Russia halts Syria bombing sorties in line with ceasefire
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Russia'a air force halted bombings in Syria on Saturday in accordance with a ceasefire agreement brokered by Russia and the United States, the General Staff of the Armed Forces said.
Russian warplanes suspended all sorties and fighting stopped in 34 Syrian settlements, military officials said.
"Russia's air force fully halted bombing in the green zone," a senior representative of the General Staff, Sergei Rudskoi, said, referring to the areas and armed groups that expressed interest in observing the ceasefire deal.
17 reasons why the M1 Abrams tank is still king of the battlefield
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The Abrams was the first tank to incorporate British-developed Chobham composite armor, which incorporates ceramics and is incredibly dense.
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The Abrams is highly mobile, with a top speed of more than 40 mph and an impressive 0 turn radius
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Also, in special conditions, like loose sand, dirt, or packed snow, the Abrams can actually drift.
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The M1 Abrams sports a 120 mm smooth bore cannon capable of firing a variety of rounds.
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Like with any armored unit, their success depends partly on the hardware, and partly on the crew. Here a loader expertly queues up a round capable of melting through an enemy tank’s armor.
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In addition to the main cannon, the Abrams sports a M2H Browining .50 caliber rifle, a staple of the US military since World War II. In some cases, the guns can be remotely fired
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The M1 Abrams is just plain tough. Watch it roll over a car bomb without even closing the hatch. This would tear a lesser tank to shreds.
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Not just the US, but Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Australia also use the Abrams as their main battle tank.
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When the Abrams finally saw combat in 1991, it impressed operators with it’s effective rounds and virtual invulnerability to Iraqi tank fire. Not a single Abrams was destroyed by Iraqi tank fire during the Persian Gulf War.
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In fact, the only Abrams lost during the Persian Gulf War were destroyed by friendly fire, sometimes on purpose so they couldn’t be reclaimed by Iraqi forces.
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The Abrams benefited from having superior range and night vision abilities compared to their Soviet-made counterparts.
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Later, during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Abrams became involved in urban warfare while clearing Iraqi cities. Urban warfare is the worst situation for tanks, as their range is limited by buildings and they can be attacked from above, where their armor is weakest.
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In response, the US outfitted the Abrams with the Tank Urban Survival Kit
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In their book “Heavy Metal: A Tank Company’s Battle to Baghdad” Major Jason Conroy reports a lopsided victory where an Abrams unit destroyed seven Soviet-made T-72 tanks at point blank range with no losses on the US side.
Norway officially accusses China of stealing military secrets
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General Lt Morten Haga Lunde, head of the Norwegian intelligence agency E-tjenesten, has gone on the record to accuse China of involvement in cyber-espionage activities in the country, stating that threat actors in China have stolen confidential information from Norwegian companies which is now being used in Chinese military technology. The companies hit and technology stolen was not revealed. This is believed to be the first time this Nato government has unequivocally accused China – though with attribution in hacking being so difficult, threat actors in China could be taken to mean non-government Chinese hackers working with government sanction.
Watch This U.S. Air Force Gunship Test Fire Its Massive Howitzer
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This is the scene from a video of two test shots which took place on Dec. 4, 2013. The U.S. Air Force ran the experiments at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida to see how the lumbering aircraft would handle the stress of the big cannon. The M-137 howitzer packs a serious punch — all the more stunning as it’s from inside an airplane.
In the video, the two shots are seen side by side for comparison. The first half of the video shows the outside view, while the second gives a look at what’s happening inside. Unfortunately, the film is silent. War Is Boring obtained the clip via the Freedom of Information Act.
The video shows the moment in which a US-made TOW ATGM strikes the T-90. The incident took place west of Aleppo, in rural areas where the SAA has been actively fighting against the Islamic State. The missile was fired by some “Desert Hawk brigade which apparently is part of the “moderate opposition” or, more specifically, to the Free Syrian Army.
“If that missile penetrated the armor, nobody inside the tank would have survived.”
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Experts agree that the incident showcases the T-90’s advantages over Western tanks.
“The missile simply went off to the side”
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According to Khalitov, the video must have been composed of two parts. The first suggests that the Shtora optronic suppression system was effective because the missile “simply went off to the side.”
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“Shtora is part of T-90s multi-layer protection. It is a subsystem designed to protect the vehicle against flare-tracked ATGMs,” Khalitov told Vzglyad.
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According to Khalitov, the T-90 also has another protective system which detects an approaching missile by detecting the illuminating laser beam, and then launches a metallic aerosol grenade which disperses the laser beam thus depriving the enemy of the ability to guide the missile or estimate range using a laser rangefinder.
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“The tank remained operational after the missile hit. Reactive armor tiles destroy munitions striking the tank before they are able to penetrate the basic armor,” Khalitov noted.
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The T-90 in question most likely survived the attack, though one of its crewmembers, likely a Syrian army tanker who still has memories of operating early-model T-72s with thinner armor protection and often no reactive armor, likely instinctively jumped out of the tank fearing that the missile hit had scored a lethal hit which would soon result in a fire. The video also shows the Syrian tank crew in question is lacking in training–no matter how survivable the tank is, it is generally a bad idea to sit still in an exposed firing location for such a long period of time, because no tank completely invulnerable
Impressed by Russia's 'Kalibr', DoD Puts Money Down on New Missile Designs
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"But on examination it's clear that the Pentagon is not cutting back on one particular type of weapon –indeed, it's doubling down with hundreds of millions of dollars in new investment:" anti-ship missiles. "All of a sudden, it seems, destroying enemy warships is a top Pentagon priority."
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"Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, Work's boss, laid out the argument," Axe explained. "We face competitors who are challenging us in the open ocean, and we need to balance investment in those capabilities –advanced capabilities –in a way that we haven't had to do for quite a while," Carter said, speaking to sailors at Naval Base San Diego earlier this month.
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"But after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the US fleet shifted its attention to land," launching "missile and air raids on Iraq, Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq again, Libya and Syria, among others."
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"Russia's 27-foot-long Klub missile [launched from the Kalibr-PL and Kalibr-NK platforms], for example, can travel as far as 400 miles [about 640 km] and, during the final moments of its flight, can boost to supersonic speeds to maximize the damage it inflicts on its target. China's YJ-18 is roughly equivalent to the Klub and might even be an illicit copy of the Russian munition," the military analyst alleged.
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Worryingly, Axe explained, "Russian and Chinese ships armed with the far-reaching Klubs or YJ-18s can shoot at American warships before the US vessels within range can fire their older Harpoons, which puts the Americans at a serious disadvantage."
INTERNATIONAL MILITARY REVIEW – SYRIA, FEB. 25, 2016
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies have been continuing a counter-offensive on the areas of the Aleppo supply line held by ISIS. On Feb.24, the SAA ‘Tiger Forces’ recaptured the vilalge of Rasm al-Nafl and advanced on the outskirts of the Shallalah al-Kabirah village. On Feb.25, the Tiger Forces continued advances and liberated the strategic town of Khanasser.
The SAA’s counteroffensive is supported by Hezbollah and Liwaa Al-Quds Brigade and marked by a massive usage of artillery, battle tanks and warplanes. But, according to reports, ISIS and Jund al-Aqsa militants still control about 7 km of the road.
In this situation, the Syrian government appears to have paused its major offensive operations in the city of Aleppo. However, the SAA and its allies still have few options to encircle the militants in the area.
The Russian Air Force is continuing airstrikes against ISIS, Al-Nusra Front and linked organizations. Russian warplanes have made 62 sorties and destroyed 187 terrorist targets over the past 2 days. Defense Ministry spokesperson Major General Igor Konashenkov noted 10 terrorist strongholds were destroyed and more than 50 militants were neutralized only in the Hama province.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Feb.24 Syrian Kurdish forces must be excluded from a ceasefire agreement between the warring sides in Syria. We remember, Turkey is continuing to shell constantly the Kurdish YPG units which are fighting terrorists in Northern Syria.
INTERNATIONAL MILITARY REVIEW – SYRIA, FEB. 26, 2016
The Syrian Arab Army and its allies are struggling to reopen the only Aleppo supply route cut by ISIS and Al Nusra this week. Following the liberation of Khanasser and Maghārat, the loyalist forces continued to advance north capturing the Talat Al-Bayda hill top and setting the ground to seize the village of Al-Hawaz. In a separate advance, the Tiger Forces with significant artillery and air support has liberated the village of Shilallah Al-Kabeera reaching the outskirts of Shilallah Al-Saghira. The offensive on Al-Hawaz and Shilallah Al-Saghira have been launched today morning.
According to reports, Jeish al-Fatah militants backed up by Turkish artillery fire, gained control over the villages of al-Dorra and al-Saraf in the Northwestern parts of al-Rabia’a town in the province of Lattakia. After taking control of these two villages, the militants receive reinforcements and a large cargo of weapons and military equipment poured through via the Turkish borders. It was reported on Feb.25 a commander of Jeish al-Izza militant group, Musa Abdallah, was killed in a Syiran airstrike in Hama.
Some 30 Saudi Air Force officers with a cargo of military equipment have arrived to the Incirlik military airbase in Turkey to prepare for a joint air campaign in Syria. The deployment of Saudi fighter jets is expected in next 24 hours.
More than 50 Russian officers with peacekeeping experience have arrived to the ceasefire center in Latakia. Thanks to their intermediation, several armistice agreements have already been signed with a number of formations in northern Latakia province. The officers also started to send humanitarian aid to the areas freed from the terrorists.
RUSSIA DEFENSE REPORT – FEB. 27, 2016: RUSSIAN MILITARY ADVISERS IN SYRIA
When asked about Russian operations in Syria, most people would immediately mention the Russian fighter-bombers, attack aircraft, combat helicopters, and cruise missile volleys. Few would mention the quiet work behind the scenes that was performed by a large group of highly dedicated professionals who helped transform the Syrian military that was on the brink of defeat, into a force that could once again begin liberating Syria’s territory. Without denying the importance of the air campaign, the air strikes alone would not have turned the tide of the war.
When the Russian military began its intervention in Syria, the situation at the front demanded a rapid provision of specialized military support in order to offset the jihadist numerical superiority by superior firepower. That was quickly provided by supplying the Syrian Arab Army with T-90 tanks and TOS-1A self-propelled thermobaric rocket launchers which are highly effective at reducing fortifications.
However, in order to allow the Syrian army to resume the offensive, both its equipment and personnel would have to be replenished and retrained. Unfortunately, the Syrian military was in a state of serious neglect when the rebellion broke out, and large-scale combat operations quickly revealed this sad state of affairs. Much of its equipment was sidelined for lack of maintenance, units were understrengthed and short of specialist personnel. At the time, the Syrian soldiers were poorly trained, even ones assigned to crew sophisticated weapon systems like tanks and self-propelled artillery weapons. Equipment maintenance systems were sufficient to cope with peacetime demands, but quickly broke down as soon as the Syrian military attempted large-scale operations. Syrian military’s large pool of equipment also created an attitude of neglect toward maintenance and evacuation of damaged machines.
To help, the Russian Ministry of Defense utilized the Syrian Express supply route to send a large number of T-72B tanks, BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles, and rocket artillery weapons to Syria. Russian advisers then got to work training Syrian troops both on the use of the new vehicles and operating them as part of tactical combat teams. Even more equipment found its way into the Syrian units thanks to Russian specialists restoring Syria’s armored vehicle repair workshops, which quickly returned hundreds of broken-down or long-term storage armored vehicles to service. Syria’s air force returned to the skies thanks to Russian specialists and timely deliveries of spare parts.
The Russian advisers also established training courses for the specialist personnel without which no military can effectively conduct large-scale operations, such as logisticians, communications experts and, equally important, operational planners. This work is, of course, not without danger, given the terrorists’ ability to strike in almost any part of Syria. One Russian adviser was killed in Latakia province in unknown circumstances.
The Russian advisers also serve as de-facto diplomats, whose presence is necessary to ensure the capability of pro-government forces which include recently recruited tribal and regional militias and even former opposition forces working smoothly together. For example, it is difficult to imagine the Kurds and the Syrian military cooperating effectively without Russian intermediation.
For all these efforts, the situation in Syria still remains critical. Syrian forces’ problems have not been fully resolved, and ISIS and other jihadist forces are capable of launching local counter-attacks, as they recently did at Khanasser, because government forces are not large enough to properly defend the lengthy front lines against all the rebel factions. However, the trend is in a positive direction. The January fighting in Salma was a demonstration of the Russian efforts to train complete battalion task forces of the Syrian army to conduct offensive operations. It was the first operation carried out by one of the new Russian-trained battalions. Since the training program was launched in October, it would appear that the training cycle lasts 3 months before the unit is sent into the front lines, and more such units have been joining the fray recently and turning the tide of the war. The opposition’s newly discovered willingness to negotiate is entirely due to their belated recognition that the balance of forces has been shifting against them.
Ramzan Kadyrov says his day as Chechen leader is gone
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"My time is already up. A man has his limit and Kadyrov is at the peak, I think," Kadyrov said.
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"I can see myself in my family, in my private life and in studying Islam. If there is a need to take a spade, an assault rifle or a backpack, I am always ready," he said in conclusion.
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"Everything is in Allah’s hands. I am an infantry soldier. If they say to serve further on, I will serve on. If (they say) let’s say goodbye, I will say goodbye," Kadyrov added.
Peacekeeper Enhances Our Island Defence Operations
With the Peacekeeper Protected Response Vehicles (PRV) providing enhanced protection, accurate firepower and better manoeuvrability, it enhances our Island Defence operations, keeping us safe.
Peacekeeper PRV, capable of manoeuvering over undulating terrain with steep slopes.
This Map Visualizes China's Growing Military Capabilities In The South China Sea
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This awesome interactive map shows China’s emerging area denial and anti-access military capabilities in the South China Sea. It is useful in visually tracking China’s progress towards creating an overlapping field of control over a vast majority of the area.
The map, which you can access here, is built by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Saudi begins 'Thunder of the North' military exercise
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Troops from Pakistan, Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Sudan are among those participating in the "Thunder of the North" exercise, which began on Saturday and involves ground, air and naval forces, SPA reported.
'I slept with a knife next to me': Kibbutz dwellers fear hidden threat from below
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At the height of Israel’s war in Gaza in the summer of 2014, the residents of Kibbutz Nir Am woke to startling images on the news - 10 armed Hamas operatives, disguised in Israeli army uniforms, crawling on their stomachs in wheat fields only a kilometre and a half from their community’s border fence.
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Since the war, the creeping fear of underground warfare has returned for the residents here, heightened by reports from the army who say the threat is viewed as a top priority and the recent collapse of at least four tunnels across the border in Gaza.
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With a recent $120mn, three-year pledge from the US, two Israeli companies are now reportedly in a race to complete a so-called "underground Iron Dome" which could detect digging dozens of miles below ground and would be a game-changer for the underground warfare.
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A military assessment also published this month in the Yediot Ahronot newspaper, more than 1,000 Gazan diggers are progressing at an approximate 50 metres per week on one long, high-quality tunnel, being built in parallel and upon smaller tunnel systems.
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According to Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, Israel has also been cooperating with Egypt, which has been flooding what Egyptians estimate is a 1,200-strong tunnel network that connects Sinai with the besieged Strip and is used to transport everything from construction materials to electricity to weapons and militants.
My Lunch With ‘The Spider’ Who Nearly Wrecked The CIA
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Long before Game of Thrones dubbed its spymaster The Spider, James Jesus Angleton earned that name. His internal witch hunts still leave us wondering—madman, genius, or both?
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Angleton had been forced to resign from the Central Intelligence Agency more than three years earlier after two decades of running its counterintelligence operations
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Angleton was portrayed as amazingly eccentric and wildly paranoid, the mastermind who kept American intelligence operations safe from Soviet “moles,” and the madman whose “sick-think” destroyed careers and paralyzed the agency with his obsessive hunt for traitors. Indeed, there were some who said he’d done so much damage that Angleton must be the mole
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His name became part of every enigmatic event of the 1960s, including the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the subsequent murder of one of his mistresses (the ex-wife of another CIA man).
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His appearance was as it had been described in countless caricatures: gray on gray, with gray hair, grayish skin, a gray suit. His build was tall and lanky but slightly stooped, and he had long, thin fingers. He was, indeed, a little spidery. His glasses were heavy-framed, and they were worn, one might think, as much for their symbolic weight as for their optical correction.
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They were a dying breed, in fact, and their greatest skill, the collection and analysis of “human intelligence” was a dying art. The big money—the almost unfathomably huge money—spent by the American intelligence community went on satellites and electronic snooping of various descriptions. Serious intelligence gathering was supposed to come through technical means. The “people” part of the CIA was withering away, except, perhaps, for covert ops of the kind Colby had favored. As his son told a conference at the Wilson Center in Washington in 2012, “My father’s favorite expression was, ‘March towards the sound of the guns.’ Get into the action. If there’s a battle going on, go to it.”
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During World War II, Angleton joined the OSS, the forerunner of the CIA, and was one of the very, very few members of that organization given access to the Ultra secret, the material collected after Enigma broke the German codes. He was also shown the workings of the great British deception called “Double-Cross,” using fake or turned agents to misinform and mislead the Nazis. His instructor in such massive deceit: a brilliant young operative in the British Secret Intelligence Service named Kim Philby.
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“Admiration for the Jewish state became an obsession with Angleton, who fell captive to the magic of Israeli intelligence,” wrote Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman in their 1990 history of the Mossad, and such was the debt of gratitude felt by the Israelis that in November 1987, after Angleton’s death, Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek and then-Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin dedicated a “memorial corner” of a park not far from the King David Hotel where there's an inscription in English, Hebrew and Arabic: “IN MEMORY OF A DEAR FRIEND, JAMES (JIM) ANGLETON.”
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Today, the American intelligence community is still trying to come to terms with Angleton’s legacy. In 2012, Georgetown University’s Bruce Hoffman and the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., organized a day-long conference that brought together Angleton’s defenders and critics.
Israel Aerospace Industries has taken the quadcopter to its logical conclusion: They built a man-hunting flying suicide drone. The ROTEM-L unmanned aerial vehicle is designed to hunt down targets in urban environments and execute a suicide attack, blowing them up with hand grenades
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ROTEM-L weighs 9 pounds, carries infrared cameras, and has a flying time of 30 minutes. An operator uses a tablet to guide the drone. He or she uses the forward-fixed camera to search for targets—IAI says the drone is virtually silent at ranges of 200 meters. Once a target is located, the operator can activate the attack mode. ROTEM-L executes a high speed on attack its prey. Once in range, the drone detonates two onboard fragmentation grenades, destroying itself and the target.
FORMER CIA, NSA DIRECTOR SAYS MILITARY WON'T LEGALLY OBEY DONALD TRUMP IF ELECTED
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The billionaire real estate mogul has advocated for "bombing the oil fields" controlled by the Islamic State (ISIS), as well as targeting family's of suspected terrorists. Trump also commented on the process of waterboarding, which he would encourage the use of even though it has been proven not to produce effective results.
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Trump's poll numbers have only increased regardless of how outlandish his statements might be
Kurds Repel 100 Militants Attacking From Turkish Side of Syria Border - MoD
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Russia has received information of an assault on the northern Syrian town of Tal Abyad from Turkish territory, the head of the ceasefire monitoring center at the Russian Hmeymim airbase in Latakia said earlier Sunday.
According to the reports, Kurdish militias have repelled Daesh from Tal Abyad, a town straddling the Syrian-Turkish border.
Military Thread V19 
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