Saudi Arabia ‘rejects Israeli offer to supply Iron Dome’



Saudi Arabia ‘rejects Israeli offer to supply Iron Dome’

An Iron Dome Missile Battery near Tel Aviv, on the first day of Operation Protective Edge, July 8, 2014. (Photo by Flash90)

Saudi Arabia recently rejected an Israeli offer to provide it with Iron Dome rocket defense technology, a London-based Arab newspaper reported Saturday.

According to an article in Rai al-Youm, Israel conveyed the proposal to Saudi officials via American diplomats stationed in Jordan, as a means to combat rocket attacks by Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen.

The report stated that the Saudis turned down the offer for unspecified reasons.

There was no confirmation of the report by any official sources.

Israel’s Iron Dome system has been used in recent years to intercept and destroy rockets launched by Hamas from the Gaza Strip. It has proven highly effective in protecting the civilian population from the rocekt threat.

The system was used extensively during 2014’s summer war in Gaza. According to official IDF figures, it intercepted roughly 90 percent of the projectiles it targeted during the war, including rockets fired at Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv region.

The Houthis have occasionally carried out cross-border attacks from Yemen’s Saada province, which borders Saudi Arabia and serves as the rebels’ home base. Yahia al-Qahtani, the spokesman for the Saudi civil defense authority in the southern Saudi border region of Jizan, said on Friday that a child was killed and three other children wounded when missiles from inside Yemen struck their village a day earlier.

The Saudi-led coalition on Friday launched heavy airstrikes against the Shiite rebels, targeting camps and weapons depots in the rebel-held capital.

Residents of Sanaa awoke to the sound of explosions early Friday morning as warplanes targeted weapons caches in Noqum mountain, sending up bursts of flames and columns of smoke.

Yemen’s war pits forces loyal to the country’s exiled president against the Houthis and allied military units. In Saada province on Friday, a new front in the war appeared to have opened as heavily armed pro-government tribesmen began advancing on the city of Saada — the capital of Saada province and the stronghold of the Houthi rebels, according to military officials and tribesmen.

The UN is planning to hold peace talks in Geneva at the end of May and the organization has urged all rival parties to participate. So far, the rebels have expressed support for the talks while the internationally recognized government-in-exile has said it would only participate if the rebels withdraw from cities they occupy — including the capital..

http://www.timesofisrael.com/saudi-arabia-...r-of-iron-dome/

Army Media Day 2015



http://www.malaysiandefence.com/?p=6399

This post has been edited by azriel: May 24 2015, 08:10 PM

Point defense still the territory of rapid-fire guns. Air defense have to replace like-for-like or you risk getting caught out in point-defense ranges if enemy planes manage to penetrate mid-range defenses. You can't get long-range missiles only and at the same time neglect short and point defense AA systems. So have to develop good layers of air defenses if wanna get a comprehensive anti-aircraft umbrella.

As long as you have fighter planes to conduct long range interception, you probably could get away without long range SAM systems, but at least medium, short and point defense anti-aircraft systems, whether missile or gun-based, is a must. Once enemy planes get into ground-based air defense envelope range, your fighter planes have to disengage and get out of range, or you could risk friendly fire incidents.

One example is during the US Navy pacific campaign of WW2, US Navy fighters can only engage incoming Japanese bombers and fighters attacking US battlegroups until about 5 miles from a battlegroup because inside the 5 mile line, US AA gunners will literally shoot every plane they see out of the sky inside that radius.


Theoretical Russian air defense systems envelope ranges showing air defense layers (point zero is your position)

This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: May 24 2015, 08:36 PM

EDIT: information could be false.

This post has been edited by Gregyong: May 24 2015, 09:49 PM

Syrian Helicopter Crashes; Activists say Militants Downed it



BEIRUT: A Syrian military helicopter crashed today at the northern air base of Kweiras, killing all its crew, state TV said, as an activist group said it was shot down by Islamic State militants.

The TV report quoted an unnamed military official as saying that the helicopter crashed today as a result of a technical problem while taking off.

The report did not say how many crew members were on abroad at the time of the crash.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamic State militants who have been laying siege to the base for months shot down the helicopter. The Observatory said one crew member was killed while the fate of the others remained unclear.

Kweiras military air base is in the northern province of Aleppo and is close to the town of al-Bab, which is held by the Islamic State group.

Syrian rebels have shot down helicopters in the past.

[sos]

Taiwan a potential buyer of retired US A-10 Warthogs



Taiwan has been tagged as a potential buyer of refurbished Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II jets should the ground attack aircraft be retired from the US Air Force.

Paul Cejas, Boeing's chief engineer of off-Boeing programs, said at a media event on May 20 that the A-10 — nicknamed the "Warthog" — that the company has begun early discussions" with the US Air Force (USAF) to sell off refurbished A-10s to international customers.

"It's something we would be interested in, but again, it depends where the air force goes with retirements," Cejas said. "If we go that path we would be looking at a modification. It all depends on what the air force does. We have no jurisdiction, and we'll support whatever they need and we're positioned for that."

The A-10 was developed by the now defunct Fairchild-Republic in the early 1970s. Boeing was awarded the contract for the aircraft's service life extension program in 2007.

According to the UK-based IHS Jane's 360, Boeing is currently under contract through to 2017 to re-wing 173 of the USAF's A-10 fleet, with options for 69 more. Of these, 105 refurbished aircraft have already been handed back to the USAF. There are currently about 200 active A-10s and 60 in storage at a boneyard facility in Arizona.

If the USAF is allowed to retire its A-10 fleet, the most likely course of action given where the re-winging contract has progressed to is for Boeing to complete the service contract so the aircraft can be sold to interested international parties.

Cejas said that the refurbished A-10 could include a new engine, a cockpit upgrade including a helmet-mounted cueing system, and targeting pods. These proposed enhancements are only in a concept stage and are not being touted in response to any specific customer requests, he added.

While Cejas has refused to name potential buyers, the Shanghai-based Guancha Syndicate believes Taiwan is a possible candidate given its enthusiasm in acquiring America's retired Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates last year. Coincidentally, Taiwan currently lacks a superior performance attack aircraft, but it is a different question altogether whether an old aircraft like the A-10 would be able to penetrate the People's Liberation Army's defenses, Guancha said.

Other countries listed by Guancha as potential interested parties include South Korea and Iraq.

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclas...=20150524000139

Read more: http://www.shephardmedia.com/news/imps-new...uced-tank-boat/

This post has been edited by azriel: May 25 2015, 09:37 AM

Better decription would be 'speed boat with heavy gun turret'.

Unless it comes with significant armor (like you know...tanks) this 'tank boat' is crooked advertising.

more armor means more weight

more weight means sluggish control

sluggish control means that boat is literally sitting ducks

Being that or getting shot full of holes.

US Navy riverine patrols is one of the most decorated branches in all of Vietnam war was not for nothing.

Russian and Chinese navy conclude first Mediterranean joint exercise


Chinese sailors salute the passing Slava-class cruiser Moskva at the conclusion of the Russia-Chinese Navy joint exercises in the Mediterranean

Russia and China concluded their first-ever joint naval exercise in the Mediterranean Sea on Friday.

The naval drill code-named “Joint Sea 2015” was held from May 17 to 21 and involved nine ships from both countries.

On the Russian side, ships participating in the exercise were the Moskva, the leadship of the Slava-class of guided missile cruisers, the Burevestnik-class frigate Ladny, the Bora-class hoverborne guided missile corvette Samum, the Ropucha-class landing ship Alexander Shabalin (designed for beach landings and capable of carrying a 450-ton cargo), and an older ship of the same class, the Alexander Otrakovsky, as well as a MB-31 tugboat.

On the Chinese side, the vessels involved were fewer in number but consisted of more modern ships including two Type 054A frigates, the Linyi and Weifang. The third Chinese vessel to participate in Joint Sea 2015 was the Type 903 replenishment ship Weishanhu.

According to Interfax, the navies practiced underway replenishment and escort operations. Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman for the Navy Captain 1st Class Igor Dygalo told Interfax that, “the combined naval group of Russia and China practiced underway replenishment, cargo transfer and escorting missions during the daylight period of May 19.”

“Russian Navy and the Navy of the People’s Liberation Army of China ships held a joint practice of maritime escorts today, in a drill episode simulating the protection of safe shipping in remote areas of the World Ocean,” he added.

The Russian Navy’s deputy commander, Vice Admiral Alexander Fedotenkov, told reporters that the joint-task force accomplished their assignments with “excellent” marks.

This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: May 25 2015, 10:50 AM

IINM

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TUDM - MPA

TDM - Mid range SAM

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PLA Ground Forces' second Amphibious landing ship under final stages of construction



Officially described as an Army Ro/Ro Transport, it is really a Landing Ship Medium (LSM), equipped with the with the typical kedging anchor of landing ships, even though the bulbous bow would preclude the ship from beaching. Unlike the normal Navy warships, this vessel is made especially for the PLA ground Forces.

The ship is equipped with both bow and stern ramps and a helicopter platform aft. The armament consists of four twin 14.5 mm guns, two forward and two aft. Twin funnels indicate twin-screw propulsion; in addition, it has a bow thruster for improved maneuvrability.The lifting capacity is probably a mechanised infantry company.

The ship is a striking departure from the Type 271III YUWEI class Landing Craft Tank (LCT) that has been building for decades for the Army, and of which there currently are some 85 in service with the Army’s landing craft units. The dark grey colour, too, is a departure from the usual blue of Army vessels.

China nearly completing its first MLP-type sea basing vessel without anybody noticing



The Chinese Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) H1138 is smaller than its USN counterpart; weighting in about 5,000 tons, The USNS Montford Point in comparison weighs in about 34,500 tons.

The Mobile Landing Platform concept calls for a large auxiliary support ship to facilitate the 'seabasing' of an amphibious landing force by acting as a floating base or transfer station that can be prepositioned off the target area. Troops, equipment, and cargo would be transferred to the MLP by large-draft ships, from where these can be moved ashore by shallower-draft vessels, landing craft like the Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), or helicopters. To fulfill this duty, the MLP will be able to adjust its buoyancy so that the transport deck could be lowered to sea-level and landing crafts and LCACs could deploy straight off the transport deck into the water without any further preparations.

The small size of the Chinese vessel could suggest a limited role to only supporting float-on/float-off amphibious operations and not for long range force deployment and resupply.

USN’s MLP, on the other hand, is designed with those mission profiles in mind: it’s MLP1 and MLP2 provision 25,000 square feet of vehicle and equipment stowage space and 380,000 gallons of fuel storage in addition to the support of 3 LCAC lanes.

Philippines aircraft to continue flying over disputed South China Sea: President Aquino



MANILA - The Philippines will continue to contest China's no-fly zones over a chain of rapidly expanding man-made islands in the South China Sea, President Benigno Aquino said on Monday.

“We will still fly the routes that we fly based on international law and the various agreements and treaties we have entered into through various decades,” Mr Aquino told reporters outside the capital Manila.

But he also expressed confidence that China would exercise restraint, even as it asserts control of airspace over at least seven reefs it occupies in the Spratly island chain in the South China Sea.

“We would not want to think that one nation will single us out because it has yet to declare an ADIZ (Air Defence Identification Zone) covering routes that our carriers use,” said Mr Aquino.

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/sout...uth-china-sea-p

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