Seaman Apprentice Johnnese Poomaihealani, from Waianae, Hawaii, receives a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot during a shot event in the foc’sle aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) on Jan. 3, 2022. US Navy Photo
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin officially rescinded the COVID-19 vaccine mandate Tuesday evening in a memo, stopping any more military separations due to refusal to get the shot series.
Congress, through the National Defense Authorization Act 2023, ordered the Department of Defense to...
People’s Liberation Army Navy destroyer CNS Kaifeng (124). JSDF Photo
A People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) surface action group and surveillance ship have returned to the East China Sea from the Pacific Ocean after operating there for the last few weeks.
On Monday at 11 p.m., three PLAN ships were sighted sailing northwest in an area 160 kilometers southeast of Yonaguni island, according to a Wednesday news release from Japan’s Joint Staff Office (JSO) of the Ministry of Defense. Yonaguni...
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and South Korean Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-Sup conduct a press conference at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., on Nov. 3, 2022. U.S. Air Force Photo
The United States and the Republic of Korea will extend a joint Air Force exercise in response to missile launches from North Korea, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced Thursday.
The U.S. and Korea decided to extend Vigilant Storm, which began Oct. 31, in order to continue to show its...
A People’s Liberation Army Navy J-15 carrier fighter takes off from Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning (16) on May 20, 2022. Japanese MoD Photo
In a six-month period from April to September, Japanese fighters scrambled 446 times to intercept threatening aircraft from China and Russia, according to the Japanese Ministry of Defense.
Many of the aircraft intercepted belonged to the air wing embarked on the People’s Liberation Army Navy aircraft carrier CNS Liaoning (16).
The Japan Air Self-Defense...
Matt Cornman, a Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command contractor, performs a routine visual inspection on a Red Hill Well water pipe. US Navy Photo
The Pentagon says it could take between 30 days and four months to empty Hawaii’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, according to the latest version of the defueling plan.
The Department said it is continually reevaluating the timeline for the defueling, with the current thinking projecting four months to remove all fuel from Red Hill. The...
A firefighter, attached to Federal Fire Department Hawaii, conducts environmental testing during a spill response exercise at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility on Sept. 22, 2022. US Navy Photo
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will travel to Hawaii to meet with Indo-Pacific partners and get an update on the effort to defuel the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, a Pentagon spokesman announced Tuesday.
While in Hawaii, Austin will visit with Rear Adm. John Wade, who the defense secretary...
https://news.usni.org/2022/09/27/defense-secretary-austin-to-meet-with-red-hill-team-in-hawaii
Rear Adm. John Wade, commander, Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center (SMWDC), delivers remarks in 2017. US Navy Photo
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin named Rear Adm. John Wade as the commander of the Joint Task Force – Red Hill, according to a Monday statement from Austin.
Wade is currently the director of operations, J3, for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, a role he’s had since October 2020. As the commander of the task force, which was set up to oversee the defeuling of the Red...
https://news.usni.org/2022/09/19/austin-names-navy-rear-admiral-to-lead-red-hill-commission
Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro is shown some of the items highlighted in the third-party assessment of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in Hawaii on June 13, 2022. U.S. Navy Photo
The Navy will not finish defueling Red Hill until Dec. 31, 2024, at the earliest, according to the Navy’s defueling plan for the Hawaii fuel storage facility.
The defueling plan, as well as the Navy’s investigation into leaks at Red Hill – which led to decontamination of the drinking water used by Hawaii...
Wei Fenghe. Global Times Photo
Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe on Sunday strongly rejected the United States’ claims about Bejing’s actions on the global stage, saying that the U.S. is pushing for confrontation and trying to encircle China.
Speaking at the International Institute of Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue, Wei warned that China “would fight to the very end” should anyone dare to secede Taiwan from China.
In opening his speech, titled China’s Vision For Regional Order, Wei...