Russia’s Caspian Fleet flagship, the RFS Tatarstan (691), conducted live firing exercises at sea. Speaking to TASS News Agency, Russian military spokesman Vadim Astafyev said: “The crew of the Tatarstan missile ship has successfully hit air, sea and shore targets with various types of shipboard weapons, including the AK-630M artillery system, the AK-176M artillery mount...
On March 11, Russia released footage of its new ‘Kinzhal’ nuclear-capable air-launched missile. The Kinzhal was first announced by Putin earlier this month, in his State of the Union to Russia’s Federal Assembly. Putin claimed that the Kinzhal’s “unique flight characteristics of the high-speed carrier aircraft allow the missile to be delivered to the point...
Delegations from eight countries recently witnessed a successful test of the Patriot missile defense system at the White Sands Missile Range facility in New Mexico. During the test, two PAC-3 missile successfully intercepted two representative tactical ballistic missiles. The test demonstrated the newest Patriot missile defense software, Post Deployment Build-8 (PDB-8), and also the Cost...
On March 4, U.S. and Israeli forces began joint exercises for the 12-day Juniper Cobra 2018 wargame, designed to improve coordination between the two militaries. The exercise consists of responding to threat scenarios using computer-assisted simulations that range from rocket threats to crisis resupply, foreign disaster response and foreign humanitarian assistance. Integrated ballistic missile defense...
In early March, Singapore officials confirmed deployment of the MBDA Aster 30 air defense system. The missiles were ordered at the end of summer 2013, to replace Singapore’s aging I-HAWK ground-based air defense system. In a March 2 speech to the Parliament’s defense committee, Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen confirmed deployment of the Aster 30...
On March 8, the White House announced President Trump had accepted an invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to meet for negotiations over its nuclear program. The invitation was conveyed by South Korean officials in a meeting with President Trump, with the meeting scheduled to take place by May. The announcement came as a...
On March 7, Iranian Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajjizadeh told Fars News Agency that Iran has significantly increased its missile production. “In the past we had to do a lot of explaining to various bodies for our actions but it’s not like that anymore,” said Hajjizadeh, who leads the Revolutionary Guards’ aerospace division. “Our production...
On March 6, the Defense Intelligence Agency released its annual Worldwide Threat Assessment, the yearly unclassified briefing on the conclusions of the intelligence community on a wide range of topics. This year’s report highlighted North Korea’s accelerating nuclear and missile programs as well as Russian non-compliance with the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. In...
In a speech on March 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the development of new nuclear delivery systems capable of evading U.S. missile defenses. The State of the Union address officially unveiled two new capabilities: a low-flying, nuclear-armed, and reportedly nuclear-powered cruise missile and a submarine-launched, long-range, nuclear-tipped torpedo. “The containment of Russia didn’t succeed,”...
On February 23, India’s Strategic Forces Command (SFC) test fired a Dhanush ballistic missile from an Indian Navy vessel in the Bay of Bengal. The missile was fired off an Indian Navy Sukyana-class offshore patrol vessel, either the INS Subhadra or INS Suvarna. The Dhanush launch comes amid a busy schedule of Indian ballistic missile...
