Two US warships, marines come to Black Sea

The guided missile frigate USS Ramage (DDG-61) and the command ship USS Mt. Whitney with 600 marines deployed aboard have come to the Black Sea, a military diplomat told the Russian news agency on Monday.

"The frigate USS Ramage and the flag ship of the US Sixth Fleet, the USS Mt. Whitney, have arrived in the Black Sea. They have passed through the Dardanelles and Bosporus Straits lately with Turkish consent. More than 600 U. marines are stationed aboard the ships," the source said.

Judging by the vector of their movement, one may presume the US warships are headed towards the Ukrainian Black Sea coast.

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Turkey says open to alternatives to Chinese missile defense system

Turkey's Foreign Minister said on Sunday Ankara had not yet decided which missile defense system it would buy and it was open to bids from other companies besides the current Chinese favorite if these guaranteed joint production.

NATO member Turkey's decision last September to choose a $3.4 billion offer from the China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp (CPMIEC) irked Ankara's Western allies as the Chinese company is under U.S. sanctions for violations of the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act.

U.S. and NATO officials also voiced concerns that a Chinese product would not be compatible with other NATO systems.

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Sukhoi fighters ‘will test out’ BrahMos missiles

The supersonic BrahMos missiles will be fitted on to Sukhoi-30 fighter jets and will be ready for live flight tests by the year end before being inducted into the air force.

A Sivathanu Pillai, CEO & MD, BrahMos Aerospace, said launching BrahMos from air is a big challenge as it is a moving platform. The Sukhoi itself needed to be modified structurally to hold the heavy missile and the missile’s weight was also reduced.

This has been completed and the design has been validated through various tests.

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Iran to Unveil New Generation of Home-Made Fighter Jet

A senior Iranian air force commander announced that the country is producing new generation of its home-made Saeqeh (Thunderbolt) fighter jet, adding that the new aircraft will be unveiled in coming months.

Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Air Force Brigadier General Alireza Barkhor told the Tasnim News Agency on Sunday that the construction phase of the new aircraft has already been completed.

The commander said the new generation of Saeqeh is a twin-seat fighter jet, adding that the aircraft will be officially unveiled in the next Iranian year (will start on March 21).

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Brazil Upgrades Its Sao Paulo Carrier – Analysis

An obscure fact of Latin American military affairs is that the Brazilian Navy possesses its own aircraft carrier. The vessel, now five decades old, is currently undergoing repairs so that it can serve for at least a decade more. Nevertheless, given the fast pace of South American geopolitics and geosecurity affairs, serious questions should be raised whether or not Brazil actually needs a carrier in its fleet.

The Carrier

Brazil acquired its carrier from France in November 2000: the vessel is a non-nuclear, 36,000 ton, Clemenceau-type carrier, which was constructed in the early 1960s.The carrier, originally known as the Foch while it flew the French flag, “entered the dry-dock stage in Saint-Nazaire in 1957 and was launched three years later. It was towed to the Brest arsenal for completion. It entered active service in 1963 and ceased to be armed by the French Navy in 2000, when the Charles de Gaulle CVN came into service.”

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Russia may quit START III after US deploys destroyer in Europe

If the US continues to boost its anti-missile capabilities through developing missile defense system in Europe, Russia may have no other option but to withdraw from the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), warns the Russian Foreign Ministry’s top disarmament official, Mikhail Ulyanov.

The news comes as the US's ballistic missile defense destroyer has been deployed in Spain to strengthen NATO’s anti-missile shield in Europe.

The move, allegedly aimed at neutralizing the Iranian threat, has sparked polemics about Russia's possible withdrawal from the START nuclear treaty.

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Navigation mistakes cause navy to enter Indonesian waters five times

Preliminary investigations are believed to have found that Royal Australian Navy ships have breached Indonesian territorial waters on five occasions because of navigation errors and miscommunication involving both Border Protection Command headquarters in Canberra and the vessels at sea.

Two of these incidents are understood to have involved a clear breach of Indonesia's 12-nautical mile boundary, while the other three are considered to be marginal breaches.

Each is understood to have been accidental, with the commanding officers and crew unaware that they had strayed into Indonesian waters.

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India's most modern amphibious warship damaged

India's most modern amphibious warship has been reportedly damaged after it ran aground off the coast of the port of Vishakhapatnam in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, prompting the Indian Navy to order a major probe into the incident.

INS Airavat, the latest of the Shardul class of tank-landing warships, has recently suffered damage in its propellers. It will now undergo significant repairs to its propellers and likely to be docked over the next few days to carry out a refit, the local media reports said Monday, quoting unnamed sources as saying.

India has only two such indigenous warships which were built by state-owned ship building companies. Both are currently stationed at the naval base in Vishakhapatnam.

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Lobby ship unions over Trident, Philip Hammond tells ministers

Philip Hammond has told his defence ministers to privately lobby the shipbuilding unions because of concern within government that Labour MPs are turning against Ed Miliband's decision to back plans to replace the Trident nuclear deterrent.

According to a number of Westminster sources, the defence secretary decided to make the unusual move after junior ministers warned him that parliamentary support for the £80bn Trident renewal was beginning to ebb, particularly on the Labour backbenches.

Senior Tory MPs have recently voiced doubts about the wisdom of replacing Trident and the Liberal Democrats are committed to finding alternatives.

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General Dynamics NASSCO Christens USNS John Glenn

General Dynamics NASSCO, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics, today christened the U.S. Navy’s newest ship, USNS John Glenn (MLP-2).

Named in honor of the famed Marine Corps pilot, Congressional Space Medal of Honor recipient and four-term U.S. senator, the USNS John Glenn is the second ship of three Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) vessels designed and built by NASSCO.

The Saturday morning christening ceremony took place at NASSCO’s San Diego shipyard. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan W. Greenert was the ceremony’s principal speaker.

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NATO chief, Russian minister at odds on missile defense

NATO’s secretary-general on Saturday said increasingly bellicose rhetoric out of Russia is hindering chances for more cooperation between the alliance and its old Cold War foe.

“We must refrain from threats against each other,” NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said during the Munich Security Conference. “The deployment of new offensive weapons has no place in a true strategic partnership.”

While noting that Russia and NATO continue to cooperate on some security matters, such as counter-terrorism and narcotics trafficking, Rasmussen chided Russia on a range of issues, such as the recent deployment of ballistic missiles in the country’s west .

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Iran Air Force to Stage Joint Wargames: Commander

The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) plans to hold joint military exercises with other units of the country's Armed Forces in the next Iranian year (starts on 21 March 2014), said a top commander of the force on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters here in Tehran on Saturday, lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Air Force for Coordination General Aziz Nasirzadeh unveiled plans for a joint military drill between the Air Force and the other Iranian armed forces in the coming months.

As regards the operational purposes of the upcoming wargames, the commander noted that the drills aim to improve coordination between the Air Force and other units of the country’s armed forces, and enhance the defensive and military capabilities of the pilots and the squadrons of fighter jets.

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Army unmanned aircraft take to the skies out of Anchorage

The Army is flying a new bird over south central Alaska — and the pilots sit in the back of a Humvee.

Paratroopers with the 425 Brigade Special Troops Battalion on Thursday trained with a RQ7 Shadow unmanned aircraft system. The remotely operated aircraft are designed to provide reconnaissance for troops without putting observers in danger.

The unmanned aircraft provide near real-time video and information from infrared sensors. Operators can't distinguish individual faces, said Sgt. Brandon Byers, but they can detect heat signatures and vehicle tracks.

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Is Boeing's New Submarine-Destroying Warplane a $35 Billion Bust?

Boeing designed its P-8A Poseidon warplane to accomplish two missions: scout out wide areas of water, and track down and destroy dangerous enemy submarines gliding beneath it.

But a new report out of the Pentagon suggests that Poseidon is failing at both jobs.

According to the Pentagon's chief weapons tester, director of operational testing and evaluation Michael Gilmore, the performance of six Boeing P-8As deployed to Japan from September 2012 to March 2013 has revealed "major deficiencies" in the warplane.

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Belarus ready to redesign decommissioned Su-27

The Belarusian military industrial complex is ready to redesign the Su-27 aircrafts which have been decommissioned, Chairman of the Belarusian State Military Industrial Committee Sergei Gurulev told reporters on 31 January, BelTA has learnt.

Sergei Gurulev noted that it is possible to equip these fighter planes with advanced avionics and up-to-date weapons and protection equipment.

As far as weapons are concerned, they will be of both air-to-air and air-to-surface classes.

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U.S. failure created 'nightmare' threat to airliners?

At a conference here this week, former CIA Director David Petraeus warned of a “nightmare” scenario in which missile proliferation could provide terrorists the capability to shoot down a civilian airliner.

Unmentioned by Petraeus is that the largest terrorist looting of Man-Portable-Air-Defense-Systems, or MANPADS, took place immediately after the U.S.-NATO military campaign that helped to end Moammar Gadhafi’s rule in Libya.

Gadhafi had hoarded Africa’s biggest known reserve of MANPADS, with his stock said to number between 15,000 and 20,000. Many of the missiles were stolen by militias fighting in Libya, including those backed by the U.S. their anti-Gadhafi efforts.

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Chinese AEW&C aircraft effective for mission over E China Sea

Since the establishment of the East China Sea air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEW&C) has constantly been a subject of public discussion.

A recent report about the first PLA AEW&C aircraft fleet captured immediate attention from both at home and abroad after being published.

In an interview with China Central Television, Du Wenlong, a Chinese military expert, said that with the AEW&C aircraft, China can efficiently contain reconnaissance made by foreign forces.

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Navy pilots to learn landing, taking off from aircraft carrier

Indian Navy pilots will learn the tricks of landing and taking off their MiG-29K and LCA Tejas combat planes on aircraft carriers from a shore-based facility, which was commissioned in Goa on Friday.

The Shore-based Test Facility (SBTF)-- which is the third facility of its kind in the world and first of its kind in Asia -- was operationalised at the Naval Air Station, Hansa in Goa, a Goa Shipyard Limited release said.

"This unique installation replicates a shore-based facility of the indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, which is under construction at the Cochin Shipyard Limited," it said.

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USS Donald Cook To Depart for Homeport Shift to Rota, Spain

USS Donald Cook will depart its homeport of Norfolk, Va., Jan. 31 on its way to Rota, Spain, as the first of four Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers to be stationed there, the Defense Department announced Jan. 30.

To enhance the security of the European region, three additional ballistic missile defense-capable destroyers — USS Ross and USS Porter, also from Norfolk, and USS Carney from Mayport, Fla., will join Donald Cook over the course of the next two years.

“The U.S. has a historically strong partnership with Spain, and the strength of that relationship is exemplified today as the first of four U.S. Navy destroyers departs for Rota, Spain,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in the DoD release.

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Coast Guard scraps AgustaWestland from its chopper tender

After the Defence Ministry scrapped its Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper contract, the Coast Guard has now removed Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland from a Rs 1,000 crore tender to procure 14 medium-lift helicopters.

AgustaWestland was one of the three companies, which have responded to a Coast Guard tender to procure 14 medium-lift twin-engine choppers.

The Anglo-Italian firm's bid in the tender has been rejected after some issues were detected in the details furnished by it for participating in the process, Government sources told PTI here.

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Danish Navy demos effectiveness of Thales radar

The Royal Danish Navy has successfully demonstrated its air defense capability using Thales Active Phased Array Radar.

During live firing trials, the Danish Navy's HDMS Peter Willemoes frigate fired four Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles directed by APAR at four Banshee targets drones, Thales Nederlands said.

All four targets were successfully destroyed.

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Russia sending advanced air defense systems to Kazakhstan

Russia is delivering S-300 advanced air defense systems to Kazakhstan, state-run RIA news agency reported Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov as saying on a trip to Astana.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to increase Russia's influence over former Soviet Union countries with a series of political, trade and security initiatives that aim to tighten cooperation among the states.

This move attempts to boost the capabilities of a post-Soviet security bloc, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), which combines Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.

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Top Tester Tells Navy To Test Carrier, Destroyer Defenses With Real Missiles & Explosions

You’d expect the nation’s top weapons tester to be a stickler about testing. But there’s “rigorous testing” and then there’s “let’s shoot cruise missiles at you and see what happens.”

It’s not that the Navy is wimpy about testing. The service conducts “full-ship shock trials” like the USS Roosevelt test pictured above, where it sets off a huge explosion next to a ship with a test crew aboard, as in this video of the destroyer USS Winston Churchill:



The Pentagon’s famously tough Director of Operational Test and Evaluation wants to Navy to speed up such shock testing on its new aircraft carrier, the cutting-edge and high-cost USS Gerald Ford.

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Dutch Navy to buy tugboats in cooperation with FMV Sweden

The Defence Material Organisation of the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) has contracted Damen Shipyards Group for the delivery of five Harbour and Seagoing tugs. The contract has been made in cooperation with its Swedish counterpart: Swedish Försvarets Materielverk (FMV).

Responding to current and future developments in emission reduction and environmentally friendly shipping, the RNLN has opted for a new Damen design: the ASD Tug 2810 Hybrid. The FMV has opted for another fit-for-purpose design: the ice-classed ASD Tug 3010 ICE.

Three tugs will enter service for the Dutch Navy and two will enter service for the Swedish Navy. The tugs are Commercial of the Shelf, which means that they are based on a proven design and product.

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Australian admiral defends submarine procurement

A senior Australian admiral has defended the purchase of next generation submarines that have been labelled a "gold-plated $30 billion sinkhole."

Chief of Navy Vice Adm. Ray Griggs said a comment article in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper wrongly stated the military has a "culture of delusion and arrogance" when it sets out its requirements.

The article claimed the government's decision in mid-last year not to buy off-the-shelf submarines in favor of constructing them in Australia would cost billions more than the estimated price tag.

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