Top 10 international military news of 2012 named

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.