Russia to Test 70 New Rockets and Missiles in 2014

The Russian military plans to test around 70 types of rocket and missile weaponry at a major testing site this year, a Defense Ministry spokesman has said.

The testing program at the Kapustin Yar range in southern Russia will include about 300 launches of rockets, missiles, and aerial drones as part of more than 180 R&D projects, said Colonel Igor Yegorov.

The range is located in the Astrakhan region between the cities of Volgograd and Astrakhan. It is known for tests of Iskander-M tactical ballistic missiles, S-300 and S-400 air defense systems and Smerch multiple-launch rocket systems.

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Pentagon waived sanctions rules on Chinese parts for F-35 fighter

The Pentagon waived bans on the use of Chinese-built components on US weapons systems in an effort to keep the colossal F-35 joint strike fighter program on track in 2012 and 2013.

Pentagon documents show its top arms buyer, Frank Kendall, granted waivers to two main F-35 suppliers, Northrop Grumman and Honeywell International, for the use of Chinese magnets in the fighter plane’s radar system, landing gear and other hardware.

Both companies - top military contracting powers working for its peer Lockheed Martin to complete the US$392 billion (and counting) F-35 fighter jet system - would have faced sanctions for breaking US law, thus subjecting the program to further delays.

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Pentagon Issues 25-Year Unmanned Systems Roadmap

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) issued a new 25-year “roadmap” for the ongoing development, production and use of unmanned aircraft, ground and maritime systems through 2038. The roadmap forecasts that Pentagon spending on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) will continue growing through 2015; thereafter the rate of spending will decline.

The DOD plans to spend $3.7 billion on research and development, procurement and operations and maintenance of UAS this year, increasing to $4.8 billion in 2015. It plans to spend $21.6 billion over the course of its five-year future years defense program (FYDP).

“Overall funding demonstrates a continued commitment to invest in UAS, performing predominately ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) missions,” states the Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap, which the Pentagon released on December 23.

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The navy's patrol boat fleet is over worked and under maintained according to a new report

Every time one of the navy's Armidale Class Patrol Boats departs from its Darwin base for a people smuggling patrol around Christmas Island the vessel and its crew face a 3000km journey simply to get to work.

That means 136 hours or 5.6 days of steaming time from HMAS Coonawarra before the small warship and her 25-strong crew even begin the arduous task of dealing with groups of desperate people who may have invested their life savings in a one-way ticket to Australia in a leaky Indonesian fishing boat.

As much as the Government likes to portray itself as tough on asylum seekers and people smugglers, calling its "stop the boats" mission a tactical military task, the sailors attached to the patrol boat fleet are at the sharp end of an humanitarian operation to deliver men, women and children lost on the high seas to safe landfall.

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Turkey's problematic defense industry policy for military projects

Close to the end of 2013, on Dec. 27, Turkey awarded one of the biggest and costliest navy projects to a local shipyard company, Sedef Gemi Insaati A.S., which partnered with the Spanish company Navantia.

This project, like some other military acquisition tenders, requires close scrutiny because the lack of transparency in Turkey also applies to military expenditures.

For a long time, Turkey did not have a defense industry policy based on a clear goal of boosting local industry and putting an emphasis on the export of weapons. The relationship between the user, i.e. the military, and the buyer, i.e., the state, in arms procurement policies was also very blurred due to the military's interference in the acquisition of weapons.

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INS Vikramaditya enters Indian Navy's area of operation

It was a sight to behold. As India’s newest aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya entered the Indian Navy’s area of operation in north western Arabian Sea, accompanied by three other vessels, it was rendezvoused -- in Naval parlance RVed -- with the Western Fleet that had gone all the way from Mumbai to receive it.

INS Vikramaditya, which was accompanied by INS Trikand, which is a Talwar class frigate, INS Delhi which is a Delhi class destroyer and INS Deepak, the fleet tanker, fired ceremonial guns to salute the flag of the fleet commander Rear Admiral Anand Chawla, who was leading the flotilla of the Western Fleet, that also comprised aircraft carrier INS Viraat.

The other ships besides INS Viraat which had gone to receive INS Vikramaditya included two Delhi class destroyers, three Trishul class stealth frigates, a Godavari class frigate and a couple of offshore vessels.

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Halifax navy base closes, several thousand sent home

As a blizzard continues to kick up snow in Halifax, many services and stores are closed, including CFB Halifax.

The base in Shearwater is closed for everyone except essential people.

That means several thousand sailors and civilians have been sent home and only essential personnel are left.

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Despite delays, Ottawa pushes ahead with Cyclone chopper plan

The “worst procurement in the history of Canada” has suffered another setback, with Ottawa announcing it now plans to get its long-awaited fleet of maritime helicopters in 2018, or 10 years behind schedule.

In a news release late on Friday, the federal government announced a deal with aircraft-manufacturer Sikorsky to start receiving 28 “fully capable” CH-148 Cyclone helicopters in four years.

The helicopters are designed to replace the nearly 50-year-old Sea Kings on the Royal Canadian Navy’s frigates for military operations around the world.

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Israel tests Arrow missile shield, eyes Syria, Iran

Israel successfully tested its upgraded Arrow ballistic missile interceptor for the second time on Friday, pushing forward work on a U.S.-backed defense against threats seen from Iran, Syria and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas.

One of several elements of Israel's still-developing defense against missile attacks, Arrow III is designed to deploy kamikaze satellites - known as "kill vehicles" - that track and slam into ballistic missiles above the earth's atmosphere, high enough to safely disintegrate any chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.

Iran and Syria have long had such missiles, and Israel believes some are also now held by their ally Hezbollah, another knock-on effect of Syria's civil war.

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Malfunction delays U.S. delivery of P-3C aircraft to Taiwan

The delivery of one of the 12 P-3C submarine-hunting aircraft from the United States was behind schedule due to a malfunction in its flight control system, a Taiwanese Air Force official confirmed Thursday.

Taiwan received the first P-3C aircraft last September, and three more were scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan by the end of 2013, according to the Air Force.

However, during a legislative committee session Thursday, lawmaker Lin Yu-fang of the ruling Kuomintag revealed that the three sub-hunters should have been flown to Taiwan from Guam in December, but only one arrived here on Dec. 12.

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Czech government approves deal to offload excess fighter jets

One of the longest running military sagas was successfully concluded today with a deal to sell surplus Czech fighter aircraft to a leading US company.

As Chris Johnstone reports, the estimated half billion crown sale is good news for the aircrafts' owner, the Czech Army, and its local manufacturer.

For much of the last decade the Czech army has been touting its excess L-159 fighter and trainer aircraft for sale to foreign armies or companies.

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Military’s fighter-jet reports to put ball in Ottawa’s court on F-35s

The Canadian Forces have finished exploring the world market for fighter jets, putting pressure on the government to decide whether to launch a competition or forge ahead with the sole-sourced purchase of F-35s before the next election.

According to documents posted on a federal website on Thursday, the Canadian Forces have already prepared draft reports on the price, the technical capabilities and the strategic advantages of the four fighter jets in the running.

“The process is nearly finished,” said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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Japan to launch unmanned Global Hawk surveillance drones in fiscal 2015

Japan’s Defense Ministry is planning to deploy its first Global Hawk unmanned surveillance planes from the Air Self-Defense Force Misawa Airbase in Aomori Prefecture, in the country’s northern region.

Three Global Hawks will be deployed from April 2015 until March 2016, and will be co-maintained by the ASDF with U.S. Air Force to ensure the effectiveness of their operation.

Equipped with sophisticated radar capable of detecting movements of aircrafts, missiles and vessels within a 500 km radius at an altitude of 18,000 meters, the Global Hawk can also fly 30 hours non-stop, though lacking an attack capability.

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Huntington Ingalls Industries Acquires The S.M. Stoller Corporation

Huntington Ingalls Industries announced today that it has acquired The S.M. Stoller Corporation (Stoller), a leading provider of environmental, nuclear, and technical consulting and engineering services to the Department of Energy, Department of Defense and the private sector.

The value of the transaction was not disclosed. Stoller is a privately held company and performs work in 29 states from 18 offices nationwide.

Stoller has provided environmental and technical support to the U.S. government and nuclear power industry for more than 54 years. It provides a full range of services in support of managing environmental issues, from highly complex multi-year remediation projects to short-term evaluations of local groundwater quality in anticipation of commercial construction.

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Vikramaditya to Reach by Mid-January

Navy’s new addition INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier has entered the Arabian Sea through Suez canal and is expected to reach its home base Karwar in Karnataka before Pongal in the middle of this month.

Navy sources said here on Thursday that the carrier was joined at the Arabian Sea by around 10 warships from Navy’s Western Fleet, led by its commander Rear Admiral Anil Chawla.

Vikramaditya, which was commissioned into the Navy fleet in Russia’s Sevmash shipyard in November 2013, had set sail for India in early December, accompanied by three other warships, sources said.

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Cruiser Pyotr Veliky to ensure security of operation to remove chemical weapons from Syria

The naval ships of Russia and China will take part in the operation to transport the most hazardous components of chemical weapons from Syria, Eystein Kvarving said Thursday.

Kvarving is a spokesman for the command of the flotilla of two dry cargo ships and two frigates, provided by Denmark and Norway for the operation.

Those ships, according to the original plan of the UN-OPCW joint mission were to take up the accomplishment of this task.

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Taiwan to receive six more Apache choppers Thursday

A second batch of six AH-64E Apache attack helicopters will arrive in Taiwan on Thursday as scheduled, a military source said Wednesday.

The U.S.-made helicopters will be shipped to a harbor in the southern city of Kaohsiung and later sent to an Army Aviation Special Forces base in neighboring Tainan City to be assembled there, the source told CNA.

The six aircraft are part of a 30-helicopter package purchased by Taiwan at a cost of more than US$2 billion. The model E is the latest in the Apache attack helicopter series.

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Zubr-class LCAC gives PLA quick access to disputed islands

After the Zubr-class air-cushioned landing craft was commissioned by the People's Liberation Army Navy, Shenzhen Television reports that China will be able to deploy its troops to the disputed Diaoyutai or Diaoyu Islands (administered by Japan as the Senkaku but also claimed by China and Taiwan) in the East China Sea and the Spratly islands in the South China Sea in a shorter period of time.

The report said China had already placed an order for four Zubr-class landing craft under a contract worth US$315 million. While two were constructed by the Ukraine-based Feodosiya Shipbuilding Company, the remaining two were licensed to be built in China.

The first Zubr-class air-cushioned landing craft arrived in China in May 2013 according to the state-run China Radio International based in Beijing. China was also licensed to design and produce its own Zubr-class vessels as part of the deal.

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India cancels €560m AgustaWestland helicopter order

India has cancelled a €560m contract to buy high-end helicopters from AgustaWestland, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica, in move that underlines the unpredictability of one of the world’s biggest defence markets.

Sitanshu Kar, a ministry spokesman, said the agreement had been “terminated with immediate effect” because of “integrity-related issues” in a contract that had been dogged by allegations of corruption.

The cancellation highlights the uncertainties of the growing Indian defence market, traditionally dominated by Russian supplies but increasingly attractive to European and US companies.

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Pakistani civilians pay high price in drone war

Nearly a quarter of those killed by US drone strikes in Pakistan could have been civilians, a report claims.

With Washington and London facing growing pressure to cut drone programmes, the figures are certain to inflame relationships with Pakistan.

The study released yesterday by the Council on Foreign Relations concludes, after scrutinising estimates from three monitoring groups, that of the 3520 killed by US drones in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia over the last 12 years, 457 - or 11 per cent - were civilians.

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China's first aircraft carrier completes South China Sea drills

China's first aircraft carrier has successfully finished a series of tests during a training mission in the disputed South China Sea and has returned to port, state media reported.

Last month's drills off the coast of Hainan Island marked not only the first time China has sent a carrier into the South China Sea but the first time it has maneuvered with the kind of strike group of escort ships U.S. carriers deploy, according to regional military officers and analysts.

After two decades of double-digit increases in the military budget, China's admirals plan to develop a full blue-water navy capable of defending growing economic interests as well as disputed territory in the South and East China Seas.

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The secret base of Hanoi Submarine

Military experts admit Cam Ranh’s position of great influence to the global geo-strategic map. In 1888 a Russian naval ship named "Knight" anchored at the Cam Ranh Port during its around-the-world journey.

Since then, Cam Ranh became the military port where big countries stationed in the past 100 years. During the Russia - Japan War in 1905, more than 100 vessels of the Pacific Fleet N0. 2 of the Russian Navy gathered in Cam Ranh.

In 1935, the French began to build a naval base at Cam Ranh. In 1940, Cam Ranh fell into the Japanese’s hands, becoming a springboard for Japan to invade Malaysia and the colonial islands of the Dutch (Indonesia at present).

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Fleet hails and farewells for 2014

The fleet is gaining some of the latest amphibious ships in 2014, but also saying goodbye to some stalwarts, including seven frigates, an attack submarine, an amphibious transport dock and a minesweeper. Here’s a look at some of the fleet changes slated for the coming year:

New ships.
Three state-of-the-art amphibious ships are set to enter service in the remainder of fiscal 2014: The amphibious transport dock Somerset in March; littoral combat ship Coronado in April; and amphibious assault ship America in September.

Decommissionings.
The service plans to retire a total of 12 ships in fiscal 2014, including seven frigates, an attack submarine, an amphibious transport dock and a minesweeper.

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Powerful destroyer ready for ocean action, four months early

HMS Duncan, a Type 45 destroyer, was commissioned into the Navy on September 26 and was expected to be handed over to the fleet in the spring.

But preparations for the 7,500-tonne vessel have been completed early and it has now joined the fleet alongside its sister ships, which are the UK’s most advanced warships.

Defence Minister Philip Dunne said: “It is testament to the improving control of projects across the armed forces and significant dedication across defence that all six ships of the Type 45 class are now in the hands of the Royal Navy.

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Russia Commissions New Attack Submarine

Russia’s first Project 885M Yasen-class attack submarine, the Severodvinsk, was handed over to the navy on Monday, a defense industry source told RIA Novosti.

The submarine, designated as Graney-class by NATO, had been under construction at the Sevmash shipyard in northern Russia since 1993.

“The delivery acceptance certificate for the first Yasen was signed at Sevmash on December 30,” the source said.

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