Navy’s Next Missile Launcher Spins Like a Revolver Barrel

The Navy may have a new line of defense against a changing threat environment after the successful missile firing from a new multi-role launcher in development. Chemring Countermeasures and Raytheon Missile Systems say they have successfully fired a Raytheon-Lockheed Martin Javelin missile from a prototype multi-role Centurion launcher during testing at the Defence Training Estate on Salisbury Plain in England, where it was able to hit a static target.

“We’re bringing an entirely new dimension to ship self-defense by providing a sea-based, inside-the-horizon platform protection,” said Rick Nelson, vice president of Raytheon Missile Systems’ Naval and Area Mission Defense line, in a statement. “Chemring’s Centurion launcher, when coupled with Raytheon’s combat-proven missiles, offers an evolutionary capability to defeat surface threats with this One System-Multiple Missions technology.”

Russia to Deploy Rail-Mounted Nuclear Missiles

Russia Strategic Missile Force Commander announced that Moscow plans to deploy rail-mounted nuclear missiles as a defensive measure against the United States’ Prompt Global Strike missile program.

The benefits of a rail-mounted program include the ability to camouflage the missiles amidst commercial rail traffic, unlike more conventional silo-based nuclear missiles which can more easily be located and targeted. The START Treaty, signed by the United States and Russia in 2011, does not prohibit the development of rail-based missiles, although the fact that Russia decommissioned the last of its rail-based missiles eight years ago but is now restarting the program again suggests that Russia would be embarking on a nuclear arms build-up.

Russia’s military build-up would be a response to Washington’s plans to complete a project to install a missile defense system in Redzikowo, Poland by 2018 while another ballistic missile defense system in southern Romania is expected to be operational by 2015. Moscow fears that the missile shield is in fact offensive in nature and part of a NATO military encirclement of Russia.

K-77 air-to-air missile readied for Russian 5G fighter jet

Russia is finalizing an advanced air engagement system combining “fire-and-forget” guidance and “single-shot kill” ability within a single air-to-air missile.

The K-77M air-to-air missile with this advanced guidance system will be fitted on to the fifth-generation fighter jet PAK-FA (advanced frontline aircraft system, also codenamed T-50) and it will start to be delivered to the Russian Air Force by 2017.

The major innovation of the K-77M air-to-air missile is its guidance system, based on an Active Phased Array Antenna (APAA) of its own. With APAA onboard, the missile has zero reaction time to unexpected evolutions of the target, which means that once it locks on an aircraft, it would hit it no matter what aerial acrobatics the target would perform to shake off the inbound killer missile. 

An active phased array antenna consists of a large number of cone-shaped cells installed under a transparent-to-radio-waves cap on the nose of the missile. Each cell receives only a part of the signal, but once digitally processed, the information from all cells is summarized into a “full picture,” enabling the K-77M missile to immediately respond to sharp turns of the target, making interception practically inevitable. A similar technology is used in widely known Patriot surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, manufactured by Raytheon in the United States.

But the K-77M missile is much smaller, because it is supposed to fit into the interior bays of the PAK-FA fighter jet to ensure its stealth capabilities. Yet for the K-77M missile itself, a stealth aircraft or a UAV is a legitimate target it would track and destroy ordinarily. The advanced missile system is fully compatible with the digital communication system of the fifth generation fighter jet, but also could be used on modernized fighter jets of the previous generation. The Active Phased Array Antenna is the most modern radar technology today, and every such device is extremely expensive to produce. Yet the price of the target a missile equipped with APAA can destroy is much higher, so if the K-77M missile can guarantee hitting the target, it is worth the cost, Aleksandr Khramchikhin, an expert from the Institute of Political and Military Analysis, told Izvestia. 

India test-fires nuclear-capable Agni-III

India test-fired its nuclear-capable Agni-III ballistic missile on Monday 23th from Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast with a strike range of over 3000 km. The indigenously developed missile was flight-tested from a mobile launcher at launch complex-4 of the Integrated Test Range at about 16:55 hrs. "It was the second user trial in the Agni-III series carried out to establish the 'repeatability' of the missile's performance," a DRDO official said. This surface-to-air missile is powered by a two-stage solid propellant system and can carry a warhead of 1.5 tonne which is protected by carbon all composite heat shield. With a length of 17 metres, the missile's diameter is 2 metres and launch weight is around 50 tonnes.

China conducts flight test of DF-41

U.S. defense officials are saying that China's military has conducted a second flight test of its Dong Feng-41 (DF-41) long-range missile, capable of hitting targets in the United States with a nuclear warhead. When fully deployed, a single one of these missiles will be capable of carrying up to 10 nuclear warheads, each targeting a different location. Nothing new, as -according to a report by the Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center- "China has the most active and diverse ballistic missile development program in the world. It is developing and testing offensive missiles, forming additional missile units, qualitatively upgrading missile systems, and developing methods to counter ballistic missile defenses. The Chinese ballistic missile force is expanding in both size and types of missiles."

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Taiwan acquires submarine-launched Harpoon missiles

The United States has begun delivery of submarine-launched Harpoon missiles this year, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense has said in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The deal includes 32 UGM-84L sub-launched Harpoon Block II missiles along with two UTM-84L exercise missiles and two weapon control systems. (Read more)

Russia Plans to Release A New Nuclear Missile

Russia is planning on deploying a new type of long range missiles to replace the Cold War missile known as “Satan”. The Voyevoda, which NATO has dubbed the SS-18 Satan, was developed in the 70s and they are reaching the end of their service life. It is said that these missiles were “stuff in nightmares” for the United States during the stand off between the US and the Soviets.

Russia test-fires ICBM

Russia successfully test-fired a Topol RS-12M intercontinental ballistic missile, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

The missile, put into service in 1985 and referred to as a SS-25 Sickle by NATO, has a maximum range of 10,000 kilometers (6,125 miles) and can carry a nuclear warhead with a yield of up to 550 kilotons.

The Defense Ministry says it intends to retire most of its SS-18 Satan, SS-19 Stiletto and SS-25 Sickle ICBMs, and replace them with SS-27 Sickle-B (Topol-M) and RS-24 Yars missiles by 2021, RIA Novosti said.

Indian Air Force to arm Sukhoi-30 with BrahMos

The Indian Air Force (IAF) will deploy the supersonic BrahMos missiles on to its frontline Sukhoi-30 fighter jets, a top official has confirmed. Press Trust of India cited the official, saying the missile’s first test launch is scheduled to be conducted by the end of 2014. BrahMos Aerospace managing director and chief executive AS Pillai said the air version of the BrahMos missile is ready, but testing, simulations and aircraft modifications will take another year. Currently, the BrahMos is deployed with the Indian Army and the Indian Navy while the air platform is due to be completed.

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Missile Defense Progress Report

The Hwasong-13, a road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile, is now officially part of North Korea’s arsenal, the departing commander of U.S. Forces Korea confirmed last month.

This news comes on the heels of reports—confirmed by satellite imagery— that Iran has constructed launch sites for intercontinental-range missiles. In fact, the Pentagon reported in 2012 that Iran may be able to flight-test an ICBM by 2015, and the British government revealed in 2011 that Iran had conducted tests of missiles capable of delivering a nuclear payload.

Similarly, the Defense Intelligence Agency concludes “with moderate confidence” that North Korea “has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles.” Add it all up, and the product is a gathering threat to the United States and its allies.

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Raytheon Delivers HCSM units

Raytheon has delivered the first order of High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) Control Section Modification (HCSM) upgrade units to the U.S. Air Force earlier this month. "HCSM improves mission effectiveness and significantly reduces the risk of collateral damage," said Jack Roosa, HARM program director for Raytheon Missile Systems.

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Missile defense in New York

In March, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced that in light of renewed North Korean belligerence, including long-range missile testing in violation of international sanctions, the United States will beef up its missile-defense system to protect American cities.

The Defense Intelligence Agency has confirmed it believes Pyongyang has a nuclear weapon small enough to place on a missile. The damage from a missile carrying a nuclear warhead, is unimaginable. The United States already has homeland-defense sites in Alaska and in California; these mainly defend against potential North Korean missiles, which would enter US airspace from the West. 

But what about Iran? It continues to develop its missile program and to defiantly move toward a nuclear-weapons capability even in the face of sanctions. And an Iranian long-range missile would enter US airspace from the East. The current missile-defense system provides some protection from missiles headed toward the East Coast, but the country needs another site to give our military more chances and another angle to successfully intercept a missile headed to U.S. from Iran.

New York’s Fort Drum is considered a leading contender for this prestigious responsibility. Its location in relation to where enemy missiles would be headed makes it ideal, which is why the Pentagon selected it as the new site for a data center to help track such missiles. As Sen. Schumer wrote in a letter to the White House: “Should military experts determine that a new system on the East Coast is necessary, workable and cost effective, Fort Drum and Griffiss Air Force Base are uniquely capable for the job. . . A federal investment for missile interceptors in Upstate New York could create thousands of jobs and significant revenue in local communities, just as similar missile-defense systems have in California and Alaska.”

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¿No need for European MDS?

There's no need for a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe if the Iranian nuclear threat subsides, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.

NATO is currently rolling out its new Europe-wide missile defense shield, which will include two interceptor bases close to the Russian border in Romania and Poland, with the first of the first ground missiles becoming operational in 2015. The bases will be able to shoot down short and medium-range ballistic missiles.

Lavrov recently called missile defense a “burning issue” in Moscow-Washington relations, and said that Russia will soften its stance on the Eastern European bases only if NATO provides written assurances that they will never be used to shoot down Russian missiles. 

ASRC wins MDA Contract

The Missile Defense Agency recently awarded ASRC Federal Analytical Services Inc. the Missile Defense Data Center contract to provide comprehensive test product data management services across MDA in support of the Ballistic Missile Defense System. "It is an honor and privilege to accept responsibility for helping operate this key national asset that supports the warfighter in defending our nation and our allies against the growing missile defense threat," said Paul Dillahay, ASRC Federal president and CEO.

The ASRC Federal ASI team will provide a wide range of data management services to MDA, including data center operations; support of test design, planning and products; and analysis infrastructure operations for the Ballistic Missile Defense System. Under the MDDC contract, ASRC Federal ASI will support development, sustainment and modernization operations of Ballistic Missile Defense System dedicated test data management and data analysis lab infrastructure; test data transfer network connections; and distributed operations systems and servers. (Read more)

Update-1 MEADS destroyed 2 targets at once

The MEADS missile defense system developed by the United States, Italy and Germany intercepted and destroyed two targets simultaneously in a final test on Wednesday before Washington pulls out of the program, Lockheed Martin Corp said.

Lockheed, which plans to keep working on the project with Germany and Italy, said the test showed the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) can provide 360-degree protection against air and ballistic missile threats. MEADS was developed by a joint venture of Lockheed and the Italian-German group MBDA.

In Wednesday's test at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, MEADS destroyed two targets launched from opposite directions at the same time: a QF-4 air-breathing drone coming from the south, and a Lance missile that was flying a ballistic missile trajectory from the north. "No fielded ground-mobile air and missile defense can intercept targets from two directions at the same time, as MEADS did today," said Gregory Kee, who manages the program for the NATO.

The United States, Italy and Germany spent about $3.4 billion to develop MEADS over the past decade as a successor to the Patriot missile defense system. Raytheon Co is the prime contractor for the Patriot system, which uses PAC-3 missiles made by Lockheed, and has continued to generate large international orders. Lockheed says MEADS offers broader protection against missile attacks than the older Patriot system, and is cheaper and easier to transport.

Officials also say MEADS is the only system that offers 360-degree coverage. Raytheon officials say the Patriot system, which first entered the U.S. Army's inventory in 1982, has been heavily modernized, with large foreign orders helping fund new digital processors, touch panel screens and portable trainers. However, critics of MEADS say it has not been tested in combat, while the Patriot system has demonstrated it can fire the PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) missiles developed for MEADS.

Poland: Missile Interceptors "On Target"

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday said an Obama administration plan to in the coming years field next-generation missile defense systems in Poland is "absolutely on target."

Speaking in Warsaw, Kerry told journalists the evolving security dynamics in Syria and Iran have not impacted U.S. plans to deploy in 2018 Standard Missile 3 Block 2A interceptors near the Baltic Sea coast in Redzikowo in accordance with the U.S. "phased adaptive approach" for European missile defense.

Polish officials are somewhat sensitive about the issue of alterations to plans on missile defense-cooperation with the United States. In 2009, the Obama administration announced it was canceling a Bush-era plan to around 2015 field 10 long-range Ground Based Interceptors on Polish territory and instead would field a different model of interceptor -- the Standard Missile 3 Block 2B. But then in 2013, the United States declared it would not pursue development of the Block 2B, which was aimed at targeting intercontinental-ballistic missiles, and would just field Block 2A missiles in Poland.

The latter weapon is designed to target intermediate-range missiles. "Poland is a very important part of the European phased-adaptive approach on NATO missile defense," Kerry said. The United States and NATO are pursuing an alliance-wide missile shield capable of defeating medium-range ballistic missiles fired from the Middle East. Russia opposes the effort, seeing it as a threat to the strategic nuclear balance on the continent.

Japan to Build More Aegis Destroyers

The Defense Ministry plans to order two more Aegis destroyers capable of intercepting ballistic missiles in view of the continuing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.

The ministry will soon start negotiations with the Finance Ministry on the plan to bring the number of Aegis destroyers operated by the Maritime Self-Defense Force to eight. Four of the MSDF’s six Aegis destroyers are currently equipped with the missile defense system that can shoot down ballistic missiles in space.

At least two are needed to cover the entire Japanese archipelago with the ballistic missile defense system, though more provide better protection. To deal with a long-range ballistic missile threat from North Korea last December, the MSDF deployed two Aegis destroyers in the East China Sea and one in the Sea of Japan. In the spring, two were deployed in the Sea of Japan to brace for the launch of North Korea’s Musudan medium-range missiles as the other two were undergoing maintenance. As the threat continued, some critics pointed out the inadequacy of the missile defense structure.

Pakistan test-fires Hatf IX (Nasr) missile

Pakistan has conducted a successful test fire of Short Range Surface to Surface Missile Hatf IX (NASR).

According to Inter Services Public Relation (ISPR) the test fire was conducted with successive launches of 4 x missiles (Salvo) from a state of the art multi tube launcher. NASR, with a range of 60 Kilometer and in-flight maneuver capability is a quick response system, with shoot and scoot attributes.

The missile shield in Central Eastern Europe became a reality

On 28 October, work started at the former airbase at Deveselu in southern Romania on installing elements of the US missile defence system, specifically an Aegis system with SM-3 interceptors.

This means that the missile defence project is being implemented on schedule. From the Russian perspective, the start of work on the missile shield in Central Europe represents a failure of its policy of preventing the deployment of strategic US military facilities within the former Soviet sphere of influence.

However, it is unlikely that Moscow will soften its position and become more flexible with regard to the planned location of anti-missile launchers in Poland. 

The Shield in Central Europe

After a pause in implementing the original plan for the missile defence system during the presidency of George W Bush in 2009, which assumed the construction of a global system capable of capturing and neutralising all categories of ballistic missiles, the Obama administration has put forward a new plan for a shield for the region.

This provides for the suspension (at least until 2020) of the so-called fourth phase of the system, involving the deployment of missiles in Europe which could neutralise intercontinental ballistic missiles, while implementing the so-called third phase, based on installing Aegis anti-missile launchers in Poland and Romania, and on activating a radar station in Turkey (radar stations in the Czech Republic were also a proposed element of the Bush plan).

Negotiations are in progress on constructing a future missile defence system for NATO based on elements of the American shield in Europe, a plan which was approved at the NATO summit in Chicago in 2012.

Romania: ¿An aircraft carrier for the US?

The Deveselu base represents the second stage of the project to create a regional anti-missile shield (the first included the launch of the radar system in Turkey, and the deployment in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea of US Navy ships with Aegis systems).

The anti-missile launchers (3 SM-3 batteries, with a total of 24 missiles) is expected to be operational by the end of 2015. The third stage involves installing the same system in Poland by the end of 2018.

¿Failure of Russian security policy?

Russia has always contested the deployment of elements of a missile defence system within the former Soviet sphere of influence.

It has stated that the anti-missile programme poses a threat to its national security, although to a substantial degree its opposition actually derives from geopolitical causes. Russia made its cooperation with the United States and NATO on the missile defence system conditional on having the right of joint decision over what form the system takes (either by a joint decision-making process, or by imposing technical parameters that limit the system’s activity), as well as international legal guarantees that the system will not undermine Russia’s nuclear potential.

Russia has also put forward its own initiatives, including so-called sectoral missile defence, in which the Russian army would take responsibility for the defence of NATO’s eastern region. So far, Russia’s policy to prevent the deployment of the missile shield in Central Europe has been limited to diplomatic activity and periodic threats to take military measures (mainly by deploying Iskander missiles, which can destroy anti-missile installations, in the Kaliningrad region).  The military projects Russia has initiated over the last few months (such as the activation of the radar station in the Kaliningrad region, the deployment of Russian combat aircraft in Belarus, and the delivery of more S-300 missiles) are part of the accepted trend of modernising its armed forces, and have no direct connection with the American system.

Retaliatory measures by Russia (such as the deployment of Iskanders in the Kaliningrad region, possibly in Belarus, or least likely of all in Transnistria) will be postponed, and will ultimately depend on whether the US anti-missile systems are deployed in Poland. It must be regarded as doubtful that Moscow would treat the installation of the SM-3 rocket system in Romania as a signal to moderate its position (as NATO expects), or to show greater flexibility regarding NATO’s deployment of shield elements in Poland, especially as it regards a US military presence on its borders as one of the main threats to its security. An agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear program, as was hoped for after the election of that country’s new president, would undoubtedly serve as an argument against the US deploying its anti-missile units in Poland.

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North Korea Could Soon Have A Nuclear Missile Able To Reach Seattle

North Korea is making progress on an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a first-generation nuclear warhead to the continental United States, a leading US think-tank said.

The closely followed 38 North website of the Johns Hopkins University's US-Korea Institute argued that ICBM mock-ups seen at recent military parades in Pyongyang were "less fake" than originally believed.

Numerous experts had widely ridiculed the models of the North's road-mobile KN-08 ICBM seen in 2012 and July this year, with at least one respected aerospace engineer labelling them technically preposterous and a "big hoax". An analysis posted by 38 North disagreed, saying they were consistent with the ongoing development of a missile with a limited intercontinental ability using only existing North Korean technology.

"Elegant or not," the mockups suggest an ability to assemble components and technologies to produce missiles with theoretical ranges of 5,500 kilometres (3,400 miles) to more than 11,000 km. The analysis was co-written by non-proliferation expert Jeffrey Lewis and aerospace engineer John Schilling. The authors noted that glaring discrepancies in KN-08 mock-ups displayed in 2012 had largely disappeared by the time of the July parade. And the new arrangement of welds and rivets was similar to that seen on recovered debris from the North's Unha-3 carrier, which successfully placed a satellite in orbit in December last year.

In a separate, technical paper published in Science and Global Security, Schilling stressed that the KN-08 was still very much a missile in development. Lewis and Schilling's paper referenced recent analysis of satellite imagery indicating that North Korea was upgrading its main missile launch site, possibly to cater to larger, mobile weapons. An initial test of the KN-08 could come "at any time", Schilling said. Missile delivery has often been cited as the main weakness of the North's nuclear weapons programme which, after three tests, is believed to be close to mastering the key technology of warhead miniaturisation. December's satellite launch caused serious concern, but experts stressed that it lacked the re-entry technology needed to bring an ICBM down onto a target.

Nevertheless, Lewis and Schiller said dismissing the mock-ups paraded in Pyongyang would be dangerous. "The simplest explanation here is that the KN-08 is exactly what it appears to be: A developmental road-mobile ICBM of limited capability but still able to threaten the continental United States," they said.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/think-tank-north-korea-could-soon-have-a-nuclear-missile-able-to-reach-seattle-2013-11#ixzz2jm6O7xTB