PINGTUNG, Taiwan (AFP) — Fighter jets practised landing on a highway in southern Taiwan on Wednesday as part of an annual live-fire military exercise that simulates defending the island against an invasion by China. Democratic Taiwan lives under constant threat of invasion by Beijing, which claims the island as part of its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary. Military tensions have risen to their highest in decades under […]
Tag: drill
Millions join Mexico quake drills after pandemic eases
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Millions of people across Mexico on Monday took part in earthquake simulation drills for the first time since they were suspended last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. The resumption of the emergency exercises follows a steady decline in new Covid-19 cases and deaths in Mexico, one of the countries worst hit by the virus. The drills, held regularly before the health crisis, aim to prepare the country for the […]
N. Korea’s Kim oversees new ‘long-range artillery’ drill: KCNA
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has overseen another “long-range artillery” drill, state media reported on Tuesday, a day after Japan said the nuclear-armed country had fired what appeared to be ballistic missiles. It was the second-such “drill” in a week and comes as a prolonged hiatus in disarmament talks with the United States drags on. Kim “guided another firepower strike drill of long-range artillery” and “highly appreciated the […]
Warships and aircraft ready for first US-ASEAN maritime drills
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Eight warships, four aircraft and more than a thousand personnel from the US and ten Southeast Asian countries will join maritime drills kicking off Monday, as part of a joint exercise extending into the flashpoint South China Sea. The first Asean-US Maritime Exercise (AUMX) between the regional bloc and Washington lasts for five days, starting at the Sattahip Naval Base in Thailand and ending in Singapore. The drills come at a […]
US, South Korea scale back military exercise
by Sylvie LANTEAUME Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States and South Korea have scaled down a joint military exercise scheduled for the spring of 2019 to facilitate nuclear talks with North Korea, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday. “Foal Eagle is being reorganized a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy,” Mattis said, adding that it would be “reduced in scope.” US […]
Taiwan leader says island secure ahead of China drills
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen reassured residents that the island was secure Tuesday, a day before China is set to hold live-fire drills in the narrow strait that separates the two. Tsai spoke to reporters as she left for Swaziland, one of Taiwan’s few remaining international allies that have not been wooed away by an ascendant Beijing as cross-strait relations deteriorate. Chinese officials have suggested Wednesday’s military exercise is a warning to […]
Japan holds drill in Nagasaki amid tension with North Korea
NAGASAKI, Japan (Reuters) — Japan held a drill on Wednesday (November 22) in an imagined situation in which a warhead fired from an unspecified country strikes Nagasaki. The drill involved Japan’s self defense force personnel, assisted by local firefighters, paramedics, and police officers, creating a perimeter around the fake warhead by first checking for radioactivity with geiger counters. They then demonstrated the decontamination of the area by spraying water. They also assisted in the evacuation […]
S. Korea navy holds major live-fire drills in warning to North
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea’s navy held major live-fire drills Tuesday to warn the North against any provocations at sea, it said, two days after Pyongyang’s biggest nuclear test to date. The drills, conducted in the East Sea (Sea of Japan), involved the 2,500-ton frigate Gangwon, a 1,000-ton patrol ship and 400-ton guided-missile vessels, among others, the Navy said in a statement. “If the enemy launches a provocation above water or under water, […]
Chinese aircraft carrier fleet conducts drill
BEIJING, China (CCTV) — A fleet of Chinese warships led by China’s first aircraft carrier, Liaoning, conducted a training exercise aimed at testing the operational readiness of the naval vessels and the carrier-based fighter jets upon arrival in an unidentified sea area on Thursday. The drill, which also involved the destroyers Jinan and Yinchuan and the frigate Yantai, focused on examining the fleet’s combat deployment, reconnaissance and early-warning systems, as well as air maneuvers of […]
Japan holds evacuation drills as N.Korea missile fears grow
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Hundreds of residents of a small Japanese coastal town took part in an evacuation drill Sunday as fears grow that a North Korean missile could hit the country. The drill in the town of Abu, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) west of Tokyo facing the Sea of Japan, simulated a ballistic missile attack in the surrounding mountains in Yamaguchi prefecture which hosts a major United States Marine Corps air station, a […]
North Korean leader watches military drills
Reuters — North Korea’s state-run television KRT on Wednesday (December 21) released still photographs of its leader Kim Jong Un watching a multiple rocket launcher drill and a night time combat flight drill. KRT said Kim ordered soldiers to conduct training under the simulated conditions of an actual war. KRT did not specify a date or a location of the drills. North Korea’s former deputy ambassador to Britain said on Monday (December 19) he defected […]
US, S. Korea, Japan hold first anti-N. Korea missile drill
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — South Korea, Japan and the United States held an unprecedented trilateral missile defense exercise on Tuesday, aimed at countering the growing threat from nuclear-armed North Korea which denounced it as a “military provocation.” The drill in waters off Hawaii came less than a week after North Korea flight-tested a powerful new medium-range ballistic missile that leader Kim Jong-Un hailed as a strike threat to US military bases across the Pacific. […]





