Taiwanese media reports that Taiwan is pursuing upgrades to its indigenous anti-ship, surface-to-air, and air-to-air missile capabilities. Taiwan’s National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, or NCSIST has been working to improve the range, electronic counter-countermeasures, and guidance systems of the Hsiung- Feng (Brave Wind) series of anti-ship missiles, the Tien Kung (Sky Bow) surface-to-air...
On February 3, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the Japanese Ministry of Defense conducted a successful intercept test of the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA. This was the third flight test and first intercept test for the jointly-developed missile. The SM-3 IIA was fired by the USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53), which intercepted and...
On February 3, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on more than two dozen Iranian, Chinese, and Emirati businesses and individuals that they say support Iran’s ballistic missile program. The sanctions, the first in over a year, come in response to Iran’s January 29 flight test of its Khorramshahr medium-range ballistic missile. John Smith, the...
The German military announced on February 2, 2017 that it has decided to replace its short-range air defense systems in order to improve NATO’s European defense. The decision comes as a relief to NATO allies who have become increasingly concerned about the gaps in air defenses following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. The procurement costs...
On January 31, 2017, reports say that China tested a DF-5C intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with 10 multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), a significant increase from the three warheads previously deployed on the DF-5B. The test launched from the Taiyuan Space Launch Center in central China last month. The increased number of MIRVs may imply...
On February 1, NATO announced that it would indefinitely suspend a meeting with Ukrainian officials regarding NATO’s missile defense system. As Ukraine is not a member of the alliance, NATO’s Aegis Ashore site would not be used to defend the country. However, this meeting would have addressed concerns about debris falling on Ukrainian territory if Iran...
A recent statement by a U.S. official to reporters suggests that Iran’s Khorramshahr missile, which Iran tested on January 29, may have been a variant of North Korea’s Musudan medium-range ballistic missile. The official suggested in an interview with Reuters that Sunday’s test was the first time the missile had been tested since July 2016....
On January 27, President Donald Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum on rebuilding America’s armed forces that calls for a new Ballistic Missile Defense Review. The review is tasked to “identify ways of strengthening missile-defense capabilities, rebalancing homeland and theater defense priorities, and highlighting priority funding areas.” A previous draft White House memorandum included...
On January 30, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korea’s acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn exchanged a phone call in which they reaffirmed their countries’ bilateral alliance and the future deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system to South Korea. According to the White House, “Trump reiterated our ironclad commitment to defend the ROK,...
On January 29, 2017, Iran test-fired a “Khorramshahr” medium range ballistic missile from a test site near Semnan, 140 miles east of Tehran. Reports claim that the missile flew about 965 km before apparently exploding during reentry. The Khorramshahr is a new, indigenously made Iranian missile and its development was announced by Defense Minister Hossein...
