On November 28, North Korea conducted what is believed to be its third test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Launched from the vicinity of Pyongsong, South Pyongan Province, the missile flew for 50 minutes before landing in the Sea of Japan in Japan’s exclusive economic zone. The South Korean military said the missile reached...
On November 21, the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee released the chairman’s FY 2018 budget recommendations for the Department of Defense. The bill suggests a $581.3 billion base budget for DoD ($15.4 billion above the President’s budget request), and $64.9 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations. The committee also approved an additional $4.5 billion dollars in emergency...
The Naval Iron Dome system, first tested in May 2016, completed its final round of testing on Monday. The successful test, in which Grad rockets were fired both individually and in barrages, resulted in the system being declared fully operational by the Israeli Defense Forces. The “Iron Dome of the Sea” was a multi-year joint...
On November 23, the Russian Aerospace Force (VKS) successfully tested an upgraded version of the 53T6 Gazelle ballistic missile interceptor. The test was conducted at the Sary-Shagan site, located in Kazakhstan. The 53T6 is deployed in Russia’s anti ballistic missile systems protecting Moscow. Pavel Podvig, an independent Russian missile analyst, commented “Given that the launch...
On November 16, the Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR) passed the Missile Defense Agency’s Critical Design Review (CDR). The completion of the CDR means that hardware and software components have achieved Technology Readiness Level 7 and Manufacturing Readiness Level 7, and are ready to enter the fabrication, demonstration, and testing phase of the program. To...
The Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully test-fired the BrahMos-A supersonic cruise missile from a Sukhoi Su-30MKI multirole fighter jet on November 22, 2017. The missile was “gravity dropped,” after which the engine started, propelling the missile towards its target in the Bay of Bengal off India’s eastern coast. BrahMos was a joint venture between India’s...
On November 20, Romanian Defense Minister Mihai Fifor said that Romanian plans to procure $3.9 billion worth of Patriot air defense system technology in the first half of 2019. This statement followed Romania’s Senate’s defense committee formally approving the acquisition, which still needs to pass the rest of the Senate for the purchase to go...
On November 17, the U.S. State Department approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Poland for an Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS)-enabled Patriot Configuration-3+ for an estimated cost of $10.5 billion. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale on November 14,...
On November 17, the Russian Navy celebrated the launch of its new Borei-A-class nuclear-powered submarine, the Prince Vladimir, from the Sevmash Shipyard in the Arkhangelsk region. In comparison to three current Borei-class subs produced under the Project 955 program, the new generation will carry four additional missile tubes for Russia’s SS-N-32 Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile,...
According to unnamed U.S. officials, the United States is conducting research and development on a new ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM) in response to Russian violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. “The idea here is we need to send a message to the Russians that they will pay a military price for violation of...
