Mig 29

US Marines Put On Alert To Move Into Egypt Amid Violent Protests

Amid anti-government demonstrations planned for this weekend, roughly 200 combat-capable U.S. Marines in southern Europe have been put on an alert status should they need to protect the U.S. Embassy or American citizens in Egypt, CNN is reporting.

The Marines were told to be ready to deploy within an hour, and would be flown in via MV-22 Osprey, the Marine Corps’ rapid deployment aircraft.

A state department spokesman told CNN that the move is precautionary, and that the U.S. fully expects the Egyptian security forces to be able to protect the American diplomatic facilities.

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MI8

US Ospreys and Air Tankers Put Iran in Israel's Reach

A KC-130J load master watches a refueling of an MV-22B Osprey during a training mission in 2012. (Cpl. Michael Petersheim/US Marine Corps)

The United States plans to give Israel weapons that would enable it to send ground forces against Iranian nuclear facilities that it can’t penetrate from the air.
The deal includes air-refueling aircraft, advanced radars for F-15 fighter jets, and up to eight V-22 Ospreys, an aircraft that can land like a helicopter and carry two dozen special operations forces with their gear over long distances at aircraft speeds.
The Osprey “is the ideal platform for sending Israeli special forces into Iran,” says Kenneth Pollack, a former CIA analyst now at the Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy.

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Russia to Build 100 New Military Bases and Airfields

General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of Russia’s Armed Forces


MOSCOW, June 27 (RIA Novosti) – About 100 new defense infrastructure facilities, including airfields and Army and Navy maintenance and supply bases, will be built in Russia to accommodate new weapon systems, a top military official said Thursday.
By 2016, 316 garrison towns are to be built, their number due to increase to 495 by 2020, said General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of Russia’s Armed Forces, adding that more than 3,000 facilities, including barracks, parking lots, cafeterias, etc., would be built in those locations.

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Navy Tests LCS Mine-Hunting System

The U.S. Navy has improved the reliability of its remote mine-hunting system for the Littoral Combat Ship through a series of tests off the coast of Palm Beach, Fla., service officials said.
The so-called Remote Minehunting System, or RMS, consists of a semi-submersible with the AN/AQS-20A variable depth sonar and is designed to locate mines in shallow and deep water, officials said.

Read more: http://defensetech.org/2013/06/26/navy-tests-lcs-mine-hunting-system/#ixzz2XZ4UoniD
Defense.org

Pentagon spending $572 million for Russian military helicopters Afghans can't fly, report says

The Pentagon is moving ahead with a plan to purchase Russian military helicopters, despite protests from a bipartisan group of lawmakers that includes Montgomery Republican Martha Roby. (Contributed photo/USAF) 

The Pentagon is under increasing pressure to abandon a controversial plan to purchase military helicopters for Afghan special forces following a report that says the undermanned unit cannot fly or maintain the aircraft.
Reuters is reporting the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction is calling on the Pentagon to suspend the $572 million purchase of 30 Mi-17 helicopters made by the Russian company Rosoboronexport. The helicopters are for the Afghan National Security Forces Special Mission Wing for use in counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics and special operations missions.

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A Buyers Market For Anti-Ship Missiles

June 26, 2013: There was recently a SINKEX (sinking exercise) in which Norway fired one of their locally made Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) at a decommissioned 2,100 ton Oslo class frigate. The NSM, fired from a smaller missile boat, hit the frigate, did a lot of damage, but did not sink it. If the frigate had been loaded with fuel and ammo the NSM would have started fires and probably put the ship out of service and possibly caused it to go down.
Despite the many lightweight (under a ton) anti-ship missiles on the market, NSM still gets sales because it is effective, reliable, and affordable. It is also offered for use on ships, aircraft, and on trucks (as part of a mobile coastal defense system). The 409 kg (900 pound) NSM anti-ship missile has a 125 kg (275 pound) warhead and a range of 185 kilometers. NSM uses GPS and inertial guidance systems, as well as a heat imaging system (and a database of likely targets) for picking out and hitting the intended ship. Norwegian manufacturer Kongsberg allows buyers to easily install their own radar and control systems.

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Report: US prepares to arm Syrian rebels within a month

The US Central Intelligence Agency has started a weapons transfer to Jordan, from a range of classified warehouses, to prepare for arming select groups of Syrian rebels within a month, The Wall Street Journal cited US officials as acknowledging on Wednesday.

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Chinese Air Force Gets More H-6K Strategic Bombers

H6K In flight. Internet photo

Variants of the CJ-10 anti-ship/land attack cruise missile can be launched from different platforms. Six are carried by Xian H-6K strategic bomber, The missile is also carried on board the Type 095 and 052D destroyers and on land-based mobile launchers.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) recently received 15 Xian H-6K bombers with nuclear capabilities, according to Jane’s Defence Weekly.
The H-6K, an updated version of the H-6 bomber (originally, a locally built version of the 1960s vintage Russian Tupolev Tu-16 bomber), is a medium-sized craft designed for long-range attacks, stand-off attacks and large-area air patrol. Unlike its predecessor, the H-6K can carry cruise missiles under its wings. The H6-K also
maneuvers more deftly than the H-6 and requires a smaller crew to operate. H-6K reportedly has a combat radius of 3,500 km. It can carry weapons in the internal weapon bay and on four underwing pylons. The nuclear-capable Changjian-10 (long sword) CJ-10A cruise missiles it carries have a range of 1,500-2,000 km, effectively extending the bomber’s combat range to 4,000-5,000 km – long enough to reach Okinawa, Guam and even Hawaii from China’s mainland.

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US leads in arming world; but China, Russia defense business rising

TOM REYNOLDS / Lockheed Martin via EPA file

An undated Lockheed Martin Aeronautics image showing F-35 AF-1 and AF-2 planes over Edwards Air Force Base, California.Lockheed is one of the companies that has given the United States dominance in the global defense business

The United States remains by far the largest arms and military equipment provider in the world, but that dominance is expected to wane over the next eight years, with China and Russia boosting their defense industries, an analysis said on Wednesday.
"Two things are happening: budgets are shifting east, and global arms trade is [seeing] increasing competition," said Paul Burton, senior manager of IHS Jane's Defence, publisher of an authoritative weekly on defense issues.

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Report: Chinese military seeks downgrading of ’61 defense pact with N. Korea

SEOUL — Senior Chinese military officials have begun calling for the downgrading of military ties with North Korea arguing that Pyongyang should be seen more as a “burden” than an ally, officials here said.

China is said to have shifted priorities in some areas from North to South Korea over the past two decades. /Reuters

According to South Korea’s leading newspaper Chosun Ilbo, some Chinese military leaders have called for the revision of the 1961 military pact with North Korea to reflect a new Northeast Asia security landscape.
The officers have suggested that Beijing distance itself from North Korea and seek closer military ties with South Korea so as to foster equidistance in the strategic triangle, Chosun said, citing an unidentified source in Seoul.

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Israel ranks as the world's sixth largest arms exporter in 2012

Israel's weapons sales jumped 74% since 2008, largely thanks to deals with India, according to IHS Jane's; U.S. tops the defense intelligence company's list of arms exporters, with more than $28 billion in defense deals in 2012.

 

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An 22

Will Congress Let USAF Abandon the Global Hawk?

The Global Hawk has provided high-altitude, long-endurance ISR for the Air Force since the late 1990s, but the service says it no longer needs the unmanned aircraft. (Air Force)

June is the start of the rainy season in the South Pacific, six months of storms that come in fast and unpredictable. And when the wind starts blowing, that takes its toll on U.S. intelligence-gathering far off in North Korea.
A substantial amount of the intel on the Hermit Kingdom comes from the three massive Global Hawk unmanned surveillance planes based at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. Because of special flight restrictions, the Global Hawks can’t fly over thunderstorms, nor, without a way to see the clouds ahead, can they go around them. So whenever a hint of bad weather arose on the route Global Hawk was assigned last year from Guam, the missions were canceled. Last year, the UAVs were grounded for an entire month, says a source with knowledge of the operation.

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Russia said to be violating 1987 missile accord

Russia is engaged in a major violation of the terms of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with the United States by building a new medium-range missile banned under the accord, according to U.S. intelligence officials.
Disclosure of the treaty violation comes as President Barack Obama last week called for a new round of arms negotiations with Moscow aimed at cutting deployed nuclear warheads by one-third.
Intelligence officials said internal assessments identified Russia’s new Yars M missile that was tested earlier this month as an INF missile with a range of less than 5,500 kilometers.

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F-35 Still Faces ‘Considerable’ Risks: Auditors

The Defense Department’s F-35 fighter jet program has recently made progress on several fronts, but still faces “considerable” challenges and risks, according to a new analysis from government auditors.
The Joint Strike Fighter program in 2012 met most of its management objectives, according to recent testimony from Michael Sullivan, director of acquisition and sourcing management at the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

Read more: http://defensetech.org/2013/06/25/f-35-still-faces-considerable-risks-auditors/#ixzz2XKsPlPwn
Defense.org

Russia to Supply Arms to Kyrgyzstan in 2014

Russia to Supply Arms to Kyrgyzstan From 2014


BISHKEK, June 25 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow will begin supplying weapons and other military equipment to Kyrgyzstan next year as part of a bilateral armed forces assistance program, Russia’s defense minister said Tuesday.
In November, Russia’s Kommersant newspaper wrote that Moscow had pledged to provide $1.1 billion worth of military assistance to the Central Asian country. However, on Tuesday, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu did disclose the cost of the program or the weapons that would be supplied.

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China's aggressive tactics turning off Asian neighbors

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Not long ago, China was the darling of its less powerful Asian neighbors with its growing economic importance and a policy of non-interference in external affairs that contrasted with bellicose U.S. foreign policy after 9/11.

However, a series of clashes over territorial disputes and Beijing’s tendency to economically punish those who get in its way have encouraged many Asian nations to reassess their choices — an increasingly aggressive Chinese dragon or a more distant and relatively benign America.

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Sukhoi Test Pilot Explains ‘Supermaneuverability’

June 24, 2013

The high agility demonstrated by the Sukhoi Su-35S fighter at the Paris air show is rooted in a Russian concept in which close-range, low-speed air combat remains important, according to Sukhoi chief test pilot Sergey Bogdan.
The aircraft, equipped with three-axis thrust-vectoring and fully integrated flight and propulsion control, performed maneuvers here which no other operational fighter can match. These include a controlled vertical, flat-attitude descent with the aircraft rotating, and a dynamic deceleration, or “cobra”, leading to a small-radius 180-deg. turn and course reversal. It demonstrated a dynamic deceleration followed by extremely slow flight at a near-90-deg. angle of attack.
“Most of the fighters we have available today with vectored thrust, the Su-30MKI and MKM, can perform these maneuvers,” Bogdan tells Aviation Week. “Where this aircraft is different is that it has more thrust, so when it performs the 'bell' maneuver, it can stand still, with afterburning on, and can sustain flight at 120-140 kph.”

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China Said to Have Made Call to Let Leaker Depart

BEIJING — The Chinese government made the final decision to allow Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, to leave Hong Kong on Sunday, a move that Beijing believed resolved a tough diplomatic problem even as it reaped a publicity windfall from Mr. Snowden’s disclosures, according to people familiar with the situation.
Hong Kong authorities have insisted that their judicial process remained independent of China, but these observers — who like many in this article spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk freely about confidential discussions — said that matters of foreign policy are the domain of the Chinese government, and Beijing exercised that authority in allowing Mr. Snowden to go. 

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Militants kill eight in Kashmir ahead of India PM visit

An Indian soldier takes position at the scene of a deadly attack by militants near Srinagar, on June 24, 2013 (AFP, Rouf Bhat)


SRINAGAR, India — Heavily-armed militants killed eight soldiers in Indian Kashmir Monday in the deadliest such attack in five years, marring a landmark visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the embattled Himalayan territory.
The military convoy was ambushed on the outskirts of Srinagar, the main city of Indian-controlled Kashmir, as it headed towards a nearby base camp, officials said.
"Eight troopers died in the attack and 13 others have been wounded," a senior police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The condition of one of the injured was critical, he said.

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Russian Defense Ministry Signs $23 Bln in Arms Deals

Russian Defense Ministry


MOSCOW, June 24 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Defense Ministry has signed 737 billion rubles (about $22.5 billion) worth of contracts as part of its arms procurement program for 2013, a senior ministry official said on Monday.
The signed deals account for 82.4 percent of this year’s arms procurement quota, Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov said.
The total defense spend this year exceeds 1 trillion rubles, up 40 percent on 2012, including credits and subsidies to defense firms, he said.

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Mig 23

Cobra

F 16

B1

Taliban commanders questioning whether reclusive supreme leader is still truly in charge — or even alive

In early 2002, as local and American forces closed in on his southern Afghanistan hideout, the Taliban’s supreme leader reportedly hopped onto a motorcycle and buzzed away to safety.
Mullah Mohmmad Omar was always a reclusive figure, even during his brutal, iron-fisted rule over the country, but since his escape 11 years ago, he has all but vanished.
Now, as the Taliban launches an historic attempt to negotiate an end to the Afghan conflict, even some within the insurgency are questioning whether the one-eyed emir is still truly in charge — or even alive.
For the Taliban’s official organization, the intriguing question, “Where is Mullah Omar?”, is a non-issue.

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Iran’s “Carrier Killer” Missile Improves Accuracy

Iran has improved the accuracy of its supersonic anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM), the Khalij-e Fars (Persian Gulf), considerably, an Iranian military official said earlier this week.
As previously reported, the Khalij-e Fars is a solid-fuel ASBM with a range of 300 km when carrying a 650-kg payload. Iranian officials have depicted it as a way to deny extra-regional navies—read the U.S. Navy— the ability to operate close to Iranian shores, including in the Strait of Hormuz.
In remarks to Iranian media outlets, Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) Aerospace Division, said that Iran’s “defense experts” had increased the precision of the Khalij-e Fars from 30 meters to 8.5 meters.

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DARPA developing digital airstrikes

Atrist's concept of a PCAS heads-up display

The popular image of modern warfare is the digital battlefield where cyber soldiers have Terminator-like video displays and can call in an airstrike with the shine of a laser beam. While information technologies are revolutionizing the military, when it comes to calling in Close Air Support (CAS), it’s still World War One – where a misread or misheard grid reference can end up with soldiers being hit by their own artillery. DARPA’s Persistent Close Air Support (PCAS) program hopes to improve this.

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15 European Manufacturers To Bid In Polish Vessels Tenders

WARSAW — Fifteen defense manufacturers have applied to participate in a technical dialogue with the Polish Ministry of Defense on the planned procurement of three coastal defense vessels and three patrol vessels with a mine-destroying capacity, the ministry said in a statement.
“Technical dialogs with particular companies will allow to collect information which will be useful for the process of preparing the vessel procurements,” the statement said.
Under the Armed Forces’ Technical Modernization Plan, the Polish Navy is to acquire three coastal defense vessels from 2014 to 2026 and three patrol vessels with a mine-destroying capacity from 2015 to 2026. The procurements will be part of Poland’s 10 billion zloty (US $3.1 billion) Navy modernization strategy.

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MIG 29

MI28

Iraq to Receive Russian Military Helicopters

On June 18, an Iraqi military source confirmed that the air force command will receive “Alligator” combat helicopters from Russia in the coming period.

In a statement to Al-Monitor, the source, a senior Iraqi army officer, said that "the aircraft will be of the Ka-52 and Mi-28NE models from the French Le Bourget Air Show.”
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained, “The Iraqi air force command will get a new source of strength with the acquisition of this model of helicopter.”
The source continued, saying, “The new Russian aircraft, especially the Ka-52, are distinguished by their ability to lead a squadron of helicopters and play the role of the command post, which defines and assigns the goals of the squadron’s helicopters.”

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/06/iraq-army-helicopters-russia-military.html#ixzz2Wxsn6lfF

Russia Speeds Up Anti-Missile Radar Deployment

June 22, 2013: Russia has sped up deployments of its new Voronezh early-warning radar and will now have seven of them operational by 2018. That’s a few years ahead of schedule. These new radars will replace the Daryal radars and the even older models that Daryal was replacing but are still in service. The older early-warning radars were usually in areas that were part of the Soviet Union but are not in present day Russia. Thus earlier this year Russia decided to shut down its Daryal type long range missile detection radar in Azerbaijan after the Azerbaijanis demanded that a new lease increase annual rent from $7 million to $300 million. Russia refused to pay and will shut down the Azerbaijan radar and dismantle it. The ten year lease ended on December 24, 2012. This radar went operational in 1983, and was supposed to be one of seven. But the end of the Cold War halted that project and only one other Daryal radar was built (on the north coast of Russia). That one detected missiles coming in over the North Pole from North America. The radar in Azerbaijan covered all of the Middle East and India. Its role will be assumed by the more modern Voronezh radar design that recently went into service on the Black Sea coast. Russia had offered to upgrade the Azerbaijan radar and pay more rent but not $293 million more a year. In addition, Russia has always paid Azerbaijan $5 million a year for electricity and $10 million a year for other services. About 500 Azerbaijanis were employed at the radar station, in addition to 1,100 Russians. 

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Russia could stand in way of Obama's nuke cuts

WASHINGTON -- By saying he intends to bargain with Russia over new reductions in nuclear weapons, rather than make cuts on his own, President Barack Obama is asking for cooperation from a former Cold War foe in no mood to agree.
Relations between Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin are tense, reflecting U.S. concerns about human rights abuses in Russia, the two leaders' disagreement over Syria's civil war and other points of contention.
That doesn't mean the U.S. won't eventually shrink its arsenal beyond what is required by an existing U.S.-Russia treaty that took effect just two years ago. It probably will. But it might not happen on Obama's watch.
Obama declared in Berlin on Wednesday that he wants to cut the number of U.S. nuclear arms by another one-third, which would shrink the total to between 1,000 and 1,100 weapons for bombers and land- and sea-based missiles. He did not explicitly rule out doing this unilaterally, but he said he intends to "seek negotiated cuts" with Russia - an approach some nuclear disarmament advocates said could lead to a dead end.
Bruce Blair, co-founder of Global Zero, an international group that advocates the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons, said negotiating a new treaty with Moscow would be "practically a death knell for arms control," in part because there is strong opposition in the Senate to making any further reductions in U.S. nuclear arms.

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Countdown to launch India's own GPS begins

Like the US' GPS (Global Positioning System) that gives the exact location of moving aircraft, ships, vehicles and even people carrying smart phones, India will soon have its own satellite-based navigation system.

India’s equivalent of the GPS will be called the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System or IRNSS, a cluster of seven satellites being developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) – IRNSS-1A, IRNSS-1B, IRNSS-1C, IRNSS-1D, IRNSS-1E, IRNSS-1F and IRNSS-1G.

The first satellite – IRNSS-1A which will weigh 1,425 kg – is expected to be launched on July 1, 2013. Launched from Sriharikota on PSLV-C22 rockets, all the seven satellites are expected to be in orbit by early 2015 and will operate in allweather conditions.

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Eurocopter Ponders X3 Helicopter’s Next Steps

June 17, 2013
Credit: Eurocopter

Tony Osborne London andGraham Warwick Washington
Eurocopter's X3 has claimed the unofficial helicopter speed record from Sikorsky's X2, achieving 255 kt. in level flight and 263 kt. in a dive, and raising the question of what comes next for the European manufacturer's high-speed rotorcraft concept.
In flights at the Istres test base near Marseille, France, in early June the X3 experimental compound helicopter beat its previous top speed of 232 kt. set in May 2011. The new round of high-speed trials follows a lay-up during which the aircraft's gearbox was tweaked to operate at the full power level provided by its two Turbomeca RTM322 turboshafts.

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