Gsbt

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...

Moscow (Sputnik) Apr 26, 2017 In an interview with Sputnik, Russian military expert Viktor Baranets specifically touted unprecedented the damage range of Russia's next-generation S-500 Prometey missile system, which is currently undergoing state tests. Earlier this week, Pavel Sozinov, chief engineer of the Russian defense corporation Almaz-Antey, said that Russia's next-generation S-500 surface-to-air missile system would be able to engage targets in the upper layer of the atmosphere, 100 kilometers [62 miles] above the Earth's surface. The S-500, designed by Almaz Antey, is said to have a range of 600 kilometers (more than 370 miles). The system can simultaneously intercept up to ten ballistic and hypersonic missiles traveling at a speed of up to 7 kilometers per second. Speaking to Sputnik, Viktor Baranets pointed, in particular, to the unique performance characteristics of the new Russian missile system. "The S-500 will be capable of hitting targets at an alt...

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...

The Ukrainian military hopes it can keep more of its soldiers alive when its new unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) hits the battlefield. This is the Phantom. It’s designed to help minimize the number of soldiers required to fight against the heavily-armed rebels backed by Russia in the Dombass region, where a nearly three-year civil war has claimed the lives of more than 3,100 Ukrainian troops. One of the key features of the Phantom is its anti-tank missile system, called Barrier, and its 12.7 mm caliber machine gun. The machine gun and Barrier are capable of engaging light and heavily-armored targets from 100 to 5,000 meters, according to  Ukroboronprom , the Ukrainian company that makes the Phantom. Besides its offensive power, the Phantom can drive on sand, thanks to its hybrid all-wheel drive engine, hydraulic brake system and independent suspension. And if you’re thinking about the Phantom being hacked somehow, it is fitted with a secure radio channel. I reached out to Ukraine...

On Jan. 19, the Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released 49 documents recovered in Osama bin Laden’s compound. To date, only a few hundred documents from bin Laden’s massive cache have been declassified. Still, the files that have been posted online reveal new details about al Qaeda’s complex international network. For instance, one  newly released missive  discusses Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’s (AQIM) support for Boko Haram. The letter was written by Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, an AQIM commander who was subsequently killed in Mali in 2013. It was authored in Aug. 2009 and is addressed to AQIM’s emir, Abdelmalek Droukdel (also known as Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud). Boko Haram’s men sought AQIM’s assistance “Imam Abubakar Shekau, who assumed power of the Nigeria group after the death of Imam Muhammad Yusuf, sent three brothers to us,” Abou Zeid wrote at the beginning of his letter. Shekau (seen on the right) is the notorious leader of the organization commonly...

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...

As Donald Trump’s first three weeks in office come to a close, critics are pointing out that his iconic slogan, “Make America Great Again” is starting to look more and more like an attempt to bring American society back to the 1950s. What most people haven’t realized yet is that his vision of turning back the clock also applies to America’s nuclear arsenal. Just this past week, CQ Roll Call  reported  that a blue-ribbon Pentagon panel urged the Trump administration to make the U.S. arsenal more capable of fighting a “‘limited’ atomic war.” According to the report, “The Defense Science Board … urges the president to consider altering existing and planned U.S. armaments to achieve a greater number of lower-yield weapons that could provide a ‘tailored nuclear option for limited use.’” The strategy behind limited nuclear use sounds deceptively simple. You need to escalate a conflict just  enough  to end it. As the theory goes, using low-yield nuclear weapons aga...

Washington admits it used one of the worst weapons imaginable in Syria, despite earlier promises that it wouldn't You don't want to see what depleted uranium does to human beings. Depleted Uranium is left over from the enrichment of uranium 235. It is exceptionally hard, and has been employed by militaries both to penetrate armored targets and to reinforce their potential targets like tanks against enemy fire. Though less radioactive than the original uranium, DU is toxic and is considered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to be a “radiation health hazard when inside the body.” The weapon saw widespread use in the First Gulf War, and its affects on the health of U.S. soldiers was later dubbed "Golf War Syndrome". (At least it was semi-recognized; the severe birth defects and other health issues this weapon has caused among the Iraqi population have simply been ignored or denied). This disgusting weapon was used again by the Americans  during their "l...

US President Donald Trump is expected to retreat from his campaign promise to rip up a nuclear deal signed by Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, including the US, the UK, France, Russia, and China plus Germany in 2015, says an analyst. “Despite President Trump’s campaign promises in which he called the Iran nuclear deal as the ‘worse deal’, we don’t think the White House will be killing the nuclear deal,” Roozbeh Aliabadi, managing partner of the Global Growth Advisors from New York, told Press TV on Tuesday. European states, Russia and China are behind the nuclear accord called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the analyst said adding, “it is highly unlikely that we will see killing of the deal.” “It is reasonable for all of us to assume that the nuclear deal will stay in place,” the analyst noted. He said the fact that Trump in his first three weeks in office has not yet discussed the JCPOA with the ...

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia last week. Russia’s reported deployment of a new type of missile presents another challenge to its relations with the United States. POOL PHOTO BY ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO By MICHAEL R. GORDON WASHINGTON —  Russia  has secretly deployed a new cruise missile despite complaints from American officials that it violates a landmark arms control treaty that helped seal the end of the Cold War, administration officials say. The move presents a major challenge for President Trump, who has vowed to improve relations with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and to pursue future arms accords. The new Russian missile deployment also comes as the Trump administration is struggling to fill key policy positions at the State Department and the Pentagon — and to settle on a permanent replacement for  Michael T. Flynn, the  national security adviser  who resigned  late Monday. Mr. Flynn stepped down after it was re...

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....

Alex Lockie The test-fire of Pukguksong-2. This photo was released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on February 13.KCNA/Handout On Sunday, North Korea launched a missile into the Sea of Japan for the first time since US President Donald Trump took office. South Korean officials  told Reuters  that the missile, a land-based adaptation of the submarine-launched KN-11, doesn't have the range to strike the US but has another trait that's just as troubling, if not more: solid fuel. North Korean missiles usually rely on liquid fuel and have to be gassed up similar to how you'd fill up a car. North Korea, like many nuclear powers, mounts its nuclear-capable missiles on trucks. Road-mobile missile launchers can hide easier, launch from almost anywhere, and take an enemy by surprise - but liquid fuel complicates all that. To launch a liquid-fueled missile, a giant convoy of military trucks must drive out to a location, fuel up the rocket with the multiple types...

Terrell Jermaine Starr Last night, the U.S. Air Force test-launched an unarmed Minuteman III ICBM from the Vandenberg Air Force Base. It’s not an event that happens every day, but it’s done to verify the reliability and accuracy of the weapons system. While it could be seen as a message to a belligerent North Korea, it’s still a test of a system wildly outdated compared to what Russia is arming up with. The missile, equipped with a reentry vehicle, flew 4,200 miles to a test range near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It was pulled at random from a silo at Minot Air Force Base, in North Dakota, then transported and reassembled at Vandenberg. There are no more details on how the test went. See the video below: Though, given how North Korea  recently announced  that it is developing an ICBM that can reach the U.S. mainland, the Minuteman III launch may have just been a message to Pyongyang that Washington can strike it with little notice. A...

All 28 NATO allies fully support Ukraine as it faces the worst upsurge in fighting against pro-Russian rebels in two years, alliance deputy head Rose Gottemoeller said Thursday. US President Donald Trump has stoked concerns in NATO and Europe by dubbing the alliance "obsolete" and taking a softer stance on Russia, in marked contrast to his predecessor. "There was unanimity around the NATO-Ukraine Council table, strong support from all allies for Ukraine," she told reporters after talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The US-led alliance had stood by Ukraine since "Russian aggressive actions" began in 2014 and it would not recognise the illegal annexation of Crimea early that year, she said. The recent fighting was the worst in two years, with OSCE monitors reporting more than 10,000 violations of the Minsk ceasefire accords on one day, she said. "We are deeply concerned by the recent spike in vi...

Three Turkish soldiers were "accidentally" killed and 11 wounded on Thursday when a Russian air strike targeting jihadists in Syria hit a building where the troops were deployed, the Turkish army said. With Moscow and Ankara cooperating ever more closely on Syria, President Vladimir Putin quickly reached out to Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to express condolences and promise better future coordination. The Russian plane had been seeking to hit targets of Islamic State (IS) jihadists but "by accident three of our heroic soldiers were martyred when a building was bombed where our units were," the Turkish army said in a statement. It said that of the 11 injured, one was badly wounded. Putin contacted Erdogan to express his "sadness and condolences," it added. "Russian officials have said that the incident was an accident," the army said, adding an investigation is being carried out by both sides. In Moscow, the Kremlin said Putin...