Difficult terrain and threats, such as ambushes and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) can make ground-based transportation to and from the frontline a dangerous challenge. While helicopters can easily bypass those problems, they often present logistical challenges of their own and can subject flight crews to different types of threats. Additionally, they are expensive to operate and the supply of available helicopters cannot always meet the demand for their diverse operational services.

To help overcome these challenges, DARPA unveiled the Transformer (TX) program in 2009. Transformer aimed to develop and demonstrate a prototype system that could provide flexible, terrain-independent transportation for logistics, personnel transport and tactical support missions for small ground units. In 2013, DARPA selected the Aerial Reconfigurable Embedded System (ARES) design concept to move forward.

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works® is leading a team with Piasecki Aircraft to develop the next generation of compact, high-speed vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) delivery systems under the ARES program. ARES VTOL flight module is designed to operate as an unmanned platform capable of transporting a variety of payloads. The flight module has its own power system, fuel, digital flight controls and remote command-and-control interfaces. Twin tilting ducted fans would provide efficient hovering and landing capabilities in a compact configuration, with rapid conversion to high-speed cruise flight.

It is envisioned that the flight module would travel between its home base and field operations to deliver and retrieve several different types of detachable mission modules, each designed for a specific purpose.
Example modules include: Cargo resupply, casualty evacuation (CASEVAC), and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).

Armed forces of Russian Federation will significantly expand its aircraft force in Syria bringing total number of fighter-bomber jets to 100 units.

Russian Aerospace Defense Forces will transfer additional number of strike aircraft and fighter jets for their cover in the near future in order to increase the number of combat sorties against Islamic militants and insurgents positions.

At the moment, new air base in Homs settlement area is being set up, where expeditionary force of guards and military engineers has already been deployed previously. Al-Rai newspaper reported on the Russia preparations to set up a second military base in Syria. Russian Aerospace Defense Force, as well as supply, maintenance and support facilities will be put forward on the Sha’ayrat airfield 35 kilometers South-East from Homs. The number of fixed-wing aircraft in Syria may rise to one hundred.

“Sha’ayrat airbase has 45 reinforced concrete aircraft hangars capable of protecting the planes in case of attack”, — the special correspondent on security Elijah J. Magnier says according to a source in the joint Russian-Syrian-Iraqi-Iranian headquarters in Damascus. As the author points out, the airfield has 3-kilometer primary runway, allowing any type of aircraft to land, and an auxiliary one which soon will be operational once renovation is completed.

State testing of an aerial command post created on the basis of the Russian Ilyushin Il-80 Maxdome aircraft has been successfully completed and will enter into service with the Russian Defense Ministry by the end of the year, a subsidiary of Rostec announced Tuesday.

The only other country besides Russia that utilizes an aerial command post is the United States, which it calls the “Doomsday plane,” and is used when it is impossible to set up a ground-based infrastructure to command troops or if the ground-based command center is destroyed.

“OPK has created for the Russian Defense Ministry an aerial second-generation strategic command post. The first onboard complex of technical equipment on the base of an Il-80 has successfully passed state tests and by the end of 2015 will be transferred to the client,” according to a press release.

The press release added that the command post was a unique complex providing for the strategic control of all branches of the military.

According to the press release, the new generation of aerial command posts is characterized by high survivability and reliability, while its energy use has been made more efficient.

Circles – Open networks thrive on circles of common community. ISIL has created circles of interest and support by using the internet and by sharing shocking videos of graphic executions on social media. These forums enable a virtual identity for any would-be jihadist. This has allowed ISIL to propagate their message and recruit tens of thousands of followers. It also allowed supporters and sympathizers to follow ISIL with a certain degree of anonymity, even if they are not actively participating. Thousands of disenfranchised Muslims living in Europe, the Middle East, and America have been inspired not only to support them, but also to move to Syria to be part of the new Caliphate.

Catalyst – Typically, a person initiates a movement and then steps aside to let it develop. However, in the case of ISIL the catalyst was an event: the declaration of a caliphate. The re-establishment of a Muslim caliphate has energized the jihadist imagination and sparked a flood of immigration to Iraq and Syria. This declaration put ISIL on the map as the premier Sunni Jihadist group, likely because no one had been so bold with words and actions until then. This went beyond killing Westerners, to challenging the entire world order and nation-state system.

Ideology – Justifying violence with Islamic texts is a core tenant of ISIL’s ideology, and it is one of the most difficult aspects to counter. ISIL reads in the Quran and Hadith an obligation to subjugate or kill anyone who does not share their narrow views, including fellow Muslims.  They are also apocalyptic, stressing end-times theology far more than Al Qaeda ever did. Muslims must challenge and correct these interpretations, and non-Muslims must reject ISIL’s actions without alienating the vast majority of the Muslim world who do not share this perspective.

Pre-existing Network – Al Qaeda in Iraq operated for years before it morphed into what is now ISIL. Members exploited an already existing network of Bath’ists from Iraq. The U.S.-run Camp Bucca detainee prison in Iraq was a training ground for future ISIL members detained there during 2004-2005. Abū Bakr al-Baghdādi was a leading organizer in that prison. He went on to capitalize on Sunni grievances against corrupt Shia governance in Baghdad to cast ISIL as the people’s choice. Without this pre-existing network, it is doubtful that ISIL would have organized and spread their message so effectively.

Champion – Abū Bakr al-Baghdādi declared the world-wide Muslim Caliphate on 29 June 2014, which energized the movement. He elevated the plight of Sunni Muslims against the West to a degree above the nation-state system, realizing dreams of a caliphate that has been absent since Attaturk abolished it in 1924.  Al Baghdadi is the advocate who started the movement and then took a relative back seat to allow it to flourish.

Pull them up by the roots” Some favor deploying an overwhelming military force to Syria and Iraq to defeat ISIL. This might work initially, but the networked nature of the organization will allow it to re-spawn elsewhere. The question of ‘what next’ in Syria also lingers, and this has kept us from pursuing an open-ended course of action, and wisely so. This military-centric option leaves the underlying ideology unaddressed, and it plays into their hand. A Western invasion is precisely what ISIL wants, because it would realize their jihadist fantasies of a grand apocalyptic battle with the Western forces in Dabiq, Syria that will supposedly bring about the end days. Fighting the apocalyptic battle would only encourage, bolster its recruitment efforts, and incite sympathizers or would-be soldiers to conduct lone-wolf attacks.

Decapitation – Some advocate killing leadership, but this will be ineffective as well. It is highly unlikely that killing Baghdadi would trigger the collapse of the caliphate, because the movement is not dependent on his personality. The hydra does not die, it just grows another head. The starfish limb grows into another starfish. While hierarchical leadership is necessary to manage a pseudo-state earning millions of dollars a day in oil revenue and implementing sharia law over large swaths of territory, targeting that structure will only slow them down at best. A decentralized movement that has already catalyzed is not dependent on leadership. Al Quaeda did not collapse after UBL was killed, and much less so the Islamic state. In fact, Baghdadi’s death will function as a martyrdom and further catalyze the group to push to achieve the Caliphate and its preexisting goals.

Don’t worry, the world has never been safer – Some argue that ISIL is not a vital U.S. national interest because they are effectively a problem ‘over there’. The Paris attacks demonstrate how they are metastasizing, and how this threat has no effective borders. The Islamic state has already established “providences” in Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, Yemen, Russian Caucuses and the Philippines. They are taking their brutality to Europe by cultivating support through a rapidly growing population of disenfranchised Muslim refugees. This expansion North exemplifies how disaggregated and decentralized ISIL has become. Labeling them a peripheral national interest is a mistake that will eventually cost innocent American lives.

Countering a starfish requires becoming one. As retired Gen Stanley McChrystal has stated, it takes a network to defeat a network. By definition, a transnational threat requires a coordinated transnational response. To counter the spread of ISIL messaging, we need to organize and synchronize messaging efforts among all groups, nations, and individuals who oppose their visceral, radicalized propaganda. This applies to kinetic as well as information operations. We must take this starfish thinking to the information sphere in order to defeat ISIL at their own game.

There are currently about 3,400 American troops in Iraq. In November, the US announced that 50 commandos will be sent to northern Syria to advise anti-IS forces there. The Pentagon would not comment on whether those special operations troops had already arrived in the embattled country.

“Over time,” the 50 forces will conduct raids in both Iraq and Syria "to put even more pressure" on IS, Carter told the committee.

“The raids in Iraq will be done at the invitation of the Iraqi government and focused on defending its borders and building the [Iraqi Security Forces’] own capacity,” Carter said in his prepared testimony. “This force will also be in a position to conduct unilateral operations into Syria.”

A coalition of rebels, including the Nusra Front, announced on Saturday that they had taken back control of Tal Bajer in the countryside south-west of Aleppo, after losing it to Syrian troops backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and Iranian forces two weeks ago.

The video purports to capture the operation that led to them reclaiming the town, showing Iranian forces fleeing as the extremists advance.

It was released on Sunday by the group's media wing, White Minaret.

A drone shot shows a tank pulling into what appears to be a jihadist base in an area of scrubland. A number of armed fighters dressed in black come out and pile into tanks and vehicles parked outside.

The jihadists set off into the desert, their mission to kill Iranian troops captured from the drone flying hundreds of metres overhead.

Other shots are taken on a GoPro attached to the barrel of a large gun on one of the tanks, showing the devastation it causes as it runs into the town.

Sound effects of heavy gunfire have been added to the video, adding to the cinematic feel. 

China

As The Diplomat has covered extensively, China is currently in the process of developing two different models of fifth generation fighters. The Chengdu Aerospace Corporation J-21 is supposed to be the People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s (PLAAF) version of the U.S. Raptor. Although much of the information surrounding the J-21 is unavailable, it is probably primarily intended as an air superiority fighter. This is due to the fact that it is primarily equipped with hardpoints for air-to-air missiles, including the short-range PL-9 and the long-range PL-12 and PL-21.

Like many of the PLAAF’s jets, important issues remain with the J-21’s twin-engine propulsion. It is currently unknown what kind of engine powers the aircraft, but it is assumed that this is either the indigenously designed WS-10 or the older Russian Saturn AL-31F. China is developing a new turbofan, the WS-15, which will be exclusively used by the J-21. It is currently unknown how near completion this engine is today. In the meantime, as reported by Franz-Stefan Gady for the Diplomat, there is speculation that China will attempt to reverse-engineer some of the technology in the Russian Saturn AL-117S turbofans installed in the Sukhoi Su-35, of which China has recently announced that it will buy 24 units. According to the PLAAF, the J-21 will be fully operational by 2018, although this timeframe is questionable and may be optimistic.

This is also true for PLAAF’s F-35 counterpart: the Shenyang J-31. Like the J-21, much of the specifications surrounding the J-31 are classified, but it is reasonable to assume that it is intended to provide advanced defense capabilities in close-air support, aerial bombing, and air interdiction operations. It can also perform suppression of enemy air defenses and can be used as a carrier-based fighter on China’s future aircraft carriers. Initial operational capability of the aircraft is expected in 2020. Like the F-35, China announced last month that it is intending to export the J-31. Unlike its U.S. counterpart, it has yet to find any buyers.

Some in the U.S. believe that both the J-21 and the J-31 have been developed at least partially with designs stolen from the F-35. U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, said the Chengdu J-20 twin-engine stealth fighter bears similarity to the F-22 Raptor while the J-31 fighter resembles the F-35 design.

MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. Reports claiming that a Turkish submarine appeared near a Russian ship in the Dardanelles Strait on Tuesday on purpose are far-fetched, because shipping in this area is very busy and the submarine’s encounter with a Russian naval ship was purely accidental, a military-diplomatic source told TASS.

Earlier, Turkey’s daily Milliyet said that a Turkish submarine earlier in the day encountered a large cargo and passenger transport ship of the Russian Navy - The Yauza - when it was passing through the Dardanelles Strait from the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. The Russian ship was escorted by a Turkish coast guard boat, just as the protocols require. The Turkish submarine appeared near it at the exit to the Sea of Marmara. The submarine was on the move in a surface position. It passed by the Russian transport ship several hundred meters away in the opposite direction, towards the Aegean Sea, the daily said.

"This is an absolutely far-fetched speculation. The strait is a two-way street. It was sheer coincidence that a submarine sailed past a Russian transport ship. Naval ships and ships of other fleets pass through the strait in either direction, too. According to the law of the sea any submarines are obliged to move in the surface position. And it is only natural that various civilian ships may be coming their way," the source said.

The ships move past each other in accordance with the international convention regarding the regime of the straits (the Montreux Convention). In such complex situations for navigation submarines will never accompany other ships.

Aazaz is a Turkish logistic base which receives weapons, ammunition, medicine, fuel, equipment, etc. from Turkey and then ships it further into the country. Even Turkish media acknowledge that. In May 2015, the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet [Republic] published photos of Turkish trucks and wrote they carried weapons and ammunition for militants fighting against Syrian government army. According to the journalists, the photos were made in January 2014.  At that time, local authorities stopped and searched the trucks heading for Syria and got into conflict with Turkish intelligence officers. The paper claimed the photos were proof of Ankara’s secret supplies of weapons to Syrian terrorists. What did Erdogan do in response? He was not overly concerned. He simply ordered the arrest of the paper’s editor Dzhan Dyundar [???] for treason. He requested life imprisonment for them. As you recall, Erdogan promised to go into retirement if proof appeared of his support of terrorists. And here was proof. Therefore the owner of the destroyed truck column preferred to remain anonymous. There were trucks, but God knows who they belonged to. There are also no official statements on who destroyed the Turkish convoy. Something flew over, something blew up and everything caught fire.

Can Turkey oppose it? It’s hardly up to the task. It’s air superiority is easily countered by Russian air defenses. Turkish airpower is helpless against S-300 and especially S-400 systems. There would be little need to use Russian fighters to shoot down Turkish aircraft in Syrian airspace. It can be done by the already deployed SAMs which, if one is to believe Turkish media, monitor Turkish airspace. So now no Turkish aircraft will cross the border or even approach it. Ankara understands perfectly well Russia is ready to strike. Strike without warning and without care. The Turks will not risk entering into an air war against Russia. Because they have no chance of winning it. As the old saying goes, “nobody’s clever against a tire iron.” Especially when the tire iron is the S-400. No matter how many aircraft the Turks have, Russia has two-three missiles for each of them. Ankara understands this.

Now the Europeans can no longer hide their ill-concealed enmity toward the Turks. After the recent Paris attacks, Europe needs a military alliance with Russia against ISIS and not a military confrontation between a NATO member and Moscow. Moreover, Europe is irritated by the unofficial cooperation between Turkish elite and leaders of ISIS. Everyone knows that ISIS sells oil and that the oil reaches the world market through Turkey’s territory. Likewise it’s no secret to anyone in Europe that Turkish secret services openly support terrorist organizations and islamists not only freely traverse Turkey’s territory but even receive medical care and training there.

2,000 armed officers take part in terror mock up in central London to help prepare response for potential ISIS attack

Fake extremists carrying AK47s and rigged with 'explosives' take hostages in office block as if it is a shopping mall

Exercises now running weekly to ensure all emergency services - including paramedics and fire brigade - are ready
For full news coverage of the Islamic State visit http://www.dailymail.co.uk/isis

Asymmetrical or not, Turkey could feasibly perceive Russia’s military build-up along the Turkish-Syrian border as a serious threat and invoke its most valuable trump card: the Turkish Straits.

The straits, which consist of the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosphorus, are a series of waterways in Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea — and the Mediterranean — to the Black Sea.

Turkey, which has full control over the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus under the 1936 Montreux Convention, acts as the the straits’ custodian and regulates the passage of naval ships belonging to Black Sea states.

Russia currently depends on the unrestricted access to the straits afforded it under the Montreux Convention. Through the straits, it sends supplies to Syria from its Novorossiysk naval base in the Black Sea to Russian ports in Tartus and Latakia.

As Aaron Stein, a Turkey expert and nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council told Business Insider on Tuesday, it remains unlikely that Turkey would go as far as to close the straits — even in these tense times.

“I think this scenario would only kick in a World War II type situation,” Stein said in an email. “Turkey will keep the straits open per the convention and its historical practice.”

But against the backdrop of Russia’s escalating military presence along the Turkey’s southern border is Ankara’s legal authority, under Article 21 of Montreux, to cut off one of Russia’s most vital links to Syria if it feels threatened with war.

Turkey has already reportedly signaled it is willing to take some steps of retaliation with the straits. Leonid Bershidsky, a Bloomberg View columnist, reported on Tuesday that Turkey is “making Russian cargo ships wait for hours before they’re allowed to pass through the Bosphorus.”

If Russia cannot send its ships through the Turkish Straits for any reason, the Russian soldiers deployed in Syria may find themselves in a very similar position of General Paulus’ Army.”

General Paulus was a Nazi commander in World War II who led Germany’s drive on Stalingrad beginning in 1942. He and his troops were ultimately forced to surrender after their assistance from Germany’s Sixth Army was cut off by strong Soviet Army formations.

The Germans’ defeat at Stalingrad is said to have marked a turning point in the war, leading to the Allies’ victory in 1945.

On Oct. 31, Israel warplanes struck a weapons convoy and a warehouse in the region. Two more strikes occurred on Nov. 24 and Nov. 29. The targets were unclear, although sources quoted by The Jerusalem Post claim at least 13 Syrian soldiers and allied Hezbollah militiamen died in the Nov. 24 raid.

In mid-November, Syrian state media claimed that Israeli aircraft struck again near Damascus airport. That was certainly not the first time Israeli jets have bombed military-related targets in the Syrian capital. What exactly they were aiming to destroy, however, is not clear.

Incidentally, an anonymous senior Israeli army officer told Reuters that most of Syria’s Scud missile stocks have been used up. He said Israel is keeping a close eye on the missiles and claimed that a few have been transferred to Hezbollah, which he claimed have “around 10.”

Russia set up SA-22 Greyhound air defense missiles at its base in Latakia, and the Kremlin’s air-superiority Su-30 Flanker fighters bolstered a fleet of primarily Sukhoi bombers – which range from older Soviet-era Su-24s and Su-25s to newer multi-role Su-34s.

But the Kremlin doesn’t seem to have a problem with the Israeli raids.

In contrast, Russia is not concerning itself with these matters and is even outright avoiding them.”

Meanwhile, the Israeli-Russian coordination appears to be working. An intrusion by a Russian jet into Israeli-controlled air space in November was “immediately resolved” without incident, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said.

Operation Inherent Resolve is the U.S.-led air campaign against ISIS and other terror groups in Iraq and Syria. It’s a campaign that includes numerous aerial weapons to strike the enemy from above.

The U.S. has been striking Islamic State targets 16 months now, and the air power coalition that started out strong, including Arab partners, has struggled to keep its partners engaged in the fight. Although following the Paris attacks, reinvigorated European interest in fighting the Islamic State in Syria has seen France increase its participation.

Still, air power alone has its limits, and fighting a long stalemate-like conflict is both expensive and politically taxing, especially for smaller coalition participants.