2014 RIMPAC gets four China navy ship participants and one spy ]

Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy electronic surveillance ship Beijixing (pennant number 851). A ship of this class is currently off the coast of Oahu, monitoring RIMPAC 2014.  

 “This AGI is most likely to be the Type 815 Dongdiao-class intelligence collection vessel Beijixing (pennant number 851), home ported in the East Sea Fleet,” Erickson, an associate professor at the Naval War College said.

“Beijixing is the most experienced vessel from the PLAN’s [China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy ] most advanced class of AGI. Based on Internet photos and Japanese government and other media reports, Beijixing is China’s most well-traveled AGI, having operated frequently near and within Japan’s claimed Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).”   What’s strange about the Chinese ship monitoring RIMPAC from afar is four PLAN ships and their crews have already been included in most levels of the operation.   RIMPAC — held every two years — includes 50 ships, 200 aircraft and more than 25,000 military personnel from 23 nations. The exercises will run until August.

[March 9 2013]

Chinese Navy's missile destroyer "Harbin" fires during the AMAN-13 exercise in the Arabian Sea, March 8, 2013. Naval ships from 14 countries, including China, the United States, Britain and Pakistan, joined a five-day naval drill in the Arabian Sea from March 4, involving 24 ships, 25 helicopters, and special forces.

The U.S., which traditionally has maintained an impressive array of naval forces comprised of units of the Sixth Fleet, had decided to reduce its naval presence in the Eastern Mediterranean, but in view of the increased traffic -- from Russia, China and especially the Islamic Republic of Iran -- has now changed its mind and will retain a significant naval force in the area.

Regional security arrangements have changed considerably since the onset of the Arab Spring, and developments in the Middle East have enhanced Cairo’s role within the strategic framework. Reliable sources say the Muslim Brotherhood-controlled government has offered Washington “more than facilities” in order to ensure Washington’s continued support during the Muslim Brothers’ crisis-ridden bid to secure control over the state.

Officials at the US embassy in Cairo confirmed the impression of a continuing close relationship between Egypt’s Armed Forces, the US Defense Department and the administration in Washington.

[March 1]The 14th naval squad, sent by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, departed February 16 from China to the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters for escort missions.

[February 25 2011]

China said it was sending a navy ship to protect its citizens being evacuated. The PLA Navy has just dispatched Xuzhou,F530, a Type 054 Jiangkai-II class missile frigate, from the ongoing seventh PLAN anti-piracy task force deployment off Somalia to steam to Libyan coast to provide support and protection for the ongoing evacuation mission there. The escort mission has been approved by the Central Military Commission, according to Xinhua, and at least 6,300 of the roughly 30,000 PRC citizens in Libya have been evacuated. Xuzhou incorporates many stealth features: sloped hull design; radar absorbent materials; and reduction of surface equipment and features.

Builders: Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard

Huangpu Shipyard

Operators: People's Liberation Army Navy

Preceded by: Type 054 frigate

Succeeded by: Type 054B frigate

Cost: ¥ 1.58 billion

Completed: 10

Xuzhou

General characteristics

Type: Frigate

Displacement: 4,053 tonnes (full), 3,600 tonnes (standard)

Length: 134 m (440 ft)(CCTV report)

Beam: 16 m (52 ft) (CCTV report)

Propulsion: CODAD, 4 x SEMT Pielstick 16 PA6 STC diesels, 5700 kW (7600+ hp @ 1084 rpm) each

Speed: 30 kn estimated

Range: 3,800 miles estimated

Sensors and processing systems:

Type 382 Radar (Upgraded from Type 381 Radar "Sea Eagle S/C") 3D air/surface search radar

Type 344 (Mineral-ME Band Stand) OTH target acquisition and SSM fire control radar

4 x Type 345 (MR-90 Front Dome) SAM fire control radars

MR-36A surface search radar, I-band

Type 347G 76 mm gun fire control radar

2 x Racal RM-1290 navigation radars, I-band

MGK-335 medium frequency active/passive sonar system

ZKJ-4B/6 (developed from Thomson-CSF TAVITAC) combat data system

HN-900 Data link (Chinese equivalent of Link 11A/B, to be upgraded)

SNTI-240 SATCOM

Electronic warfare

and decoys: Type 922-1 radar warning receiver

HZ-100 ECM & ELINT system

Armament: 1 x HQ-16 32-cell VLS SAM launcher

2 x 4 C-803 anti-ship / land attack cruise missiles

1 x 76 mm dual purpose gun

2 x Type 730 7-barrel 30 mm CIWS guns

Triple 324 mm YU-7 ASW torpedoes

2 x Type 726-4 18-tube decoy rocket launchers

Aircraft carried: 1 Kamov Ka-28 'Helix' or Harbin Z-9C

Aviation facilities:

earlier

MV Swift Rescue [RSN] located the fuselage of AirAsia flight

MV Swift Rescue is a Submarine Support and Rescue Vessel (SSRV) that is operated by the Singapore Navy. It was built by ST Marine, a subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engineering). The vessel is capable of conducting rescue operations in Sea State 5 conditions. Swift Rescue was launched by the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) in November 2008. The vessel is equipped with Submarine Escape and Rescue (SMER) capabilities.

Singapore Navy vessel MV Swift Rescue has located the main wreckage of the downed airplane, with remotely-taken images showing part of the wing as well as the words on the fuselage, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen says.

January 6 Direct from Stockholm archipelago?   Russians send small sub to search for AirAsia flight]

The Priz class (Project 1855) is a type of Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) operated by the government of Russia. 

Russian search and rescue team has arrived to take part in search operations for AirAsia flight QZ8501

Russia’s equipment included a remotely-operated submerged vessel that weighs about 500 kilograms (1,102 pounds) and can operate at a depth of as much as 300 meters (984 feet),

[January 5  Tow Fish side scan sonar system on board littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth's (LCS 3) in airasia search ]

NAN HAI JIU 101  IMO number: 9433212

China’s Ministry of Transport says it has sent the rescue vessel “Nan-hai-jiu 101” to help retrieve the black boxes of flight QZ8501. The ship set sail at 10 a.m. Monday from south China’s Haikou City. It is heading for the sea area where the wreckage is located. The ship is expected to arrive there in four days.

Navy Diver 2nd Class Daniel Soulliard, assigned to Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit (MDSU) 1, monitoring the readings from a Tow Fish side scan sonar system on board littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth's (LCS 3) 11-meter rigid hull inflatable boat, on january 5

December 30 2014 USS Fort Worth standing ready to assist in search also China]

USS Fort Worth is docked in Singapore, standing ready to assist in search and rescue operations underway for AirAsia Flight 8501. The Fort Worth, a littoral combat ship, should be ready to join the effort by January 1.   “What its role will be is currently being assessed as circumstances evolve,”

 Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 35

China's Defense Ministry said it had sent a warship to the South China Sea and planes "have begun preparatory work" for search operations. 

[December 29 USS Sampson to join search for the AirAsia passenger jet]
USS Sampson was sent December 29 to the search area for AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore  that went missing Sunday amid stormy weather off Indonesia.   The 509-foot Sampson (DDG-102) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and is carrying a detachment from Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 35, based at Naval Air Station North Island,CA.  Sampson is already deployed in the Western Pacific.  Pentagon officials said that other search and detection capabilities may be used as needed.

India blocks Chinese Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 search

Captain Liu Zhonghu aboard Chinese navy ship Jinggangshan in the Indian Ocean on March 20.

List of assets deployed by countries involved in the multi-national search and recovery mission for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in the Southern Indian Ocean
 Royal Malaysian Navy vessels KD Kasturi, KD Lekiu, KD Selangor, KD Pahang, KD Terengganu and KD Kelantan.
Royal Australian Navy HMAS Success - Durance class multi-product replenishment oiler
China: Two amphibious transport docks, one destroyer, one frigate, one supply ship and one rescue ship from the Chinese navy, as well as 4 ship-borne helicopters. Another five ships from the country's maritime authorities, a bulk carrier and an icebreaker are also part of the search efforts.
 From Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas)  Eight  
 UK-   HMS Echo - multi-role hydrographic survey ships from Royal Navy, heading to SAR site.

Norway- 1 Merchant ship – Norwegian automobile carrier St. Petersburg.

[March 21] Indian Navy has four warships (INS Satpura, Sahyadari, Saryu and Batti Malv) deployed in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea in continuation of the search for the jetliner. Extensive air searches are also being conducted with three aircraft (P-8I, C-130J and Dornier-228) in the area," said an officer.

Five Chinese ships are on route to the site, the country’s National Maritime Search and Rescue Centre said on March 21. The Chinese ice breaker Xuelong, currently at harbour in Perth, is set to join the search effort as soon as possible, the Xinhua news agency said. 

Shipping route through Arctic attracts China

A Chinese shipping firm is planning the country’s first commercial voyage through the Northern Sea Route this summer.   For China, the world’s No 2 economy after the United States, the route would save time and money. The distance from Shanghai to Hamburg is 5,200 kilometers shorter via the Arctic than via the Suez Canal, Yang said.

China has been lobbying for permanent observer status on the eight-member Arctic Council in a bid to gain influence.    Norway will work towards admitting China observer status in the Arctic Council “We want people to join our club. That means they will not start another club”. Barth Eide is backed up by Minster Bildt; “The Arctic Council should be the arena for Arctic issues”.

According to Chinese longer-term scenarios, 5 to 15 per cent of China’s international trade, mostly container traffic, would use the route by 2020. Ten per cent of China’s projected trade by 2020, for instance, would be worth €526 billion. “If the route is constructively prepared ... then the demand is there, it could be a huge number,”    in 2012 46 vessels sailed the Northern Sea Route, compared to 34 in 2011 and only four in 2010. The total cargo transported on the NSR in 2012 was 1 261 545 tons – a 53 percent increase from 2011, when 820 789 tons was shipped on the route. 

China and Iceland signed a free-trade agreement on April 15th, China’s first with any European nation.    The more likely attraction for China is access to improving shipping routes through the Arctic as that region warms due to climate change. 

Harmony Wish: transported TELs to North Korea?

Missile launch vehicles, called TELs – for transporter, erector, launcher were shipped from Shanghai to North Korea last August on board the Harmony Wish, a Cambodian-flagged cargo vessel. Japanese authorities tracked the ship by satellite and searched it after it had delivered its cargo, when it transited through Japan the following month,  Although no suspicious vehicles were on board the ship when it was searched in Japan, authorities found documents detailing the cargo it had unloaded in North Korea, which included the vehicles,   The UN security council imposed sanctions against North Korea after its first nuclear test in 2006, stepping them up after a second test in 2009 to try to derail the country's rogue nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes. The sanctions restrict exports of weapons or technology that could be used to boost those programmes.   


8853776 HARMONY WISH XUNB8 General Cargo Ship 1991




Name: Harmony Wish
IMO: 8853776
Flag: Cambodia
MMSI: 515251000
Callsign: XUNB8
Former name(s):
- Hoei Maru (Until 2008 Jul 31)

Technical Data
Vessel type: Grab Dredger
Gross tonnage: 1,999 tons
Summer DWT: 3,720 tons
Length: 85 m
Beam: 13 m
Draught: 4.5 m



Additional Information
Home port: Phnom Penh
Class society: Inclamar
Build year: 1991
Builder*: Kamishima Shipbuilding
Osakikamijima, Japan
Owner: Harmony Growing Shipmanagement
Dalian, China
Manager: Harmony Growing Shipmanagement
Dalian, China

U.S. Philippine Marines practice oil rig assault

On April 21,  commando teams rappelled from U.S. helicopters and landed from rubber boats in a mock assault to retake an oil rig in northern Palawan, 18 km (11 miles) off the town of El Nido on the South China Sea. The annual war games come under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, part of a web of security alliances the United States built in the Asia-Pacific region during the Cold War.

On April 26, It is reported that the State Oceanic Administration agreed in principle to the Marine and Fishery Department of Hainan sea on the the Xisha Jinqing Island [The Paracel Islands, also called Xisha Islands (西沙群岛) in Chinese] supply base terminal project audit. The project intends to use the sea area of ​​5,000 acres, by a private enterprise investment in construction, which can supply protection for the South China Sea, tourism and fisheries development. Integrated supply base for the South China Sea Pier project is demonstrated.

Proven and undiscovered oil reserve estimates in the South China Sea range as high as 213 billion barrels of oil, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a 2008 report. That would surpass every country's proven oil reserves except Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, according to the BP Statistical Review.

HAI YANG SHI YOU 981 drilling rig

more

Tour: Iranians ship $84 million of Syrian oil to China

Reacting to a report that a Maltese-flagged tanker is providing a lifeline to the regime of Bashar al-Assad by shipping Iranian oil to China, in violation of EU sanctions, the foreign and transport ministries said they took immediate action last week as soon as it became known that some Malta-registered Iranian vessels could be involved in the transport of oil from Syria in breach of sanctions.

Following the necessary verifications with the owners of the vessels, including the MT Tour, a decision was taken to immediately suspend the ships’ registration certificates and strike them off the register within a month.

[April 1]Maltese-flagged tanker Tour reached the Syrian port of Tartus at the weekend, where it loaded the 120,000 metric tonne (132,277 tons) cargo of light crude oil.
The vessel was last spotted near Port Said in Egypt, where is was due to arrive on April 4. Its final destination was not available but "I was asked to provide an option to ship to southern China or Singapore," the Chinese buyer as Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp, a state-run company hit by U.S. sanctions in January.  Syria, a relatively modest oil exporter, has been able to sell its crude into Europe, its traditional destination until September last year when European Union and U.S. sanctions halted exports.
The crude oil cargo, worth around $84 million assuming a discounted price of about $100 a barrel, could provide Assad with much-needed funds after another round of sanctions designed to further isolate the country's ailing economy were imposed by the European Union last week.   Syria planned to sell oil directly to the Chinese but had trouble finding a vessel. The Iranians, however, had stepped in to lend a helping hand through one of its Malta-based companies, which sent one of its ships to collect and deliver the cargo.    ISIM Tour Limited, which is also registered in Malta and has been identified by the US Department of Treasury as a front company set up by Iran to evade sanctions.    Malta was ready to de-register the entire Iranian fleet flying under the Maltese flag, perhaps even before the expiry of an EU clause honouring IRISL contracts until November 2013, after a possible review along such lines.


“We’re moving in that direction,” , with the reservation that Iran should not simply be allowed to relocate its ships to other European countries. “We believe that all services to IRISL should be prohibited,” Dr Borg said. “We are ready to make that sacrifice, provided that all countries also make the sacrifice. Otherwise it would be masochistic.”


veritas:
 9364112 TOUR   Malta OT 81295 2007

Isim Tour Ltd
Marian Ship Management & Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd  
2012-03-13 Other/Undefined

Office of Export Controls Cooperation (ISN/ECC)

Berge Everest: Vale China Chess Game

China's ban on large ships is limited to Vale's giant iron ore vessels, shipping sources said on Thursday, clearing up confusion in the maritime community as to whether new government regulations could cover other smaller ships.

"Everyone knows that China can change its mind very fast. It's a game of chess between China and Vale," said Hans Navik here

Traders say they believe Beijing will gradually lift the ban on large vessels since it would allow Vale to deliver iron ore more cheaply and give Chinese steelmakers room to negotiate lower prices. "If steel prices remain low this year, at the end of the day they have to look for cheap iron ore which Vale will be able to supply,"

In the eyes of many domestic industry players, the arrival and unloading of the Berge Everest signaled clear government support for Vale’s ambitious proposal to expand in China and rejection of the trade groups’ arguments. One source said they were right.
Vale apparently got around the bureaucracy in December by using the Berge Everest, a carrier owned by a Singapore company but leased to the Brazilian mining concern, to deliver ore.

Berge Bulk (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
9 Raffles Place
Republic Plaza #54-03
Singapore 048619

“After the successful berthing of the Berge Everest, it will be relatively easy for the Valemax fleet to berth here, too,” a longtime iron ore trader who works with Vale told Caixin. here
back

Arctic Sea: AA arms moves and countermoves

TEHRAN (ISNA)-Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said April 6 that the country expects Russia not to bow to other countries’ political pressures and deliver S-300 missile system to Iran.

Speaking in his weekly press conference, as to Iran-Russia missile system deal, he said, “we expect Russian officials not to be influenced by political pressures of other countries, the missile system is used for defense and deterrent purposes and we hope the issue will be resolved under agreements signed between the two countries.”

Recent efforts by the US towards European missile defence adds a naval component and could involve not only Poland and the Czech Republic but also Romania and Bulgaria. The planned deployment of US interceptor missiles in the Black Sea region has triggered fierce criticism from Moscow.
Russia has delivered 15 batteries of S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to China. China Air Force has established five S300 series of ground-to-air missiles targeted at Taiwan Strait. The S300PMU2, the latest of the series, is equipped with searching radar and analysis functions, The deployment of S300PMU2 missiles is made with an eye to confront US presence in South Sea affairs,

The Arctic Sea, thought by some to have been secretly carrying arms destined for Iran, such as the S 300 AA missiles, is currently bound for Bejaia, Algeria and expects to arrive there: 2010-04-09 12:00

Arctic Sea: Russia repeats S-300 delivery plan

Moscow has said it plans to fulfill a contract to supply the S-300 to Iran. The Arctic Sea, bound for Bejaia, Algeria, has again disappeared from AIS systems coming out of the English Channel. This freighter was suspected last year of transporting arms destined for Iran. The S-300, known in the West as the SA-20, can shoot down cruise missiles and aircraft. The missiles have a range of 150 km (90 miles) or more and travel at over two km per second. Russia has delivered 15 S-300 batteries to China, Interfax news agency quoted Igor Ashurbeili, director general of Almaz Antei which makes the missiles. China, once the largest customer for Russian arms, has bought about 27 S-300 batteries from Russia beginning in the 1990s, the “bare minimum” for its arsenal The new contracts to deliver the S-300 to China were signed in the mid-2000s and each battery usually costs about $120-$150 million. That indicates the value of the Chinese contract was about $1.80-$2.25 billion. Russia has a more advanced air defense system, known as the S-400 "Triumph," and Ashurbeili said the country's armed forces were expected to receive the third battery of these "any day from now."

A senior Russian general said last year that Moscow was now developing a fifth-generation, surface-to-air missile, the S-500, which would be able to implement the tasks of both air and space defense.

Officials have said that the new system would be capable of engaging ballistic hypersonic targets flying at a speed of 5 km (3 miles) per second. here