Russian Army Test Future Soldier Tech

Russian Army


The Russian Army is testing a future high-tech soldier equipment system and plans to stage exercises with the equipment as part of state trials, Defense Ministry ground forces spokesman Lt. Col. Nikolai Donyushkin said on Wednesday.
"Soldiers have started intensive trials of elements of the equipment, including for riflemen, scouts, mechanic-drivers, as part of military trials exercises. We also intend to carry out unit trials based on these systems," he said.
The equipment, being tested by the 27th motor rifle brigade at the Alabino firing range near Moscow, contains around 40 different elements, Donyushkin said.

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Britain's military drones spending tops £2bn

An UAV is loaded at Westdown Camp, Wiltshire: the study claims the use of drones raises moral and ethical questions. Photograph: Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images

The UK has spent more than £2bn on buying and developing military drones over the past five years and is poised to commit an extra £2bn for another new unmanned aircraft, according to a report.
The figures show how the Ministry of Defence has poured money into buying and researching a variety of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) as armed forces chiefs recognise their potential value in modern warfare.
However, the study by the campaign group Drone Wars UK warns that the extensive use of UAVs by the military and their likely employment in the civilian sphere raise moral and ethical questions that should be properly scrutinised and debated.

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Targeted Killing, Pro and Con: What to Make of U.S. Drone Strikes in Pakistan

Ho New/Reuters
A new report, "Living Under Drones," jointly authored by Stanford University and New York University -- and reviewed yesterday by Conor Friedersdorf here at The Atlantic -- is harshly critical of the drone campaign in Pakistan. The report argues that the U.S. narrative of drone strikes -- precise, accurate, and limited -- is false. Citing 130 interviews and a review of media reports, the authors argue that the civilian toll from drone strikes is far higher than acknowledged, that many problems with the drone campaign go unreported, and that more government transparency is essential to gaining a better understanding of the campaign and its consequences.
On that last point, the authors are absolutely right -- more transparency about targeting and effects would help everyone understand the consequences of drone strikes in Pakistan. And there are absolutely serious downsides to these strikes (some of which have been explored here already). But the report then makes some questionable claims based on incomplete data, and seems to argue that the drone campaign should be paused or radically altered. Those arguments are not well supported.

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USAF Seeks Afterlife For F-15s

September 25, 2012

The U.S. Air Force is pushing to more than double the life of its stalwart F-15 Eagles with a series of upgrades.
“About two and a half years ago, the U.S. Air Force wanted fatigue tests on C models,” says Brad Jones, F-15 mission systems director for Boeing, which makes the aircraft.
As the F-15 fleet aircraft approached their life expectancies for total flight hours, the Air Force wanted see how far the service could delay fleet retirements, Jones said during a recent briefing with reporters.
The design service life for the aircraft is 8,000 flight hours and the lead-the-fleet aircraft have flown more than 10,000 actual flight hours and counting, Boeing says.
Boeing is now working on full-scale fatigue test certifications to push F-15C/D models to 18,000 equivalent flight hours (EFHs) and F-15E models to 32,000 EHFs. “Structural fatigue improvements in current-production F-15s provide longer life and reduced maintenance requirements,” Boeing says.

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Trident submarine missiles review to suggest 'stepping down nuclear ladder'

HMS Astute, first of the class of nuclear hunter killer submarine built at Barrow in Furness, which could carry a cheaper alternative to Trident. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images

The government's review of the future of the Trident submarine nuclear missile system is likely to suggest a significant downgrading of the UK's nuclear deterrent, including the possibility of locking the warheads "in a cupboard" for delayed launch only after several weeks of mounting international tension.
The revelation was made by Sir Nick Harvey, the Liberal Democrat who was the defence minister leading the review until the government reshuffle this month. The MP for North Devon said he believed the policy could get support in Whitehall and from senior military figures and Labour.
Harvey said past policy on Trident had been dictated by the 1980s view that the only deterrent to a nuclear attack from the then Soviet Union was the belief that the UK could "flatten Moscow" in retaliation. This led to the UK building Trident and having at least one armed submarine at sea every hour of every day since.

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UN sees up to 700,000 Syrian refugees by year-end

Aid agencies have upped their call for funds to cope with the refugee crisis (AFP, Adem Altan)


GENEVA — The UN refugee agency warned Thursday there could be as many as 700,000 Syrian refugees fleeing the war-torn nation by the end of the year as it stepped up its call for emergency funding.
"There may be up to 700,000 Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries by the end of the year," Panos Moumtzsis, the UNHCR's chief coordinator for Syrian refugees, told reporters in Geneva.
"We are running out of time," he added.
Faced with the soaring need for aid after 18 months of brutal conflict in Syria, humanitarian agencies upped their call for funds to $487.9 million (379.2 million euros) to sustain operations until the end of the year.
In June, when the UNHCR first updated its regional response plan, it made plans for 185,000 refugees. Since then the number has tripled, the agency said, with 100,000 people fleeing Syria in August and 60,000 so far in September.

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Three hundred killed in single day in Syria, group says

BEIRUT | Thu Sep 27, 2012 6:29am EDT

(Reuters) - More than 300 people were killed in Syria on Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, in one of the bloodiest days in the 18-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
World leaders meeting at the United Nations have expressed concern at the continuing violence in Syria but are deadlocked over their response to the conflict, which the Observatory says has claimed 30,000 lives since March 2011.
The British-based organization, which monitors violence in Syria through a network of activists, said in a report released on Thursday that 55 people were killed in rural areas around Damascus. They included at least 40 who appeared to have been shot in cold blood in the town of al-Dhiyabia, southeast of the capital.

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