korut

Kekuatan Militer Korea Utara dengan Korea Selatan

05 Nov 2008 -

kekuatan militer Korea utara dengan korea selatan.

>

kekuatan militer Korea utara dengan korea selatan.
Situasi di Semanjung Korea nampaknya semakin mencemaskan Amerika Serikat dan sekutunya Korea Selatan. Akankah Amerika dan Cina terlibat kembali dalam konflik bersenjata sebagaimana terjadi pada era 1950-1953? Ketika itu, Korea Utara dengan bantuan sepenuhnya dari Cina, mencoba menggempur pertahanan Korea Selatan yang didukung Amerika Serikat.

Namun ketika itu, dengan dukungan militer Amerika, Korea Selatan berhasil memukul mundur Korea Utara ke Sungai Jalu, sehingga Cina tidak bisa lain menerima kondisi statusquo yang terjadi.Padahal waktu itu, Panglima Perang Amerika di Asia Pasifik Jenderal McArthur sebenarnya bernafsu untuk menghabisi Cina sampai ke negaranya sendiri. Hanya saja, Presiden Harry Truman menolak gagasan gila-gilaan McArthur karena bisa memicu perang dunia ketiga.

Meski demikian, gencatan senjata Korea Selatan dan Korea Utara tersebut bukan berarti tercapainya perdamaian kedua korea. Sewaktu-waktu, dengan dipicu oleh isu yang cukup sensitif,kedua korea tersebut setiap saat bisa kembali ke medan perang untuk saling menghancurkan.

Inilah yang terjadi ketika Korea Utara secara sepihak melakukan uji coba senjumlah senjata rudalnya. Bahkan bukan itu saja, Korea Utara juga menguji coba bom nuklirnya, sehingga memicu kecaman Dewan Keamanan Nasional.

Korea Utara sepertinya cukup kesal dengan bergabungnya militer Korea Selatan dalam prakarsa keamanan proliferasi atau Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) yang disponsori Amerika Serikat. Melalui payung PSI ini, Korea Selatan berhak mencegat kapal-kapal Korea Utara yang diduga membawa bahan-bahan persenjataan nuklir dan rudal.

Menurut dalih Korea Selatan, kebijakan PSI ini terpaksa ditempuh karena militer Korea Utara menolak untuk menghentikan pengembangan teknologi nuklir dan rudalnya.

Eskalasi konflik bersenjata di Semenanjung Korea ini tentu saja mencemaskan Amerika, khususnya Menteri Pertahanan Robert Gates. Karena ketika kedua Korea saling baku tembak di medan perang, berarti Amerika dan Cina akan kembali ikut campur dalam perang kedua Korea tersebut.

Dalam skenario terselubung Amerika untuk mengadu-domba Cina dan Rusia sebagai musuh besar Negara Paman Sam tersebut, ketidakstabilan di Semanjang Korea jelas bisa merusak agenda besar Amerika untuk menata-ulang hegemoninya di seluruh dunia di era pasca Presiden George W. Bush.

Karena itu berarti, Amerika akan terkuras energinya dalam pertarungan terbuka Korea Selatan dan Korea Utara, sehingga gagal menjalankan agenda strategisnya yang lebih besar.

Padahal, dalan skenario Obama yang dirancang oleh Zbigniew Brzezinski, Amerika secara bertahapa harus menggalang kembali kerjasama dengan Cina untuk membendung pengaruh Rusia. Dengan terjadinya konflik di Semenanjung Korea, yang terjadi justru kembali menguatnya kemungkinan konflik bersenjata Amerika versus Cina.

Berikut kami paparkan kekuatan riil militer kedua Korea berdasarkan data dari The Military Balance 2009.

Seberapa Kuat Angkatan Bersenjata Korea Utara?

Lumayan hebat juga untuk ukuran negara sedang berkembang. Korea Utara memiliki tentara aktif sebesar 1.106.000(satu juta seratus enam ribu) orang. Tentara cadangan sekitar 4700.000(empat juta tujuhratus ribu) orang.

Lalu bagaimana dengan kekuatan riil angkatan daratnya? Menurut informasi yang bisa dipercaya, Korea Utara memiliki 3500(tiga ribu limaratus) tank. Senjata lain sekitar 3060(tiga ribu enampuluh ribu), artileri sejumlah 17.900(tujuhbelas ribu sembilan ratus), dan Helikopter sampai sejauh ini tidak ada catatan yang cukup akurat berapa persisnya. Namun diperkirakan berkisar antara 500 sampai 800.

Angkatan Laut, Korea Utara memiliki kapal selam 63, frigat 3, dan kapal Amphibi sejumlah 261.

Angkatan Udara Korea Utara pun ternyata cukup luarbiasa, dan wajar jika Amerika cukup cemas dibuatnya. Korea Utara memiliki pesawat pembom sekitar 80 buah. Jet tempur 440, pesawat transportasi 215.Dan Helikopter sebanyak 302.

Seberapa Kuat Angkatan Bersenjata Korea Selatan?

Untuk tentara aktif, Korea Selatan punya tentara aktif sebesar 687.000(enamratus delapanpuluh ribu) orang, jadi ebih sedikit dibanding Korea Utara. Tentara cadangan Korea Selatan sebesar 4500.000(empat juta limaratus ribu) orang.

Angkatan Daratnya, Korea Selatan punya 2330 tank, senjata lain sejumlah 4520, artileri sebesar 10.774, dan helikopter 418.

Kekuatan Angkatan lautnya, Korea Selatan punya kapal selam 12. Jauh lebih kecil dibanding Korea Utara. Frigat 9, lebih besar dari Korea Utara. Dan kapal Amphibi 48. Ini sebenarnya cukup mengejutkan, karena Korea Selatan jauh ketinggalan dibanding Korea Utara yang berhaluan komunis itu.

Bagaimana dengan angkatan udara? Korea Selatan jumlah jet tempurnya cukup berimbang dengan korea Utara yaitu 468. Pesawat transportasi sejumlah 33. Yang ini Korea sangat ketinggalan jauh dibanding Korea Utara. Begitu juga helikopter, Korea Selatan hanya punya 159.

Penduduk Korea Selatan berjumlah 46,5 juta, Korea Utara berjumlah 22,7 juta.

The Apollo Missions

Station Crew Prepares Items for Transfer to Progress, Shuttle

Image above: The International Space Station was photographed from the Soyuz TMA-16 during its relocation from the Zvezda service module to the Poisk Mini-Research Module 2. Credit: NASA

The Expedition 22 crew members are preparing the International Space Station for two new vehicles. The ISS Progress 36 cargo vehicle is due to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Feb. 3 to resupply the station. Space shuttle Endeavour will launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 7 to begin the STS-130 mission.

After the Progress docks, the five station crew members will unload new supplies and gear then reload it with trash and other discarded items. Endeavour will deliver the Tranquility Node, the Cupola and spare items for the station’s Water Recovery System which has been down since fall of last year. Endeavour will also return various station gear and science experiments back to Earth.

The Russian Vozdukh, a carbon dioxide removal system, failed Thursday and was repaired Friday. The system was deactivated and a part replaced. The Vozdukh is now operating normally scrubbing carbon dioxide from the Russian segment of the orbiting laboratory.

Inside Japan’s Kibo laboratory, the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly, which performs the same function as the Vozdukh, had an adsorbent bed replaced. The adsorbent bed is where the carbon dioxide accumulates after it is scrubbed from the atmosphere. If necessary, lithium hydroxide candles could be used to scrub carbon dioxide from the station’s atmosphere.

› Video: Station crew discusses Internet access from space
› Video: Astronaut Jeff Williams answers questions posted on YouTube
› NASA Extends the World Wide Web Out Into Space
› Read T.J. Creamer’s first tweet from space
› Hear Commander Jeff Williams thank ground team for its work

› Read more about Expedition 22
› View crew timelines
+ View space station photos of Haiti

---
2010 International Space Station Calendar

NASA is offering a 2010 calendar that describes the work being done on the International Space Station and gives information about the crews that have lived there. The calendar contains photographs taken from the space station and highlights historic NASA milestones and fun facts about the international construction project of unprecedented complexity that began in 1998. (Please Note: To print this large calendar on 8.5 by 11 paper, printer may need to be set on a "shrink to printable area" option.)

Mission to Mars

Mission News

Text Size

Grow Text SizeShrink Text Size

Now a Stationary Research Platform, NASA's Mars Rover Spirit Starts a New Chapter in Red Planet Scientific Studies

01.26.10

This view from the front hazard-avoidance camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the position of Spirit's front wheels following a backward drive during the 2,154th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Jan. 23, 2010). The view is toward the north. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

WASHINGTON -- After six years of unprecedented exploration of the Red Planet, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit no longer will be a fully mobile robot. NASA has designated the once-roving scientific explorer a stationary science platform after efforts during the past several months to free it from a sand trap have been unsuccessful.

The venerable robot's primary task in the next few weeks will be to position itself to combat the severe Martian winter. If Spirit survives, it will continue conducting significant new science from its final location. The rover's mission could continue for several months to years.

"Spirit is not dead; it has just entered another phase of its long life," said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "We told the world last year that attempts to set the beloved robot free may not be successful. It looks like Spirit's current location on Mars will be its final resting place."

Ten months ago, as Spirit was driving south beside the western edge of a low plateau called Home Plate, its wheels broke through a crusty surface and churned into soft sand hidden underneath.

After Spirit became embedded, the rover team crafted plans for trying to get the six-wheeled vehicle free using its five functioning wheels – the sixth wheel quit working in 2006, limiting Spirit's mobility. The planning included experiments with a test rover in a sandbox at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., plus analysis, modeling and reviews. In November, another wheel quit working, making a difficult situation even worse.

Recent drives have yielded the best results since Spirit became embedded. However, the coming winter mandates a change in strategy. It is mid-autumn at the solar-powered robot's home on Mars. Winter will begin in May. Solar energy is declining and expected to become insufficient to power further driving by mid-February. The rover team plans to use those remaining potential drives for improving the rover's tilt. Spirit currently tilts slightly toward the south. The winter sun stays in the northern sky, so decreasing the southward tilt would boost the amount of sunshine on the rover's solar panels.

"We need to lift the rear of the rover, or the left side of the rover, or both," said Ashley Stroupe, a rover driver at JPL. "Lifting the rear wheels out of their ruts by driving backward and slightly uphill will help. If necessary, we can try to lower the front right of the rover by attempting to drop the right-front wheel into a rut or dig it into a hole."

At its current angle, Spirit probably would not have enough power to keep communicating with Earth through the Martian winter. Even a few degrees of improvement in tilt might make enough difference to enable communication every few days.

"Getting through the winter will all come down to temperature and how cold the rover electronics will get," said John Callas, project manager at JPL for Spirit and its twin rover, Opportunity. "Every bit of energy produced by Spirit's solar arrays will go into keeping the rover's critical electronics warm, either by having the electronics on or by turning on essential heaters."

Even in a stationary state, Spirit continues scientific research.

"There's a class of science we can do only with a stationary vehicle that we had put off during the years of driving," said Steve Squyres, a researcher at Cornell University and principal investigator for Spirit and Opportunity. "Degraded mobility does not mean the mission ends abruptly. Instead, it lets us transition to stationary science."

One stationary experiment Spirit has begun studies tiny wobbles in the rotation of Mars to gain insight about the planet's core. This requires months of radio-tracking the motion of a point on the surface of Mars to calculate long-term motion with an accuracy of a few inches.

"If the final scientific feather in Spirit's cap is determining whether the core of Mars is liquid or solid, that would be wonderful -- it's so different from the other knowledge we've gained from Spirit," said Squyres.

Tools on Spirit's robotic arm can study variations in the composition of nearby soil, which has been affected by water. Stationary science also includes watching how wind moves soil particles and monitoring the Martian atmosphere.

Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars in January 2004. They have been exploring for six years, far surpassing their original 90-day mission. Opportunity currently is driving toward a large crater called Endeavor and continues to make scientific discoveries. It has driven approximately 12 miles and returned more than 133,000 images.

JPL manages the rovers for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about Spirit and Opportunity, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/rovers .

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6278
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov
2010-030