On September 14, Russia fired seven SS-N-30A Kalibr cruise missiles at ISIS targets in Syria’s eastern Deir el-Zor province. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, two Russian submarines stationed in the Mediterranean Sea, the Velikiy Novgorod (B-268) and Kolpino (B-271), fired the missiles from a submerged position and they traveled between 500 and 670 km...
On September 12, 2017, Russia successfully tested its silo-based, solid-fuel RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, located north of Moscow. It successfully flew to the Kura Military Range in Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the test was necessary in order to “reaffirm the reliability” of the missiles,...
On September 12, the South Korean Air Force conducted its first live-fire test of the Taurus air-to-surface cruise missile. The missile, air-launched from an F-15K fighter jet, flew over 400 km and successfully navigated several obstacles at low altitude before hitting a target off South Korea’s western coast. Part of South Korea’s “Kill Chain” air...
Turkey announced September 12, 2017, that it has signed a deal with Russia to purchase the Russian S-400 surface-to- air missile defense system. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the press that a deposit has already been paid. Though the prospective purchase was made public several months ago, this announcement is the first time Erdogan has...
On September 4-7, units from Russia, Armenia, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan drilled together as part of the Combat Commonwealth 2017 CIS joint air defense exercise. Over 1,500 soldiers participated and multiple systems were tested, including the Pantsir S-1, S-300, and S-400 Triumf. The drill reportedly included countering a variety of targets, from unmanned aerial vehicles to ballistic...
On September 7, the U.S. Navy completed its third test of the new AN/SPY-6 (V) Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR). According to Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), during the Vigilant Talon flight test the radar searched for, detected, and simultaneously tracked a complex short-range ballistic missile and multiple air-to-surface cruise missile targets throughout their...
On September 4, South Korea’s military conducted two live-fire exercises following North Korea’s nuclear test the previous day. The first exercise was a joint drill by the ROK Army and Air Force involving F-15K fighter jets, SLAM-ER missiles, and land-based Hyunmoo-2A ballistic missiles that simulated an attack on North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site. On...
On September 5, the Russian frigate the Admiral Essen (751) in the Mediterranean launched a salvo of three Kalibr cruise missiles at Islamic State militants in Syria as part of the Syrian army’s push to break the Islamic State’s three year siege of Deir al-Zor. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the missiles destroyed command...
On September 3, North Korea successfully tested what state-run news outlets called a “two-stage thermonuclear weapon.” The underground explosion at the northeastern Punggye-ri nuclear test site produced a 6.3 magnitude artificial earthquake according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Estimates of the yield have ranged from between 50 and 60 kilotons, according to South Korea’s weather...
The South Korean Ministry of Defense announced that the U.S. military will be allowed to install four more THAAD launchers at the site in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province after the Ministry of Environment concluded that the full deployment would have only a small impact on the people and neighboring environment. This decision comes after the...
