On April 17, the U.S. Air Force announced procurement plans for its next generation of missile warning satellites. Canceling further satellites launches for the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) constellation, the Air Force is instead transferring to a new program dubbed the Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared. Procurement is scheduled in five years, yet analysts...
On April 16, China’s Ministry of Defense announced that the People’s Liberation Army-Rocket Force (PLARF) had recently commissioned a new brigade of its Dong Feng-26 (DF-26) intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM). The DF-26 was first publicly displayed in a September 2015 military parade. Nicknamed the “Guam-killer,” the missile has a range of 3,000-4,000 km and carries...
On April 16, KSA Air Defense Forces intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Houthi militants targeting the city of Najran. The missile was reportedly launched from Yemen’s Amran province. Although Saudi officials disclosed that the intercept resulted in “the dispersal of missile fragments on some residential areas”, no casualties have been reported. On April 15,...
On April 13, the United States, United Kingdom, and France launched a joint strike of 105 missiles on Syrian chemical weapons storage and research facilities. The operation came in response to an alleged poison gas attack by the Syrian government on the rebel-held area of Douma. The joint strike, which lasted two minutes, took nearly...
On April 14, Pakistan conducted a successful test flight of its enhanced ground-launched Babur cruise missile. Designated the Babur-1B, the missile ““incorporates advanced aerodynamics and avionics that can strike targets both at land and sea with high accuracy, at a range of 700 kilometers.” Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) released a video of the test,...
On April 13, Saudi Air Defense Forces reportedly intercepted a Houthi-launched ballistic missiles targeting the city of Jizan. KSA said they intercepted another missile headed for Jizan the day prior. The Houthis claim their missile attacks on the kingdom are in retaliation for air raids on Yemen by the Saudi-led Arab coalition, and leadership has...
On April 11, Saudi Air Defense Forces reportedly intercepted three ballistic missiles targeting the capital city of Riyadh, and southern cities of Jizan and Najran. In their attack on Riyadh, Houthi militants fired a Burkan-2H missile. The strike purportedly aimed at the Defense Ministry. The Burkan-2H was successfully intercepted by a Saudi PAC-2 system. Footage...
On April 10, The Diplomat revealed that China is developing and flight testing a nuclear-capable air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM). According to the report, the U.S. intelligence community has designated the missile – likely a variant of the DF-21 MRBM – as CH-AS-X-13. The missile was first tested in December 2016 and was most recently tested...
On April 10, Ukraine conducted final testing of its Vilkha 300mm guided rockets. The test took place in the Odesa region and was reportedly successful. “Thanks to the efforts of all those who worked on this project, we received powerful missilery, which in all respects is better than the Russian analog “Smerch” by all odds,”...
On April 9, Israeli aircraft carried out a missile strike on a Syrian airbase following the Assad government’s chemical weapons attack in Ghouta. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, which was the first to publicly detail the attack, two Israeli F-15 warplanes fired a total of eight cruise missiles from Lebanese airspace on Syria’s...
