Through a “crowdsourcing experiment” on Geo4nonpro.com, Lewis and his colleagues have been examining satellite imagery of Kaliningrad. According to Lewis, the results are disturbing.

Instead of a routine deployment with routine drills, Lewis sees the Russians “knocking buildings down like crazy and building new buildings,” in what he considers an attempt to permanently house the nuclear-capable missiles in Europe.

“I think construction at the missile base is consistent with permanent deployment. We found the missile base using Russian social media and found the training area. Every time there are reports that there’s an exercise we go take a look at the missile base,” said Lewis of his methodology.

The military bases in Kaliningrad seem to be undergoing a change to accommodate the missiles and vehicles that accompany them.

ASEAN Armies Rifle Meet (AARM) 2016 medals standing so far.

The Type 73 is an intriguing design, virtually unheard of outside North Korea. Little information about the gun’s origins has escape the reclusive communist country.

“Even within the mist of secrecy regarding North Korean firearms, the Type 73 is still clouded in mystery,” Dan Shea and Heebum Hong wrote in Small Arms Defense Journal in 2013. “Refugees who escape North Korea via China sometimes have information, but that information might have some problems.”

From what details and images are available, the approximately 23-pound gun appears to be a hodgepodge of ideas taken from various Soviet and Warsaw Pact designs. The Type 73 blends the basic layout of the Russian PKM with the feeding system from the Czechoslovakian Vz.52.

The arrangement allows gunners to load the weapons with belts of ammunition or large magazines. When fitted, the magazines stick out of the top, giving the firearms a distinctly dated appearance.

Unusual for a machine gun, the Type 73 has a special barrel attachment so soldiers can fire rifle grenades. With this feature, it is not entirely clear what role the North Koreans envisioned for the gun.

Are those black AKM? Or some other variant?

JAKARTA - A twin-engine aircraft operated by the Indonesian police crashed into the sea near Batam on Saturday (Dec 3) with 15 people on board, said local authorities.

There are no reports of survivors.

The Indonesian Navy has deployed three ships and two patrol boats for the recovery operation.

Wreckages of the M-28 Skytruck were found by fishermen in waters off Pulau Senayang, Riau Islands province, at 11.30am local time. Body parts were found among the debris.

Those on board included police officers and aircraft maintenance crew, among others.

The Turkish military reported on 24 November that an air attack, allegedly by Syrian government forces, killed three of its soldiers and wounded 10 near the northern Syrian city of al-Bab. A few hours later, seven more Turkish soldiers were wounded in a second attack.

The Turkish-backed offensive, a coalition of Syrian rebel groups supported by Turkish troops, was launched on 24 August to take the border town of Jarabulus to target the Islamic State group, and also to hamper the aims of both the Syrian Kurdish forces, which are considered a threat to Turkey because of their affiliation with the outlawed PKK.

Turkey’s offensive was preceded by a rapprochement with Russia after an eight-month rift triggered by Turkey’s downing of a Russian fighter jet in late 2015. The rekindling of ties led to speculation about a secret deal on Syria between Turkey and Russia.

The attack, as was reported, may have been a warning shot to keep Turkey away from al-Bab.

There is also a common assumption among some experts that Russia, despite its approval of the Turkish-led operation, will not permit Turkish-backed groups to capture al-Bab because Russia fears Turkey and its Syrian rebel allies will then be able to threaten the Syrian government's Aleppo operation.

“Assad and Iran, although for different reasons, are not happy with the restored ties between Russia and Turkey,”

Assad fears that such a cooperation may in the long term lead to a political settlement that forces him to share power with opposition groups.

"Iran, also, fears that the two countries [Russia and Turkey] share a common interest in limiting its influence in Syria, and therefore might have colluded with Assad to sabotage these restored relations.”

If Turkey were to succeed in brokering such a deal, it would likely improve its relations with Russia and secure a more active political role in the conflict, which would further empower Russia and sideline the US.

It also indicates that Turkey’s attempt to capture al-Bab is likely to be permitted and guaranteed by Russia.

This is the chilling scenario simulated by the British Army in one of the most realistic war games ever staged, revealed in these exclusive photographs obtained by The Mail on Sunday.

Our dramatic pictures show the incredibly life-like exercise on Salisbury Plain, intended to simulate President Putin’s forces invading Estonia, according to Army sources.

Taking part were troops due to be deployed early next year to shore up Nato forces in the Baltic states.

Every detail was as close as possible to those British soldiers will experience if Putin goes into Estonia.

WASHINGTON, DC — The only nation to have used nuclear weapons this century will be able to strike Seattle in four years, former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden said on Wednesday.

“I really do think that it is very likely by the end of Mr. Trump’s first term the North Korean’s will be able to reach Seattle with a nuclear weapon onboard an indigenously produced intercontinental ballistic missile,” Hayden said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

“Now, will it be a high-probability shot, they have technical issues, so probably not. But then again, what kind of odds are you comfortable with when it comes to Pyongyang?” Hayden said.

“After the December 2012 launch, the South Korean navy dredged up off the ocean floor the stages of the North Korean missile, Klingner explained. “South Korean and US officials assessed the missile had a 10,000 km range which covers a large part of the US.”

Fast forward to this year, on February 7, a month after North Korea’s purported hydrogen-bomb test, the rogue regime fired a long-range rocket it claimed was carrying a satellite for its space program.

The launch, which was largely viewed as a front for testing an intercontinental ballistic missile, was not only successful but also showcased the North’s technological advancements.

“After the February 2016 launch, experts assessed it could have a range of 13,000 km, covering the entire US,” Klingner said, which makes the Seattle range estimate “outdated,” he added.

According to Klingner, even the rocket with a range of 10,000 km would compromise approximately 120 million people.

The House voted for the first time today to explicitly authorize the incoming Donald Trump administration to arm vetted Syrian rebels with anti-aircraft missiles.

Mattis is well known in military and foreign policy circles for his aggressive determination to take on America’s foes, notably Iran, including in Syria and Iraq. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee as far back as January 2015, however, he opined that the time for supporting moderate rebel fighters against Assad's forces had "passed."

“If Trump decides not to end American military support for the rebels, providing MANPADs could help the opposition maintain its positions in Idlib, which I suspect is where Russian air power will be concentrated on after Aleppo falls to the regime."

President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to speak with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, making him the first U.S. leader to do so in four decades, is much bigger than a phone chat. We’re literally arming China’s enemy.

China complains each time America completes a sale to Taipei, but they’ve grown to accept it as business and move on. But actually recognizing its leaders is a slap in the face, as a far as Beijing is concerned.

In reality, though, none of the what Taipei is buying from the U.S. will equip it to invade Beijing.

China’s also seen as a bully to our allies in the region (Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei) who claim parts of the South China Sea.

The U.S. recently approved the sale of F-15QA aircraft worth $21.1 billion. It also approved the sale of F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Aircraft worth $10 billion. Both are major offensive hardware sells.

Weapon: Javelin Guided Missiles (208)

Value: $57 million (Federal Registry Link)

Description: It is a portable one-man armored vehicle and bunker buster that is considered easy to use, according to Raytheon. It has a range of about 2,500 meters.

Weapons: Assault Amphibious Vehicles (36), .50 Caliber M2 machine guns (30)

7.62mm M240 machine guns (6)

Value: $375 million (Federal Registry Link)

Weapons: Four Multifunctional Information Distribution Systems (MIDS) On Ship Low Volume Terminals (LVTs) and Four Command and Control Processor (C2P) units

Value: $75 million (Federal Registry Link)

Weapons: Seven hundred sixty-nine (769) TOW 2B Aero, Radio Frequency (RF) Missiles (BGM-71F-Series), Fourteen (14) TOW 2B Aero, Radio Frequency (RF), (BGM-71F-Series) Fly-to-Buy Missiles, Forty-six (46) Improved Target Acquisition System (ITAS), Four (4) ITAS spares

Value: $268 million (Federal Registry Link)

Weapons: The sale, refurbishment, and upgrade of two (2) Oliver Hazard Perry Class Frigates (FFG-7) being provided as Excess Defense Articles (EDA). Each vessel will be equipped with the MK-92 Mod 6 Fire Control System, the SSQ-89V(9) Anti-Submarine Warfare System, the MK-75 76mm Gun System, Phalanx 20mm Close-In-Weapon System (CIWS) (Block l B), MK-13 Guided Missile Launching System (GMLS), AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare System, SPS-49 Start Printed Page 7520 Radar, SQR-19 Towed Array Sonar, SQS-56 Sonar, spare and repair parts, publications and technical documentation, personnel training and training equipment, provisioning, system integration, U.S. Government and contractor logistics, engineering, and technical support services, and other related elements of logistics and program support.

Value: $190 million (Federal Registry link)

Weapons: Thirteen (13) MK 15 Phalanx Block lB Baseline 2 Close-in Weapons System (CIWS) Guns, Eight (8) CIWS Block 1 Baseline 0 to Block 1B Baseline 2 upgrade kits

Two-hundred and sixty thousand (260,000) Rounds of 20mm MK 244 MOD 0 Armor-Piercing Discarding Sabots (APDS)

Non-major defensive equipment: 20mm dummy rounds; spares to support the installation, maintenance and operation of the MK 15 Phalanx Block l B Baseline 2 systems; classified and unclassified publications; software; training; technical assistance; installations; other technical assistance; and logistical support.

Value: $416 million (Federal Registry Link)

ASEAN Armies Rifle Meet (AARM) 2016 - Medals Standing.