U.S. Navy

President Joe Biden spent two hours on the phone this week with Chinese president Xi Jinping. Wednesday's wide-ranging talk covered both some areas of dispute and those with the potential for cooperation. The initial phone call between the two leaders came near the end of a busy week in the South China Sea.

Today on Bytemarks Cafe, we'll find out about a Navy program called Tech Bridges. Weʻll learn how Tech Bridges aims to get local companies to help build technology solutions to support the dept of defense as well as the commercial sector.

As the incoming Biden administration continues to work on its transition, China remains one focus of foreign policy. Last week, the U.S. Navy Secretary talked about a potential shift related to that focus, which would have an impact across the Pacific — all the way to Hawaii.

The world’s largest maritime military exercise kicks off Monday in the waters around Hawaii, but opponents say it’s a risk vector for spreading COVID-19.

A historic dry dock at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard turned 100 years old this week. But to last another 100 years, it will need billions of dollars in upgrades.

USS Fitzgerald has left dry dock at a shipyard in Mississippi, almost two years after the guided missile destroyer collided with a merchant ship off the coast of Japan. That was one of four accidents in the Pacific Fleet in 2017 that cost the lives of 17 sailors.

In wide-ranging testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee this week, Admiral Phil Davidson assessed the threats from North Korea and China. The head of Indo-Pacific Command also said the U.S. will maintain the pace of its freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea.

The U.S. Navy tested a hyper velocity projectile in Hawaiian waters last summer. A report from USNI News says the destroyer USS Dewey fired 20 of the experimental rounds from the barrel of its deck gun during the RIMPAC naval exercises.

The roar of two F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets signaled the start of an assault on Kaneohe’s Pyramid Rock Beach. A multinational coalition was about to launch an amphibious landing in the fictional nation of Griffon. Their objective was to retake an airfield that had been captured by hostile forces in the wake of a natural disaster.

With a trade war already raising tensions between the United States and China, two American warships probed what may be Beijing’s most sensitive spot over the weekend . . . the Taiwan Strait.

State lawmakers are considering legislation to direct the U.S. Navy to build safeguards at its Red Hill Fuel Storage Facility. HPR’s Wayne Yoshioka reports.

The long-rumored nomination of Admiral Harry Harris as the next U.S. Ambassador to Australia is now official. Admiral Harris is about to retire after three years as the head of U.S. Pacific Command where he became known for criticism of China’s military expansion into the South China Sea. We have more from Neal Conan in today’s Pacific News Minute.

Over the weekend, the U.S. Navy conducted the latest in a series of patrols to challenge Chinese clams in the South China Sea. The Pearl Harbor based destroyer U.S.S. Hopper passed near Scarborough Shoal, prompting Beijing to threaten accelerated militarization in the area. We have more from Neal Conan in today’s Pacific News Minute.

Last week, long forgotten trophies of a 19th century skirmish between the United States and Korea were discovered at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. USNI News reported that workers uncovered battle flags captured by U.S. Marines in 1871. In today’s Pacific News Minute, Neal Conan explains why both sides saw it as a victory.

Saving the Vaquita Porpoise; Navy Plans Increased Training in Hawaii; Ukulele Music Therapy

U.S. and Japanese naval ships are in the middle of three days of military exercises off the coast of Korea. The scale of the maneuvers is larger than previous drills, and it comes as there’s a surprise involving another naval exercise planned off the coast of India next month. HPR’s Bill Dorman has more in today’s Asia Minute.