1. China’s first aircraft carrier, the “Liaoning” ship, was officially delivered to PLA Navy.
After the construction, test and trial navigation were completed as scheduled, China’s first aircraft carrier was formally delivered to the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on September 25, 2012.
Approved by the Central Military Commission (CMC), it was named the “Liaoning” ship of the PLA Navy with a designated hull number of “16″. Related scientific experiments and military trainings continued following the official delivery and commissioning of the “Liaoning” ship.
On November 25, Chinese Navy’s first batch of carrier-borne aircraft pilots successfully flew the home-made J-15 fighters to accomplish the arrested deck landing and ski-jump takeoff on the “Liaoning” ship.
2. The U.S. announced new military strategy.
US President Barack Obama announced a new military strategy on January 5, 2012 to shift U.S. focus to the Asia-Pacific region. According to the strategy, the U.S. will slim down its army’s scale, reduce its military presence in Europe and strengthen its military presence to the Asia-Pacific region.
The US Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta expounded the “rebalance strategy in Asia-Pacific region” at the Shangri-La Dialogue on June 2, 2012 and stated that the U.S. would deploy 60% of its warships in the Pacific Ocean by 2020.
3. Russia’s first fifth-generation strategic missile corps established
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the establishment of its first fully-equipped missile corps of the fifth-generation guided missiles, namely “Yars” and “Aspen-M”, on September 20 in the State of Ivanovo near Moscow. After the fifth-generation guided missile system is equipped, Russia further enhanced its capability to break through the anti-missile system.
Prior to that, the NATO announced the official launch of the European anti-missile system on May 20.
4. “RIMPAC 2012″ exercise held
The world’s largest multi-national maritime military joint exercise, namely the “Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2012″ led by the U.S. was held in Hawaii and its surrounding waters on June 29 with the participation of 42 warships, 6 submarines, 200-plus aircraft and 25,000 soldiers from 22 countries. Russia and India participated in the exercise for the first time.
The contents of this exercise included the offense-defense combat of aircraft carriers, beach landing drills and others aiming to test the coordinated operation capability between the U.S. fleet and the allied fleets in the Asia-Pacific region.
5. Israel took “Defense Pillar” military action against Gaza.
The number of rockets fired into Israel by armed personnel of Palestinians saw sudden increase in Gaza Strip starting from November 10. Israel’s Defense Forces initiated a large-scale military operation, code-named “Defense Pillar”, against Gaza from November 14 to 21.
This action led to the death of 162 Palestinians, including Jabari, the No. 2 leader of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and leader of the Qassam Brigade, together with the destruction of a great number of infrastructures in Gaza. This was the most intense fire exchange between Israel and Hamas in recent years.
6. Syrian civil war upgraded
The Syrian government forces and the main opposition armed forces successively expressed their willingness on October 25 to accept the proposal made by Brahimi, the special representative of the UN-Arab League’s envoy for the Syrian crisis, to cease fire during the Eid al-Adha period.
However, on the first day of the ceasefire, also the first day of Eid al-Adha festival, a car bomb exploded in the south of Damascus, capital of Syria, killing 5 and injuring 32, and nullified the agreement of the Eid al-Adha ceasefire. Under the support from exterior forces, the Syrian opposition armed forces gained rapid growth in their strength and more places kept falling into their control.
7. DPRK successfully launched “Light Star III” satellite.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) used the Galaxy III carrier rocket and successfully launched the second “Light Star” satellite into the pre-selected orbit on December 12.
The U.S. and its allies held that DPRK’s usage of the satellite launch to test its ballistic missile technology posed a threat against the peace and security in the region, and committed a provocative act to undermine the global non-proliferation system.
8. Indian test-fire of intermediate-range ballistic missile “Agni-5″ successful
India successfully launched the “Agni-5″ intermediate-range ballistic missile on April 19 for the first time. With a range of 5,000-plus kilometers, the missile is capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads. To date, it is India’s farthest-reaching missiles, covering the entire Asian continent, half of Europe and most of the Indian Ocean.
9. U.S. and its allies held “Schriever-2012″ joint military exercise.
The U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, France, Australia and other countries held the “Schriever – 2012″ international military exercise from April 19 to 26 at the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. Through the use of network to simulate military operations in outer space, the operations of aerospace and cyberspace were closely integrated with the cooperation between the U.S. and its allies being greatly promoted in the fields of aerospace and cyberspace.
10. UN Security Council decided to deploy Africa-led Support Mission in Mali.
Both Mali of the West Africa and Somalia of the East Africa and their nearby areas have witnessed an aggravated threat of terrorism in 2012. The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on December 20 to deploy an African-led international support mission in Mali (African-led Support Mission).
In a statement made by the Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja on November 12, a total of 3,300 soldiers will be dispatched to Mali in order to help Mali fight against the armed organizations in the north.
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