Latest news with #GerryDoyle
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Latest North Korean ship can carry dozens of missiles, analysts say
By Gerry Doyle SINGAPORE (Reuters) - North Korea's new class of warship can accommodate dozens of vertical launch cells to carry missiles its military has already developed, analysis of a satellite image showed, a step that would give its navy more punch and create an export opportunity. Little is known about the unnamed class of ships being built in the Chongjin and Nampo shipyards. In December, South Korea's military said they would displace about 4,000 tons, somewhat less than half the size of a U.S. Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. Images captured of the ship in Nampo in the last week of March, however, show cavities on its deck large enough to hold more than 50 missiles, depending on their type, said researcher Jeffrey Lewis. "They're pretty big cavities," said Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California. "I would think 32 (missiles) in front and a few fewer in the back would be a very reasonable number. Or it could be a much smaller number of ballistic missiles." Vertical launch systems (VLS) allow ships to carry more missiles, and make launching and reloading easier. Lewis said North Korea had developed several different types of missile that would be compatible with VLS cells, which Pyongyang had not fielded on any previous surface ship. Such types include anti-ship cruise missiles, land attack cruise missiles, air defence missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles, he added. The new ships' armament seemed to hew close to South Korean navy standards, said Euan Graham, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. "I think we have to take conventional enhancements seriously, because North Korea has limited resources and has invested in nuclear weapons to close the deterrence gap with the Republic of Korea and United States," he added. "So it must fit within their concept of operations, even if the concept appears odd to us." North Korean state media released first photos of the ship in December, when leader Kim Jong Un conducted an inspection. He later made several more visits to the shipyards, where the country said as recently as early March it was also building its first nuclear-powered submarine. "Overwhelmingly powerful warships must serve as a strong nuclear deterrent against hostile forces' habitual 'gunboat diplomacy,'" state media reported Kim as saying. South Korea's national defence ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lewis said compatibility with a VLS would make the weapons even more attractive as exports for countries that are cut off from, or cannot afford, other arms suppliers. "If you were interested in buying North Korean anti-ship missiles because they were cheap, it would be awfully nice if they came in a tested VLS system," he said. "Quantity has a quality all its own. Those North Korean missiles might not be as good as their Russian counterparts, but they are much, much cheaper." The new ships, although more advanced than others in the North Korean fleet, may not make much of a difference in conflict, said Collin Koh of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. Their locations are well-known, they cannot operate far from North Korean shores and are decades behind the technology in South Korean and U.S. warships. But they show Pyongyang is serious about investments to improve its navy, he said. "The North Korean navy is largely traditionally a coastal defence navy," he said. "So they are likely trying to reinvigorate the fleet." Last year Kim stressed the importance of strengthening North Korea's navy. It recently finished fitting out its latest Sinpo-C ballistic missile submarine, according to 38 North, a Washington-based North Korea monitoring programme.
Reuters
29-03-2025
- Climate
- Reuters
At least 4 killed in severe storms along Texas-Mexico border
March 28 (Reuters) - At least four people were killed in severe storms in the near Texas' border with Mexico amid heavy rain and flooding, officials said on Friday. Hidalgo, Willacy and Cameron counties in Texas faced among the heaviest storms, which lasted for about 48 hours, local officials said. Make sense of the latest ESG trends affecting companies and governments with the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter. Sign up here. Hidalgo County said at least three deaths were reported and "involved law enforcement efforts." Other information was not immediately available. An 83-year-old man drowned in Reynosa, Mexico, the Associated Press reported, citing authorities in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Thunderstorms began Wednesday, with another round of heavy rainfall on Thursday afternoon and evening, according to ABC News. The rain continued through Friday afternoon. The U.S. National Weather Service issued several flash flooding emergency warnings for some areas. "This is a particularly dangerous situation," it said in one statement. ABC News reported that the South Texas Health System hospital in McAllen experienced minor flooding on its first floor. Several school districts in the region canceled classes. The region received between 6 inches and a foot (15cm to 31cm) of rain or more in some areas, ABC News reported. Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington. Editing by Gerry Doyle
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Images show China building huge fusion research facility, analysts say
By Gerry Doyle SINGAPORE (Reuters) - China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research centre in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organisations say, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. Satellite photos show four outlying "arms" that will house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that will hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes the powerful lasers will fuse together, producing energy, said Decker Eveleth, a researcher at U.S.-based independent research organisation CNA Corp. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. It is a similar layout to the $3.5 billion U.S. National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Northern California, which in 2022 generated more energy from a fusion reaction than the lasers pumped into the target - "scientific breakeven". Eveleth, who is working with analysts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), estimates the experiment bay at the Chinese facility is about 50% bigger than the one at NIF, currently the world's largest. The development has not been previously reported. "Any country with an NIF-type facility can and probably will be increasing their confidence and improving existing weapons designs, and facilitating the design of future bomb designs without testing" the weapons themselves, said William Alberque, a nuclear policy analyst at the Henry L. Stimson Centre. China's foreign ministry referred Reuters questions to the "competent authority". China's Science and Technology Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment. In November 2020, U.S. arms control envoy Marshall Billingslea released satellite images he said showed China's buildup of nuclear weapons support facilities. It included images of Mianyang showing a cleared plot of land labeled "new research or production areas since 2010". That plot is the site of the fusion research centre, called the Laser Fusion Major Device Laboratory, according to construction documents that Eveleth shared with Reuters. NUCLEAR TESTING Igniting fusion fuel allows researchers to study how such reactions work and how they might one day create a clean power source using the universe's most plentiful resource, hydrogen. It also enables them to examine nuances of detonation that would otherwise require an explosive test. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, of which both China and the United States are signatories, prohibits nuclear explosions in all environments. Countries are allowed "subcritical" explosive tests, which do not create nuclear reactions. Laser fusion research, known as inertial confinement fusion, is also allowed. Siegfried Hecker, a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the former director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, another key U.S. nuclear weapons research facility, said that with testing banned, subcritical and laser fusion experiments were crucial to maintaining the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. But for countries that have not done many test detonations, he said - China has tested 45 nuclear weapons, compared with 1,054 for the United States - such experiments would be less valuable because they do not have a large data set as a base. "I don't think it would make an enormous difference," Hecker said. "And so ... I'm not concerned about China getting ahead of us in terms of their nuclear facilities." Other nuclear powers, such as France, the United Kingdom and Russia, also operate inertial confinement fusion facilities. The size of those facilities reflects the amount of power designers estimate is needed to apply to the target to achieve ignition, said Omar Hurricane, chief scientist for the inertial confinement fusion programme at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which operates NIF. "These days, I think you probably can build a facility that's of equal energy or even more energetic (than NIF) and a smaller footprint," Hurricane said. But, he added, at too small a scale, experimental fusion does not appear possible. That other countries operate laser-driven fusion research centres is not a cause for alarm in itself, Hurricane said. "It's kind of hard to stop scientific progress and hold information back," he said. "People can use science for different means and different ends, and that's a complicated question."
