'Start Killing Russians': Outrageous Outburst by Fox News Military Analyst



Robert Scales, a retired US major general and a Fox News military analyst, provided his view on the US involvement in Ukraine, describing it as a “game, set and match” situation; “the only way the US can have any effect in the region is to start killing Russians,” he stated.

Maj. Gen. Robert Scales had been invited to the Lou Dobbs Tonight program on Tuesday to comment mostly on the fight of Iraqi forces against Islamic State near the city of Tikrit.

The host, however, wanted more insight into the US involvement in the world and asked the retired major general to comment on the recent US announcement that it would send 3,000 troops to Eastern Europe – to what effect, he wondered.

The answer came as rather surprising to Lou Dobbs.

“I think to no effect, Lou,” Robert Scales answered. “It is Game, Set and Match in Ukraine. The only way the US can have any effect in this region and turn the tide is to start killing Russians. Killing so many Russians that even Putin’s media can’t hide the fact that Russians are returning to the Motherland in body bags. But given the amount of support we’ve given the Ukrainians, given the ability of the Ukrainians themselves to counterattack, to get seized 12,000 Russians camped in their country – sadly, that is not likely to happen. “

That is all the strategy of “leading from behind” is up to.



http://sputniknews.com/world/20150311/1019344795.html

The US is asking Vietnam to stop helping Russian bomber flights






http://www.businessinsider.com/r-exclusive...---2015-3?IR=T&

Deal to acquire French Rafale fighters hits rough weather



Deal to acquire French Rafale fighters hits rough weather

NEW DELHI: India plans to take a final call, one way or the other, on the gigantic $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project to acquire 126 French Rafale fighters before Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits France and Germany in April.

Sources said the defence ministry is now hopping mad with French aviation major Dassault's continuing refusal to take "ownership" of the 108 Rafale fighters which are to be manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) in India with transfer of technology after the first 18 jets are delivered off-the-shelf to IAF.

The MoD is also upset with Dassault's attempts to "change the price line", which led to its selection over the Eurofighter Typhoon as the L-1 (lowest bidder) three years ago, by deciding the "costing" for HAL on its own. "It will amount to a de facto hike in the L-1 price," said a source.

READ ALSO: France pushes for Rafale deal, but talks still stuck

If Dassault continues to renege from its earlier commitments, refusing to be "fully compliant" with the original RFP (request for proposal), India will be left with no option but to scrap the entire MMRCA project despite having invested almost a decade in the selection process. Incidentally, the defence procurement policy and Central Vigilance Commission guidelines do not allow the L-2 (Typhoon) to re-enter the negotiations.

As was first reported by TOI, even though 90% of the draft contract is ready, the finalization of the complex MMRCA project has been stuck for almost a year now due to Dassault's reluctance to stand guarantee for the fighters to be made in India in terms of liquidity damages and production timelines.


Sources said defence minister Manohar Parrikar has written to his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian that India was still awaiting the "empowered" delegation he had promised to send to resolve the imbroglio. The two ministers had decided to "fast-track" the negotiations during talks in New Delhi on December 1.

READ ALSO: Amid sniping by rivals, France aims to close Rafale deal by early 2015

"The ball is firmly in the French court. India cannot allow any violation of the RFP in such a mega project, nor can it afford to let the negotiations drag on endlessly. A final call has to be taken, one way or the other," said the source.

If the MMRCA project is indeed scrapped, it will bring to an end the mega fighter selection process launched by India way back in August 2007. This "mother of all defence deals" had global aviation majors salivating at the prospect of bagging the lucrative deal.

After extensive field trials by IAF test pilots, Swedish Gripen, Russian MiG-35, American F/A-18 'Super Hornet' and F-16 'Super Viper' were ejected out of the high-voltage competition.

Subsequently, the commercial bids of the two remaining contenders -- Eurofighter Typhoon (EADS), backed by UK, Germany, Spain and Italy, and French Rafale (Dassault) - were opened in November 2011.

Rafale was then declared the winner in January 2012, having beaten the Typhoon both on direct cost of acquisition as well as "life-cycle costs'' of operating the fighters over a 40-year period with 6,000 hours of flying. But the final commercial negotiations with Dassault have progressed at a glacial pace since then.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/D...ow/45847253.cms

UK to Offer Eurofighters Should India Scrap Rafale Deal



India's Rafale Dilemma: France Cannot Be Trusted After Mistral Faux Pas

NEW DELHI (Sputnik) — The United Kingdom is ready to offer Eurofighter aircraft if India’s long-disputed deal to acquire French Rafale jets falls through, UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Thursday.
British authorities are aware that the “deal with Dassault has not gone smoothly,” Hammond said, adding that the United Kingdom sees this as an opportunity to offer Eurofighters if India opens an official competitive bidding.

Hammond, who is currently on a two-day trip to India, noted that he had not raised the issue with Indian authorities in the course of the ongoing meetings.

In 2012, India chose France’s Dassault Aviation to supply it with 126 Rafale fighter jets, scrapping a rival proposal from the producers of the Eurofighter Typhoon.

However, the project has been put on hold over high costs and Dassault’s unwillingness to guarantee the performance of Rafale aircraft produced in India under transfer of technology agreements.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a multirole fighter aircraft jointly produced by three companies based in United Kingdom, Germany and Spain, and Italy.

Indian media have repeatedly suggested that the country's authorities could abandon the Rafale deal in favor of Russia-designed SU-30 fighters.

http://sputniknews.com/business/20150312/1019392644.html

PENTAGON ON PATH TO LAUNCH HACKER-PROOF BOEING DRONE BY 2018



An unhackable Boeing Little Bird unmanned aircraft should be in flight around the end of 2017, Defense Department and company officials say.

Right now, defense industry programmers are rewriting software on the helicopter drone to encapsulate its communications computer. That way, no outsiders can steer the unmanned aerial vehicle to strike, say, civilians, or tamper with surveillance video to mask adversary targets.

An impermeable commercial quadcopter drone was successfully flown last May using the same type of technology.

"The intent is to conduct an experiment to prove that these new coding techniques can create secure code at full scale," said John Launchbury, who leads the program for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The concept -- while not new -- is becoming more vital as more computers are embedded into systems that carry precious cargo.

"Cyberattacks on your PC -- they can steal information and they can steal money, but they don’t cause physical damage, whereas cyberattacks in a UAV or a car can cause physical damage and we really don’t want to open that can of worms," said Kathleen Fisher, the previous program manager of the DARPA project. The initiative, which launched in 2012, is called High-Assurance Cyber Military Systems.

In addition to Boeing, National ICT Australia, avionics company Rockwell Collins and computer science firm Galois are crafting the secure software.

Hypothetically speaking, the worst-case scenario would be having an adversary like the Islamic State take command of a weaponized UAV and direct it to fire on a friendly target, Fisher said.

Or potentially even worse, the bad actor substitutes surveillance video showing U.S. allied forces with video showing ISIL activity so the decision-maker on base unknowingly fires at the allies.

"Boeing is on track to replace all the code on the vehicle by the end" of the program, Launchbury said, which lasts for 4.5 years. This particular Little Bird does not carry any weapons systems, he said.

The software will isolate all communications between the ground station and the aircraft from the outside world, according to program participants.

"Its main purpose is to rewrite and secure the mission computer on board the Little Bird," Launchbury said.

Close to 100,000 lines of code -- or 70 percent of the mission computer’s code -- will have been replaced in time for a planned flight this summer, he said. By comparison, modern cars require around 100 million lines of code to get out of the garage.

Automobiles have long been susceptible to computer intrusions.

Around 2010, researchers from University of California, San Diego and the University of Washington were able to access a car’s internal network to disengage the brakes, making it difficult for the driver to stop. Another test showed how ordinary car parts can enable these sorts of attacks, such as FM radios, Bluetooth connections and wireless tire pressure sensors.

Boeing officials said in an emailed statement that the company's "goal is to enhance all Boeing developed Unmanned Little Bird aircraft software using [the new] technologies by the end of the program."

Typically, most commercial and military vehicles are powered by general purpose programming languages, such as C or C++, which have a number of security holes, said Lee Pike, Galois research lead for cyber-physical systems. He facilitated the hacker-proof minidrone flight in 2014.

"We’ve developed a new programming language that is provably free from those vulnerabilities,” he said. “The approach is to transition the programming language we’ve developed, called Ivory, to Boeing so that they can rewrite their systems.”

Trustworthy software for critical systems is not unprecedented. It’s called “sound engineering design,” said Ron Gula, chief executive officer of Tenable Network Security.

“I would hope nuclear and power production plants don't have a control system that is able to be overridden and put into a nonsecure state," he said.

Hack-proof technology cannot compensate for faulty construction. The Little Bird might still fall from the sky or stop transmitting video, yet that would be the work of the system's manufacturer or a legitimate user, Fisher said. It would not be the work of an intruder.

The Little Bird “could still crash, but that would be because the system as it was shipped had a flaw -- it wouldn’t be crashing because a malicious party did something to manipulate it,” she said. “Somebody from the outside can’t break in and access it, and then cause it to do something that it wasn’t supposed to do."

http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2015/...ne-2018/107250/

The F-35′s onboard software system is having even more problems




In yet another blow for the F-35 program, the plane’s highly advanced onboard sensors are simply too sensitive, Breaking Defense reports.

The sensors are responsible for tracking and sorting through external threats facing the plane, such as an enemy missile launch. However, the plane’s sensors collect so much data that the onboard software is overwhelmed. The plane is unable to effectively sort through the information it’s receiving, leading to an unacceptable frequency of false alarms.

Dr. J. Michael Gilmore, the director of Operational Test and Evaluation for the Department of Defense’s weapons systems, wrote in his 2014 annual report that the “fusion of information from own-ship sensors, as well as fusion of information from off-board sensors is still deficient.”

“The Distributed Aperture System continues to exhibit high false-alarm rates and false target tracks, and poor stability performance, even in later versions of software,” he wrote.

Still, Gilmore noted, the onboard software did continue to make gains and is steadily improving the reliability of the sensors.

Thomas Lawhead, an Air Force civilian involved in the F-35A program, echoed this view. Lawhead told Breaking Defense that the missile warnings for the F-35 were “still a little too sensitive.” In his view, the threat-tracking software will not be ready until close to the F-35′s operational debut in 2015.

According to Lockheed Martin, the F-35 uses a set of integrated sensors that provide multiple levels of redundancy. In the case that a sensor becomes damaged, the comprehensive nature of the sensors allow the F-35 to continue to operate fully. This type of system is already in place in the F-22, but it was anticipated the F-35 would represent a significant upgrade.

Ideally, groups of F-35s should also be able to share their sensor information with each other in order to give aircraft a more complete view of the battlefield.


Read more at http://www.businessinsider.my/f-35s-sensor...60fsjBY2vGks.99

Most Chinese Say Their Military Can Crush America in Battle




majority of Chinese citizens believe the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could seize islands in the East and South China Seas, even if the U.S. military were to intervene in the conflicts.

No less than 87 percent of respondents said that the Chinese military already possessed the capability to take back the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands from Japan, according to a recent public opinion poll. When asked whether they still believed the PLA could achieve this objective if the U.S. intervened in the conflict, 74 percent said yes.

The numbers were much the same for the South China Sea. When asked whether they believed the PLA could militarily take back disputed islands in the South China Sea, 85.6 percent of respondents said that China’s military could achieve this objective. Even if the U.S. military intervened on behalf of the Southeast Asian nations, about 73 percent of respondents said they still believed the Chinese military would prevail.

These were just some of the results of a recent survey published by Andrew Chubb and the Perth USAsia Centre (h/t ASPI’s The Strategist), entitled: “Exploring China’s ‘Maritime Consciousness’ Public Opinion on the South and East China Sea Disputes.” The poll, which was the first in what will be an annual poll on Chinese views of the island disputes, was based on phone interviews conducted with 1,413 adult residents of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Changsha and Chengdu.

Despite the confidence in their country’s military’s capabilities, a slight majority of respondents said they did not want to go to war over disputed islands in either the South or East China Seas. When asked whether it was in China’s national interest to use military force to take back the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, which Japan administers but Beijing also claims, 55.5 percent of respondents said that it was not. Just over 33 percent disagreed while the rest were unsure or didn’t answer.

Fifty-four percent of respondents agreed that it was not in China’s interest to use military force to take back disputed islands in the South China Sea, compared to 33.5 percent who disagreed. The rest were unsure or did not answer.

The survey participants also didn’t rank the island disputes as particularly important compared with many domestic issues. When the pollsters presented participants with a list of nine issues and asked them to choose the five most important, around 51 percent of respondents selected “island issues with neighboring countries” as one of their choices. Corruption, rich-poor disparity, food and drug safety, moral issues and environmental pollution all ranked higher. Notably, however, the island disputes ranked considerably higher than reunification with Taiwan, which only 22 percent of respondents selected as among their top five issues.

The overwhelming belief that the PLA would prevail in a conflict with the United States in the East or South China Seas could make it easier for Chinese leaders to gain support for aggressive policies. At the same time, it could very well make Party leaders more weary of actually initiating a conflict, given the domestic repercussions for them if China is defeated.

Zachary Keck is managing editor of The National Interest.

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/...ca-battle-12414

Russia's Eastern Military District to Get Advanced Battle Tanks



More than 70 sophisticated T-72B3 tanks will be supplied to the Russian Eastern Military District by the year-end, sources said.

The new tanks are due to replace the T-72B1 tanks that are still in service in a number of military units at the Russian Eastern Military District.

"More than 70 modernized T-72B3 tanks will be put into service by the Eastern Military District's motor-rifle units by the end of 2015. The delivery comes within the framework of the 2015 state defense order," the Russian Eastern Military District's press service said.

The T-72B3 tank is a modernized version of the T-72 model, upgraded to the level of the T-90 tank.

The T-72B3 is equipped with new fire control system and new ballistic computer.

Additionally, the tank is fitted with a new gunner sight, with a thermal imager that has day-night and all-weather combat capability.

http://sputniknews.com/russia/20150313/1019434977.html

Images suggest upgrades to China's early series J-11s


A J-11A with two new missile approach warning systems (MAWS) aft the cockpit. Source: Chinese Internet

Images have emerged on Chinese military web forums suggesting sensor upgrades to Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) J-11A combat aircraft, with reports noting that two regiments have received these modifications so far.

Upgraded J-11As appear to have four new missile approach warning systems (MAWS), two just aft the cockpit facing forward and two pointing aft on the vertical stabilisers. Similar systems have previously been fitted to the H-6M and H-6K strategic bombers.

Chinese reports also indicate that cockpit displays have been upgraded and that an upgraded fire control system allows the fighter to use Russian Vympel R-77 or Chinese Luoyang PL-10 medium-range air-to-air missiles. Available imagery cannot confirm these upgrades.

There is little to indicate that the J-11A's radar has also been upgraded. However, China's development of new active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for the Chengdu J-10B and J-20 fighters indicates that radar upgrades are possible for older SAC J-11s.

A potential radar upgrade may also see the inclusion of new helmet mounted display (HMD) systems, mirroring a modification path undertaken by several Western fourth-generation fighters.

SAC's J-11A fighters stem from its initial 1998 contract with Russia's Sukhoi Aircraft Corporation to co-produce 200 Su-27SK fighters from kits made at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association (KnAAPO).

Initial co-produced units proved inadequate to the point of requiring Russian-assisted rebuilding, and Sukhoi officials later told IHS Jane's that SAC's production finish for J-11As exceeded that of Sukhoi's Su-27s.

However, in a move that damaged Sino-Russian military technology relations, SAC built only 104 kit-based J-11As before hijacking the design to make nearly entirely Chinese-produced J-11B and twin-seat J-11BS fighters, J-15 and J-15BS naval fighters, and twin-seat J-16 strike fighters.

In April 2014 an Asian government source told IHS Jane's that China had 230 J-11A/B fighters in 2014 and this was expected to increase to 390 by 2020, along with another 100 J-16 strike fighters.

http://www.janes.com/article/49903/images-...ly-series-j-11s

Military rifle teams test new electronic target system at Talladega range



The U.S. Marine Corps Shooting Team and the U.S. Army Service Rifle Team are testing the new Kongsberg Electronic Target System installed at the soon to open CMP Talladega Marksmanship Park.

The two rifle teams compete against each other at shooting competitions around the world but came together as one team to help the CMP thoroughly evaluate the new target system.

Both rifle teams participated in competition scenarios at 200, 300 and 600 yards from standing, sitting and prone positions. The team will finish the testing Friday.

Six Marines make up the Marine Corps Shooting Team from Quantico Virginia. They are using M4 carbines. The sixteen members of the U.S. Army Service Rifle Team from Fort Benning, Georgia are using the M-16. All were using 5.56 target ammunition.

Most every team member I spoke to had nothing but good things to say about the target system and the park as a whole.

"The targeting system is super smooth and super quick with no pit changes," Joseph Hall, one of the Army Service Rifle Team members told me. "From what we're used to, we're saving a tremendous amount of time. We're able to concentrate on the shooting aspect of it and less on the actual maintenance and taking care of the targets and pit changes and relay changes."

Hall scored back to back 991's on a 1000 aggregate match. He is a native of Alabaster, Alabama.

"You get more time of the gun instead of changing yards lines, doing pit changes, switching out targetry, there is more time to shoot," Sgt. Antonio Digonza with the Marine Corps Shooting Team explained. " The target are hard rubber or plastic and are self healing and durable. They will last a long time providing multiple rounds and tons of usage so you can continue firing."

The main range is covered so this week's rainy soggy weather didn't put a damper on testing and caused no delays.

Don Hindman the CMP Marksmanship Park Range Master said everything has gone very well so far this week. " We are looking forward to a soft opening of the park on May 5 with the dedication on Friday June 5, 2015."

More information about the CMP Talladega Marksmanship Park events can be found on the CMP website.

http://www.al.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2015/..._us_marine.html

Pakistan successfully tests first combat drone



Pakistan has test-fired its first domestic combat drone with “impressive pinpoint accuracy.” Hailed by the country's army chief as a “great national achievement,” the new arsenal is aimed at boosting Pakistan’s ability to fight terrorism.

The drone, dubbed 'Burraq' in honor of the flying horse described in Islamic screeds, is capable of flying in all-weather conditions. Equipped with a Barq laser-guided missile, the drone showed “impressive pinpoint accuracy,” said Pakistan's chief of army staff, General Raheel Sharif.

Sharif attended Friday’s ceremony and witnessed the drone successfully hitting both static and moving targets.

Speaking at the event, General Sharif said the newly developed weapon will increase the military’s capacity to effectively combat terrorism. He also commended the scientists and engineers who worked on the project.

“Let’s join hands to take Pakistan forward in respective fields,” Sharif said in his address.

Islamabad has in the past complained about US drone strikes targeting Al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents near the country’s northwestern border with Afghanistan, saying that such military activity violates Pakistan’s territorial integrity. The CIA has carried out more than 400 strikes in Pakistan since 2004, according to the independent Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

Pakistan’s military developed surveillance-capable drones back in November 2013, but arming them required overcoming significant technical hurdles.

http://rt.com/news/240585-pakistan-tests-armed-drone/

Meet the Man Who Terrifies ISIL Terrorists



As Iraq's army and militias have gained ground in Tikrit, one man has captured the spotlight in the country's fight against ISIL.
Abu Azrael is a man ISIL is terrified of, referring to him simply as the "Angel of Death." His real name is Ayoub, he is in his forties and he is a (former) university lecturer with a Master's Degree in Physical Education.



He appeared in many video recordings where he threatening ISIL terror organisation, and for so is believed a champion for many Iraqis and their salvation from ISIL terrorists.

Abu Azrael is now one of the people’s heroes in the liberation of Tikrit from ISIL.



On Friday, an Iraqi Shia record company released a cartoon in which an old woman asks Abu Azrael for flour, so he beats up an ISIL fighter until he is ground into flour.



Abu Azrael continues his fight against ISIL and is reportedly a member of the Imam Ali Brigade.



http://sputniknews.com/art_living/20150313/1019468341.html

Doubt a sunni champion will materialized. Even if they try to create one..he will just be considered an Iranian puppet.

This post has been edited by BorneoAlliance: Mar 14 2015, 11:37 AM

EXCLUSIVE: Iran had military presence in uranium-rich area of Venezuela, former general says





http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2015...r-general-says/

Cruise missile DH-10 among the deadliest: Popular Science




The cruise missile DH-10 may be China's deadliest, stealthiest weapon, according to a report from US monthly Popular Science.

The missile deserves much more attention than the DF-15 and DF-21, two of China's ballistic missiles, said the report.

The PLA could attack Pacific targets, such as Hawaii, with the missile if it is carried by an H-6K bomber. The Chinese military could also attack a target across 90% of the world's land mass if the missile was launched from a 052D guided missile destroyer and Type 0930A nuclear attack submarine.

The 1-1.5 ton missile, debuted during China's National Day Parade in 2009, has an attack range of 2,500km and can hit targets as small as a garage door, said the report. The variety of payloads that can be loaded into the missile is one of its greatest strengths. It can carry, for example, 500kg of highly explosive warheads, submunitions, nuclear warheads and fuel air explosives.

Guidance also comes from a variety of means, including satellite navigation, inertial navigation and terrain-based navigation. This makes it difficult to intercept or deceive. The missile can also receive in-flight updates and avoid air defense radar since it flies lower than ballistic missiles. Its fuel efficiency reduces the missile's weight and price.

China said it has at least hundred DH-10 missiles.

The two most likely developments of China's cruise missiles in the future will be stealth capability and hypersonic flight. DH-10's next generation offspring, the YJ-100, is a supersonic cruise missile with a range of 800 kilometers. Its onboard radar can detect aircraft or land targets beyond visual range, according to China Military Online.

The YJ-100 is believed to be a response to America's Long Range anti-ship missile, said the report.

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclas...=20150313000098

PLA calls for radar stations in S. China Sea



PLA admiral calls for radar stations in South China Sea

Radar stations and lisening posts should be built on the islands China controls in the disputed South China Sea, Rear Admiral Yin Zhuo of the PLA Navy and a member of the national committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference told the official China News Service on Mar. 9.

A year after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Yin said radar stations and listening posts would assist future search and rescue operations.

Yin said such facilities could be used to monitor the communication between pilots and the control tower for aircraft flying over the South China Sea.

http://www.marsecreview.com/2015/03/pla-ca...in-s-china-sea/

U.S. Releases New Seapower Strategy







http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/...apower-strategy

17 Indonesians, Police, Army And Civilians Detained In Tawau



TUARAN: Police detained 17 Indonesians which include the Republic's police and army officers for trespassing into Malaysia through Pulau Sebatik borders in Tawau, yesterday.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Noor Rashid said the group in plainclothes equipped with firearms came in with the purpose of identifying a suspect at Wallace Bay police station there around 1pm yesterday.

"Our policemen earlier caught an Indonesian who is a murder suspect and held him at the police station, so the Indonesian authorities came to pick up the person for the crime committed at their country.

"While their intentions may be good but the way they precede was wrong; first they should have not brought firearms into our country and secondly, they need to go through Immigration procedures so based on these reasons we are holding them for investigations," he said when met at a police function here.

Noor Rashid said the Indonesian group consisting 10 policemen, four army officers and three civilians are currently being held at Tawau police station and they are cooperating with the authorities here.

Eight pistols loaded with bullets and four .38 calibre revolvers loaded with bullets were also seized from the group.

http://www.malaysiandigest.com/news/545575...d-in-tawau.html

Orbital to turn artillery shells into precision devices



Orbital ATK will help turn conventional artillery shells into smart shells, according to a report in Defense News. Under a $120 million Army contract modification, the company will make kits to enable the conversion.

The Army's goal is to limit civilian casualties and collateral damage, which will allow the use of artillery where it would have otherwise not been wise, such as near a crowded population center or friendly forces.

Deliveries are scheduled to begin in early 2016, following low-rate initial production, which began in January.

ATK, which has since merged with Orbital, first earned the technology demonstration contract in 2006. The mission was to develop the XM1156 precision guidance kit (PGK) for the 155mm howitzer artillery system. In 2013, it won a $58 million contract, with a base requirement and two options for a year of full-rate production; the recent award was option one.

"The goal was to try to design a fuze that would also provide guidance that would just drop into the existing inventory because the Army has millions of rounds," said Tim Jones, PGK program manager for Orbital ATK. "To build new rounds — and there are programs like that — are very expensive, more than 10 times what PGK would cost."

The device fits into the 155mm Howitzer shell's fuze well, and uses GPS and small fins to adjust trajectory as the shell flies toward its target.

http://www.c4isrnet.com/story/military-tec...l-kit/70269896/

Venezuelan, Russian Troops Stage Large-Scale Military Exercises



Venezuelan, Russian Troops Stage Large-Scale Military Exercises

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) — The Venezuelan military is conducting massive air defense and artillery drills involving visiting Russian troops and hardware, the nation's Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said Saturday.

The 10-day war games have been ordered by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who spoke of pressure coming from the United States earlier this month.

The Venezuelan government has been concerned about US President Barack Obama's new executive order, published Monday, which described the South American country as "unusual and extraordinary threat" to US national security and foreign policy.

Latin American Countries Unite Behind Venezuela in Clash With US
Around 10,000 Venezuelan troops are taking part in the massive military exercises, which also involve Chinese crews, according to Venezuela's Noticias24 website.
The drills come in the wake of a February visit by Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who discussed military and technical cooperation with his Venezuelan counterpart in Caracas.

Venezuelan forces have shown increased interest in Russian military aid. Russian-made military equipment has substantially strengthened the capacity of Venezuela's armed forces, according to Lopez.

Russia is actively pursuing defence cooperation with South American countries, which includes the sales of weaponry, the construction of naval maintenance and resupply facilities, as well as the occasional use of local airbases for hosting Russian strategic bombers on global patrol missions.

http://sputniknews.com/military/20150314/1019503447.html