Here’s how DARPA describes their MAgnetoHydrodynamic Explosive Munition (MAHEM) railgun:
Explosively formed jets (EFJ) and fragments and self-forging penetrators (SFP) are used for precision strike against targets such as armored vehicles and reinforced structures. Current technology uses chemical explosive energy to form the jets and fragments. This is highly inefficient and requires precise machining of the metal liners from which the fragments and jets are formed. The Magneto Hydrodynamic Explosive Munition (MAHEM) program offers the potential for higher efficiency, greater control, and the ability to generate and accurately time multiple jets and fragments from a single charge.

The MAHEM program will demonstrate compressed magnetic flux generator (CMFG)-driven magneto hydrodynamically formed metal jets and SFP with significantly improved performance over EFJ. Generating multiple jets or fragments from a single explosive is difficult, and the timing of the multiple jets or fragments cannot be controlled. MAHEM offers the potential for multiple targeted warheads with a much higher EFJ velocity, than conventional EFJ/SFP. This will increase lethality precision. MAHEM could also be packaged into a missile, projectile or other platform, and delivered close to target for final engagement.

For 99 years, armored tanks have been a part of modern battlefields, shrugging off bullet fire and sending footsoldiers running for cover. The development of anti-tank weapons is almost as old, with people struggling to create new tactics and new weapons that can stop the lumbering warmachines. Countries especially want anti-tank weapons light enough to be carried by a single person into battle, but powerful enough to punch through modern tank armor. For years, DARPA’s been quietly working on a human-portable anti-tank railgun. And now, it appears, China’s working on one too.

Hanna Bohman has been fighting the Islamic State in Syria on and off for most of 2015, and she hasn’t been impressed.

She said that as fighters, ISIS militants have “mostly been a disappointment.”

“Their numbers don’t seem that big and they’re eager to run away,” she told INSIDER in an email. “I suspect most of the experienced fighters have been consolidated in Mosul and Raqqa, and that’s where the big fights will be.

She said that ISIS has successfully made themselves seem bigger and scarier than they are in reality through social media.

Six of us against what was supposed to be more than 100 Daesh, but nonetheless, we jumped into a tank and off we went,” she said.

As they closed in on the battle, her unit met up with 12 Kurds who were already in position near a bridge leading into the city.

The Kurds would have to take that bridge in order to take the city.

“We spent the rest of the day fighting for that bridge, which was also the last time a sniper would take a shot at me, the bullet passing so close over my head I felt it,” she said. “We held the bridge over night while reinforcements arrived, and the next day they took the city, which by now had mostly been abandoned by Daesh.”

She briefly returned to Canada after the battle, stricken by malnutrition after having lost almost 30 pounds since joining the YPJ. But almost as soon as she returned to Vancouver, she was itching to get back to the fight in Rojava, the name given to what is considered Western Kurdistan. She went back in early September and remains with the YPJ today.

real enemy is who Daesh works for,” she said, claiming that it’s really “Turkey’s genocidal [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan… who will eventually turn Turkey into a dictatorship while trying to kill off the Kurds.”

Claims that Turkey supported the Islamic State go back more than a year, and it’s well-known that the Turkish government views the rise of Kurdish nationalism as a bigger threat to its security than the rise of ISIS.

ISIS has released a gruesome new video purporting to show a Russian jihadist executing a fellow countryman accused of being a spy.

The video, which was released through the terror-organisation's media channel, showed the victim wearing an orange jumpsuit.

Speaking in Russian, the prisoner allegedly confesses to working on behalf of the Russian intelligence service to gather information on ISIS and jihadis from the Caucasus area.

New ISIS video shows 'FSB agent' paraded before beheading

MOSCOW, December 3 /TASS/. Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya, has pledged to kill IS militants who executed his fellow Chechen, allegedly a citizen of Russia, for working for Russian security services.

"The Chechens know and remember it, and they will not leave it unpunished," Kadryov told journalists on Thursday. "We are going to send them to glory and give them a one-way ticket," the Chechen leader clarified.

"The man is a Chechen who was beheaded. There are confirmed facts, which I do not believe, that he used to work for someone. Judging from how he spoke and sat, I think that someone had just set him up," Kadyrov said.

He promised to study the execution video.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov was greatly impressed by President Putin’s annual state of the nation address to the Russian Federal Assembly (parliament) on Thursday.

He said that Putin had touched upon the most urgent issues ranging from fight against terrorism to social problems. "Being our national leader, he focused on all problem issues," Kadyrov added.

"I was impressed," the Chechen leader concluded.

A Malaysian military man believed in black magic, including a spell that meant if he defecated outside a woman's house she would fall in love with him, a court has heard.

The alliance of Russia, Iran, Syria and their allies like Hezbollah, the Iraqis and others are all directly involved in the battle. Russian armed forces, including ground troops, the Navy and the Air Force are supported by air defense system using TOR M 1 / M2 medium-range missiles, accompanied by Pantsir S- along with their most advanced S-400 missiles to create an air umbrella coverage over the Russian forces in the country. Another airport in Homs, al-Sha’ayrat, has been prepared to host newly arriving Russian Air jets. (https://twitter.com/EjmAlrai/status/671212547769540608)

Al-Sha’ayrat is one of the most important military airport in Syria. Ground troops are securing a wide parameter to allow a comfortable maneuver. Engineers and ground crew services are ready and began to receive inbound aircraft of the Russian Federation, led by advanced Su-34 equipped with air-to-air missiles to protect other Jets while bombing terrorists from another incident like the Su-24 downed by Turkey last week”.

The sources add “Iran sent 4000 IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) equipped with mechanisms grenades and rocket launchers with self-propelled cannons to support its offensive operations in Syria. Moreover two squadrons of the Iranian Air Force will be deployed in the T4 –Tiyas airport, located close to Al-Sha’ayrat, when the Iranian engineers will conclude their work at the site. Iran Air Force, trilled to raise the efficiency of pilots in real combat operation, will provide an air support for all ground forces from Palmyra to Raqqa. Moscow agreed to provide all maintenance and ammunition needed to the Iranian jets. ”

On the S-300, the source concuded: “Syrian air defense crew completed their training on the S -300 missile system in Russia and received the full sets agreed with the government the Syrian forces. The Russian-made S-300s, which can engage 12 targets simultaneously at distances of 200 kilometers and heights of up to 27 kilometers, will be deployed in the liberated areas to cover the full Syrian geography. Damascus is expected – said the source – to announce, soon, that every unidentified jet flying in the sky of Syria will be considered hostile and will be shot down if no previous coordination have been made with the Syrian authorities. Syria is ready to provided safe corridors for those willing to strike terrorism”.

Yemenis (Houthi + Saleh forces) affirmed conquering Rabuah in #Asir, the first Saudi town. Yemen flag raised:

Videos are showing Yemen forces seized Saudi military sites in Jizan, Najran and Asir:

According to IHS Jane’s, Admiral Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin, the chief of the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN), called for an expansion of the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) in his remarks delivered to this year’s Maritime Security and Coastal Surveillance Conference, which some have billed the region’s largest gathering of its kind this year. CUES is a series of protocols negotiated back in 2014 at the Western Pacific Naval Symposium for the safety of vessels meeting at sea.

Noting that the RMN shared concerns expressed by leaders about the possibility of further militarization of outposts in the South China Sea, the admiral, who was just confirmed to his new position last month, said CUES ought to be “thoroughly exercised in these areas” because they served an important role in “preventing miscalculations at sea.”

“In fact, CUES should also be expanded to other maritime agencies, especially the coastguards”, he added at the conference which was held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

As I have written before, Malaysia’s growing anxiety on the South China Sea has been well documented (See: “Malaysia Responds to China’s South China Sea Intrusion“). The idea of expanding CUES is also not a new one. Indeed, with his comments, the admiral joins a chorus of voices who have been calling for this both privately and increasingly publicly as well. For example, as I noted in my review of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) meeting also held in Kuala Lumpur last month, Singapore’s defense minister Ng Eng Hen had suggested expanding CUES to include white shipping (civilian ships) and called for ADMM-Plus to adopt a similar protocol for air (See: “What Did the 3rd ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus Achieve?”).

Expanding CUES to include civilian ships would seem to make sense since confrontations in the South China Sea have involved non-military vessels.

Khartoum sent a detachment of about 850 soldiers to the city of Aden in October to join the Saudi-led coalition, and plans to send a total of about 10,000 troops.

The coalition has struggled to assemble its forces, and have at least in some cases turned to mercenaries to field ground troops. The House of Saud’s requests to Pakistan and Egypt — both traditional allies of the kingdom — have been met with silence.

Sudan is the only country outside the Gulf region directly participating in the ground campaign against Houti rebels. Khartoum’s army has a lot of experience fighting unconventional foes during which it earned a special reputation for brutality.

Though this their first ground fight, Sudanese forces have been contributing to the air war against the Houthis since at least spring. Khartoum sent several Su-24 Fencer supersonic bombers to King Khalid Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

According to the Satellite Sentinel Project, a group that tracks Sudanese military activity in Darfur, the Sudanese Air Force acquired 12 Su-24 aircraft from Belarus in 2013.

The prisoners are described as 'sons of Jews' and accused of spying for the Assad regime in the ISIS held city of Deir ezzor, situated in eastern Syria

After finishing the task, the child soldiers return to their instructor and hand the balaclava and handgun to next boy.

Each time, the prisoners are found in different locations and have no chance to escape. One of the victims is beheaded at the end of the video.

The prisoners are described as 'sons of Jews' and accused of spying for the Assad regime in the ISIS held city of Deir ezzor, situated in eastern Syria.

The child soldiers are also shown alongside a large group of children learning about close combat and self defence.

One youngster practices his unarmed fighting moves against a masked instructor whilst the rest of the class sit on a carpet and watch on.

The footage also shows the child soldiers learning about the Koran, practicising their reciting skills with the help of a teacher.

The French Air Force and Royal Air Force have sent their finest equipment and crews to Langley AFB in Virginia to take part in an inaugural exercise, dubbed simply “Trilateral Exercise,” alongside the 1st Fighter Wing’s F-22 Raptors. This international air combat force will focus on integrated training for taking on enemies while operating in anti-access and area denial environments.

Six Rafales, eight Typhoons, along with two KC-135FR Stratotankers and two KC-30 Voyagers, made the trip across the Atlantic for the exercise that will last from Dec 2nd to the 18th. Playing the bad guys will be American F-15E Strike Eagles from Seymour Johnson AFB, as well as Langley’s own jammer-toting T-38 Talon force that the F-22s are constantly training against. USAF E-3 Airborne Warning And Control Systems (AWACS) will also be part of the integrated training scenarios.

Surely there will also be a wide array of advanced radar threats to deal with, and the Navy could very well play a role, acting as enemy picket ships, although these details remain undisclosed. US, French and UK tankers will provide tanker support for the exercise.

The Associated Press has learned that Defense Secretary Ash Carter will order the military to open all combat jobs to women, and is giving the armed services until Jan. 1 to submit plans to make the historic change

According to Moroccan daily Assabah in its Friday issue, Morocco has sent 1,500 elite soldiers to Yemen to participate in the Arab Coalition’s ground military offensive, which will be carried out under the command of Saudi Arabia.

“1,500 soldiers who took part in the African Lion 2015, during the Moroccan-American maneuvers held last May in Tan-Tan, will take part in the Arab Coalition’s ground offensive battle against the Houthi rebels,” Assabah said.

According to the same source, a contingent of Moroccan military police (gendarmerie) is expected to arrive in the coming days in King Khaled Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

“The first contingent expected in Saudi Arabia consists of elite units of the military police. “There are 1,500 of paratroopers who have been specially trained recently in Tan-Tan, for a ground intervention in Yemen,” Assabah added.

An article in the New York Times revealed that 450 Latin American soldiers, among them Colombians, Panamanians, Salvadorans and Chileans, have been deployed to Yemen. The mercenaries receive training in the United Arab Emirates before deployment, in part from U.S. trainers.

Since the beginning of Plan Colombia, between 2000 and 2015 the U.S. spent almost $7 billion to train, advise and equip Colombia's security forces. In the last few years, the U.S. government has carried out a strategy to prepare the Colombians for an emerging industry: the "export of security."

According to analyst William Hartung, the United States government has trained a total of 30,000 soldiers from the four countries that make up the Latin American mercenary force in Yemen. A recent investigative report from El Salvador cites a Ministry of Defense source affirming that there are about 100 Salvadorans operating in Yemen. While the Colombians claim to have contracts directly with the Emirati military, in El Salvador the source states that contracting goes through a national company subcontracted by Northrup Grumman.

In the case of Yemen, the populations of the countries that are involved in the conflict or feel threatened by it, such as the United Arab Emirates, have no desire to go to war. In recent months the UAE has suffered increasing casualities on the ground while the U.S. and Saudi members of the coalition keep to the skies.

The Pentagon and its promoters in Congress openly talk about the advantages of killing from a distance. Critics cite the many lethal attacks on civilians, including large numbers of women and children that are characteristic of this type of war. The UN calculates that the war in Yemen has already led to the deaths of 2,500 civilians, among them women and children; almost 500 were killed by U.S. drone strikes.