Navy and Army missile-defense crews successfully intercepted two medium-range ballistic missile targets during a Sept. 10 test conducted in the western Pacific, near the Army's Kwajalein Atoll/Reagan Test Site.
The crew of the destroyer Decatur used its AN/SPY-1 radar to track one of the target missiles. Using its Aegis ballistic-missile defense system, the crew then launched a Standard Missile-3 Block IA missile to intercept the target. Additionally, soldiers attached to Alpha Battery, 2nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, used an AN/TPY-2 radar system and a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) weapon system to find and track the missiles.
Using THAAD, the crew launched an interceptor missile, which caught and destroyed the second test missile target. The Missile Defense Agency, Ballistic Missile Defense System Operational Test Agency, Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense, and U.S. Pacific Command also played key roles in the successful test.
Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) will soon acquire a new surface-to-air missile system called the ASTER-30.
The ASTER-30 missile defence system against airborne threats is used by advanced militaries such as France and Italy, and is many times more potent than the current I-Hawk ground based air defence system.
In 2012, Congress demanded the Pentagon come up with recommendations for the location of a third site to base interceptors for the U.S. Ground Based Midcourse (GMD) missile defense system.
Friday 13th September,the Pentagon announced the locations of five candidate sitesfor a possible future deployment of additional GMD interceptors. They are:
Fort Drum, NY
Camp Ethan Allen Training Site, Vermont
Naval Air Station Portsmouth SERE Training Area, Maine
Lt. Col. Michael S. Hatfield assumed command of the 49th Missile Defense Battalion last Wednesday 11th September in a ceremony at Fort Greely, where he had served seven years earlier. Hatfield served as a Brigade Missile Defense director in Colorado Spring, Colo., from 2010 to 2013.
India has conducted a second test firing of a nuclear-capable missile with a range of 5,000 kilometers.
Undoubtly, New Delhi is struggling to challenge Beijing in the race for missile dominance in Asia. "The country has established ICBM capability with the successful second test," said Avinash Chander, a scientific advisor to Defense Minister AV Antony, adding that the next launch would be canister-based.
'Agni-V' long-range ballistic missiles are about 17 meters long, with a diameter of 2 meters and a launch weight of about 50 tons, The Indian Express reported. The missile was test-fired from Wheeler Island, off the coast of Odisha. Missile scientist and 'Agni 5' chief designer V.G. Sekaran said the test was an "overwhelming success and showed the reliability and maturity of the sub-systems," the Hindu newspaper reported.
The three-stage solid propellant missile was first successfully tested in April last year. Agni-V boasts a state-of-the-art Micro Navigation System, enabling the missile to hit the target to within a few meters. According to the spokesman for India’s Defence Research and Development Organization, Ravi Gupta, the missile will be included in the Indian Army’s arsenal by 2014-15. China has the world’s second-largest military budget behind the US, and is far ahead of India in nuclear weaponry, with intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching anywhere in India.
The Agni-V may be India'a answer to China's nuclear buildup. Earlier versions of its missiles could reach only old Pakistan and western China. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, China currently has some 250 nuclear missiles, while Pakistan holds between 100 and 120 missiles and India has between 90 and 110.The total number of nuclear missiles globally is estimated to have fallen from about 19,000 at the end of 2011 to about 17,265 warheads at the end of last year, thanks to the US and Russia reducing their stockpiles under bilateral arms control agreements, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said. Russia is believed to possess the largest inventory, with 8,500 warheads, just a little ahead of the 7,700 held by the US.
The U.S. military's revolutionary new anti-ship missile flew its first successful test flight, according to a release from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). What the U.S. currently lacks is a ship-killing missile with both the ability to be launched from far away and the technological capacity to elude enemy ship defenses. In 2009, DARPA began work on developing such a missile, and yesterday the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile conducted its first successful test. The missile was dropped from a B-1B Lancer, escorted by an F-18 Strike Eagle.
Trials of two new Russian nuclear submarines have been suspended after a submarine-launched ballistic missile malfunctioned, a defense official said.
A spokesman for the Defense Ministry said a Bulava missile fired from the Alexander Nevsky submarine toward a test site in eastern Russia failed in the second minute of the test. Five other launches of the missiles also were put on hold, the spokesman said.
The Alexander Nevsky was scheduled to be put into operation Nov. 15, contingent on a successful launch of its ballistic missiles. Officially, eight of the 19 or 20 test launches of the Bulava missiles have been declared unsuccessful.
If President Barack Obama orders the strike on Syria that Congress is considering, the U.S. Navy will be at the forefront of an attack that has the unusual objective of degrading Syria’s chemical weapons capabilities without striking at the heart of the program. However, Pentagon planners are now considering to unleash a heavy barrage of missile strikes to be followed swiftly by using Air Force bombers, as well as several US missile destroyers currently patrolling the eastern Mediterranean Sea, to launch cruise missiles and air-to-surface missiles from far out of range of Syrian air defenses.
The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group with one cruiser and three destroyers positioned in the Red Sea can also fire cruise missiles at Syria. The weapon of choice is the Tomahawk cruise missile aboard four Navy destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean. An operation in that range would likely be limited to the cost of launching missiles from U.S. destroyers cruising within range of Syria, according to budget analysts. The Tomahawk missiles aboard the ships, which generally carry dozens of them, cost about $1,1 ... 1,5 million each. The mission is among the most complex the U.S. military has launched in recent history because Syria will have had weeks to shield its most vulnerable targets from a widely anticipated volley of Tomahawk missiles.
As lawmakers continue to discuss the scope and risks of a strike, military planners are fine-tuning a plan to blast dozens of targets that include air defense infrastructure, long-range missiles, rocket depots and airfields, according to defense officials and military analysts. The six air bases the Syrian government is currently using to carry out the bulk of its military operations and its roughly two dozen stationary radars are likely targets of cruise missile strikes, according to military analysts who have studied Syria’s armed forces. Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers last week that the strikes would likely hit Syrian long-range missile and rocket depots because the weapons can be used to protect – and deliver – chemical weapons. The Navy has kept four Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers stationed within firing range of the Syrian coast for several days.
The ships – the USS Ramage, USS Barry, USS Gravely and USS Stout – are loaded with the latest generation of Tomahawk missiles. Tomahawks, which made their debut during the Gulf War in 1991, have been used in several military campaigns, often as the first salvos of protracted engagements. Raytheon, the defense giant that manufactures the missiles, has marketed them as an alternative to drones, which have become the weapon of choice in U.S. stealth counterterrorism attacks. “Unmanned aircraft seem to get all the headlines these days,” the company’s promotional website for Tomahawks says. “But the ship and submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missile – an unmanned aircraft that goes on a one-way trip – is quietly upping its game.”
Unlike earlier versions, today’s Tomahawks, which cost roughly $1,1 ... 1,5 million a piece, can be programmed quickly using GPS technology to strike targets and may be redirected midflight. The missile, which has a 1,000-mile range, can be airborne for up to four hours and deliver a 1,000 pound bomb or a package of 166 “bomblets.” The first would be ideal for a crushing blow to a critical building, while the latter would be effective against a wider area, such as a parking lots with military vehicles or a warehouse that contains weapons.
The hailstorm of Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAMs) that is expected to rain down on Syria's bases and command-and-control centres - if President Barack Obama wins Congressional approval - would certainly hurt the jihadists' enemy, although perhaps not fatally: In preparation for the missile strikes - if and when they come - instructions have gone out online for rebel commanders and others to change their locations and not to gather in big groups or convoys. There is a specific fear of homing chips being attached to leaders' cars to guide incoming missiles as they are believed to have been in Pakistan's tribal areas and in the Gaza Strip.
The Nimitz carrier strike group, which includes a guided missile cruiser and four destroyers, was kept in the Indian Ocean for a "prudent responsible decision," an official told the television channel.
Five US destroyers are now positioned in eastern Mediterranean waters, up from the usual three that normally focus on countering Iranian ballistic missile threats to Europe. The destroyers -- the USS Stout, Mahan, Ramage, Barry and Graveley -- are ready to fire cruise missiles if President Barack Obama gives the order.
In a surprise move, Obama has delayed the threat of missile strikes against Damascus that had appeared imminent, saying he would first seek formal approval from Congress.
