According to the Russian president, the true goal of the US missile defense shield is to neutralize Russia’s nuclear potential.
Putin: Russia to develop strike systems capable of penetrating any missile defense shield
http://tass.ru/en/defense/835356
Tuesday Nov. 10, 2015 - Russia will be developing strike systems capable of penetrating any missile defense shield, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
"We’ll be working on the anti-missile defense system as well, but at the first stage, as we have said on many occasions, we’ll also be working on strike systems capable of penetrating any anti-missile defense shield," Putin said at a meeting on the development of the Russian Armed Forces.
Putin said the meeting would discuss the development of such weapon systems that would determine the outlook of the Russian Armed Forces for the next decade and will become a response to the challenges confronted by Russia.
"The references to the Iranian and North Korean nuclear threats only disguise true plans. And their true purpose is to neutralize the strategic nuclear potential of other nuclear states, except the United States and its allies, first of all, the nuclear potential of our country, Russia," Putin said.
The United States and its allies continue building the global missile defense system, the Russian president said.
"Moreover, unfortunately, they are not taking into account either our concerns or proposals for cooperation," Putin added.
No talks on helicopter supplies to Egypt until Russian Mistral equipment is dismantled
http://tass.ru/en/defense/834857
DUBAI, November 9. /TASS/. Russia and Egypt may launch substantive negotiations on the supplies of Kamov Ka-52K Katran reconnaissance and attack helicopters for the Mistral class helicopter carriers only after the dismantlement of Russian equipment from the warships is completed, head of Rostec State Corporation Sergey Chemezov said on Monday.
The aggregate value of the dismantled equipment exceeds $10 million. In October, the first batch of the Russian-made equipment was removed from the helicopter carriers and sent to Russia - it comprises combat information management systems and missile weapons and artillery control systems. The communications systems will be next.
Egypt signed a contract on October 10 for purchasing two Mistral-class amphibious assault ships from France, which had been built for Russia. The ships are expected to be delivered to the new customer together with landing boats in the summer of 2016. A group of Russian specialists has been dismantling the Russian-made equipment from the helicopter carriers in France since late September. The DCNS Company that built the ships said that the equipment would be dismantled completely by the end of the year.
Previously, Russian president’s chief of staff Sergei Ivanov said that Russia was planning to supply equipment and helicopters for the Mistral-class amphibious assault ships that Egypt is buying from France and that the deal might exceed $1 billion.
According to the CEO of the Russian arms exporting company Rosoboronexport, Egypt has not addressed it yet to purchase Kamov Ka-52 helicopters (NATO reporting name: Hokum-B) and the equipment being dismantled from the Mistral-class helicopter carriers at the moment.
101st Airborne Division tapped for Iraq deployment
http://www.stripes.com/news/101st-airborne-division-tapped-for-iraq-deployment-1.378004
Monday Nov. 9, 2015 - WASHINGTON – The Army’s 101st Airborne Division Headquarters will deploy early next year to Iraq to lead the American efforts to train Iraqi Security Forces to combat the Islamic State, the Army has announced.
About 500 soldiers from the Fort Campbell, Ky.-based division will deploy to Iraq and Kuwait to serve as the Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command-Iraq. It will be the unit’s second major overseas deployment in the last year. It returned in February from a five-month deployment in Liberia to assist in West Africa’s Ebola fight.
The upcoming deployment is part of a regular rotation of division headquarters, the Army said Friday in a statement. The 101st will replace the Fort Bragg, N.C.-based 82nd Airborne Division Headquarters. Since June, the 82nd has led the efforts of about 3,500 American troops to train ISF units, which are battling Islamic State militants mostly in the country’s north.
Outrage builds as dozens of Iraqis electrocuted in floods
http://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/outrage-builds-as-dozens-of-iraqis-electrocuted-in-floods-1.377935
Monday Nov. 9, 2015 - BAGHDAD — Mohammed al-Qurayshi's only son, Hassan, searched back and forth through CCTV footage to find the 12:30 p.m. mark on Oct. 31.
The video showed grainy images of two of his older sisters carrying bags of garbage through the garden and across the street. Fatima, 14, was dressed in deep blue and Rosul, 15, wore turquoise. It was then, just around the corner from their home, as they waded through a flooded street, that they were both electrocuted and killed — Fatima first, then Rosul, as she reached out to help her sister.
"These are their death certificates," the elder al-Qurayshi said, holding out a pair of thin pink slips, noting the written cause of death was electrocution but that "the true cause of death is the Ministry of Electricity and the municipality."
The Iraqi Ministry of Health said 69 people have died across the country over the past two weeks, due to a combination of the country's dilapidated electrical grid and heavy rains that overwhelmed sewer systems.
Inadequate infrastructure was one of the rallying cries behind countrywide protests over the summer that succeeded in pressuring Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to propose sweeping reforms. But in the months that followed, many of the government shake-ups have languished in parliament and while protests have dropped off, public anger has not.
[...] "That same day (they died), I drove through the Green Zone," Mohammed said, referring to the heavily fortified Baghdad neighborhood that's home to many foreign embassies and most of the country's politicians. "I saw there wasn't even a little bit of water anywhere. If it had been al-Abadi's child, then do you think the government would do something?"
Navy Launches Second Ballistic Missile Test in Pacific
http://defensetech.org/2015/11/09/navy-launches-second-ballistic-missile-test-in-pacific/
Monday Nov. 9, 2015 - The U.S. Navy has launched a second unarmed ballistic missile from a submarine in the Pacific as part of a test of the technology, a Pentagon spokesman said.
It occurred around noon local time Monday and came two days after the USS Kentucky (SSBN-737), an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, launched an unarmed Trident II D5 nuclear missile in the Pacific Test Range off the coast of southern California.
The exercise was conducted by the Navy Strategic Systems Programs. The first launch surprised observers, some of whom speculated on social media that light from the object was a meteorite or unidentified flying object, or UFO.
“This is the second and final launch of a planned and scheduled exercise,” according to the Pentagon statement. “The test launches were a part of Demonstration and Shakedown Operations, designated DASO-26. The Navy did not release video of the Trident SLBM launch. The missiles landed in the Eastern Missile Range near Kwajalein.”
France to send aircraft carrier to aid U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/5/france-send-aircraft-carrier-aid-us-led-coalition-/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS
Friday Nov. 6, 2015 - France will deploy its only aircraft carrier to support military operations to combat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, French President Francois Hollande said Thursday.
In a statement by the French presidency following a meeting of its defense cabinet, the government said the Charles de Gaulle warship would be sent to the eastern Mediterranean for operations against Isis in both Syria and Iraq.
The Charles de Gaulle is the largest warship in western Europe and the only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier outside the U.S. fleet. It can carry up to 40 fixed wing aircraft and helicopters.
The carrier is usually accompanied by an attack submarine, several frigates, refueling ships, as well as fighter jets and surveillance aircraft.
The aircraft carrier will enable us to be more efficient in coordination with our allies,” Hollande said at the inauguration of the new defense ministry headquarters in Paris, Reuters reported.
The statement from the president’s office said Paris supports efforts to reach a political transition in Syria, but added Syrian President Bashar Assad could not remain in the country.
France was the first country to join the U.S.-lead international coalition in Iraq and has recently provided limited logistical support to moderate Syrian rebels. French warplanes conducted their first airstrikes in Syria in late September.
Chinese and Russian Radars On Track To See Through U.S. Stealth
http://news.usni.org/2014/07/29/chinese-russian-radars-track-see-u-s-stealth
Back dated July 29, 2014 - A growing trend in Russian and Chinese radar could make U.S. stealth fighters easier to see and — more importantly — easier to target for potential adversaries, a former senior U.S. Navy official told USNI News.
U.S. fighters — like the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) — are protected by stealth technology optimized for higher frequency targeting radars but not for lower frequency radars.
JSF and the F-22 are protected from higher frequencies in the Ku, X, C and parts of the S bands. But both jets can be seen on enemy radars operating in the longer wavelengths like L, UHF and VHF.
In other words, Russian and Chinese radars can generally detect a stealth aircraft but not clearly enough to give an accurate location to a missile. But that is starting to change.
Further, new foreign rival warships are increasingly being built with both high and low frequency radars.
“Prospective adversaries are putting low frequency radars on their surface combatants along with the higher frequency systems,” the former official said.
Chinese warships like the Type 52C Luyang II and Type 52D Luyang III have both high and low frequency radars, the former official said. “All-aspect is highly desirable against this sort of networked [anti-air] environment,” he said. Secondly, the Chinese and Russians are almost certain to use cyber and electronic attack capabilities to disrupt NIFC-CA, which is almost totally reliant on data links.
Fundamentally, the Navy’s lack of an all-aspect broadband stealth jet on the carrier flight deck is giving fuel to advocates of a high-end Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft that can tackle the toughest enemy air defenses.
Without such capability, the Navy’s carrier fleet will fade into irrelevance, the former official said.
Russian plasma stealth fighters
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=560_1216629741
First developed by the Russians, plasma stealth technology is also known as “Active Stealth Technology”. Plasma stealth is a proposed process that uses ionized gas (plasma) to reduce the radar cross section (RCS) of an aircraft. A plasma stream is injected in front of the aircraft covering the entire body of the aircraft and absorbing most of the electromagnetic energy of the radar waves, thus making the aircraft difficult to detect.
One of the most interesting Russian fighters to benefit from the plasma stealth technology is the MiG 1.42/1.44 also known as the MFI (Mnogofunktsionalny Frontovoi Istrebitel - Multifunctional Frontline Fighter). This new aircraft is a fifth generation air-superiority fighter, a rival for the American F-22 Raptor. Both aircraft have the same super-cruise capability as well as thrust vectoring for super-manoeuvrability (a capability to fly at supercritical angles of attack, at increased level of sustained and
available g-loads and high turn-angle rate, which require a greater thrust-to-weight ratio and improved wing aerodynamic efficiency). This aircraft may prove to be a milestone in aviation, as so many Russian aircraft were before.
Having greater agility and range than the F-22 the aerodynamically superior MFI will have a top speed of Mach 2.6 versus Mach 1.7 for the F-22 Raptor, and the MFI will be able to cruise supersonically for a longer period. To reduce RCS it sports a heavy coating of RAM, S-shaped compressor channels, internal weapon storage, LO airframe geometry, and maybe an active radar cancellation system (RCS) or a plasma cloud stealth (PCS) system making it stealthier than the F-22 as MiG MAPO claims. Two three-dimensional thrust-vectoring Saturn/Lyulka AL-41F turbofans, capable of 44,100 lb of thrust in afterburner power the MiG 1.42. The key to the MiG-1.42 is its new Phazotron N-014 phased array fire control radar and rear-facing N-012 radar system operating in in air and ground modes simultaneously with ground mapping, search-and-track of moving targets, synthetic aperture radar and terrain avoidance it is capable of detecting any stealth aircraft without a special radar.
Armaments: Everything in VVS fighter weapons inventory, including R-77 missiles.
MFI would also have some special weapons, like ultra-long-range AA missiles (Novator).
Radar Equipment: Forward and rearward facing radars; forward-facing radar N-014 phased array with electronically-scanned antenna - simultaneous tracking of 40 and engagement of up to 20 targets; effective range against a fighter-sized target: 420km, extended AS capability, ground mapping capability; rearward-facing radar N-012.
Stealth Features: Composite RAM, S-shaped compressor channels, internal weapons storage, LO airframe geometry, perhaps an active radar cancellation system or a plasma cloud stealth system.
Take A Closer Look At The Canine Warriors Of The US Military
http://viraltopia.net/military-dogs/?utm_source=OutB&utm_medium=Discov&utm_campaign=OutMilitary1101
Today, there are 2,800 dogs actively serving around the world in some very dangerous places alongside their two-legged partners: the American marine. The modern marine takes the human-dog collaboration to a completely different level. Marine dog handlers form an intense bond with their canine companions, undergoing professional military training including obtaining the very rigorous SEAL certification. The SEAL team that captured Osama bin Laden accomplished this feat with the help of Cairo, a Belgian Malinois.