Latest news with #DefenseMinistry
Yomiuri Shimbun
26 minutes ago
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Board of Audit of Japan Warns Many MSDF P-1 Patrol Planes Inoperable; Parts Shortages, Device Defects Among Causes
Some Maritime Self-Defense Force P-1 patrol planes are not operational, according to a Board of Audit of Japan report released Friday. P-1 patrol planes are for detecting submarines and surveilling suspicious ships in the seas around Japan. The Board of Audit said that frequent engine trouble and shortages of parts for repairs are among the causes of the planes' underutilization. The report stated that 'a limited number of planes are mission ready' and demanded the Defense Ministry improve the situation. Thirty-five P-1 planes had been procured as of fiscal 2023 at a total cost of about ¥1.78 trillion. The government plans to procure another 26 units before fiscal 2054, when P-1 planes are set to cease operations. In compiling the report, the Board of Audit checked the operational conditions of P-1 planes between fiscal 2019 and 2023 and concluded that they had been underutilized because of three factors: deterioration of engine performance; defects in electronic information-gathering devices; and a chronic shortage of replacement parts. The report stated that, in many cases, the engine deterioration and electronic device defects were caused by material erosion due to long flights over the sea. There were many cases in which such planes became unusable. Additionally, the low utilization rate was found to be caused by delays in procuring parts due to rapid changes in the global landscape and a worldwide semiconductor shortage. As a result, some P-1 planes have had to undergo 'cannibalistic maintenance' — in which parts of one P-1 plane are replaced with parts from others. Such units are utilized only in stopgap operations. The Board of Audit did not disclose numerical data of the operations, names of defective devices and other details, as disclosing them could reveal the MSDF's capability to deal with contingencies. Speaking to reporters, a Defense Ministry official said, 'We are taking the pointed-out facts seriously and will continue making efforts to maximize the operational levels [of P-1 patrol planes].'
Los Angeles Times
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Russia, Ukraine trade long-range drone attacks as Putin says Moscow ready for peace talks
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia and Ukraine exchanged more long-range drone attacks that have become a staple of the more than three-year war, officials said Friday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow is ready for a fresh round of direct peace talks in Istanbul. Russian and Ukrainian officials are discussing the timing of a potential new meeting, Putin said. Speaking to reporters during a visit to Belarus, he said that the terms of a potential ceasefire, which the Kremlin has so far effectively rejected, are expected to be on the agenda. The war shows no signs of abating as U.S.-led international peace efforts have so far produced no breakthrough. Two recent rounds of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul were brief and yielded no progress on reaching a settlement. Ukraine wants the next step in peace talks to be a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said. The suggestion is likely a nonstarter, given Putin's recent comments. The Russian leader has said a summit meeting should take place only after the main provisions of a peace deal have been agreed, and that could take months or years. Putin has also repeated his claim that Zelensky lost his legitimacy after his presidential term expired last year — an allegation rejected by Kyiv and its allies. Meanwhile, Russian forces launched 363 Shahed and decoy drones as well as eight missiles at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said Friday, claiming that air defenses stopped all but four of the drones and downed six cruise missiles. Russia's Defense Ministry said 39 Ukrainian drones were downed in several regions overnight, including 19 over the Rostov region and 13 over the Volgograd region. Both regions lie east of Ukraine. Long-range drone strikes have been a hallmark of the war, now in its fourth year. The race by both sides to develop increasingly sophisticated and deadlier drones has turned the war into a testing ground for new weaponry. Ukrainian drones have pulled off some stunning feats. At the start of June, nearly a third of Moscow's strategic bomber fleet was destroyed or damaged in a covert Ukrainian operation using cheaply made drones sneaked into Russian territory. The Ukrainian air force said that 359 incoming drones were either intercepted or electronically jammed. Ukraine is employing new countermeasures against Russia's escalation of combined missile and drone attacks, officials say. Instead of relying on ground-based mobile teams to shoot down Shaheds, Ukraine is deploying interceptor drones it has developed. The Ukrainian attack forced three Russian airports to briefly suspend flights, officials said. The authorities also briefly closed the Crimean Bridge overnight as drones targeted Crimea. Neither Russia nor Ukraine reported any major damage or casualties in the attacks. Russia manufactures Shahed drones based on an original Iranian model, churning out thousands of them at a plant in the Tatarstan region. It has upgraded the Shaheds with its own innovations, including bigger warheads. They are known as suicide drones because they nosedive into targets and explode on impact, like a missile. The incessant buzzing of the propeller-driven Shahed drones is unnerving for anyone under its flight path because no one on the ground knows exactly when or where the weapon will hit. Being outgunned and outnumbered in the war against its bigger neighbor, Ukraine also has developed its own cutting-edge drone technology, including long-range sea drones, and has trained thousands of drone pilots. Smaller, short-range drones are used by both sides on the battlefield and in areas close to the roughly 620-mile front line. Those drones, fitted with onboard cameras that give their operators a real-time view of possible targets, have also struck civilian areas. The U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said in a report published Thursday that short-range drone attacks killed at least 395 civilians and injured 2,635 between the start of the war and last April. Almost 90% of the attacks were by the Russian armed forces, it reported. The strikes not only spread fear among civilians but also severely disrupt daily life by restricting movement and limiting access to food and medical services, the report said. Novikov writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
Bloomberg
15 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Putin Says Russia to Seek Defense Cuts Though It Depends on War
President Vladimir Putin said Russia plans to cut defense spending, acknowledging growing strains on the budget even as he insisted that reductions would depend on winning his war in Ukraine. Russia is spending 6.3% of gross domestic product on defense this year and 'that's a lot,' Putin told reporters in Minsk, Belarus, on Friday. 'It's one of the problems, including for the budget, that we have to resolve,' and Russia paid a price in inflation from the increased expenditure, he said.
Russia Today
18 hours ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
Ukrainian military airfield hit with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles
Russian forces launched an overnight attack on a Ukrainian military airfield using high-precision weapons, the Defense Ministry in Moscow reported on Friday. In a statement, the ministry announced that the group strike was carried out using long-range precision air-based weapons, including the Kinzhal ballistic hypersonic missile system, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles. The statement did not identify the specific location of the airfield or offer any assessment of the damage caused. Ukrainian and Russian media reports have suggested that the airfield in question is the Starokonstantinov air base in Khmelnytsky Region in western Ukraine. The Defense Ministry has also reported that over the past week, Russian forces carried out a total of six group strikes using high-precision weapons and drones. According to the statement, the targets included 'defense industry enterprises of Ukraine, fuel and energy facilities, port infrastructure supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces, air defense radar stations, ammunition and fuel depots, mine and torpedo weapon arsenals, production workshops, storage and launch sites for UAVs, military airfields, and temporary deployment points of Ukrainian armed formations, nationalists, and foreign mercenaries.' Russian and Ukrainian media outlets have reported that explosions were heard overnight in Kiev and the surrounding region, while air defense sirens were activated in Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa, and eight regions in western Ukraine, including Lviv, Rivne, and Ivano-Frankovsk. Russia carried out several other high-precision attacks this week. On Monday, the Defense Ministry reported strikes on two Ukrainian military training sites using Iskander missiles. The same day, Moscow also reported launching a large strike on several Ukrainian military-industrial enterprises in Kiev Region, as well as a military airfield and an arsenal of mine-torpedo weapons used by the Ukrainian Navy. Kiev claimed that the strikes hit a residential building, leading to several deaths. However, it has not been established whether the damage was caused by a direct hit or by debris from shot-down missiles and drones. Officials in Moscow maintain that all strikes are aimed strictly at military objectives and deny targeting civilian infrastructure.
Russia Today
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
Russian soldiers returned from Ukrainian captivity – MOD (VIDEO)
A group of Russian servicemen has been returned from territories controlled by Ukraine, Russia's Defense Ministry reported on Thursday. The exchange took place in accordance with the agreements reached by Moscow and Kiev in Istanbul earlier this month, the ministry said. In a statement on its official Telegram channel, the ministry shared a video of the Russian soldiers draped in Russian flags and boarding a bus to begin their journey home. The servicemen are currently in Belarus where they are said to be receiving all necessary psychological and medical assistance. They will later be transported to Russia for further treatment and rehabilitation, the ministry said. The statement added that Ukrainian prisoners of war were sent back to Ukraine in exchange. Neither side has disclosed the numbers involved though a source has told RT that the exchange was equal. Thursday's swap is the latest in a string of exchanges conducted by Russia and Ukraine since their latest direct talks in Istanbul on June 2. The previous exchange took place last Friday and another one was conducted the previous day. The humanitarian exchanges since the June 2 negotiations have also included repatriation of the remains of slain soldiers. Russia has returned the remains of over 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers and received 57 in return.
