This article, based on a recent study done by a Vilnius think tank called Eastern Europe Studies Centre (EESC), highlights select Lithuanian experts’ predictions of Russia’s foreign policy over the next three to five years. The study used the well-known Delphi Method of forecasting, originally developed by the RAND Corporation, to find a consensus on the most probable scenarios of Russian behavior in the international arena.

The experts’ dominant belief is that Russia seeks to gain superpower status and to reshape the rules of the international system so that Western domination ends and a multipolar world order emerges.

the experts predicted that confrontation with the U.S. would be in areas of “soft” power only, such as trying to gain more influence in Eastern and Central Europe

some of the experts indicated a possibility of Russia challenging certain NATO members in order to test NATO’s reliability and stability. The Lithuanian experts also see the Baltic States as the most probable target for such military provocations from the Russian side.

the EESC study participants believe that while Russia regards the EU as a competitor, it does not see Europe as a unified or even a sovereign actor in the international system.

The experts also asserted that Russia’s dominant tactic is to exploit divisions among EU member states and to use every opportunity to diminish US influence in Europe.

Russia would likely seek pragmatic cooperation with the EU in economic relations, but would not tolerate the EU expanding its political influence in Eastern Europe.

Russia will try to increase its influence in the international arena by exploiting divisions inside the EU, promoting radical groups in European countries, and finding opportunities to involve itself in international conflicts like Syria. Together, all these methods could create favorable conditions for Russia to exert more influence at regional and global levels and to increase its status as a global power.

conflicts or disagreements inside the current ruling elite in Russia as the internal factors which could be most significant in shaping Russia’s foreign policy.

Russian society and the political opposition are not capable of creating the conditions for a domestic transformation or “revolution.”

Support for radical political groups inside the EU, tactical involvement in the Syrian conflict that increases refugee flows to Europe, political influence in some southern EU countries such as Greece and Italy, are just a few examples of the Russian activities. Russia may also use the ideology of Pan-Slavism in the Balkans, creating yet another line of separation in Europe. It may also seek a “special relationship” with Turkey, which is a crucial partner of the EU in dealing with migration crises. In this scenario, Russia may exploit crises in the EU, such as Brexit to increase the pace of disintegration of the EU and NATO. According to this scenario, the priority of Russian foreign policy may shift from confrontation with the U.S. to that of promoting the breakup of the EU.

In the 1950s, the UK designed a nuclear landmine that would be placed in West Germany to stop a hypothetical Soviet assault on the rest of Europe, the BBC reports. The landmine, dubbed Operation Blue Peacock, would be operated remotely so that it could be detonated at the moment when it could inflict maximal damage on the invading Red Army.

But the weapon had a major hitch. Buried underground, it was possible that the mine would become cold to the point that the detonator would be unable to trigger a nuclear blast. In 1957, British nuclear physicists found a solution: chickens.

“The birds would be put inside the casing of the bomb, given seed to keep them alive and stopped from pecking at the wiring,” the BBC notes. The chickens’ body heat would be enough to maintain the triggering mechanism’s working temperature. In all, the chickens would be estimated to survive for a week, after which time the bomb would return to a possibly cooled and inoperable state.

In all, the landmines designed in Operation Blue Peacock were thought to yield a 10-kiloton explosion which would produce a crater 375 feet in diameter, according to the American Digest. Such destructive potential ultimately led to the abandonment of the project as the British realized that there would be an unacceptable amount of nuclear fallout from such a blast — never mind the complicated issue of burying nuclear weapons within the territory of an allied nation.

By 1958, after the production of only two prototypes, Operation Blue Peacock was abandoned.

Islamic State (IS) is using wooden replicas of tanks and Humvees in a bid to subvert an air campaign by the US-led military coalition supporting Iraqi forces in the Mosul operations, even using bearded mannequins to simulate militants.

The Iraqi army captured a handful of the mockups last week at a training site it retook from the group north of Mosul, IS's last major stronghold in the country, which government forces have almost surrounded but only breached so far from one direction.

Baghdad-based spokesman US Air Force Colonel John Dorrian said the coalition had been tracking IS's use of such decoy vehicles for a while.

"We call it tactical deception. Daesh has been doing it and that's certainly a tactic that enemies like to use," he said.

"It is actually not as troubling as a lot of the other things we've seen," he said, like setting fire to a sulphur plant and igniting oil wells south of Mosul.

Also found at the training site were two large armoured vehicles the militants had used for assaulting enemy positions, and the blown out remains of more than a dozen vehicle-borne explosive devices that Iraqi forces had disabled.

The Navy refers to its newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, as "4.5 acres of sovereign U.S. territory." The $12.9 billion warship — the first of the Navy's next generation of aircraft carriers — is in the final stages of construction after cost overruns and a delay of more than one year.

This carrier and those that will follow, including the USS John F. Kennedy and the USS Enterprise, will replace the Nimitz-class carriers, which were first commissioned in 1975. Construction on the Ford started in 2009 and on the Kennedy in 2015. Construction is scheduled to start on the Enterprise in 2018, but that could be pushed back.

The Ford — sitting now at Newport News Shipbuilding, the giant Navy contractor in Virginia — will house about 2,600 sailors, 600 fewer than the Nimitz-class carriers. The Navy says that will save more than $4 billion over the ship's 50-year lifespan. The air wing to support the Ford could add more personnel to the ship, which is designed to house more than 4,600 crew members.

The Navy had hoped to begin testing the Ford's systems and equipment during sea trials this fall. But those tests and a delivery date have been delayed as work continues on some of the vessel's new technology, such as its power generation system, aircraft landing equipment and advanced weapons elevators.

Construction was supposed to be completed by September 2015, with a cost cap of $10.5 billion. The Navy has attributed delays and cost overruns to the ship's state-of-the-art systems and technology.

For LCS ie Gowind? sorry, I think ALL those names... don't sound good

I like the Royal Navy and old Imperial Japanese Navy naming conventions - the RN tries to name them the same letter or theme (ie county-class) while the IJN includes some of their famous mountains; both of them as well as many other navies reuse historic names of retired ships.

I think mountains are nice. How about:

KD Kinabalu
KD Tahan
KD Ledang
KD Korbu
KD Jerai
KD Murud/Mulu

I never liked the idea of naming ships after people.

Sudah ada KD Jerai class MCMV. Design based on Lerici Class, built by the Italians.

ST Marine lays keel for Singapore's fifth Littoral Mission Vessel

Ridzwan Rahmat, Singapore - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
11 November 2016


The third Littoral Mission Vessel on order for the Republic of Singapore Navy, Unity, at its launch ceremony in October 2016. ST Marine laid down the fifth vessel, Indomitable, on 11 November. Source: IHS/Ridzwan Rahmat

Shipbuilder ST Marine has laid down the fifth Littoral Mission Vessel (LMV) on order for the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN).

The 1,250-tonne platform, which will be the future RSS Indomitable, was laid down on 11 November at the shipyard's facilities in Jurong.

Indomitable is part of a contract for eight LMVs acquired by the Singapore government to replace the RSN's 11 Fearless-class patrol boats, a number of which have been in service for more than 20 years.

First-of-class Independence was launched in July 2015, while third-of-class Unity was launched in October 2016. The fourth vessel, Justice, is currently under construction at ST Marine's facilities in Benoi, having been laid down in May 2016.

The LMV platform features a length of 80 m, a beam of 12 m, and a draught of 3 m. Powered by two MTU 20V 4000 M93 engines each, the platform can reach top speeds in excess of 27 kt, and a standard range of 3,500 n miles at 15 kt.

The LMV's suite of weapons include a 12-cell vertical launching system (VLS) in the forward section that can launch MBDA's VL Mica anti-air missiles, and one Oto Melara 76/62 Super Rapid main gun.

All eight LMVs are expected to be operational by 2020.

damn, Ledang and Kinabalu taken too

talk about mountains and molehills, namanya gunung kapalnya

inb4 KD Najib Razak

inb4 KD Najib Razak

inb4 KD Najib Razak

very jelly with singapore

LMS only but still armed with Mica

ours asal nama OPV & LMS jer, terus togel can only have main gun..then continuously say will add missile will add missle which i guess until the vessel retired also will not going to see that happen

Agree with you the Kedahs should be armed with missiles too, but for the LMS it would be a "nice to have" not a "should have".

RSAF Exercise Torrent 2016 - Montage.

very jelly with singapore

LMS only but still armed with Mica

ours asal nama OPV & LMS jer, terus togel can only have main gun..then continuously say will add missile will add missle which i guess until the vessel retired also will not going to see that happen