Take a look at the North Korean military's deadly array of weaponry
North Korea’s military equipment looks more like it belongs to a 1970s Soviet army than a modern force — but the country’s massive forces could still be a deadly force.
The country’s missile development and huge stocks of artillery are particularly threatening to South Korea and the rest of the world.
The US Pentagon’s most recent report on the state of the North Korean military sizes up the ground forces, navy, and air force.
It’s one of the world’s most secretive countries, so the information largely comes from other sources. But the state’s propaganda efforts mean there are plenty of pictures of the country’s colossal military capacity.
US Army Eyes Ukraine Conflict for Intel on Russian Military Technology
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The Moscow-backed rebels are waging a hybrid war that includes the use of soft power such as disinformation and cyberattacks to hard power such as truck-mounted Grad rocket launchers, according to Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commander of U.S. Army Europe.
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U.S. Army leaders have found that American-supplied counter-mortar radar systems are helping Ukrainian forces detect incoming motor fire by calculating the point of origin of the enemy round, Hodges said. Washington reportedly supplied Kiev with 20 of the systems as part of an aid package valued at $118 million.
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On the other hand, the conflict has exposed the potential for Russian electronic warfare technology to pierce U.S. and allied battlefield communications networks, Hodges and other U.S. generals said.
Rostec, a Russian-owned arms and technology company, last year claimed it used “complex radio-electronic” frequencies to hack into an MQ-5B Hunter drone that was flying over Crimea and belonged to the Army’s 66th military intelligence brigade based in Germany.
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“In the short term, what we need to do is harden our systems and make sure that they can degrade gracefully — we can’t have single points of failure,” McMaster said. “We need really what are … deterministic networks — networks that can route communications even if certain nodes are disrupted. … We also need a degree of redundancy.”
Eventually, those technologies will need to be shared with NATO partners, Hodges said.
These are all the countries where the US has a military presence
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The Pentagon says that it has just 64 “active major installations” overseas and that most of its base sites are “small installations or locations.” But it defines “small” as having a reported value of up to $915 million. In other words, small can be not so small.
Exercise is in line with common vision for exchanging expertise and bolstering security
Abu Dhabi: The UAE and Malaysia have concluded a joint military exercise named Desert Tiger 2.
The joint exercise, held in the UAE, underscored the interest of both countries’ leaders in expanding avenues of bilateral cooperation, in line with a common vision for exchanging expertise, bolstering security and stability, and backing international efforts for establishing regional and international peace. Brigadier Saleh Mohammad Al Amiri, Commander of the UAE Ground Forces, Lieutenant General Zulkiple Hj. Kassim, Malaysian Army’s Field Commander, and other officials attended the conclusion of the exercise.
Scientists at a Polish company that produce body armor systems are working to implement a non-Newtonian liquid in their products.
The liquid is called Shear-Thickening Fluid (STF). STF does not conform to the model of Newtonian liquids, such as water, in which the force required to move the fluid faster must increase exponentially, and its resistance to flow changes according to temperature. Instead STF hardens upon impact at any temperature, providing protection from penetration by high-speed projectiles and additionally dispersing energy over a larger area.
"This viscosity increases thanks to the subordination of the particles in the liquid structure, therefore they form a barrier against an external penetrating factor," said Karolina Olszewska, who performed tests on the STF for Moratex.
The exact composition of the STF is known only to Moratex and its inventors at the Military Institute of Armament Technology in Warsaw, but ballistic tests proved its resistance to a wide range of projectiles.
"We needed to find, design a liquid that functions both with projectiles hitting at the velocity of 450 meters per second and higher. We have succeeded," said Deputy Director for Research at the Moratex institute, Marcin Struszczyk.
Struszczyk said the liquid's stopping capability, combined with the lower indentation of its surface, provides a higher safety level for the user compared with traditional, mostly Kevlar-based, solutions.
"If a protective vest is fitted to the body, then a four centimeter deep deflection may cause injury to the sternum, sternum fracture, myocardial infarction, lethal damage to the spleen," Struszczyk said.
"Thanks to the properties of the liquid, thanks to the proper formation of the insert, we eliminate one hundred percent of this threat because we have reduced the deflection from four centimeters to one centimeter."
When hit by a high-speed projectile, a wide area of the STF hardens instantly, causing the usually massive energy to be dispersed away from the wearer's internal organs.
Implementing the solution in body armor required designing special inserts, but the company says those are lighter than standard ballistic inserts and broader range of movement for their users in the police and military.
"The point is for them not to interfere, not change the way of movement, operation of such the product by the user, and at the same time increase their motor skills, increase effectiveness of their decision process and increase their possibilities during the mission at hand," Struszczyk said.
The laboratory is also working on a magnetorheological fluid, which they hope can be also applied in their products.
According to the researchers, both liquids can find applications beyond body armor, such as in the production of professional sports inserts, and even entire outfits. Another use could be in car bumpers or road protective barriers.
The Singaporean Air Force declared its new drone fully operational this week. As IHS Jane’s 360 reported earlier this week, Singapore’s Elbit Hermes 450 tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is ready for operational use by the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF), eight years after its original delivery in May 2007. The Hermes 450 is a long-endurance UAV, measuring 6.1 m nose-to-tail with a wingspan of 10.5 m. As IHS Jane’s notes, the Hermes 450 “is capable of fully autonomous flight with in-flight redirection capability and features GPS-based navigation, advanced dual computers, dual datalinks and redundant electrical and avionics systems.” The Hermes 450 is of Israeli origin and is primarily used for reconnaissance, communications, and surveillance use.
Defence Ministry Ignores Russia's Requests to Discuss Fighter Project
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NEW DELHI --- The programme for India and Russia to jointly develop a Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA), long touted as the flagship of a time-tested defence relationship, has run into a stone wall.
Documents available with Business Standard indicate India's defence ministry is cold-shouldering Russian requests to continue the negotiations on a "R&D Draft Contract", which will govern the partnership to develop a futuristic, fifth-generation fighter.
PLA carriers will operate beyond China's local seas: admiral
The Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier, leaves Qingdao for a month of trials in the South China Sea, Nov. 26, 2013.(Photo/Xinhua)
Rear Admiral Zhang Zhaozhong of the PLA Navy admitted that China has ambitions to operate its future aircraft carriers in regions beyond the East and South China seas in an interview with China Central Televsion on March 30.
Zhang said that since India and Japan are both developing their own aircraft carriers with the support of the United States, China's existing carrier Liaoning and future carriers will not only be deployed in China's local waters. The PLA Navy must prepare for larger scale naval engagements between aircraft carriers in the open sea, Zhang said.
The United States Navy is able to control all the world's major maritime communication routes, Zhang said. "Instead of deploying its own carriers against China, the United States is more likely to encourage India and Japan to develop their own aircraft carriers for a potential war in the Asia-Pacific region," he said. Zhang said this is the reason why the United States is willing to assist India in building the INS Vishal, the country's second Vikrant-class aircraft carrier.
Zhang said it is impossible for the United States to provide India with its Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System technology. However, Zhang believes the US may seek help from Britain to provide India with a steam catapult system.
IDF Military Intelligence Unit 8200 is one of the Israeli army’s strongest global brands. An elite signal intelligence unit, it offers its veterans a fast track into Israeli’s high-tech sector. But 8200 isn’t alone in attracting top tech talent:
Special Intelligence Unit 9900, its shyer sibling, supplies the country’s political and military decision makers with valuable visual intelligence, that is, everything having to do with mapping and interpreting aerial and satellite images. The two MI units compete with each other for the recruits with the most potential.
Russia Ready to Sell S-300 Missiles to Iran if Sanctions Fall
Iran Hopes to Receive Russian S-300 Air Defense Systems in 2015
Negotiators from Iran, the United States and other world powers agreed on Thursday to a framework for a final agreement to curb Tehran’s nuclear program.
Iran agreed in principle to accept significant restrictions on its nuclear facilities for at least a decade and submit to international inspections.
In return, economic sanctions unilaterally imposed on the Islamic Republic by the US and EU will be lifted.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov then said that a UN arms embargo against Iran should also go.
"Lifting sanctions on Iran, including the arms embargo, would be an absolutely logical thing to do,” said Igor Korotchenko, who heads the Global Arms Trade Analysis Center think tank in Moscow.
“Of key importance to us is the delivery of the upgraded S-300 missiles to Iran… A contract to this effect could be resumed on terms acceptable to both Moscow and Tehran,” he added.
In 2007, Russia contracted to sell to Iran $800 million worth of S-300 missile units. Moscow suspended the contract in 2010 following a UN Security Council resolution to stop the sale of arms to Iran due to its controversial nuclear energy program.
Iran then sued Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport at the OSCE Court of Conciliation and Arbitration in Geneva, with Moscow eventually offering Tehran a settlement and a promise to deliver the Antei-2500 missile systems at a later date, which was not specified.
Tehran refused, insisting on the implementation of the original deal.
France and the UK want a fleet of minesweeping robot ships
The biggest threat to America's Navy over the past 60 years hasn't been China's rapidly modernizing military, North Korea's nuclear saber rattling or even Russia's arctic overtures -- it's been underwater mines. They've damaged 15 of our ships since 1950. Sure, you can disarm these explosive hazards manually but that means risking the lives of Navy seamen in an underwater Hurt Locker. Instead, the UK and France are teaming with European defense contractors Thales and BAE to develop a fully automated minesweeping system that keeps sailors out of harm's way.
The Thales-BAE Maritime Mine Counter Measures (MMCM), due for preliminary testing in about two years, is actually more like a fleet. The system revolves around an unmanned surface vessel towing a Synthetic Aperture Sonar array to locate mines. This surface ship, upon finding a mine, will then deploy an autonomous underwater drone (like, say, the SeaFox UUV) which will then neutralize the threat, typically by affixing sand detonating an explosive charge to the side of the mine. Of course, these robotic vessels will still report to nearby humans. In fact, the entire system will deploy from a larger, manned naval vessel and maintain open communication and data lines throughout the course of the operation.
DARPA's Crazy But Genius Plan to Replace Batteries With Propane
If you’re a soldier doing reconnaissance in enemy territory, you’ve got a lot of problems. Taking fire, staying invisible, and enduring the elements are obvious. Battery life is a little less so. The idea that propane is a solution to these woes? That sounds crazy.
And yet, battery life remains an increasingly cumbersome struggle that the military faces. As American soldiers become increasingly reliant on technology, they demand more power sources. One dependable option is the standard Ultralife UBI-2590 battery, pictured below. Weighing over three pounds a piece, these brick-sized devices can power anything from a radio to an antenna to a smartphone. But since the batteries have a limited capacity, soldiers need more than just one for a mission. They might need a few dozen. After all, there aren’t many wall outlets for recharging in the mountains of Afghanistan.
DARPA's Crazy But Genius Plan to Replace Batteries With Propane
Enter DARPA. With the support of DARPA’s Trans App program, a team of engineers from Ultra Electronics built a lightweight, 350-watt propane generator that’s capable of charging in batteries in the field. It’s also practically silent. At a recent DARPA demo day the team showed me the invention, which isn’t much bigger than a duffel bag. I had to ask if it was running. (It was.)
At first, a propane-powered generator might not seem like such a game-changing innovation. But consider our recon soldiers camped out in far flung locations, transmitting potentially life-saving intelligence while struggling to evade detection. Once they’re out of battery power, the soldiers can’t do their job. Firing up a gasoline-powered generator would give away their position, and dropping more batteries into the area risks lives. So these soldiers lug in as many charged batteries as they think they’ll need—sometimes adding nearly a hundred pounds to their already heavy load of gear.
Propane is not nearly as heavy as lithium ion battery cells. Thanks to the impossibly quiet new DARPA-funded generator, soldiers can carry in a few batteries and recharge them on the fly. To give you an idea of how much weight this new invention can save, check out the illustration below. On the left are 100 UBI-2590 batteries. On the right is the equivalent amount of gear a soldier would need to generate the same amount of power on a mission:
Bear in mind the simple, brutal fact that each of those 100 batteries weighs over three pounds. The propane generator weighs just 11 pounds, and the tank weighs an extra 20. Smaller four-pound tanks work just as well.
Effectively, DARPA wants to replace dozens of pounds of gear in a soldier’s pack with just a few pounds of propane. It sounds like an ambitious but simple goal, one that could save lives. Now if they could juuuuuuuuust figure out how to turn fatigues into a giant solar cell, nobody would have to carry any power sources at all.
Army Researching Uniforms That Automatically Decontaminate
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The idea is that uniform items are pre-treated with a chemical that can render things harmless including nerve or blister agents.
“We have collaborators at the Air Force Research Laboratory that design reactive chemical components that can be placed on fabrics,” McGarvey said. “If soldiers are in the field, they may not know they have been contaminated. They might be going through a foliage area that had been previously contaminated, something might brush off on the uniform, or they might be in a position where logistically they can’t get to a decontamination area – either because of the mission or because there isn’t a decontamination setup available. We are trying to increase soldier survivability through that type of capability.”
Japan needs 800 Tomahawks to match up to China's missile capability: experts
Japan needs about 800 US-made Tomahawk cruise missiles to defend itself against a potential attack by China's huge quantity of ballistic missiles, according to Mitsuharu Furuze, a Japanese defense expert, reports Tokyo-based Livedoor News.
With the Tomahawk cruise missiles, the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMDSF) would be able to launch effective strikes against Chinese warships and crucial ground targets in the event of a regional conflict, according to Furuze. Jun Kitamura, a Japanese consultant to the US Pacific Command said that Washington would be unlikely to provide any direct military assistance to Tokyo before the JMDSF was obliterated by Chinese forces.
Kitamura believes that the US forces in Japan will eventually be withdrawn to Guam or other strategic locations in the Eastern Pacific. He said that this makes Japan nothing more than cannon fodder for the United States in the latter's operations against PLA ballistic missiles. To prevent Japan from being sacrificed by the United States, Furuze and Kitamura both suggested that policymakers in Tokyo purchase Tomahawk cruise missiles as soon as possible to deter Beijing.
US ‘improved bunker buster bomb’ as Iran talks progressed
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According to the report, Pentagon officials had ordered a redesign of the 30,000-pound (13,608 Kg) Massive Ordnance Penetrator in 2013 due to concerns it was not powerful enough to penetrate some of Iran’s more fortified facilities. Testing of the new weapon, which sports an improved guidance system in addition to the upgraded firepower, was being conducted as recently as January of this year.
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US officials were reportedly now confident that the weapon, if need be, could successfully be used against Iranian and North Korean facilities. The report called the MOP one of the most destructive conventional weapons in the US arsenal. Improvements to the bomb, however, were ongoing.
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