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War game NATO has put Moscow on notice that it will be keeping a close eye on a major military exercise with Belarus next week, in a region still on edge after Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014. Similar drills in the past included a simulated invasion of Poland by tens of thousands of Russian troops culminating in a nuclear strike on Warsaw, and the coming show of force, codenamed "Zapad 2017" (West 2017) has sparked months of speculation and fears along NATO's eastern flank. Observers say that while there is little chance of Russia using the exercise as cover for an actual invasion, there are concerns about what troops and equipment it will leave behind afterwards. Moscow has said about 12,700 Russian and Belarusian troops will take part in the exercises, to be held in Belarus and Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad from September 14 to 20, but Lithuania and Estonia have put the figure as high as 100,000. "We are concerned about the nature and the lack...

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday urged the Kremlin to comply with rules on transparency as it gears up for huge military exercises along the alliance's eastern flank next month. The drill, named Zapad 2017 ("West"), has stoked fresh alarm in NATO-members Poland and the Baltic states as a more assertive Russia pushes back against what it sees as the alliance's unjustified expansion into eastern Europe. "I call on Russia to ensure compliance with its obligations under the OSCE Vienna Document, because predictability, transparency is especially important when we have increased military activity along our borders," Stoltenberg told reporters in Warsaw at a joint press conference with Poland's right-wing Prime Minister Beata Szydlo. The Vienna Document requires all sides to provide advance information about exercises and allow observer teams so as to avoid any dangerous misunderstandings. The NATO chief had much stronger words for Mosco...

.   An F-35B begins its short takeoff from the USS America with an external weapons load.Lockheed Martin While North Korea  feverishly works to perfect intercontinental ballistic missile technology , the US and its allies are putting the finishing touches on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that will soon be patrolling the Pacific. Japan and South Korea, the US's principal allies the region, will both deploy over 100 F-35s by 2021,  according to Aviation Week . This follows the US choosing Japan as the site of its first-ever deployment of operational F-35Bs, which are  particularly well-suited  to combat in the Pacific region. The F-35, with its stealth characteristics and ability to improve the performance of the legacy jets it flies with, presents technical challenges that even the world's best air forces can't yet overcome. Against North Korea's rudimentary air force and air defenses, the F-35 would dominate and lead South Korean, Japanese, and US legacy fi...

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release SOUTHWEST ASIA, Aug. 3, 2017 – Coalition airstrikes continue to target and kill Islamic State of Iraq and Syria leaders and foreign fighters in Syria to support coalition partner forces and degradeISIS' ability to inspire, resource and direct terror attacks around the world, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials said today. Most recently, officials said in a statement, the coalition targeted and killed ISIS leaders involved in directing external operations as well as in bomb-making activities directed at regional and Western targets. Coalition forces killed Abd al-Ghafur, a Syria-based ISIS external operations official, and one associate in an airstrikeJuly 24 near Albu Kamal, Syria. His assistant, Abu Hammam, and three other ISIS members were killed by a coalition airstrike July 16 near Dayr Az Zawr, Syria. Ghafur and Hammam were responsible for managing and ...

Paris (AFP) July 25, 2017 US aerospace giant Boeing has signed a billion-dollarcontract with French industrial software company Dassault Systemes to modernise its production system, French media said Tuesday. "Boeing has signed a 30-year contract worth a billion dollars, renewable every 10 years," said Le Figaro newspaper, which is owned by the Dassault group. The partnership will focus on the use of 3D software "to design future products, to modernise the entire production system and to deploy new services". The software allows all stages of production, from the design to the management of subcontractors, to be organised across a single interface. "From start to finish, Boeing will drive all levels of subcontracting, from the largest to the smallest, and will be able to control exchanges between its divisions and its partners," Bernard Charles, Dassault Systemes CEO, was quoted as saying by Le Figaro. The contract, won after two years of competiti...

file photo, a man watches a TV news program showing a file image of a missile launch conducted by North Korea, at the Seoul Railway Station  The Defense Intelligence Agency now estimates that North Korea could have an ICBM with a nuclear warhead capable of hitting the U.S. mainland by next year, The Washington Post  reported  Tuesday. The estimate by the DIA significantly shortened the timeframe for when North Korea could develop the technology for miniaturizing a nuclear warhead to fit atop an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) and survive re-entry into the atmosphere. Previous estimates said that North Korea was at least three years away from having the capability. The new confidential assessment by the DIA followed  the July 4 missile test  that North Korea claimed was an ICBM. U.S. Pacific Command initially said the missile appeared to be of intermediate range but later concluded that it had the range of an ICBM capable of hitting Alaska. The DI...

Chinese troops march during the military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in Beijing, China, September 3, 2015.Reuters Buried in the Himalayas in the Siliguri Corridor, also known as the Chicken's neck, Chinese and Indian military forces sit on the respective sides of their vague borders and entrench themselves for what could become a shooting war between nuclear powers. Both Beijing and New Delhi see the conflict as a shoving match for dominance in the Himalayas, an age-old struggle between the two states that most recently went hot in 1962, before either state had perfected nuclear bombs. But now a Chinese construction project aiming to build a road that can support 40 ton vehicle traffic threatens a critical passage in India and risks alienating New Delhi from its ally, Bhutan. As China asserts sovereignty over the disputed border zone with the building project, Indian troops have entrenched themselves, according to  a dispatch from the South...

Container ship strikes USS 'Fitzgerald' off Japan The collision of the  Arleigh Burke -class destroyer USS  Fitzgerald  with the ACX  Crystal , a Philippine-flagged container ship, appears to be the worst U.S. Navy ship accident in years. Seven sailors are missing following the collision, which occurred in the morning darkness off Japan’s Izu peninsula around 2:20 a.m. on June 17. Two of  Fitzgerald ‘s crew berthings, the radio room and a machinery space flooded. The warship’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Bryce Benson, and two other injured sailors were medevaced to a U.S. Navy hospital in Yokosuka and are in stable condition. Imagery of the  Fitzgerald  shows severe damage to the destroyer’s starboard side, just below one of the octagonal SPY-1D phased array radars—which also appears damaged—that are critical to the ship’s anti-aircraft and missile defense system.  Fitzgerald  returned to Yokosuka under limited propulsion, the Nav...

Israel's first F-35A Lightning II fighter jet is revealed during a ceremony.  (Lockheed Martin) « less Israel received three F-35s from the US on Tuesday, bringing its total inventory of the revolutionary fighter up to five, but according to a French journalist citing French intelligence reports, Israeli F-35s have already carried out combat missions in Syria. In Air Forces Monthly,  Thomas Newdick  summarized  a report  from Georges Malbrunot at the French newspaper Le Figaro that said Israel took its F-35s out on a combat mission one month after getting them from the US. Malbrunot reported that on January 12, Israeli F-35s took out a Russian-made S-300 air defense system around Syrian President Bashar Assad's palace in Damascus and a Russian-made Pantsir-S1 mobile surface-to-air missile system set for delivery to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel has  repeatedly and firmly asserted  that its goal to make sure weapons cannot reach Hezbollah...

KCNA/REUTERSKim Jong Un at the test of a strategic submarine ballistic missile in an undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency in 2015. As tensions reach a boiling point between North Korea, the US, and the North's neighbors, Japan's government has issued a guide for its citizens on how to survive a missile attack that would take less than 10 minutes to hit Japan,  The Washington Post reports . The guide  warns specifically of nuclear ballistic-missile attacks, as North Korea continues both nuclear and ballistic-missile programs. The guide instructs people to keep calm, keep roads clear, and maintain communication with the outside world through radio or TV in the event of a nuclear, chemical, or biological attack. It recommends that in the event of a nuclear explosion, people not look at the flash, which could be blinding, and have the least possible amount of skin exposed to the blast of radiation. Paranoia or real concern? North Korea  stu...

'Admiral Kuznetsov' to get new cruise missiles, flight deck WIB SEA  April 26, 2017  Robert Beckhuse Russia’s rusty aircraft carrier  Admiral Kuznetsov  has been back at her home port near Murmansk since February following a 2016 combat deployment off the Syrian coast.  Kuznetsov  took a beating from heavy use and what’s next is a long-awaited refit, of which we now have a few details. First of all, the  Kuznetsov  is not technically an aircraft carrier—according to the Russian Navy’s definition—but a clumsily-titled “heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser” owing to her 12 Granit anti-ship cruise missiles. The retrofit will replace these with Kalibr-NK land-attack missiles, substantially boosting range, and fitted inside universal vertical launchers also capable of firing P-800 Oniks anti-ship missiles,  according to Tass . Russian warships have on several prior occasions fired Kalibr missiles at Syrian rebel and Islamic State targ...

In-Depth Coverage Iran Press TV The US AirForce has test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads, a move that is expected to escalate simmering tensions with North Korea over its development of missiles and nuclear weapons. The unarmed Minuteman III missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles, California, and successfully hit the target near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The test was aimed at assessing the effectiveness, readiness, and accuracy of the missile system, the USAF said. Colonel John Moss, the commander of the 30th Space Wing, said the Minuteman missiles need to be tested on a regular basis to ensure their reliability and to demonstrate the national nuclear capabilities. The timing of the test was questioned by peacegroups, with the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation calling it a "double standard" in the wake of rising tensions w...

An F-35 fighter pilot and ground crew member check out their plane before a training mission at Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, Utah, March 15, 2017. (Photo by AFP) The US Air Force is deploying F-35 jets to Estonia, putting the service’s newest fighter jets even closer to Russia’s doorstep. F-35A stealth Joint Strike Fighters flew from a base in the United Kingdom to Estonia, which has an almost 200-mile-long border with Russia. The advanced aircraft flew from Hill Air Force Base in Utah to Royal Air Force’s Lakenheath airfield earlier this month. Officials noted at the time that the Air Force also planned several “out and back” flights to other NATO nations that would help familiarize pilots with the region. ‘F-35 on first operational deployment to Europe’ The fighter jets arrived at the Ämari Air Base on Tuesday and will remain in the Baltic country for “several weeks.” The move was seen by Estonian defense officials as a gesture underscoring the US commitment to...

Washington (AFP) April 24, 2017 Russian warplanes last week flew a series of missions near Alaska, prompting the North American air defense agency to scramble US and Canadian jets, officials said Monday. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the Pentagon said Tu-95 Bear bombers were spotted in international air space on three occasions -- twice near the Aleutian Islands and once near mainland Alaska and Canada. The bomber missions occurred April 17, 18 and 20, and on two occasions NORAD launched fighters to conduct "safe and professional" intercepts. Mid-air interceptions are routine in international air space, and Russian jets frequently scramble to fly alongside US spy planes in and around the Baltic Sea and near Russia. But Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said there had been a lengthy pause in such operations off Alaska, possibly caused by the enormous, propeller-powered Tu-95s having been grounded due to maintenance issues. "This...

American   troops descend from a helicopter onto a green field peppered by palm-like tees. A fog hangs over the area and all the soldiers are faceless. Masks, mirrored goggles and technological doodads cover their features. Indistinct chatter fills the air as the soldiers move forward, their weapons raised. They’re ready for war. Fade into gunfire. The mirrored glasses of an American soldier pumping round after round into an unseen enemy. An armed robot outfitted with a sniper rifle moves along the outskirts of the soldiers, picking them off one by one. A dexterous commando rolls forward, unslings his sidearm and fires. It has no effect. Two ground combat drones encircle the soldiers, slaughtering them where they stand. The U.S. soldiers die, the drones prevail and Iran stops an American invasion. This isn’t the opening moment of a new Hollywood summer blockbuster, but a sample scene from an Iranian animated movie. In  The Battle of Persian Gulf 2 , Tehran kick...

PressTv  Turkey is getting more deeply involved in the Syria war. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is on a tour of Persian Gulf states, said in Bahrain on Monday that the ultimate goal of Turkey’s incursion into Syria is to create a safe zone and cleanse the border region from terrorist groups. The Syrian government, though, has on several occasions opposed Turkey’s intervention, which it views as a violation of its sovereignty. Press TV has conducted an interview with Richard Becker, with ANSWER Coalition, and Michael Lane, the founder of American Institute for Foreign Policy, to discuss the reasons why Ankara insists on creating a military safe zone inside Syria. Michael Lane expressed support for the idea of establishing safe zones in countries that are grappling with “civil war,” saying the only setback would be the need for a massive military support for the civilian population that would be left indefensible as a result. “Very curious move that President Erdogan wo...

By  Kelsey D. Atherton   Screenshot by author, from  YouTube DARPA Tern Concept Video Taking off like a helicopter and flying like a plane, TERN is designed as a versatile armed scout that can operate far from its home ship. Terns are a family of shorebirds that can nest in marginal conditions and thrive everywhere from beaches to wetlands to rivers to inlets. TERN, or the Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node, is a drone developed by Northrop Grumman for both the DARPA and the Office of Naval Research, with the goal of giving the Navy and Marine Corps a versatile flying scout that can support ships and troops almost anywhere they may be. Today, DARPA announced funding for Phase III of the project, which aims to take it from a mere concept to a working, flying, fighting robot by 2018. So what, exactly, does TERN do? It perches on ships, even small ships without runways, and then  takes off vertically like a helicopter , before transitioning to plane-like hor...

Soldiers of the Hashd al-Sha'abi (Popular Mobilization Units) wave the victory sign onboard a pickup truck on their way to Tal Afar airport on November 20, 2016. (Photos by AFP) Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units have blocked the escape of around 200 Daesh terrorists who were attempting to flee the city of Tal Afar and enter Syria. On Monday, PMU spokesman Ahmed al-Assadi told reporters that the terrorists were using tanks in their attempt to escape Tal Afar, which is located to the west of Mosul. "The attack by the Daesh terrorist gangs started at around 7:00 pm (1600 GMT)” and lasted for around six hours, he said. PMU forces, also known as Hashd al-Sha'abi, have been stationed around Mosul since October 17, when Iraq launched massive operations to retake the city from Daesh. The coalition of anti-terror forces have so far fully liberated the eastern half of the flashpoint city -- home to more than one million people -- and are gearing up to liberate its western side....