domingo, 23 de febrero de 2014

The Future of the US ICBM Force



Contents: Roles of Strategic Nuclear Forces - A Framework for ICBM Design Decisions - ICBM Basing - Effectiveness and Lethality - The Cost of ICBM Alternatives

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Akash missile may be inducted into Army soon


The successful test-firing of the indigenous Akash surface-to-air missile (SAM) in Odisha  has the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) brimming with confidence that it would be quickly inducted into the Army.


A senior official said the Air Force has got one version of Akash, but the Army is yet to follow suit. According to senior officials, the Defence Acquisition Council has already given the nod for a combined order of Akash missiles for IAF and Army. The missile is often evaluated against the American Patriot SAM but uses an integral ram jet rocket propulsion system in addition to being touted as being more accurate and cheap.

miércoles, 19 de febrero de 2014

Lasers to Shoot Down Missiles


Last week Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd, the company behind the Iron Dome, unveiled its new Iron Beam system, a less expensive and more versatile laser-based addition to Israel's defensive arsenal.

The Iron Beam represents a fifth layer in Israel's comprehensive missile defense system, which is in various stages of completion. Once assembled, the Iron Dome and Iron Beam will work in tandem to stave off short-range and very short-range attacks, respectively, while the David's Sling will take on medium-range rockets and the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 systems will deflect long-range ballistic missiles.


(Read more)

Iran Nuclear Talks Turn to Missiles


Intelligence gathered by the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, indicated Iran had conducted secret research to affix a nuclear weapon to a long-range Shahab-3 missile.

The U.S. and its allies view Iran's missiles as part of the country's potential nuclear threat, thus a subject for the talks on a permanent nuclear agreement. "They have to deal with matters related to their ballistic missile program," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

But Iran says the missiles are part of its defense establishment and beyond the limits of nuclear talks. In any case, the issue of whether Iran's ballistic missile capabilities will be on the agenda already has exposed a rift between the Americans and Iranians. Last week, Iran's elite military unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, successfully test-fired what state media described as two domestically made ballistic missiles.

The missiles are estimated to have ranges of at least 1,500 kilometers (900 miles) and could be capable of striking Israel and American military targets in the Middle East, though military experts question their accuracy. U.S. officials, however, pushed back on Tuesday at the talks and insisted Iran's ballistic missile capabilities will be addressed as part of any final accord on the nuclear program. "Every issue is on the table as part of the comprehensive negotiations, including Iran's ballistic missile program," said a senior administration official at the talks.

(Read More)

US to send first element of anti-missile system in Europe to Romania


The first components of a US-made anti-missile system are being assembled in New Jersey ahead of their shipping to Romania in a few weeks.

In about a year, all the pieces will be reassembled to become the first operational shore-based element of the European Phased Adaptive Approach anti-missile system. According to DefenseNews, the system is the first land-based version of the Aegis combat system, a sophisticated collection of phased-array radars, fire control directors, computers and missiles.

The deployment of the Aegis Ashore system in Romania to provide ballistic missile coverage for southern Europe represents the second phase of the European Phased Adaptive Approach, and will also use enhanced SM-3 Block IB interceptor missiles.



USS Lake Erie ships out to Asia


More than 350 military personnel left Pearl Harbor on Tuesday aboard the guided-missile cruiser. It will replace the John Paul Jones as a rotational Ballistic Missile Defense destroyer.



martes, 4 de febrero de 2014

U.S. Air Force Selects Lockheed Martin To Provide Software Planner


Lockheed Martin is developing a software planner that integrates air operations and missile defense systems, giving the Air Force the ability to "see" and better understand dynamic global situations.



The U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth approximately $8 million to provide an air and missile defense planner that will be integrated into the U.S. Air Force Air Operations Center.


By integrating the missile defense data sources on to a common visualization platform, operators can easily generate and publish planning tactical operations documents to support creation of an area air defense plan. Lockheed Martin leveraged years of expertise gained developing  air operation and missile defense systems such as the Command, Control, Battle Management & Communications (C2BMC) system, which integrates multiple standalone ballistic missile defensive weapons systems; the Theater Battle Management Core System, which plans and executes air order taskings for Air Operations Centers, and the Integrated Space Command & Control (ISC2) system which unites data from approximately 40 U.S. Air Force air, missile and space command and control systems.


The customers for this integrated air and missile defense planner are the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center located at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts and the Air Combat Command located at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.

Kazakhstan: Russia to deliver 5 x S-300 Missile Battalions


Each battalion includes several different radars, a command center and six launch vehicles with a total of 24 missiles.


These missile systems are stationed on alert in Russia and now "experts of the two countries will have to cooperate to put them on alert" in Kazakhstan.


The S-300 is a series of highly capable, long-range surface-to-air missile complexes. The fully mobile units have the capacity to engage ballistic missiles as well as aircrafts.


Each battery includes a long-range surveillance radar that can track objects located in the range of 300 km, a command vehicle that identifies and assesses potential targets obtained by the surveillance radar and orders the engagement radar to launch missiles.


After that the best placed of the battalion's six launch vehicles releases two surface-to-air missiles per target and the engagement radar guides the missiles towards the target. It can engaging up to six targets at once and guide up to 12 missiles simultaneously.



The S-300 is regarded as one of the most potent anti-aircraft missile systems currently fielded.

Rota (Spain): Russia expresses concern


Mikhail Fradkov, head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (Russian: Служба Внешней Разведки Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki or SVR) has already briefed President Putin on the implications of the USS Donald Cook re-positioning in Rota base and US intentions to deploy at least four more ballistic missile defense capable ships in the region.