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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Images show new North Korea uranium enrichment plant, analysts say
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — North Korea appears to be expanding its nuclear program through the addition of a purpose-built enrichment facility, satellite images show. The blue-roofed building, 93 meters long and 28 meters wide, may house several thousand centrifuges used to enrich uranium isotopes to weapons-grade material once completed. It is visually almost identical to similar facilities that North Korea already operates and that have provided the uranium for the country's six nuclear tests and growing arsenal of atomic bombs. The facility has been referenced by the UN system's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, although it has not yet released any images or extensive public information. 'The Agency is monitoring the construction of a new building at Yongbyon, which has dimensions and features similar to the Kangson enrichment plant,' the IAEA's director general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, told the organization's Board of Governors on June 9. Researchers from the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation, based in Monterey, California, have been the first to publicly identify the site and released annotated satellite images of the location. Using commercial satellite imagery, Defense News has been able to determine that construction on the new building started in mid-February of this year. According to the California-based experts' accompanying estimates, the facility, located close to North Korea's premier nuclear research complex, would be able to add anywhere from 70 to nearly 100 kilograms of highly enriched uranium to Pyongyang's stockpile annually. This would likely suffice for five to ten new warheads a year, based on commonly cited estimates of ten to 20 kilograms of HEU needed for an implosion-type nuclear weapon. More advanced weapons might need less. 'We are starting to see a scaling up of the North Korean nuclear program, probably to achieve some sort of desired arsenal size,' said Sam Lair, one of the researchers at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies involved in revealing the facility. North Korea is estimated by researchers to already operate three enrichment facilities, two of which have been additionally expanded with annexes housing yet more centrifuges. Collectively, the existing sites are estimated to house over 10,000 centrifuges that produce more than 200 kilograms of weapons-grade uranium-235 every year. 'The message is clear: The North Korean nuclear program is here to stay,' said Lair, who also pointed out that Pyongyang's state media had released unprecedented footage from Kim Jong-Un, North Korea's leader, visiting the inside of two other enrichment plants in recent months. It was the first time North Korea published any imagery of these facilities. 'They want to show that these are large, real facilities and they won't be bargained away in some sort of an agreement, like what the first Trump administration pursued,' Lair said. It may also send important messages to domestic audiences about Kim Jong-Un's contribution to keeping his country – and its elite – safe from any foreign military intervention by developing its nuclear program. North Korea has emerged as an aggressive nuclear player. The country conducted its first test in late 2006, after years of an international standoff surrounding its nuclear program. The country left the global Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 2003, which still counts 191 members, including all permanent members of the Security Council.
ABC News
04-06-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Images reveal aircraft lost in Ukraine's 'Spider's Web' attack on Russia
Images showing the damage inflicted by Ukraine's "extremely complex" drone attack in Russia are beginning to emerge. Launched on Sunday, local time, Operation Spider's Web saw Ukraine reach deep into Russia and attack some of its most valuable war machines. Ukraine has said 41 nuclear-capable long-range bombers were hit in the attack, with 34 per cent of Russia's fleet of air missile carriers destroyed — worth about $US7 billion ($10.8 billion). The Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff said a rare A-50 surveillance plane and Tu-95MS and Tu-22M3 bombers were damaged in the assault. These claims are yet to be independently verified and Russia has said it is launching an official investigation into the attacks. However, drone footage of the operation, verified by Reuters, shows several aircraft were struck in at least two locations. Satellite company Capella Space also supplied Reuters with an image of one of those airfields, in the Siberian region of Irkutsk, taken on June 2 — the day after Spider's Web. Captured using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites, it appears to show the debris of several aircraft along the runway of the Belaya military air base or parked in protective revetments nearby. John Ford, a research associate at the California-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, told Reuters the image showed what appeared to be the remnants of two destroyed Tu-22M3 bombers. These are long-range, supersonic strategic bombers that have been used to launch missile strikes against Ukraine. The SAR image, as well as drone footage of the strikes posted on social media, also indicated four strategic Tu-95MS heavy bombers were destroyed or severely damaged, Mr Ford said. The New York Times said its open-source analysis had also confirmed "at least a dozen" aircraft were damaged, including Tu-95MS bombers. Open-source intelligence analyst Brady Africk agreed the imagery showed several Tu-95MS and Tu-22M3 aircraft had been destroyed and damaged. However, he told Reuters more imagery was needed to properly assess the impact. The Telegraph says it has also seen unreleased footage of Ukraine successfully damaging a rare A-50 surveillance plane. This is an early warning and control aircraft, which helped Moscow locate Ukrainian air defences and coordinate attacks with bombers and fighter jets. The Russian military reportedly has fewer than 10 — possibly as few as six — in use. Reuters says it has not yet obtained SAR imagery of the Olenya airfield, a base in Murmansk in Russia's far north-west that was also attacked. But drone video footage of Olenya base — provided by Ukrainian authorities and verified by Reuters — showed two burning bombers that appeared to be Tu-95MSs and a third, also a Tu-95MS, being hit by a large explosion. Shortly after the attack, the Russian Defence Ministry said Ukraine had targeted military airfields in the Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur regions. The ministry said their air defences repelled assaults in all the regions except Murmansk and Irkutsk, where several aircraft caught fire. ABC/Reuters
NBC News
02-03-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
China is working on an enormous aircraft carrier that rivals the biggest in the U.S. fleet, analysts say
China has not acknowledged it is developing a new supercarrier, and Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the embassy in Washington, had no comment when asked about the new design. He said that the country's national defense policy is 'purely defensive in nature.' The U.S. has nonetheless made no secret that it sees China as a priority. Secretary of Defense Pete Hesgeth told NATO leaders this month that they should take up more of the security burden in Europe to free up American firepower. He said the U.S. faced a 'peer competitor in the communist Chinese, with the capability and intent to threaten our homeland and core national interests in the indo-Pacific.' He added that the U.S. was 'prioritizing deterring war with China in the Pacific.' Duitsman said it was not unusual to see the Chinese build experimental sections of a new ship before committing to final construction, and similar efforts were seen years before the keel was laid for the Fujian, the first carrier to be designed entirely in China. The two tracks seen in the latest satellite images run at convergent angles, matching the general configuration of American supercarriers that have four electromagnetic catapults — two running parallel on the bow, and two on the waist, the analysts concluded. Due to space constraints on the flight deck they do not run parallel, but converge. One reason this particular section of a presumed Type 004 carrier would warrant prototype builds is the electromagnetic catapults themselves, according to Seth Hosford, another researcher at the James Martin Center. First deployed by the United States on the Ford-class carriers, these catapults are attached to a plane's nose, rapidly propelling it forward and allowing it to take off. This is achieved essentially with large magnets, as opposed to steam pistons used on older American carriers. The Fujian uses this technology for its two bow-mounted catapults, but those are spaced quite far apart and Hosford said that the magnetic fields from those two catapults are less likely to interfere with each other. The module seen in Dalian has the two tracks quite close together, and Hosford said 'if you have the electromagnetic catapults essentially intersecting, you could run into all sorts of issues.' The satellite photos out of Dalian are not the first signs that China is moving toward building a nuclear-powered supercarrier to rival those fielded by the United States. In November, a group of analysts at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, which the James Martin Center is part of, published satellite evidence that China has already built a prototype naval reactor for a large surface warship. In the modern age, only supercarriers warrant such a power system. China itself has made no secret of its ambitions for a so-called blue-water navy to rival the United States and has been pursuing carrier development for several years. After refurbishing and then building a copy of the Varyag, a former Soviet carrier China purchased from Ukraine, China built the Fujian, a large carrier that sits just below supercarrier class in size and armament, but features many of the trappings of the U.S.'s nuclear-powered supercarriers. Ni Lexiong, a Shanghai-based military analyst, said Friday that the country 'should have no problem striving for one or two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers,' although he questioned whether it was still necessary in the era of artificial intelligence. 'Unmanned aircraft carriers with a focus on drone attacks may become the main weapon of the future navy,' he said. Liu, the Chinese Embassy spokesperson, insisted his country would 'never engage in aggression and expansion, but we will never give up our legitimate rights and interests, and we will resolutely counter all threats and challenges.' 'China has always adhered to the strategy of self-defense and does not engage in arms race with any other country,' he said, adding that it had 'always taken concrete actions to safeguard world peace and inject stability and certainty into the world.'
