Iran claims to have S-300 surface-to-air missiles

Iran has obtained four S-300 surface-to-air missiles despite Russia's refusal to deliver them to Tehran under a valid contract, a semiofficial Iranian news agency claimed Wednesday.

The Fars news agency, which has ties to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, Iran's most powerful military force, said Iran received two missiles from Belarus and two others from another unspecified source. Fars didn't elaborate, and there was no immediate official confirmation of the report.

Russia signed a contract in 2007 to sell S-300 missiles to Iran, a move that would have substantially boosted the country's defense capacities. Israel fears that supplying S-300s to Iran would change the military balance in the Middle East.

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Mexican navy aircraft to fly Telephonics radar system

The Mexican navy is equipping its CN-235 marine patrol aircraft with U.S. manufacturer Telephonics' APS-143C(V)3 radar as part of its refurbishment program.

The CN-235 is an old workhorse originally developed by the former CASA of Spain, now part of EADS Airbus Military, and IPTN of Indonesia as a regional airliner and military transport.

Telephonics Corp. said it received the contract, worth more than $2 million, from EADS Airbus Military and would supply the APS-143C(V)3 radar systems for installation on the CN-235 aircraft in use by the Mexican navy.

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French Navy Receives 200th MU 90 Torpedo

The French Navy has received the 200th MU 90 lightweight torpedo from the European joint venture company (GEIE).

The MU 90 is a fire-and-forget lightweight torpedo specifically designed for anti-submarine warfare including both conventional and nuclear boats, in all tactical scenarios.

Equipped with a shaped explosive charge with a high penetration capability, the third-generation electrically powered torpedo provides greater range, better performance and enhanced security.

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Northrop Grumman Corp. gets more money for work on stealthy DDG-1000 destroyers

The U.S. Navy said Monday that it has awarded an additional $17.2 million contract to Northrop Grumman Corp. for fabrication, delivery, engineering and engineering support on Zumwalt class DDG 1000 destroyers.

The new award from the Naval Sea Systems Command is a change to a previous contract for the current federal budget year.

Of the work, 95 percent will be done in Pascagoula and 5 percent will be done in Gulfport, with completion expected by December.

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Iraq has capable military, analyst says

With U.S. combat forces in Iraq preparing to end their mission there, the Iraqi army could stand up amid political concerns, an Iraqi expert said.

U.S. President Barack Obama during a Monday speech to war veterans in Atlanta reaffirmed his commitment to ending combat operations in Iraq by the end of the month.

"We're moving out millions of pieces of equipment in one of the largest logistics operations that we've seen in decades," he said. "By the end of this month, we'll have brought more than 90,000 of our troops home from Iraq since I took office -- more than 90,000 have come home."

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Rail-Mobile Launchers of ICBMs and their Missiles

Key Point: Neither the United States nor Russia currently deploys rail-mobile ICBM launchers. If a Party develops and deploys rail-mobile ICBMs, such missiles, their warheads, and their launchers would be subject to the Treaty.

Definitions: The New START Treaty defines an ICBM launcher as a “device intended or used to contain, prepare for launch, and launch an ICBM.” This is a broad definition intended to cover all ICBM launchers, including rail-mobile launchers if they were to be deployed again in the future.

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Turkey could host advanced U.S. radar to confront Iran missile threat

Turkey is poised to become the first line of global defense against the threat of Iranian ballistic missiles, with the United States considering installing sophisticated radar systems in the country, according to a U.S. report.

According to the Washington Post, the U.S. is close to activating a partial missile shield over southern Europe.

As part of the deployment, Department of Defense officials are nearing a deal with either Turkey or Bulgaria to install high-powered X-band radar.

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US, Russia to have joint air defense drills

Next week, the United States and Russia will hold their first joint counter-terrorism military exercises, involving the two countries’ air force personnel and civilian air traffic control agencies.

This came in a statement by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

The drills, named Vigilant Eagle, will take place on August 8^th-11^th in the Russian Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk and at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska.

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Moscow Media Play Up US Leaks While Ignoring Russian Ones

Moscow media have been devoting enormous attention to the nearly 100,000 US documents leaked to the Wikileaks portal, but they have passed over in silence the leak of FSB documents to an Internet site earlier this summer, allowing the Russian powers that be time to plug that leak by shutting down the site.

In an article in today’s “Yezhednevny zhurnal,” Andrey Soldatov, editor of Agentura.ru and a leading independent specialist on Russia’s intelligence agencies, says that is especially unfortunate because as important as the US documents are in providing details, the leaked Russian documents may be far more “significant” (www.ej.ru/?a=note&id=10287).

The US documents leaked to Wikileaks and now widely published or at least commented upon, Soldatov says, “can certainly harm American interests in Afghanistan,” but “at the same time one must not say that the leak essentially changes our understanding” of what is taking place there.

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Russian Navy to base warships at Syrian port after 2012

Syria's Mediterranean port of Tartus
Russia's naval supply and maintenance site near Syria's Mediterranean port of Tartus will be modernized to accommodate heavy warships after 2012, the Russian Navy chief said on Monday.

"Tartus will be developed as a naval base. The first stage of development and modernization will be completed in 2012," Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky said, adding it could then serve as a base for guided-missile cruisers and even aircraft carriers.

The Soviet-era facility is operated under a 1971 agreement by Russian personnel.

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DRDO’s next: Star Wars-like weapons

Move aside Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, DRDO is trying to develop its own set of Star Wars-like weapons.

From laser dazzlers to control rioting crowds to high-powered lasers to destroy incoming missiles, DRDO is working on a slew of directed energy weapons (DEWs).

"Lasers are weapons of the future. We can, for instance, use laser beams to shoot down an enemy missile in its boost or terminal phase,'' said DRDO's Laser Science & Technology Centre (LASTEC) director Anil Kumar Maini, talking to TOI on Monday.

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Russian Emergencies Ministry to buy 8 Be-200 aircraft to fight wildfire

The Russian Emergencies Ministry plans to purchase eight Be-200 amphibious aircraft to fight wildfires in the next two and a half years, Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Monday.

An order for the aircraft, which cost around 1 billion rubles each, will be placed shortly, Shoigu said.

"We plan to create three large squadrons, in the Far East, Siberia and central Russia, which will include not only Be-200s but also Mi-26, Mi-8 and Ka-32 helicopters," he said.

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Lockheed F-35's Parts to Get More Scrutiny Amid Test Delays, Pentagon Says

The U.S. Defense Department may require more rigorous inspection of parts for the F-35 fighter jet, its most expensive weapons program, add maintenance staff and buy more replacement components as the agency works to prevent major flight delays because of failing parts.

Other responses to a “higher than expected” failure rate on some components for the Marine Corps and Air Force versions of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s $382.4 billion fighter-jet program include revised flight days and parts redesigns, if necessary, Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin said in an e-mailed statement prepared by the program manager.

Development and combat testing of the Joint Strike Fighter, also intended for use by the Navy, is behind schedule, prompting the U.S. government to warn that it may withhold millions of dollars in fees.

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Chinese naval warships welcomed in Italy

Chinese Ambassador to Italy Ding Wei and some 200 Chinese nationals welcomed on Monday the arrival of two Chinese warships at the southern naval base in Taranto.

Enthusiastic Chinese people, coming from all over Italy, greeted the navy soldiers with cheers, waving in the air red Chinese flags. Some lucky ones even had the opportunity to board one of the ships for a tour.

The vessels, destroyer Guangzhou and frigate Chaohu led by Rear Admiral Zhang Wendan, are part of the fifth Chinese naval escort flotilla, which just completed patrolling the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters to protect commercial ships from pirate attacks.

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Pakistan has as much fissile material as India

Pakistan may already have not just more nuclear warheads than India but also almost as much fissile material as its eastern neighbour to assemble an almost equal number of more nukes.

These worrying disclosures for India are a part of a report on world nuclear stockpile by top US nuclear experts and researchers Hans M Kristensen and Robert S Norris for the prestigious Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

Titled `Global Nuclear Weapons Inventories, 1945-2010’, the report said Pakistan had already assembled 70-90 nuclear warheads against India’s 60-80.

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Boeing flies its third flight-test P-8A Poseidon

Boeing P-8A Poseidon aircraft T3 completed its first flight test on Saturday, from Seattle's Boeing Field.

The plane flew for two hours and 48 minutes, allowing Boeing and U.S. Navy test pilots to perform airborne systems checks, including engine accelerations and decelerations, autopilot flight modes, and auxiliary power unit and engine shutdowns and starts, Boeing said in a news release.

The P-8A is a 737-based anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft.

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Navy poised to pick builder of new Littoral Combat Ship this summer

The Navy plans to pick a winner this summer in the contest to build a new high-speed warship that can prowl close to shorelines as a vital part of future military strategy.

But whether the service can live up to its promises to build an inexpensive ship that can do a variety of missions remains a big question, defense industry analysts and congressional leaders say.

Two companies -- General Dynamics of Falls Church, and its partner, and Lockheed Martin of Bethesda -- are competing for the contract to build what is known as the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), a deal that could be worth as much as $28 billion over several decades.

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Taliban don't have stinger missiles: Gates

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday dismissed reports that Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan use anti-aircraft stinger missiles similar to those directed against Soviet forces in the 1980s.

"I don't think so," Gates told CNN's "State of the Union" program in response to a question on the matter.

Documents released by whistleblowers' website WikiLeaks one week ago suggested Taliban insurgents had the shoulder-fired, heat-seeking, surface-to-air missiles.

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Fleet of Shadow 200 unmanned spy planes to Australian protect troops in Afghanistan

Australian troops in Afghanistan will be better protected by a fleet of spy planes under a new $175 million deal.

Defence Minister John Faulkner will today announce that the Government has approved the purchase of 18 RQ-7B Shadow 200 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and support systems.

It is part of a $1.1 billion plan announced in the May budget to boost force protection for diggers serving in Afghanistan.

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Dutch mission ends in Afghanistan

Dutch troops are pulling their last soldiers out of Afghanistan after a four-year mission of helping Nato troops combat Taliban fighters in the country.

Nato's request for an extension of the mission sparked a political row that led to the Dutch government's collapse in February and the announced drawdown.

The 2,000 Dutch soldiers that were deployed in Afghanistan will be replaced by a US-led coalition force including Australian, Slovak and Singaporean soldiers.

Al Jazeera's James Bays reports from Kabul, the Afghan capital.

Prototype of New Chinese Attack Helicopter Revealed

Chinese aviation firm AVIC has revealed the first prototype of the new home-grown anti-armor attack helicopter Z-19.

This new attack helicopter is based on the Z-9W anti-armor attack helicopter which itself was derived from the license-built AS-365N.

New anti-armor attack helicopter features a new narrow forwarded fuselage with tandem compact layout similar to that is being used on the other gunship helicopters like Z-10, TAI/Agusta Westland T-129, AH-1Z Viper, AH-64 Apache, Eurocopter Tiger, Mil Mi-28 and HAL Light Combat Helicopter.

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Air support could come from unmanned A-10s

An unmanned A-10 overhead and a joint terminal attack controller on the ground with the firing controls in his hands.

It’s not possible now, but it will be in the next few years, theoretically cutting response time dramatically and reducing errors in close-air support strikes.

The Pentagon’s advanced research arm wants an aircraft 30 miles from a firefight to be able to attack within six minutes of a request by a JTAC. The airman would access the plane’s targeting sensors, enter coordinates to multiple targets and send ammo flying.

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Armed forces stunned by Trident bill

In a break with historical precedent, George Osborne, the Chancellor, has ruled that the entire cost of the new system must be found from within the day-to-day defence budget.

The ruling has caused disarray within the Ministry of Defence where officials are already struggling to find cost savings of 20 per cent – or £7 billion – from next year's budget.

Major capabilities such as Britain's two new aircraft carriers may now be axed or delayed, the number of Joint Strike Fighter aircraft is set to be halved and a raft of RAF, Army and Naval bases will be closed in addition to other cuts, to fund the Trident replacement programme.

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USS Missouri 'reports for duty'

The newest Virginia-class attack submarine joined the fleet in a ceremony at the Naval Submarine Base today.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead called the work between the Navy and the shipbuilders, Electric Boat and Northrop Grumman Newport News in Virginia, "a national strategic asset."

The USS Missouri (SSN 780), the seventh member of the class, was built in 65 months, which was nine months ahead of schedule.

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Research for better surveillance, submarine stealth

University of Adelaide researchers are helping develop quieter diesel engine submarines and an image content search capability for improved surveillance and reconnaissance.

The two research projects have won funding under the Department of Defence's Capability and Technology Demonstrator (CTD) Program, announced today by the Hon. Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Materiel and Science.

The University's School of Mechanical Engineering will receive $1,120,000 to develop an adaptive exhaust silencer to reduce the noise from the diesel engines used on submarines. The Australian Centre for Visual Technologies will receive $684,000 to develop technologies that will help Defence search vast available databases of video and still imagery.

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