Some Tuesday defense links:
Reuters reports that an official Chinese newspaper says that China will base a 5,000-tonne civilian patrol ship in Sansha City in the South China Sea, from which it will begin doing regular patrols of the South China Sea. Reuters quoted the report as saying that China will “gradually establish a regular patrol system on Sansha city to jointly protect the country’s maritime interests. On Monday two destroyers and China’s largest amphibious landing craft began conducting a naval exercise in the South China Sea.
Following another successful test this week, India will begin serial production on its Agni-IV nuclear capable missile. India’s military said that the test this week saw the missile cover its full range of 4,000 km.
Speaking of India, the Indian Air Force is now publicly accusing Russia of being unable to meet its commitments to their jointly developed Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft. Business Standard has the story.
Over at War on the Rocks, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus discusses how the U.S. Navy will use unmanned naval assets in the coming years.
The U.S. Department of Defense has announced that it is sending two naval ships to the Black Sea to help provide security for the Sochi Olympic games in Russia.
Channel Asia News reports that Taiwan is slashing the size of its armed forces by 20 percent over the next five years.