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 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...
Reports claim that UK Prime Minister Theresa May was aware of a malfunction that occurred during a June 2016 test-launch of an unarmed Trident II D5 missile when she spoke and voted in favor of renewing the Trident program last June. The Trident ballistic missile was tested as part of a certification program for the...
On January 17, 2017, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that it had conducted a successful test of its SS-27 ‘Topol-M’ ICBM. The Topol-M was fired from the Plesetsk launch site on Monday and reportedly hit its intended target on the Kamachatka peninsula “with high precision,” according to the Defense Ministry. The test was reportedly conducted to...
Reports from January 6, 2017 indicate that the Israeli satellite EROS B recently captured photos of at least two Russian-made road-mobile SS-26 “Iskander” missile launchers located at the Syrian army’s airbase in Latakia. Although stationed at a Syrian military base, it is believed that the launchers are manned and operated by Russian forces, which are...
On December 17, Azerbaijan’s Defense Industry Minister Yaver Jamalov confirmed that his country will purchase the Iron Dome defense system as part of a $4.8 billion deal with Israel. Azerbaijan will be one of the first countries to acquire the system, which is designed to intercept short-range rockets and artillery. It is unknown how many...
The final French Triomphant-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, Le Téméraire, has been docked at the Brest naval base to begin modifications that would allow the submarine to launch M51 nuclear ballistic missiles. The M51s will replace the obsolete and soon-to-be out of service M45 missiles that previously armed the SSBNs in the French fleet. DCNS...
On December 14, 2016, Pakistan tested its Hatf 7 “Babur” medium-range cruise missile from an undisclosed location. According to the Pakistan Military’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the missile was an enhanced version of the standard Babur missile, allowing it to “strike targets both at land and sea with high accuracy, at a range of 700...
Russia appears to be building permanent structures to house its SS-26 Iskander missile systems in the Kaliningrad enclave bordering Poland and Lithuania. These reports come from arms control experts who have used satellite imagery to pinpoint the location of the Iskanders and are now beginning to see the construction of permanent structures to shelter these...
Ukraine’s military announced that its two-day missile test, beginning December 1, 2016, will avoid Crimean airspace in an attempt to address Russian concern. Ukraine will conduct the exercise in its southern Kherson region on the border of Crimea, formerly a part of Ukraine until it was annexed by Russia in 2014. In anticipation of the test,...
