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MBDA's Aster, the first European missile to successfully carry out a ballistic intercept MBDA is celebrating the total success of an Aster missile firing carried out on 18th October 2010 by the DGA EM (Direction Générale de l’Armement - Essais de Missiles) in the Landes region of France. This firing deployed the Aster 30 Block 1 missile variant developed for the French Air Force’s Mamba medium range air defence system (also known as SAMP/T or Surface Air Moyenne Portée Terrestre) and optimised for the interception of aerial as well as ballistic threats. The Aster missile family (which also includes the...

Duff French missiles for Royal Navy finally fixed New £1bn destroyers get post-1940s weaponry at last By Lewis Page Problems with the primary armament of the Royal Navy's new, £1bn+ Type 45 destroyers have been rectified, according to reports. The Royal Navy already has two Type 45s, HMS Daring and HMS Dauntless, but test-firings last year of their main armament - the Principal Anti Air Missile System (PAAMS, the British configuration of which is known as "Sea Viper") - were failures, meaning that the weapons could not be accepted into service. This left the Type 45s - one of which...

The linked source above provides the article and a link to a full-size image. Here's the smaller version: Here's a "where is it?" context map: and here are various images from Farewell Spit (apparently -- not absolutely certain in the case of the first two, but very likely). This appears to be one of the world's ultimate natural beaches. and finally, found on the page that provided the last image above, these "Pancake Rocks" are somewhere in the vicinity:

Link post: Geology Picture of the Week, June 23-30, 2002