US to deploy drones
over Diaoyutais
By J. Michael Cole Aug
08, 2012
‘STRONG MESSAGE’:A
Japanese defense expert said this was an important step for the alliance’s
cooperation and signaled to Beijing that the US stands firmly with Tokyo
The US will use its most advanced unmanned
reconnaissance aircraft to monitor Chinese activity in waters
surrounding the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), the object of an acrimonious dispute between Beijing and
Tokyo, Japanese media are reporting.
The decision was made
during a meeting between Japanese Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto and US
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta at the Pentagon on Sunday, NHK and the
Yomiuri Shimbun said, adding that the drones would also conduct surveillance
around Okinawa.
At least three unarmed
Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk drones have been deployed at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam since
September 2010, bolstering the operational intelligence capabilities of US
forces in the Asia-Pacific.
Operating at an
altitude of about 18,000m, the RQ-4 provides near-real-time, long-range
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance imagery by means of a
high-resolution synthetic aperture radar. It played a role in damage assessment
following the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant
in March last year.
Amid rising tensions
between Japan and China over the disputed islets, the Japan Maritime
Self-Defense Force has mostly relied on P-3C “Orion” surveillance aircraft to
monitor Chinese naval activity in the area.
Taiwan also claims
sovereignty over the islands.
Tetsuo Kotani, a
fellow at The Japan Institute of International Affairs in Tokyo, said the
deployment sends an important message.
“One of the urgent
issues for the US-Japan alliance is to enhance intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance [ISR] cooperation,” he told the Taipei Times yesterday. “The
Global Hawk can serve as a symbol of allied ISR cooperation.”
“This is an
important step for the alliance and sends a strong message to Beijing
that Washington stands firmly with Tokyo,” he said.
Although the US does
not officially take a position on the sovereignty dispute, some believe the Diaoyutais fall within
the scope of Article 5 of the US-Japan
Treaty of Mutual Co-operation and Security.
However, Kotani said
Beijing should not misunderstand the real message.
“This is US
reassurance to Japan. As long as Japan is reassured by the US, Japan does not
have to take provocative actions vis-a-vis Beijing over the Senkakus,” he said.
“No country wants to increase the tensions.”
The Diaoyutais are
known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan.
During Sunday’s
meeting, Panetta and Morimoto also agreed to explore eventual revisions of the Guidelines for Japan-US Defense
Cooperation, which govern cooperation between the Japan Self-Defense
Forces and the US military during crises.
Passed in 1978, the guidelines were substantially revised
in 1997 in response to the North Korean nuclear program.
“We shared the view that
it’s important to jointly study and discuss [security matters], taking into
consideration changes in the security environment and what Japan-US cooperation
should be,” Morimoto told a press conference.
According to the
Yomiuri Shimbun, the review will focus on defense cooperation on the Nansei
Islands in response to Chinese military expansion and increasing activity in
waters surrounding Japan, as well as North Korea’s nuclear and missile
development and post-disaster cooperation.
No specific procedures
or timeline for the review were discussed.
Submarine drones need to be autonomous, naval experts say
February 10, 2012|By
W.J. Hennigan, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from
Washington — Achieving complete autonomy in future robotic submarines is
crucial to the Navy's plans to use drone technology.
This was the message
of several speakers at the Assn. for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International's
robotic conference at the Omni Shoreham Hotel who said that submarine drones
could be useful in a variety of roles in science and national security.
Unlike aerial drones, which are remotely controlled using GPS
signals and data links, robotic submarines would not be able to receive satellite commands as they scour the
ocean floor. So the machines need to be able to navigate on their own to
carry out missions.
Submarine drones would
need advanced onboard computers to detect and dodge mountains jutting from the
sea bed.
Rear Adm. Matthew
Klunder, chief of naval research at the Office of Naval Research in Arlington,
Va., said autonomy would someday have a place on the short list of
historic naval achievements.
There are development
projects underway around the country. In Southern California, Boeing Co. has
been testing an 18-foot bright-yellow submarine drone off the coast of Santa
Catalina Island.
Boeing first tested
the sub in its 1-million-gallon test pool at its Anaheim facility, which was
the birthplace of the guidance systems for the world's first nuclear submarine.
