Hollywood action clips spotted in China air force video

BEIJING: A high-octane PR video for China's air force crash-landed on social media after users questioned why the world's second-largest military power spliced clips from Hollywood blockbusters Transformers and The Rock into its own propaganda material.

The video, with 4.72 million views on Weibo and crafted by the Propaganda and Culture Centre of the PLA's Air Force, parades its medium- and long-range H-6 bomber.

With a soaring score and high-altitude action shots, the chest-thumping video shows Chinese airmen launching an attack on an island base - strongly resembling US facilities in Diego Garcia and Guam - then returning from the successful sortie.

But eagle-eyed social media users in China were quick to spot some glaring plot holes.

The explosive central missile sequences were plucked from three Hollywood movies, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Rock and Hurt Locker, and Weibo was withering in its scorn for the lack of originality.

"It turned out that our dream of great power was pieced together by editing American film clips," said one user.

"We promote the domestic military aircraft using US Hollywood movie clips, why bother?" added another, while a third said: "It's our nation's promotional video, why don't we use our own images?"

China is locked with the US in a power struggle over defense, technology, trade, disputed seas and the status of Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The Pentagon says China already outstrips the US in several areas of defense - claims Beijing furiously denies - and wants to double its stockpile of nuclear warheads.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/china-air-force-hollywood-clips-transformers-rock-hurt-locker-13130510

Philippine Air Force receives first four of six Super Tucano aircraft

The Philippine Air Force (PAF) has received the first four of six Embraer Defense & Security A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft it ordered in late 2017.

The state-owned Philippine News Agency (PNA) quoted Department of National Defense (DND) spokesperson Arsenio Andolong as saying that the turboprop aircraft landed at Clark Air Base in Angeles City, Pampanga Province, on 19 September.

The aircraft were flown by Embraer pilots from Sao Paulo in Brazil, and made re-fueling stops in the Canary Islands, Portugal, Malta, Egypt, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, India, Thailand, and Vietnam before landing in the Philippines.

In a separate statement issued on 20 September the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said the remaining two aircraft would arrive “in the coming week”, adding that an official arrival ceremony was being organised.

The A-29s, which will be part of the PAF’s 15th Strike Wing and will supplement Boeing (Rockwell) OV-10 Bronco ground-attack aircraft, were initially scheduled to be delivered by the end of February but this was delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The aircraft are expected to be employed in a number of roles, including close air support, light attack, surveillance and reconnaissance, air-to-air interception, and counter-insurgency.

Speaking on 9 July Andolong had described the A-29s as being “a much-needed replacement for the PAF’s aged, close air support aircraft”, adding that “their mission versatility and capability to carry a variety of ordnance will be very useful in the field”.

https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/philippine-air-force-receives-first-four-of-six-super-tucano-aircraft

QAnon Linked to at Least 44 Election Candidates in 2020—and Some Could Win

Dozens of political candidates linked to followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory are up for election at several layers of government in 2020. Although most have little or no chance of winning, some of them are in a strong position ahead of the election.

Newsweek has tallied at least 44 people who have at some point shared information and messages around QAnon, or suggested they are open to the theory, running in races for Congress, state legislatures, and mayoralties.

Many are running for a position they are unlikely to win because it is a safe seat for their opponent or they are not the favored GOP candidate. The bar to becoming a candidate in uncompetitive races is low; there is little interest from aspiring mainstream politicians.

But a handful of candidates with ties to QAnon are on course to win their races, elevating them to elected office and giving the conspiracy theory a mainstream political platform from which they could spread it further. Winning may also open new resources to them.

"I don't see QAnon going away any time soon," Sophie Bjork-James, assistant professor of the practice in anthropology at Vanderbilt University, told Newsweek.

"Elections are key platforms for conspiracy theories to reach a wider audience, and elected officials who espouse conspiracy theories can have even a greater reach. This can provide a sense of legitimacy to ideas that have no factual basis."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/qanon-linked-to-at-least-44-election-candidates-in-2020-e2-80-94and-some-could-win/ar-BB19g1tC

Update: Image suggests PLAAF is operating GB 100 precision-guided bomb

A photograph has emerged on the WeChat social media account of the Western Theatre Command of China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) suggesting that the service has inducted a new 130 kg precision-guided bomb into service.

Posted on 17 September as part of an article on a PLAAF exercise the image shows what appear to be two Tiange GB 100 bombs being loaded onto a JH-7A fighter-bomber. No further details were provided about the weapon, which was first displayed to the public at the Airshow China 2014 defence exhibition in Zhuhai as part of the Tiange series of precision-guided bombs.

The Tiange series is produced by the China North Industries Group Corporation (Norinco), and includes the GB 500 bomb, which has been in PLAAF-service since 2017 as the JG-500B.

https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/update-image-suggests-plaaf-is-operating-gb-100-precision-guided-bomb

Elephant death mystery solved as Botswana says toxins in water killed hundreds of animals

A mystery surrounding the deaths of hundreds of elephants has finally been solved by officials in Botswana.

Conservationists in the southern African country spent months investigating after elephant carcasses were first spotted along the Okvango Delta at the start of May.

On Monday, a national park spokesperson told a news conference that the animals had been killed by toxins in the water.

Cyril Taolo, deputy director of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, said bacteria had caused the contamination.

He added that the number of elephant fatalities in the area had risen to 330, from 281 last reported in July.

The department's principal veterinary officer Mmadi Reuben told the same conference that there were, however, still many unanswered questions.

"Our latest tests have detected cyanobacterial neurotoxins to be the cause of deaths. These are bacteria found in water," Dr Reuben said.

"However we have many questions still to be answered such as why the elephants only (died) and why that area only.

"We have a number of hypotheses we are investigating."

In neighboring Zimbabwe more than 20 elephant carcasses were discovered near the country's biggest game park.

Authorities suspect they succumbed to a bacterial infection

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/elephant-deaths-botswana-toxins-a4552386.html