Category Archives: Aviation

Chinese Aircraft Carrier Strike Group Operating Again Near Japan

Chinese Aircraft Carrier Strike Group Operating Again Near Japan

CNS Shandong (17) underway on Sept. 10, 2023. JMSDF Photo

Five months after it made its first deployment to the western Pacific, People’s Liberation Army Navy carrier CNS Shandong (17) is back conducting drills, according to Taiwan Ministry of National Defense. Also on Monday, Japan’s Ministry of Defense reported a total of eight PLAN ships transited the Miyako Strait to enter the Philippine Sea. Read More

Drone Lands and Takes Off from U.K. Royal Navy Carrier for the First Time

Drone Lands and Takes Off from U.K. Royal Navy Carrier for the First Time

Royal Navy airman secures a W Autonomous Systems (WAS) drone following a trip from the Lizard Peninsula and onto the deck of HMS Prince of Wales off the Cornish coast. UK Royal Navy Photo

A drone took off from and landed on a British warship for the first time during HMS Prince of Wales’ (R09) autumn deployment, which will see the Queen Elizabeth–class aircraft carrier assemble its air wing off the U.S. East Coast. Read More

Marines Considering Autonomous Systems for Almost Everything, General Says

Marines Considering Autonomous Systems for Almost Everything, General Says

Lance Cpl. Phillip Banuelos, left, a motor transport operator, with 1st Transportation Battalion, Combat Logistics Regiment 1, 1st Marine Logistics Group, and Gunnery Sgt. Christopher Genualdi, center, a capabilities integration officer with Combat Development and Integration, and Staff Sgt. Matthew Pitman, right, a tactic and integration instructor with Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron One (VMX-1), disassemble the TRV-150 (TRUAS) drone after experimentation during Battalion Field exercise 1-23 on Camp Pendleton, California, Oct. 19, 2022. US Marine Corps Photo

Marines are looking to push as many tasks as possible to autonomous systems as the service aims to operate across wide swaths of the Pacific. Read More

Short-Term Problems are Prime Focus of New Pentagon Drone Initiative

Short-Term Problems are Prime Focus of New Pentagon Drone Initiative

Two unmanned surface vessels, a Devil Ray T-38 and Saildrone Explorer, operate in the Gulf of Aqaba, Sept. 10, during Eager Lion 2022. US Navy Photo

Solving short-term problems for military commanders in the Pacific and Europe is driving the Pentagon’s push to accelerate production of attritable air, sea and ground drones powered by artificial intelligence, USNI News has learned. Read More

Japan Releases $53B Defense Budget Focused on Shipbuilding, Fighters

Japan Releases $53B Defense Budget Focused on Shipbuilding, Fighters

A Japanese Air Self Defense Force F-35A Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter in 2021. JSDF Photo

Japan’s Ministry of Defense requested on Thursday a record defense budget of $53 billion for Fiscal Year 2024, an increase over FY2023’s budget of $46.8 billion. The increased request reflects the Kishida administration’s intention to boost defense spending and capabilities over the next five years, though the final decision will be made by the Finance Ministry in December. Read More

Threats in Western Pacific Drawing South Korea, Japan Closer Together, Experts Say

Threats in Western Pacific Drawing South Korea, Japan Closer Together, Experts Say

Sailors aboard a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense ship in formation with USS Benfold on Aug. 28, 2023, JMSDF Photo

Joint Chinese-Russian naval exercises near Japan and recent North Korea firing missiles underscore the importance of the historic agreement recently reached at Camp David between the U.S., Japan and South Korea, the White House’s former top official for the Indo-Pacific said Tuesday. Read More