Joined: Jun 2007
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QUOTE(KLboy92 @ Mar 5 2016, 08:02 PM)
Yeah guessed as much, they are robust but also ancient some sources say jsut about 200 Condor still running
I understand, I am asking about how they organise for field deployment. Good idea that, a little armour goes a long way with Para. Wonder if we have the airdrop capability
So when forming brigades the armour regiments mate with the infantry battalions to form mechanised battalions. At 14 APCs/IFVs per company and 6 companies (we still use square battalion? A, B, C, D Coys plus Support Coy some more?) I can imagine about 80+ vehicles per battalion. So with that, and looking at a force of about 200 Condors, 100 KIFVs, 200 Adnans, that's 5 mech inf battalions...?
US Army passenger plane makes crash landing in open field near Erbil, Iraq
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—A US passenger plane made a crashing landing near Erbil Saturday morning which according to local officials was due to technical failure.
The plane N6351V registered by the US government under the army landed in an open field near the town of Kawrgosk 37 km west of the capital Erbil and 10 Km from the international airport.
Rudaw correspondent near the site said that US army helicopters evacuated four passengers who were aboard the plane.
Around 30 US soldiers arrived and sealed off the area.
An eye witness who saw the crash landing told Rudaw, “The plane was flying very low and its propellers were not working. When it landed American soldiers came soon afterwards and searched the area. They took away the passengers,”
All Hands On Deck: Russian Military Sets Up High-Tech Radar System in Syria
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The Zoopark-1 missile and artillery ground reconnaissance complex is designed to automatically determine the coordinates of enemy artillery positions (mortars, field artillery, rocket volley fire systems and tactical missile launch positions) to provide target sighting information to its own countermeasure equipment, as well as to monitor its own firing results.
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The Zoopark-1 intelligence and radar complex is completely autonomous and it takes about five minutes to deploy. The complex can conduct reconnaissance of positions of up to 17 kilometers and target artillery with a minimum bore size of 82-120 millimeters.
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The complex is capable of detecting up to 70 firing positions in a minute, while tracking up to 12 targets.
‘Efficient, accurate’: Russian air warfare in Syria praised in classified NATO report
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The document points out that Russia deployed 40 warplanes, performing some 75 sorties a day (until the ceasefire came into effect on February 27). The airstrikes, usually delivered on several targets during each combat flight, are “accurate and efficient,” the analysis reportedly says.
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The US-led counterterrorist coalition, deploying about 180 warplanes against Islamic State (IS, former ISIS/ISIL), strikes only about 20 targets a day. The paper says the number of Russian fighter jets on the ground is “clearly inferior in number” to NATO’s group, but the higher frequency of the Russian air raids makes them more effective.
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The US-led counterterrorist coalition has been operating in Iraq and Syria for over a year, while Russia launched its offensive on terrorist groups on September 30, 2015.
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The Russian Air Force has turned the Syrian battlefield into a test ground for advanced military technologies, such as deploying ultra-modern Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets to Syria’s Khmeimim airbase. The plane is believed by many experts to be superior to most existing warplanes, the report claims
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According to NATO experts, only 20 percent of Russian airstrikes are delivered on IS militants. The other raids have been allegedly directed against anti-Assad militias, some of which are supported by the West.
The Stupidly Simple Spy Messages No Computer Could Decode
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When I was ten years old, I found a shortwave radio in a crumbling old leather trunk where we kept family photos and other memorabilia. As I spun the dial, tinny, modulating noises, like the song of an electronic slide whistle, emanated from the radio’s small speaker.
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“7…6…7…4…3.” Pause. “7…6…7…4…3.”
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Listen. Hear me now. 7…6…7…4…3. Did you get that? 7…6…7…4…3.
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But it would be another 25 years before I learned what I’d really heard on the shortwave radio. That man had been talking to someone. Not me. But someone in particular, who knew exactly what the Numbers Man was saying. I had intercepted a message to a spy.
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“Facilities with giant antenna farms…were positioned at strategic locations in the United States and abroad,” according to the 2008 book Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA’s Spytechs, from Communism to Al Qaeda,
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For decades, numbers stations have been a favorite way for Cuban intelligence to make contact with their American agents. The practice didn’t fall out of fashion with the end of the Cold War. In the past 15 years, at least five Cuban spies who used numbers stations to communicate with their handlers in Havana have been sent to prison
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But today, the Russians operate a large numbers network, both to communicate with spies—in Ukraine, for example—and to send messages to military forces. Now, those transmissions can he beard online via shortwave radios connected to the Internet.
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The British are believed to have run a numbers station from a military base in Cyprus from the 1970s until 2008, probably to communicate with their spies in the Middle East and North Africa
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The numbers stations have been all around us for decades, equally disturbing whether in English, Polish, or Mandarin
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Even today, the most powerful supercomputers thrumming away in vast, refrigerated rooms at the National Security Agency couldn’t break the code that protected it. That computer the FBI wants to hook up to the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters to guess its password by “brute force?” Useless against the Numbers Man’s secret message
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CIA or whatever intelligence agency was running him. These numbers were the key. Going number by number, he’d subtract row two from row one and come up with a third row. And those numbers corresponded to letters, which spelled out a message
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But the numbers are just gibberish without that key, known in spycraft as a one-time pad. As its name suggests, it’s used only once. And that’s what makes it so secure.
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The intelligence officer told me that some of the pages were designed to dissolve in water. The agent could flush it down a toilet or even drop it in a glass of water at a cafe. The CIA reportedly made other pad pages that turned into gum on contact with saliva. I don’t know if they were mint flavored.
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Numbers stations have been located in Ukraine, transmitting in Russian and English. Poland operates a large number, in both Polish and English. Egypt has a network, in English and Arabic. Taiwan broadcasts in Mandarin into mainland China. China, in turn, runs its own numbers networks, and many of them are used for military purposes, such as communicating with deployed forces. South Korea and North Korea each run numbers stations, presumably to communicate with spies in each other’s countries, though it’ s possible that each is trying to convince the other that’s what it’s up to. Some numbers stations are believed to be set up only to confuse an adversary and give the appearance that his country must be crawling with spies, thus diverting time and money to hunting them.
The secrets of Pine Gap: Huge high-tech spy facility in the remote Australian outback tracks terrorists and is the most important intelligence gathering unit outside the US
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It’s Australia’s top secret spy base that you may have heard of, but know nothing about.
Now in a series of reports, a group of determined researchers have studied the workings of Pine Gap, offering a closer look into what takes place at the most important western intelligence gathering unit outside the United States.
Pine Gap is a satellite tracking station 20 kilometers south-west of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, in the centre of Australia and is operated by both the Australian and the United States military.
INTERNATIONAL MILITARY REVIEW – SYRIA, MAR. 3, 2016
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) launched a military operation to liberate at the strategic village of Kabani controled by Al-Nusra and its allies. Thus, the SAA’s 103rd Brigade attacked the southern flank of Kabani and the Syrian Marines continued an advance along the Aleppo-Latakia Highway (M-4). If Kabani is captured, the SAA will be able to advance on the Jisr Al-Shughour’s southern countryside. This town is a mid-term goal of the ongoing advance.
The SAA stormed the ISIS positions at the village of Fah and forced the terrorist group to pull forces back from the village and nearby farms in the Aleppo province.
Heavy clashes between the Kurdish militias and ISIS have been observed in the area between the border town of Tal Abyadh and al-Kantari and near the Raqqa-Turkey highway.
Meanwhile, the Syrian troops reportedly deployed in Southeastern and Northeastern areas of Aleppo and Hama provinces respectively are preparing to launch a joint anti-terrorism operation to free more lands in the province of Raqqa.
On Mar.2, ceasefire agreements were signed with four commanders of moderate rebel units, which control Kafar, Shams and Gabagib in the Daraa province. Total number of signed agreements has reached 40, talks with 11 more are underway.
The Russian centre for reconciliation of opposing sides also delivered 6 tons of humanitarian aid to the settlements of Kineiba, Vali-Sheikhan and Hansjaus.
SAUDI AIR FORCE DEPLOYS TO SUPPORT TURKEY’S MILITARY INTERVENTION IN SYRIA
Following the announcement by the Saudi Defense Ministry on Saturday February 14th that the kingdom intended to commit both air and ground forces to the fight against ISIS in Syria, the first four Royal Saudi Airforce F-15S strike fighters arrived at Incirlik air base on Friday February 26th. These jets were immediately proceeded by approximately thirty officers and men and supporting equipment aboard two C-130 transports. It is obvious that Saudi Arabia is sending air forces and possibly ground forces not to combat ISIS and Al- Nusrah Front, having funded them for years, but to ensure that the Syrian government is not able to regain sovereignty of the entirety of the nation.
Saudi Arabia has one of the most modern and well-equipped air forces in the region and has invested heavily in this military tool for over two decades and fields an impressive inventory of strike aircraft. The Saudi air force uses a mix of both U.S. and European aircraft, from the venerable F-15C and Tornado, to the relatively new Typhoon. The F-15Cs and Tornados have all recently been modernized and 48 units of the Typhoon have been delivered to the Kingdom from Britain. The F-15S is the Saudi version of the F-15E Strike Eagle strike fighter. It is planned to upgrade all of these units to the latest F-15SA standard over the next few years.
The Saudi Air Force has ordered a total of 72 Typhoon T-2 and T3A variants from BAE of the UK. Although this is a modern fighter with strike capabilities, it is rather unproven in combat compared to the F-15s and Tornados historically operated by the Saudis. Saudi aircraft will most likely only operate from Incirlik airbase, along with U.S. and other NATO air forces. This air base has the infrastructure and logistics in place to handle the aircraft of various NATO types. The base is also close to the proposed area of operations (Northern Syria) and is guarded by modern air defenses.
Any Saudi force would most likely only go into battle with the backing of a U.S. or NATO mandate, and the employment of U.S. and NATO aircraft in preliminary strikes. It remains to be seen if the United States and NATO will decide to support Turkey and Saudi Arabia in such an escalation of hostilities. Saudi Arabia’s threat of direct military intervention in Syria also signals the failure of their war by proxy. Their armed gangs of Islamic zealots and terrorists have largely collapsed as a viable threat on the battlefield and face a certain defeat. A failure in Syria along with a stalemate in Yemen may prove to be one failure too many for a Saudi monarchy that is suffering from internal division amongst itself and the hundreds of clans whose loyalty ensures their legitimacy.
It is very clear that any air campaign engaged upon by Turkey and Saudi Arabia alone will be met with a swift and effective Russian response with both ground and naval-based air defenses as well as the most modern and capable air superiority fighters in the region. Russia has made it extremely clear, in diplomatic yet unambiguous terms that it will not allow any outside forces to invade Syria to topple the government and secure their own aims in violation of Syrian sovereignty. Additionally, Russia has international law on its side in any dispute. It is carrying out military operations within Syria at the request of the legitimate government of that nation.
While the assets of the RSAF are modern and capable, they do not represent a technological or combat experience advantage over the forces that Russia can bring to bear in response. Russian air force and air defense forces based in Syria alone present a strong deterrent to any outside power seeking to violate the airspace of Syria without the expressed permission of the Syrian government. It is understood that any direct military confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Russia will further complicate and expand a costly regional conflict into a global one. The arrival of the first Saudi combat aircraft immediately prior to the start of the U.S.-Russia brokered ceasefire sends a clear message that neither Saudi Arabia nor Turkey desire a cessation of hostilities any time soon.
INTERNATIONAL MILITARY REVIEW – SYRIA, MAR. 4, 2016
ISIS militants have launched an advance on the Deir Ezzor Military Airport controlled by the government’s forces. On Mar.3 the ISIS force reached the southern gates of the airport following a successful firefight against the Syrian Arab Army (SAA). However, ISIS militants were unable to break the SAA’s defenses. The clashes are ongoing.
The SAA’s 555th Brigade of the 4th Mechanized Division is advancing in northeast Hama. The Zakiyah Crossroad, located west of the border between the provinces of Al-Raqqa and Hama, remains the goal of the loyalist forces. On Mar.3 the SAA seized Point 4, Point 5, Khirbat Al-Bayda, and several small hilltops on the way to it. Clashes were also observed at the Zakiyah village located located along the Salamiyah-Raqqa road.
Meanwhile, the SAA continued an advance towards the city of Palmyra securing the mountaintop of Jabal Jazal and its neighbouring oil fields. In South of Palmyra, the SAA moved to Wadi Al-Dhakara, seizing a part of the valley after a violent battle with ISIS.
We remember the pro-government group “Liwaa Suqour Al-Sahra” have deployed in the Palmyra front to strengthen the SAA’s force seeking to liberate the city.
On Mar.3, ISIS and al Nusra made an attempt to cut the Aleppo-Khanaser-Ithria road one more time. However, the SAA and its allies repealed this attack.
Since the Khanaser-Aleppo road is now free of danger, the pro-government forces, wich have been concentrated in the area, are preparing for a large military operation in Southeastern Aleppo. According to reports, the Syrian Army’s Central Command decided to deploy a significant force to the town of Ithriya. Ithriya is located in the Hama province’s Northeastern countryside. The town borders the Aleppo province to the North and it is situated 15 km West of Raqqa axis.
RUSSIA DEFENSE REPORT – MAR.3, 2016: RUSSIAN AEROSPACE FORCES IN SYRIA AND BEYOND
If the Russian Aerospace Forces’ performance took NATO by surprise, it is because earlier Russian operations did not suggest that level of ability. Russian aviation took serious losses in the 2008 conflict with Georgia: 7 aircraft shot down including a Tu-22M bomber, 4 damaged, or one loss per each 17 combat missions. There was practically no new aircraft procurement since 1994. Russian aircrews flew far fewer hours than their NATO counterparts.
But the Georgia conflict served as a wake-up call and led to reforms which proved both crucial and successful.
Russian airpower was reduced in numbers, and reorganized into 8 air bases, each supporting several air groups based on individual airfields, which allowed individual pilots to get more flying time. In 2012, the air bases and air groups were renamed divisions and regiments.
Starting with 2012, new and modernized aircraft began to enter service in large numbers. By 2014 and 2015, Russian air forces were receiving 100 new or thoroughly modernized aircraft a year, and that pace is expected to continue in 2016. By 2020, the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) are expected to have at their disposal about 1500 mostly modern combat aircraft, including 130 heavy bombers such as the Tu-160, Tu-95MS, and Tu-22M, over 800 fighters, and over 500 tactical bombers and attack aircraft.
These reforms led to the Russian VKS demonstrating a number of capabilities which seemed beyond its reach only seven years earlier:
The ability to deploy and sustain a force of 100 combat aircraft for several months in difficult conditions, and the ability to sustain a high rate of combat missions.
The ability to function in a “reconnaissance-strike complex” mode, which enables intelligence data obtained by a variety of sources, including aircraft, satellites, drones, and agents, to be converted into targeting data to allow even mobile targets, such as enemy mobile troop or supply columns to be quickly targeted.
The ability to conduct close air support as well as battlefield interdiction and suppression against an enemy practiced in concealment.
The ability to operate in any weather conditions, at any time of day.
The ability to use precision-guided munitions.
The ability to integrate long-range aerial early warning aircraft such as the A-50 and intelligence and ground surveillance aircraft, such as the Il-20 and Tu-214R, into the overall concept of operations.
The ability to use drones on a large scale and as part of an integrated aerial operation.
Granted, the picture is not perfect. Here is what Russian airpower has not demonstrated in Syria:
The ability to organize and operate large aerial “strike packages” against sophisticated aerial and anti-aircraft defenses. To be sure, while US and some NATO forces may have had that ability a decade ago, it has been degraded by NATO airpower being used in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The ability to use large numbers or a large variety of precision-guided munitions. Russian aircraft did use many satellite-guided KAB-500R bombs and Kh-29L laser-guided missiles. But most of the munitions dropped were unguided bombs and aerial rockets, aided by sophisticated on-board digital ballistic computers which allowed them to strike their targets with a fair degree of accuracy. Russia does not have tactical stand-off munitions like the SDB or AASM or the JASSM tactical cruise missile. Such weapons are in development and have been shown at MAKS-2015, but they will not be in service for years. On the other hand, perhaps there is a silver lining in this, because Russia is not over-reliant on satellite navigation systems to the same extent as NATO which might well experience a shock once it tries to use such weapons against opponents more sophisticated than the Taliban.
The maturity of some of the most modern aerial systems which entered service only very recently. The Su-30SM, Su-35S and Su-34 do appear to have at least minimum operational capabilities, as their performance in Syria did not give reason to doubt their performance. At the same time, the conflict did not push them to the edge of their performance, as most of the missions were performed equally well but much older though upgraded Su-24 bombers. Russian aircraft in Syria did not include the Mi-28N or Ka-52 attack helicopters, which raises questions about the degree of their operational maturity. However, nothing suggests these aircraft are failures in the same sense as the F-35, for example.
Everything suggests that the Russian VKS will not rest on their laurels but instead will continue to build on their strengths and eliminate weaknesses, so that it will be an even more capable force in the next conflict it has to fight.
Isis air strikes: Civilian death toll from western bombing 'set to reach 1,000 within days'
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The civilian death toll from Western air strikes against Islamic State fighters is set to pass the 1,000 mark “within days”, independent monitors told The Independent on Sunday.
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Britain has carried out 591 air strikes in Iraq and 36 in Syria – making up around a quarter of the 2,000 attacks carried out by countries other than the US in the international coalition against Isis. Russian air strikes are estimated to have killed up to 2,900 civilians.
Which only makes sense...if you didn't read the article at all.
It says NATO report, but it also says RT.com. Russia Today reporting on the success of Russia today is hardly an achievement Unless we hear the BBC or at the very least CCTV talk about it the same light, take it with a bucket of salt
Iran’s Basij Fighting Force Bolsters the Syrian Regime
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The most obvious clue as to their presence is the fact that Iranian troops have died in the conflict, including high-profile commanders such as Brig. Gen. Hossein Hamedani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps
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Iran’s Syrian military presence also heavily relies on the Basij — a paramilitary organization numbering between four to five million members
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The Basij is most well known in the West for its terrifying human-wave tactics during the Iran-Iraq War
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“[The Basij] carries out military training and surveillance, supervises public behavior, runs businesses, educates members, and propagandizes through physical space and social media,”
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Officially, the Basij recruits fighters to defend the Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque in Damascus
Watch And Hear This Impressive Stream Of F-35s Blast Off Into The Evening Sky
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Love it or hate it, these two facts that cannot be denied about the F-35—its F135 turbofan engine is very loud, and its afterburner plume is massive. Add in some twilight conditions and you have yourself quite the light and sound show, as can be seen in this video taken at Luke AFB as a bunch of F-35As take to the skies for a night training sortie.
It says NATO report, but it also says RT.com. Russia Today reporting on the success of Russia today is hardly an achievement Unless we hear the BBC or at the very least CCTV talk about it the same light, take it with a bucket of salt
Any news from rt or sputnik need to have a massive bucket of salt because like i say licking own butt and praising your self how clean it is.
Of course bbc and other western news outlet will hardly praise russian effort in syria. Again, is western opposition even praise them then it is really effective then
Ex Eagle Indopura: Singapore and Indonesian Navies Commemorate Over Four Decades of Bilateral Ties
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(Anti-clockwise from left, foreground) The TNI-AL's Diponegoro-class corvette, KRI Sultan Hasanuddin; RSN's Formidable-class frigate, RSS Tenacious; TNI-AL's Diponegoro-class corvette, KRI Sultan Iskandar Muda; and RSN's Fearless-class Patrol Vessel, RSS Gallant participating in the sea phase of Exercise Eagle Indopura 2016.
Philippines: No involvement in joint patrols in disputed seas
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MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang declared yesterday that it has nothing to do with the planned joint naval exercises of allies US, Japan and India in the disputed West Philippine Sea.
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Washington has issued a warning to China following reports that five Chinese ships have surrounded and taken over a Philippine-held atoll, where they even prevented local fishermen from fishing.
Beijing said the Chinese ships have left the area.
Military Thread V20 
Mar 5 2016, 09:46 PM
some sources say jsut about 200 Condor still running
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