SEOUL - The deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in South Korea was expected to be delayed as President Moon Jae-in ordered a legitimate environmental evaluation over the US missile shield installation. An unnamed South Korean Defense Ministry official was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying Wednesday that though the massive assessment of an environmental effect would be conducted, the expected evaluation period of a year or so would be shortened significantly. Yonhap reported that the comments indicated the completion of the evaluation by the end of this year. However, the official said the assessment would require the hearings for residents living near the THAAD installation site, which would take several months. President Moon on Monday ordered a probe into who tried to avoid the "green audit" of the THAAD deployment site, or a golf course at Soseong-ri village in Seongju county, North Gyeongsang province. South Koreans had held candlelit rallies to protest against THAAD since the deployment decision was made last July. Moon instructed officials to carry out the legitimate assessment of environmental effect, saying priority should be placed on the procedural legitimacy for the THAAD deployment. According to the presidential Blue House, its preliminary investigation results showed the Defense Ministry offered 328,799 square meters of the golf course to the US Forces Korea (USFK) in the first stage of land provision. The total land of the golf course is about 700,000 square meters. The remaining land was scheduled to be given to the USFK in the second stage after completing the green audit. It was aimed at avoiding the massive environmental evaluation. By domestic law, the provision of less than 330,000 square meters does not require the massive green audit, shortening the assessment period. customize silicone braceletswristbands with a messagecustom sweatbands no minimumwrist band com coupon code24 hour braceletsprintable wristbandsuv bracelet
A J-20 fighter joins a drill in this undated photo. The aircraft is working with other jet types on joint attacks.Yang Jun / Xinhua The People's Liberation Army Air Force has begun training its pilots a new airstrike tactic that involves all of its best fighter jets. An Air Force aviation unit in northwestern China, the first to use the PLA's most advanced fighter jet, the J-20, has recently been performing joint tactical exercises with J-16 and J-10C aircraft, according to the Air Force. In the exercises, the radar-evading J-20s take advantage of their situational awareness and stealth abilities to seize air superiority. Then J-16s and J-10Cs launch long-range precision strikes against land targets. The J-20 has displayed not only overwhelming air combat superiority in the drills, but also a crucial ability to clear the path for and coordinate combat with other types of fighter jets, the Air Force said in a statement. It added that many pilots in the unit are able to fly all of the three top planes. He Xing, a pilot taking part in the drills, was quoted by the statement as saying that the unit's pilots are trained to operate J-20, J-16 and J-10C to familiarize themselves with the aircraft and get to know their strengths and weaknesses. Then we will be able to know how to use the advantages of a certain type of plane to complement other models and how to make the best use of each aircraft, he said. Yang Wei, chief designer of the J-20 at Aviation Industry Corp of China, said in a China Central Television program about the exercises that the J-20 was designed to carry out strike operations to help obtain air combat superiority. The J-20, the first of China's fifth-generation combat aircraft, made its maiden flight in January 2011 and was declassified in November 2016. It started to be commissioned to the Air Force in 2017, becoming the third stealth fighter jet to enter service, after the United States' F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II. It has been sent to take part in a series of combat exercises and has practiced beyond-visual-range aerial fighting maneuvers during the drills, according to the Air Force. The jet bears the important responsibility of clearing a path for other aircraft in an air battle, according to Zhang Hao, head of an Air Force flight-testing center that has deployed the jet. The J-16 and J-10C are also among China's latest combat aircraft and were developed by Chinese designers. They were delivered to the Air Force around 2017, according to the Air Force.
