From the Caspian sea to Syria have to pass through Iran and Iraq, so can safely conclude they are both OK with Russia using their airspace.

ADEN // The Yemeni army and the Saudi-led coalition have defeated the Houthi rebels in Marib province, military chiefs said.

The forces fighting to restore President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi were flushing out the final pockets of Houthis rebels on Wednesday morning in Sirwah, west of Marib city.

Brig Gen Ali Saif Al Kaabi, the coalition commander, said large numbers of Houthi rebels and their allies were killed or captured in the final battle for Sirwah.

Witnesses described mass defections from the rebel and militia forces in their last strongholds in Marib.

Coalition forces are now beginning preparations to advance on the capital, Sanaa about 100km away.

General Murad Turaiq, head of the Yemeni military in Marib and Bayda provinces, told The National, it was “game over” for the Houthis.

“The forces are sweeping the mines that the Houthis planted before they fled the area,” he said.

He said the Yemeni and coalition forces would have full control of Al Gofainah, Al Balaq and Sirwah on Wednesday.

Many of the Houthis have fled Sirwah district towards Sanaa province, which the Houthis seized from the internationally recognised government a year ago.

Other rebels have fled into Al Jawf province, which is also under the control of the Houthis.

Since the Arab coalition joined the war in March, most of southern Yemen, including Aden has been recaptured from the Houthis, who hail from Sadaa province in the far north and are backed by the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and Iran.

Marib is the first northern Province, where the Houthis have been fully defeated.

Last week, the pro-Hadi forces retook the coastline and an island along the Bab Al Mandeb Strait, restoring stability to the key waterway at the entrance to the Red Sea, which acts as one of the world’s major shipping routes.

The victory in Marib came after coordinated terrorist attacks in Aden killed 15 coalition soldiers including four Emiratis on Wednesday.

This week, the head of a high-powered Japanese delegation, speaking at this year’s Sea Power conference in Sydney, told local media that Japan would transfer 100 percent of the technology involved in building a larger version of Japan’s state-of-the-art 4,000-ton diesel-electric Soryu-class submarine to the Australian submariner community. “Our objective is to have everything available to transfer,” delegation head Masaki Ishikawa said.

In detail, Japan’s proposal includes advanced welding technologies, top-secret stealth technology, combat system integration, lithium-ion batteries as the submarine’s main energy source (with the option for air-independent propulsion to be added later an), and an all-weather snorkel system that can operate even during a typhoon, according to the Australian news website Perth Now. In addition, the sub will feature a U.S. combat system.

Ishikawa also offered further details for the construction process of the vessels, with the Japanese plan calling for hundreds of  Australian workers to be sent to Japan for  training and constructing a mock-up submarine under the supervision of engineers from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

He also emphasized that all vessels could be built in Australia, while the option for the first boat to be constructed in Kobe, Japan under Australian supervision remains an option. “Both options have strong points,” Ishikawa said.

At the most recent exercise, one of the technologies tested was the BioStampRC Wearable Sensing Platform, used to measure and monitor biomedical data.  A flexible and wearable patch, the BioStampRC monitors performance and body signatures from electrocardiogram to temperature, Rajesh Naik, chief scientist of the 711th Human Performance Wing of the AFRL, told GCN.  It then uses Bluetooth to send data to a handheld platform.

These capabilities give commanders better information on the health of their airmen in the field, Naik said, allowing them to evaluate a warfighter’s wounds on the battlefield and help them  prioritize who needs urgent care. The technology would not only monitor people wounded in the field but it also has the potential for use in the larger force for wellness management, he noted.

Pacific 2015: Indonesia in talks with France over possible sale of Scorpene 1000 SSK

Ridzwan Rahmat, Sydney - IHS Jane's Navy International
06 October 2015


A computer-generated image of DCNS's Scorpene 1000 submarine. Source: DCNS

Key Points

• Indonesia is considering acquisition of the Scorpene 1000 diesel-electric submarine
• The purchase could help bolster Indonesia's archipelagic brownwater deterrence capabilities

Indonesian government officials are in talks with French counterparts over a possible sale of the French-built Scorpene 1000 diesel-electric submarine (SSK), shipbuilder DCNS told IHS Jane's on 7 October at the Pacific 2015 international maritime exhibition and conference in Sydney.

"The talks are going on at the government-to-government level, mostly to discuss the needs of the Indonesian Navy," said DCNS.

"So far, what the Indonesians have identified is the need for a complementary submarine fleet that can fill in the gaps of their new ocean-going submarines, and they are considering the Scorpene 1000."

The Indonesian Navy (Tentera Nasional Indonesia - Angkatan Laut, or TNI-AL) currently operates two Cakra Type 209/1300-class SSKs and is awaiting the delivery of three Type 209/1400 conventional boats - widely referred to in Indonesia as the Chang Bogo class - from South Korean company Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME).

Indonesian media reports have also indicated that the country may be purchasing a number of 'Kilo'-class SSKs from Russia, although a contract for these has not yet materialised.

"The Scorpene 1000 is an especially suitable platform for the Indonesian Navy, given the country's archipelagic nature," said DCNS.

"The platform has been designed to operate ... in shallow waters and is very difficult to detect due to the depths associated with littoral waters."

According to specifications provided by DCNS, the 50 m Scorpene 1000 has a surface displacement of about 1,000 tonnes. It has a maximum submerged speed in excess of 15 kt, a maximum range in excess of 4,000 n miles, and a submerged endurance of up to five days. It has a dive depth in excess of 200 m, and can accommodate 21 crew (with space for up to six divers).

Klub cruise missile variant....launched from Buyan

looks like they are battle-testing everything in their inventory, they dont actually have to launch cruise missile across several countries since they ady have bombers based in syria itself

next test icbm?

is that rubber treads? hmm.. interesting 

Some reports say people found fragments of a large missile with cyrillic writing near Aleppo, some are saying probably some sort of short range ballistic missile like Scud or Tochka.

Also, probably the cruise missile attack also to demonstrate to western powers Iran and Iraq are on board with Russian operations in the region. No way Russia could launch missiles all the way from the Caspian to Syria without Iran and Iraq giving Russia access to their airspace.

Su-34 flew over Iran and Iraq to Syria....so it makes sense....besides...ISIS is their common enemy

they also "accidently" flew into turkey, which obviously got the turks madly furious

Some reports say people found fragments of a large missile with cyrillic writing near Aleppo, some are saying probably some sort of short range ballistic missile like Scud or Tochka.

Also, probably the cruise missile attack also to demonstrate to western powers Iran and Iraq are on board with Russian operations in the region. No way Russia could launch missiles all the way from the Caspian to Syria without Iran and Iraq giving Russia access to their airspace.

Use during normal road travelling , so won't damage the TAR or concrete roads or platform .

they also "accidently" flew into turkey, which obviously got the turks madly furious

Russian Long-Range Cruise Missiles 'Particular Challenge' for US Defense
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Russian long-range aviation and highly accurate long-range cruise missiles present a new challenge for US strategic homeland defense, US Commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Adm. William Gortney said.

"The challenge that is confronting us…is the Russian long-range aviation and the Russian cruise missile threat from submarine, subsurface platforms and surface platforms," Gortney said in a Wednesday speech at the Atlantic Council.

He added that the Russian cruise missile threat is a "particular challenge for NORAD and for Northern Command."

On Wednesday, Russia launched a total of 26 cruise missiles from combat ships in the Caspian Sea against Islamic State targets.

Gortney said that the Russian long-range aviation capabilities enable aircraft to potentially hit critical targets in North America and "never leave Russian territory in order to do it."

Russian military capabilities and doctrine are "qualitatively better" than Soviet systems, Gortney commented.
Russia has demonstrated its long-range cruise missile capabilities in Syria, where it was able to hit targets at a distance 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) from ships located in the Caspian Sea.

NORAD was established at the outset of the Cold War and is in charge of monitoring North American aerospace to provide strategic defense of the continent, particularly against long-range nuclear threats.

http://sputniknews.com/military/20151008/1...nge-for-US.html

It’s been a tough week for terrorists in Syria. Over seven days Russia delivered over a hundred airstrikes at various jihadist facilities across the country, reportedly igniting panic among some groups.

Russia launched its air campaign in Syria on September 30, making 120 combat sorties that hit 110 targets in just over a week, according to the Defense Ministry. Among the objects destroyed are:

71 armored vehicles
30 other vehicles
19 command facilities
2 communication centers
23 depots with fuel and ammunition
6 plants used to make IEDs, including car bombs
several artillery pieces
several training camps

A US admiral has warned that NATO is having difficulty adapting and responding to evolving Russian military threats.

Speaking at the Atlantic Council on Tuesday, US Admiral Mark Ferguson, who is in charge of the Allied Joint Force Command in Naples, Italy, said that Russia is developing military capabilities and hybrid method of war are designed to “cripple” the functional abilities of the NATO alliance, according to a transcript from US Naval Institute news.

Russia’s focus on hybrid and asymmetrical warfare, including its development of cyber and information warfare capabilities, is “designed to cripple the decision-making cycle of the alliance,” Ferguson. “Their capabilities have focused on the creation of ambiguity.”

As an example of Russia’s use of hybrid warfare, Ferguson pointed to how Moscow has used government-sanctioned media and propaganda to create tension throughout Europe.

“Russia exploits ethnic and religious divisions, makes use of an aggressive information campaign, and extensively uses misinformation and deception to delegitimize the forces under attack while confusing the attribution of their actions,” Ferguson said.

The overall goal of this disunion is to undermine NATO’s structural integrity and decision-making capabilities. At the same time, Russia is “centralizing their national and military decision-making.”

“We are seeing more frequent snap exercises focused on rapid mobilization and movement directed by central headquarters, to include their naval forces, where we have seen large numbers of ships get underway with little or no notice,” Ferguson said.

like what i mention before.. iran their ally, iraq cant do shit and probably dont even know