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@Technogaianist @AMDR @F-22Raptor @Peter C @cnleio @rugering ---- techno glow sticks?!?!? :azn::bunny:

Neat chopper but the colourful lightning is too fancy for me, lol
 
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Japanese Admiral warns of China's moves in disputed sea

The commander of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force warned Wednesday of the possibility that the entire West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) could be "covered by China's sphere of military influence" if Beijing uses artificial islands it has built there for military purposes.
In a speech delivered at a think tank in Washington, Adm. Tomohisa Takei underlined the importance of ensuring that the South China Sea is "free and open waters" all the time to "make the Indo-Pacific 'Ocean of Prosperity.'"

Should the freedom of navigation be threatened, Takei warned that "an unexpected incident at sea can occur as a result."

China claims most of the South China Sea, believed to be rich in oil and natural gas deposits, despite overlapping sovereignty claims by Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.

Japan is not a claimant but has been denouncing Beijing's muscle-flexing in the South China Sea along with its ally the United States.

"Even though the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific are geographically separated, they are so closely related that they cannot be separated both politically and economically," he said. "Therefore, we need to regard security in each of these two oceans as identical."

Takei urged each Navy of the U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific region to "adapt itself to new strategic environment synchronized with the U.S. rebalance and enhance its own naval power both in quality and in quantity simultaneously."

U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has been implementing the policy of strategic rebalance to Asia.

Before giving the speech, Takei met with U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert.

Greenert told reporters that the United States "will be present in the South China Sea," adding that he does not acknowledge the artificial islands as China's territory. He also said China's South China Sea land reclamation is in a calm state of "strategic equilibrium."
 
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Japan selects Fuji/Bell option for UH-X programme



Japan's Ministry of Defense (MoD) has selected Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) to lead a programme to develop a next-generation 'UH-X' multipurpose helicopter for the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF).

The MoD said in a statement on 17 July that FHI would collaborate with US firm Bell Helicopter on the UH-X development programme. The two companies have proposed to meet the UH-X requirement with a modified version of the Bell 412 twin-engine utility platform.

The MoD added that it selected the FHI-Bell partnership ahead of a proposal by Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI), which was teamed with Airbus Helicopters and had jointly bid with a helicopter based on the European company's newly developed H160 platform. The MoD said that the FHI-Bell offering surpassed that of KHI-Airbus in several evaluation categories including aircraft performance, logistical support, development feasibility, and delivery period.

KHI was previously awarded a contract to develop the UH-X but the programme was scrapped after two JGSDF officers were convicted of assisting the company to secure the development contract. Bidding was rebooted earlier this year. While the cancelled tender called for the development of a new helicopter the restarted programme looked to procure a modified off-the-shelf platform in an effort to cut costs.

The UH-X helicopter will replace the JGSDF's existing Bell UH-1J Huey platforms that were licence-built by FHI and entered service in the early 1990s. The MoD is expected to procure around 150 UH-X helicopters over the next two decades, with the first entering service in 2021. The UH-X development programme will start this fiscal year with Bell 412 customisation scheduled from 2017.

The UH-X development programme is reportedly worth JPY13.3 billion (USD107 million), with follow-on production valued at about JPY180 billion. It is also likely that the MoD will look to export the UH-X helicopter, given that the programme is the first major aircraft project undertaken by Japanese industry since Japan eased its long-standing international sales ban in April 2014.


Japan selects Fuji/Bell option for UH-X programme - IHS Jane's 360
 
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Rocket carrying Russian, Japanese, US crew docks with ISS


Baikonur (Kazakhstan) (AFP) - Astronauts from Russia, Japan and the United States Thursday docked successfully with the International Space Station under six hours after they launched, NASA television showed.

The Soyuz TMA 17M rocket -- carrying cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, US astronaut Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yui of Japan -- had roared skyward from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in the barren Kazakh steppe at 2102 GMT.

After a fly-around at around 350 meters (1,150 feet), the rocket manuevered to a rendezvous with the ISS, at 10:46 EST (0246 GMT Thursday).

"We have contact," a NASA announcer said, as the craft soared high above the coast of Ecuador, 402 kilometres (250 miles) over the Pacific.

One solar array -- a type of power supply that captures energy from the sun -- did not deploy on time, but this did not affect the rocket's flight as the others were still operating, the US space agency said.

Scientists and space enthusiasts around the world were watching the launch closely, and with some concern, since the mission had been delayed by two months because of a Russian rocket failure.

Russia was in May forced to put all space travel on hold after the unmanned Progress freighter taking cargo to the ISS crashed back to Earth in late April.

The doomed ship lost contact with Earth and burned up in the atmosphere. The failure, which Russia has blamed on a problem in a Soyuz rocket, also forced a group of astronauts to spend an extra month aboard the ISS.

A workhorse of space that dates back to the Cold War, the Soyuz is used for manned and unmanned flights.

Ahead of the liftoff, the three men met with 81-year-old cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first man to walk in space and one of the Apollo-Soyuz commanders.

Sending the first man into space in 1961 and launching the first sputnik satellite four years earlier are among key accomplishments of the Russian space program and remain a major source of national pride in the country.

But over the past few years, Russia has suffered several major setbacks, notably losing expensive satellites and unmanned supply ships to the ISS.



Rocket carrying Russian, Japanese, US crew docks with ISS - Yahoo News
 
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Japan to reach record defense budget of US$42 bn for FY2016
Japan to reach record defense budget of US$42 bn for FY2016 21008152 | August 2015 Global Defense Security news UK | Defense Security global news industry army 2015

Japan is expected to seek a record defense budget of 5.2 trillion Yen, or about 42 billion US Dollars, for the fiscal year of 2016, revelead on August 9 local medias. This comes after three years of increased defense spending by the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Japan's Kyodo news agency says the budget request will likely include 140 billion yen on US military realignment costs. The request is also expected to cover costs for the bulk purchase of 17 SH-60 helicopters, and manoeuvre combat vehicles. Abe's government adopted a new five-year Defense Program at the end of 2013.
Under the plan, Japan's defense spending is expected to rise by an average of 0.8 percent annually. The latest budget hike would come as Abe looks to overhaul the country's defense policy with new security bills.

Based on the program through fiscal 2018, Japan’s defense spending is expected to grow by an average of 0.8 percent annually.

China’s rise and the military threat posed by it has been the main trigger for the boosted defense spending, officials say.

The two Asian giants have been butting heads over the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, which Beijing also claims and calls the Diaoyus, with Chinese ships and aircraft regularly testing the Japanese response.

In a Defense Ministry white paper issued last month, the ministry said it remains deeply concerned about China’s maritime ambitions in the region.

The report said Tokyo is paying particular attention to Beijing’s growing military assertiveness in the East and South China Sea, accusing it of “high-handed” actions to change the status quo by force.
 
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Japan to reach record defense budget of US$42 bn for FY2016
Japan to reach record defense budget of US$42 bn for FY2016 21008152 | August 2015 Global Defense Security news UK | Defense Security global news industry army 2015

Japan is expected to seek a record defense budget of 5.2 trillion Yen, or about 42 billion US Dollars, for the fiscal year of 2016, revelead on August 9 local medias. This comes after three years of increased defense spending by the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Japan's Kyodo news agency says the budget request will likely include 140 billion yen on US military realignment costs. The request is also expected to cover costs for the bulk purchase of 17 SH-60 helicopters, and manoeuvre combat vehicles. Abe's government adopted a new five-year Defense Program at the end of 2013.
Under the plan, Japan's defense spending is expected to rise by an average of 0.8 percent annually. The latest budget hike would come as Abe looks to overhaul the country's defense policy with new security bills.

Based on the program through fiscal 2018, Japan’s defense spending is expected to grow by an average of 0.8 percent annually.

China’s rise and the military threat posed by it has been the main trigger for the boosted defense spending, officials say.

The two Asian giants have been butting heads over the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, which Beijing also claims and calls the Diaoyus, with Chinese ships and aircraft regularly testing the Japanese response.

In a Defense Ministry white paper issued last month, the ministry said it remains deeply concerned about China’s maritime ambitions in the region.

The report said Tokyo is paying particular attention to Beijing’s growing military assertiveness in the East and South China Sea, accusing it of “high-handed” actions to change the status quo by force.


Its not nearly enough, should be increased. To account for the Yen's depreciation.
 
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Japan’s F-2 Marks 8th Platform to Fly with Lockheed Martin Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod


ORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 10, 2015 – Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) received a direct commercial sale contract through Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to integrate the Sniper® Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP) onto the Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s (JASDF) F-2 aircraft.

This initial contract, awarded in 2014, includes a Sniper pod, spares and support equipment for integration. The F-2 is the eighth aircraft platform to be equipped with Sniper ATP, joining variants of the F-15, F-16, F-18, A-10, B-1, B-52 and Harrier.

“Sniper ATP’s proven performance and low life cycle cost will provide necessary support to the JASDF mission,” said Marc Nazon, Sniper international program manager at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “Integrating Sniper ATP on the F-2 also enables increased collaboration in U.S. Air Force and JASDF joint combat operations.”

Lockheed Martin will work with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the prime aircraft manufacturer, to complete Sniper ATP integration on the F-2. Follow-on contracts are expected to include additional pods, spares, logistics and support equipment for the F-2 fleet.

Sniper ATP offers pilots high-resolution imagery for precision targeting and non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. It detects, identifies, automatically tracks and laser designates small tactical targets at long ranges and supports employment of all laser- and GPS-guided weapons against multiple fixed and moving targets.

Japan’s F-2 Marks 8th Platform to Fly with Lockheed Martin Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod · Lockheed Martin
 
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*Joint JAXA-NASA project

Stork Set to Make Special Space Station Delivery

Stork Set to Make Special Space Station Delivery | NASA

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The HTV5 CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) Flight Crew Interface Test (FCIT). CALET will search for signatures of dark matter and provide the highest energy direct measurements of the cosmic ray electron spectrum. Credits: NASA

A stork will soon make a special delivery to the International Space Station -- new research samples and equipment for research investigations that will occur during current and future expeditions in the many science disciplines aboard the space laboratory. The fifth Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) H-II Transfer Vehicle, or HTV-5, is planned to launch Monday, August 17 with the space shipment. The HTV was dubbed Kounotori, “white stork” in Japanese, because it conveys the delivery of important cargo and expresses the HTV's mission to transport crucial materials to the space station. Indeed it will. The delivery will include materials to support the crewmembers’ research off the Earth to benefit the Earth.

The research this supply will support includes the CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) investigation, an astrophysics mission that will search for signatures of dark matter and provide the highest energy direct measurements of the cosmic ray electron spectrum. (Cosmic rays are high-energy radiation particles that impact the Earth's atmosphere.) Investigators will measure these particles using a high-resolution telescope. The investigation addresses many unresolved high-energy astrophysics questions that have puzzled scientists for decades, such as the origin of cosmic rays, how cosmic rays accelerate and travel across the galaxy, and whether dark matter and nearby cosmic ray sources exist. The investigation also may help characterize the radiation environment and the risks it may pose to humans in space. Additionally, CALET's long exposure in space may yield evidence of rare interactions between “normal” matter and dark matter.

Birds of a feather flock together as Kounotori5, or HTV-5, will also deliver a flock of fourteen Dove satellites to support the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer investigation. These small satellites will capture imagery of Earth for use in humanitarian, environmental and commercial applications. They are part of a class of miniature satellites often called CubeSats. The CubeSat deployer meets the growing demand to deploy CubeSat format satellites from the space station.

Other satellites being launched on HTV-5 include the GomSpace GOMX-3, a three-unit CubeSat mission to demonstrate aircraft Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast signal reception and geostationary telecommunication satellite spot beam signal quality, both of which are used for global aircraft tracking. The primary mission for the Aalborg University (AAU) student satellite AAUSAT5 is to receive Automatic Identification System (AIS) beacons from ships. The beacons are used to identify and locate vessels to support collision avoidance and search and rescue efforts.

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A set of Cosmogia Dove CubeSats being launched during Expedition 40 from the one of the NanoRack Cubesat Deployer (NRCSD) deployer mechanisms. Expedition 44/45 crew members will launch additional CubeSats during their mission. Credits: NASA

The latest tool to promote commercialization in microgravity, the NanoRacks External Platform (NREP), will also take flight aboard HTV-5. Like the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer, this facility, which is capable of housing multiple, diverse investigations, will mount to the JAXA Japanese External Facility (JEM-EF). It will be a plug-and-play resource for users who wish to send their investigations into the microgravity environment.

NREP will supply power to investigations, along with the capability to cycle commands and data to/from users on the ground. These studies also will have access to the vacuum of space, including extreme temperatures and radiation. Hosted items may include materials science, biology experiments, sensors, electronic components, and more.

Additional research supported by the HTV-5 cargo includes the Twins Study, a compilation of 10 investigations that will include, among other topics, integrated human -omic analyses. The analyses will help scientists better understand biomolecular responses to the physical, physiological, and environmental stressors associated with spaceflight. Key to these analyses is the collection of biological specimens like urine and blood from one twin in orbit on the space station and the collection of corresponding samples and data from his twin on Earth. Investigators will use the BD Vacutainer® CPT™ Cell Preparation Tubes arriving on the HTV5 for the collection of whole blood and the separation of mononuclear (or single nucleus) cells. Isolation of mononuclear cells from whole blood is a first step for obtaining the data necessary achieve the research objectives for three of the study’s investigations.

This fifth HTV mission certainly provides a bird’s-eye view of the research making an impact off the Earth for the Earth.

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Expedition 45/46 Commander, Astronaut Scott Kelly (right) along with his brother, former Astronaut Mark Kelly (left) are the subjects of the Twins Study, which studies, among other things, biomolecular responses to the physical, physiological, and environmental stressors associated with spaceflight. Credits: NASA
 
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Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Type-10 tank fires its gun at a target during an annual live firing exercise at Higashi Fuji range in Gotemba, southwest of Tokyo.
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Reuters / Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force tanks and other armoured vehicles take part in an annual training session, which is based on a scenario to defend or retake islands in Japanese territory, near Mount Fuji at Higashifuji training field in Gotemba, west of Tokyo, August 18, 2015. REUTERS/Yuya Shino

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Start Your Day With a Replay of This Morning's Japanese Spacecraft Launch


At around 8 a.m. EST this morning, Japan successfully launched an unmanned cargo vehicle, bound for the ISS. And man, watching spacecraft take off never gets old.

The shuttle is called Kounotori-5, and it was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center on Japan’s southern tip Wednesday night Japan time. It’s carrying 4.5 tons of cargo, says JAXA, Japan’s space agency: Food, water, and other commodities for the astronauts, plus equipment for experiments, an electron telescope, and gear for the astronauts, like extra SAFER propulsion systems.

Japan’s made other ISS-related headlines recently, as well. Last month, Japanese whisky maker Suntory announced plans to launch booze to the ISS in an experiment that could help scientists better understand the chemical processes behind liquor’s aging process—why it makes the alcohol taste better, and what effect microgravity has on it.

Oh, and another one of Kounotori-5’s jobs? Bringing a giant waste disposal unit filled with “6 metric tons of waste and expired experiment devices” back to Earth. In other words, it’s taking out the trash. Unglamorous job, but someone’s gotta do it.
 
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