The U.S. Air Force Issued the Following Press Release

January 31, 2007 Wednesday 11:59 PM EST

KORAT ROYAL THAI AIR BASE, Thailand

The U.S. Air Force issued the following press release:

By Army Sgt. Catherine Talento

Air Force News Agency

The skies over this air base in central Thailand are filled with the sounds of fighter jets screaming on take-off and landing as Exercise Cope Tiger 2007 gets underway.

This is the 13th year for Cope Tiger, a multilateral, joint Thai/U.S. sponsored exercise between the nations of Thailand, Singapore and the United States.

Approximately 600 servicemembers from the United States and 600 combined from Singapore and Thailand are expected to participate in the two-week exercise.

"The partners of Thailand, Singapore and the United States have a history of working together and we want to continue that relationship," said Col. Vincent Ferrell, the Air Force exercise director. "This exercise allows us to work from the tactical level up through the command and control pieces as well."

U.S., Thai and Singaporean forces will spend the exercise conducting close-air support operations, air refueling missions, search and rescue operations and common unit procedures such as mission planning.

"The key point here is that aircrafts are able to share data and work together to achieve a common objective, whether it is search and rescue in a combat environment or air to air employment against an adversary," Colonel Ferrell said.

Humanitarian relief will also play a large role during Cope Tiger. Medical and dental teams from Thailand and Singapore will join U.S. units from Japan, Okinawa and Hawaii providing basic medical and dental care to residents of the communities surrounding Udon Thani and Korat.

Medical members expect to see and treat approximately 2,000 patients during the two-week exercise. Exercise Cope Tiger 2007 runs from Jan. 29 through Feb. 9 at air bases at Korat and Udon Thani.

May 24, 2007 Thursday 4:21 AM EST

PHILIPPINES-U.S. AMPHIBIOUS MILITARY EXERCISE 'CARAT 2007' TO OPEN IN ZAMBOANGA
BYLINE: US Fed News
LENGTH: 372 words
DATELINE:MANILA, Philippines

The U.S. Embassy issued the following press release:

The Philippine and U.S. Navies will conduct the 13th annual bilateral training exercise "Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training," known as CARAT, in the Zamboanga and Basilan area starting on May 31.

CARAT 2007 is a combined naval tactical operations exercise involving fleet forces of both the Philippine and United States Navies. The United States participates in CARAT exercises with six Southeast Asian nations: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

CARAT is a model of how navies can cooperate and work together to address issues of shared concern in each other's countries. Each exercise is designed to enhance the ability of our nations to work together in maritime situations that range from natural disasters to maritime interception of criminals and terrorists. The exercises include a tactical scenario where the U.S. and Philippine Navies will operate together in teams, focusing on improving communication and information sharing. Examples of other skill areas that the navies will practice are amphibious operations, diving, and salvage. The exercise also focuses on relationship building through social and community service events such as providing free medical, dental, and veterinary care in host communities. The U.S. and Philippine armed forces will also visit schools and community centers to donate school supplies, food, books, sporting equipment, and toys. The U.S. Navy's CARAT group includes the USS Harpers Ferry from Sasebo, Japan; the USS Ford from Everett, Washington; and the USS Jarrett from San Diego, California. Approximately 1,400 U.S. personnel will take part in the CARAT exercises, including personnel such as U.S. Navy Seabees, U.S. Navy and Army doctors, and U.S. Army veterinarians who will participate in humanitarian projects. As multinational responses to regional emergencies such as the December 2004 tsunami become increasingly common, it is mutually beneficial for friends and allies to train together to improve interoperability and build friendly, cooperative relations.

You can also contact the U.S. Embassy Press Office at 02-528-6300 x2363 for information regarding the CARAT exercises.

June 15, 2007 Friday 1:15 AM EST

U.S., Japan airforces conduct exercises over Guam
SECTION: WORLD NEWS; Political
LENGTH: 93 words
DATELINE:WASHINGTON

Air force of the United States and Japan Air Self Defense Force have been conducting military exercises over Guam since Monday, local mass media reported Thursday.

The two-week bilateral exercises, with the participation of Japan's F-2 jet fighters for the first time outside of Japan, was designed to provide a venue for bilateral cooperation and to improve capabilities for the defense of Japan, the report said.

Guam, located 3,700 miles (about 5,950 km) southwest of Hawaii, is a very important U.S. military base in the Pacific region.

July 17, 2007 Tuesday

Singapore, US hold joint military exercise
SECTION: NATIONWIDE INTERNATIONAL NEWS
LENGTH: 106 words
DATELINE: Ha Noi July 17

The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), the United States Navy and the United States Coast Guard launched a joint exercise at Singapore's Changi Naval Base on July 17.

The annual Singapore-US Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise, which started in 1995, runs for two weeks and aims to enhance cooperation between the two armed forces through mutually beneficial training exercises.

This year's exercise, the thirteenth to date, will involve land, sea and air elements from the two armed forces and include 1,500 personnel, 13 ships, a submarine, fixed and rotary wing aircraft, Singapore's Defence Ministry said in a statement.

July 23, 2007 Monday
Late Edition - Final

Bomb by Bomb, Japan Sheds Military Restraints
BYLINE: By NORIMITSU ONISHI
SECTION: Section A; Column 0; Foreign Desk; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 1578 words
DATELINE: ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam

To take part in its annual exercises with the United States Air Force here last month, Japan practiced dropping 500-pound live bombs on Farallon de Medinilla, a tiny island in the western Pacific's turquoise waters more than 150 miles north of here.

The pilots described dropping a live bomb for the first time -- shouting ''shack!'' to signal a direct hit -- and seeing the fireball from aloft.

''The level of tension was just different,'' said Capt. Tetsuya Nagata, 35, stepping down from his cockpit onto the sunbaked tarmac.

The exercise would have been unremarkable for almost any other military, but it was highly significant for Japan, a country still restrained by a Constitution that renounces war and allows forces only for its defense. Dropping live bombs on land had long been considered too offensive, so much so that Japan does not have a single live-bombing range.

Flying directly from Japan and practicing live-bombing runs on distant foreign soil would have been regarded as unacceptably provocative because the implicit message was clear: these fighter jets could perhaps fly to North Korea and take out some targets before returning home safely.

But from here in Micronesia to Iraq, Japan's military has been rapidly crossing out items from its list of can't-dos. The incremental changes, especially since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, amount to the most significant transformation in Japan's military since World War II, one that has brought it ever closer operationally to America's military while rattling nerves throughout northeast Asia.

In a little over half a decade, Japan's military has carried out changes considered unthinkable a few years back. In the Indian Ocean, Japanese destroyers and refueling ships are helping American and other militaries fight in Afghanistan. In Iraq, Japanese planes are transporting cargo and American troops to Baghdad from Kuwait.

Japan is acquiring weapons that blur the lines between defensive and offensive. For the Guam bombing run, Japan deployed its newest fighter jets, the F-2's, the first developed jointly by Japan and the United States, on their maiden trip here. Unlike its older jets, the F-2's were able to fly the 1,700 miles from northern Japan to Guam without refueling -- a ''straight shot,'' as the Japanese said with unconcealed pride.

Japan recently indicated strongly its desire to buy the F-22 Raptor, a stealth fighter known mainly for its offensive abilities such as penetrating contested airspace and destroying enemy targets, whose export is prohibited by United States law.

At home, the Defense Agency, whose profile had been intentionally kept low, became a full ministry this year. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe used the parliamentary majority he inherited from his wildly popular predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, to ram through a law that could lead to a revision of the pacifist Constitution.

Japan's 241,000-member military, though smaller than those of its neighbors, is considered Asia's most sophisticated. Though flat, its $40 billion military budget has ranked among the world's top five in recent years. Japan has also tapped nonmilitary budgets to launch spy satellites and strengthen its coast guard recently.

Japanese politicians like Mr. Abe have justified the military's transformation by seizing on the threat from North Korea; the rise of China, whose annual military budget has been growing by double digits; and the Sept. 11 attacks -- even fanning those threats, critics say. At the same time, Mr. Abe has tried to rehabilitate the reputation of Japan's imperial forces by whitewashing their crimes, including wartime sexual slavery.

Japanese critics say the changes under way -- whose details the government has tried to hide from public view, especially the missions in Iraq -- have already violated the Constitution and other defense restrictions.

''The reality has already moved ahead, so they will now talk about the need to catch up and revise the Constitution,'' said Yukio Hatoyama, the secretary general of the main opposition Democratic Party.

Richard J. Samuels, a Japan expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that revisionist politicians like Mr. Abe and Mr. Koizumi, once on the fringes of Japan's political world, succeeded in grabbing the mainstream in a time of uncertainty. They shared the view ''that the statute of limitations on Japan's misbehavior during the Pacific War had expired'' and that Japan, like any normal country, should have a military.

Their predecessors feared getting entangled in an American-led war. But the new leaders feared that Japan would be abandoned by the United States unless it contributed to its wars, said Mr. Samuels, whose book on Japan's changing military, ''Securing Japan,'' will be published in August.

''So what do you do?'' he said. ''You step up. And that is consistent with what they've long wanted to do anyway. So there was a convergence of preferences.''

Today, Japan is America's biggest partner in developing and financing a missile defense shield in Asia. Some Japanese ground and air force commands are also moving inside American bases in Japan so that the two forces will become, in military jargon, ''interoperable.''

''I think the Japan-U.S. security relationship should be as unified as possible, and our different roles need to be made clear,'' said Shigeru Ishiba, a defense chief under Mr. Koizumi and now a leader in a Liberal Democratic Party committee looking at loosening defense restrictions.

In Iraq, in accordance with a special law to aid in reconstruction, a symbolic ground force was first deployed to a relatively peaceful, noncombat area in southern Iraq to engage in relief activities. After the troops left last year, though, three Japanese planes began regularly transporting American troops and cargo from Kuwait to Baghdad.

The Japanese authorities refuse to say whether the planes have transported weapons besides those carried by soldiers. Concerned about public opposition, defense officers have spied on antiwar activists and journalists perceived as critical, the Defense Ministry acknowledged after incriminating documents were recently obtained by the Communist Party in Japan.

Mr. Hatoyama of the Democratic Party said that transporting armed American troops contravened Japan's pacifist Constitution.

''Instead of engaging in humanitarian assistance, they are basically assisting American troops,'' he said. ''American troops and the Air Self-Defense Forces are working as one, just as they are training as one in Guam.''

In Parliament, Mr. Abe denied that the activities violated the Constitution, saying Japanese troops were restricted to noncombat zones and did not operate under a joint command with any other force.

Here in Guam, American and Japanese pilots simulated intercepts and air-to-air combat for two weeks. In the final days, each side took turns pummeling the tiny island with bombs.

Col. Tatsuya Arima, the commander of the Japanese squadron, said such bombing could protect Japanese grounds troops or vessels from encroaching enemies.

''Bombing does not always mean offensive weapons,'' Colonel Arima said. ''They can also be used for defense, which, put another way, is what we mostly train for.''

Lt. Col. Tod Fingal, the commander of the American squadron, said the exercise helped build confidence among pilots by exposing them to a new environment.

''I would equate it to an away game in sports,'' Colonel Fingal said.

Japan's military has become less shy in projecting its power away from home. Japan lacks the nuclear submarines, long-range missiles or large aircraft carriers that amount to real power projection.

But it is acquiring four Boeing 767 air tankers that will allow its planes to refuel in midair and travel farther, as well as two aircraft carriers that will transport helicopters and, with some adjustments, planes capable of taking off vertically. The United States has welcomed the changes while pressing for more.

''The restrictions that Japan has lived under, which I would say Japan has maintained on its own or imposed on itself, are quite unique,'' said a Pentagon official who requested anonymity so that he could speak candidly. ''The changes that you're seeing in Japan are very unique changes in the context of those restrictions. In the context of everything else that is going on around the world, or in the context of Japan's potential to contribute to the region and the world in security areas, the changes are fairly small.''

Small or not, they are causing anxieties in a region where distrust of Japan has deepened in direct proportion to Japanese tendencies to revise the past. South Korea reacted sharply to Japan's desire to buy the F-22 Raptor. Also, in a recent ceremony unveiling South Korea's first destroyer equipped with the advanced Aegis weapons system, President Roh Moo-hyun said, ''Northeast Asia is still in an arms race, and we cannot just sit back and watch.''

Mr. Ishiba, the former defense chief, said the region's distrust was softened by Japan's alliance with the United States. But he acknowledged that Japan's inability to come to terms with its wartime past restricted its ability to project power positively.

''Unless everyone understands why we weren't able to avoid that war,'' Mr. Ishiba said, referring to World War II, ''and what Japan did to Asia, it could be dangerous if we get power-projection capability.''

August 24, 2007 Friday 1:33 PM GMT

NKorean military vows to bolster 'retaliatory means'
LENGTH: 285 words
DATELINE:SEOUL, Aug 24 2007

North Korea's army chief warned Friday that the communist country would bolster unspecified "retaliatory means" to counter an alleged pre-emptive attack by the United States.

The warning was issued by Kim Kyok-Sik, chief of the army's General Staff, at a meeting to mark the 47th anniversary of leader Kim Jong-Il's start of Songun (army-first) leadership.

The North will "further round off the retaliatory means powerful enough to counter the US nuclear attack and pre-emptive strike" if the US continues putting pressure on Pyongyang, the army chief said.

"A tense situation is still prevailing on the Korean peninsula due to the US persistent hostile policy towards the DPRK (North Korea)," he said in a statement published by the official Korean Central News Agency.

It was the latest of warnings, which have been issued by North Korea since a joint US-South Korea military exercise began on August 20, involving some 10,000 US troops over 12 days.

The North has blasted the annual Ulchi FocusLens exercise as "an intolerable act of provocation" aimed at preparing an attack on it.

Earlier this month the North's army threatened unspecified counter-measures. It warned that the joint drill could disrupt a six-nation deal reached in February on dismantling its nuclear weapons programme.

The exercise features computer-simulated war games on responding to an invasion. The United States, which has based tens of thousands of troops in the South since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, insists it is purely defensive.