On February 22, report indicated that China is close to finishing nearly two dozen structures that are suspected to house long-range surface-to-air missiles on its artificial islands in the South China Sea. Analysts detected the building of these structures with retractable roofs, coupled with military length air-strips on the islands of Subi, Michief, and Fiery Cross...
Last Thursday, the United States Navy announced that it had successfully carried out four Trident II D5 sub-launched ballistic missile test flights launched from an Ohio-class submarine over the course of a three-day exercise. The tests were conducted to evaluate the missile’s reliability and performance in a normal operating environment. While the Navy claims the tests...
On February 16th, Senators Tom Cotton, (R-Arkansas), Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), and Marco Rubio (R-Florida) introduced the Intermediate- Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) Preservation Act. This piece of legislation, along with a companion piece introduced by Congressmen Ted Poe (R-Texas) and Mike Rogers (R-Alabama) into the House of Representatives, calls for the United States to develop an...
On February 14, a senior military official reported that Russia has deployed a battalion of intermediate-range ground-launched cruise missiles, violating the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The missile has been referred to as the SSC-X-8 since it was first reported as a potential INF violation in 2014. The missile is likely a ground-launched variant of...
On February 11, India conducted a test of its two-tier ballistic missile defense system. Reports indicate that an exo-atmospheric interceptor, also called the “Prithvi Defense Vehicle” (PDV), successfully launched from India’s Wheeler Island test range, approximately 200 km away from the ship-launched target missile. Accroding to DRDO, the PDV intercepted the target at an altitude of...
On February 12, North Korea conducted an apparently successful test-launch of a new medium- to intermediate-range ballistic missile, dubbed the Pukkuksong-2. North Korea’s official news agency confirmed the test on February 13, quoting Kim Jong-Un expressing “great satisfaction over the possession of another powerful nuclear attack means, which adds to the tremendous might of the country.”...
On February 4, the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force began a series of military drills and exercises in the Semnan province in northern Iran. The drills included testing various long-range rocket systems including the Khordad-III, Tabasm, and Sayyad-II. The drills also tested the Qadir, Matla al-Fajr, and Kavosh radar systems used for air...
A recent Pentagon testing report indicates that software issues may delay the Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS), a key part of the Army’s new Integrated Air and Missile Defense System. The IBCS acts to connect sensors to fire-control systems across multiple systems in order to track and engage threats, allowing the radar of one Patriot...
On February 6, Turkey’s procurement office announced that the state-controlled missile manufacturer Roketsan is developing a long-range surface-to-surface missile called Bora. The Turkish Undersecretariat of Defense Industries said that “deliveries continue on in line with the program’s timetable,” but failed to specify if the deliveries referred to prototypes or the actual developed system. Security analysts claim...
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...
