Free Republic

Defense Ministry is due to equip the country’s Armed Forces with a new long-range air-defense system by the next Iranian year (starting on March 21, 2013), a senior Iranian military official said on Saturday. Speaking to Fars News Agency, Deputy Defense Minister for Industrial and Research Mohammad Eslami said the new long-range air-defense system can cover a major part of the S-300 mission. Eslami said the new long-range air-defense system will provide a full air-defense cover for Iran by the time the Iranian version of S-300 becomes operational. *SNIPnder a contract signed in 2007, Russia is required to provide Iran...

CIA spies have smuggled up to 14 Stinger missiles into Syria so rebels can defend themselves from air strikes. The ground-to-air weapons have been delivered across the Turkish border to the Free Syrian Army and were partly paid for by Saudi Arabia, a security source claimed. President Bashar al-Assad’s MIG-23 warplanes and helicopter gunships have killed more than 1,000 people.

As the United States continues to help Israel improve its missile defense shield due to growing fears of possible attack by Syria and Iran, claims by Iran that it has developed its own ‘carrier-killer’ that can evade U.S. Navy defense systems to hit ships in the Persian Gulf are drawing skepticism from naval experts. As first reported by Jane’s Defence Weekly , Iran released images of a test last month in which the Khalij Fars antiship ballistic missile was launched and struck a moving target. The missile is purported to be a smaller version of China’s modified Dong Feng 21,...

President Barack Obama erroneously exaggerated the amount of money his administration has provided to an Israeli missile defense program Friday while signing a bill meant to boost U.S.-Israeli security ties. Obama, who has been criticized for weakening the U.S.-Israel alliance, was attempting to tout his administration’s commitment to the Jewish state when he incorrectly stated that Israel will receive “$70 billion dollars” for its missile defense program. “I’m very pleased that this week we are going to be able to announce $70 million spending…$70 billion, excuse me, in additional spending for Iron Dome,” Obama said, inflating the actual dollar amount...

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UCSON, Ariz., July 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) was awarded a $636 million development and sustainment contract to provide the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle to The Boeing Company, which is the prime contractor for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense program. Raytheon booked the award during its second quarter. EKV represents the centerpiece for the Missile Defense Agency's GMD as the intercept component of the Ground Based Interceptor, also known as GBI, which is designed to engage high-speed ballistic missile warheads in space. "When it comes to developing, testing and deploying technologies that enable the intercept of threats in space,...

Navy wants better missiles on new vessels By YAAKOV KATZ Requirement for new missiles is based on desire to assist large IDF ground offensives in Gaza, Lebanon or Syria. The Israel Navy is looking to install short- and long-range surface-to-surface missiles on new vessels it hopes to buy in the coming year. The requirement for the new missile systems is based on the navy’s desire to assist large IDF ground offensives either in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon or Syria. The missiles could be used to attack enemy installations – bases or radar stations – and to provide fire support for...

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DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday it had successfully tested medium-range missiles capable of hitting Israel as a response to threats of attack, the latest move in a war of nerves with the West. Israel says it could attack Iran if diplomacy fails to secure a halt to its disputed nuclear energy program. The United States also has military force as a possible option but has repeatedly encouraged the Israelis to be patient while new economic sanctions are implemented against Iran. The Islamic Republic announced the "Great Prophet 7" missile exercise on Sunday after a European embargo against Iranian...

Russia shows off new missile for Club-K containerised launcher By Gareth Jennings 7/2/2012 Russia's Morinformsistema-Agat has showcased its Club-K containerised launcher for anti-ship and land-attack missiles with the Kh-35UE (SS-N-25 Switchblade) cruise missile for the first time, Russian state media reported on 27 June. First revealed in 2010, the Club-K launcher comprises four missile tubes concealed inside a standard ISO commercial shipping container. The system was shown at the 2011 MAKS Airshow in Zhukovsky with four 3M54TE (SS-N-27B Sizzler) missiles in the container, Russian International News Agency RIA Novosti said. Although both the 3M54TE and Kh-35UE are high-speed anti-ship missiles,...

Swedish Navy's HMS Visby test fires first guided missile The Swedish Navy's first Visby-class corvette HMS Visby has successfully test fired a RBS15 anti-ship missile, marking a major milestone in the development of the ship, off dry-dock at Karlskrona, Sweden. Swedish Defence Procurement Agency (FMV) Visby corvettes project manager Anders Nilsson said: "This was perhaps the most important last milestone before the first Visby-class corvette enters full operational service." Third Naval Warfare Flotilla Visby's trials crew head Frank Johnson added: "Both the crew of the HMS Visby and staff have worked extremely hard in recent times to get everything to...

PACIFIC MISSILE RANGE FACILITY, Hawaii (NNS) -- The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and Sailors of USS Lake Erie (CG 70) successfully conducted a flight test of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system June 26. The test resulted in the intercept of a separating ballistic missile target over the Pacific Ocean by the Navy's newest missile defense interceptor missile, the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block 1B. At 11:15 pm Hawaii Standard Time (5:15 am EDT June 27), the target missile was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, located on Kauai, Hawaii. The target flew on a northwesterly trajectory towards a...

Technically, ballistic missile system Bulava is ready to be commissioned into Russian Navy, said its commander-in-chief Vice Admiral Viktor Chirkov on June 25 at the graduates honoring ceremony held in the Konstantinovsky Palace, St. Petersburg. "At present, we're preparing legal documents required to put the missile in service", said the naval chief. VADM Viktor Chirkov also pointed out that the lead submarine of Project 955 Borei K-535 Yury Dolgoruky would be commissioned before the Russian Navy Day which is to be celebrated on July 29 this year.

With the May 23 negotiations in Iraq failing to persuade Iran to give up its illicit nuclear program, Iranian leaders have returned to threats of war — including the provocative statement that their missiles can reach every U.S. military base in the Middle East, and a call to halt all nuclear negotiations with the West.

SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 31, 2012 – The U.S. Navy conducted successful test flights April 14 and 16 of four Trident II D5 Fleet Ballistic Missiles (FBMs) built by Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT]. The Navy launched two unarmed missiles each day from the submerged submarine USS Maryland (SSBN 738) in the Atlantic Ocean. These tests marked the 139th, 140th, 141st and 142st successful test flights of the Trident II D5 missile since design completion in 1989 – a reliability record unmatched by any other large ballistic missile or space launch vehicle.

New Launch Facilities Under Construction at Musudan-ri, Possible Iranian Connection By 38 North New satellite photos from April 29, 2012 indicate that a major upgrade of North Korea’s Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground—more commonly referred to as Musudan-ri—underway since summer 2011, is making rapid progress. The new construction is intended to support future launches of rockets larger than the recently tested Unha—more capable liquid fueled space launch vehicles or missiles with intercontinental ranges—that will also overfly Japan, further aggravating regional tensions. In addition to a new launch pad under construction, much of the nearby village of Taepodong has been razed to...

GOP lawmaker presses Obama on reports of ‘secret’ missile dealBy Jeremy Herb - 05/23/12 05:13 PM ET Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) is not backing down from his allegations that President Obama has a “secret deal” with Russia on missile defense. Turner sent another letter to President Obama on Wednesday that urged the White House to explain what missile defense deals it made with Russia, citing Russian reports that a deal was reached and then dropped without being made public. Turner and many other Republicans have seized on Obma’s “hot mic” comment to then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in March, when he...

Remember the time we bombed Mexico with German rockets? Germany spent the end of the 1930s and half the 1940s inventing and perfecting missiles. They made so many, they still had a ton of them left over after the end of World War II. So of course, the leftover weapons were confiscated by the United States. And here's one of the things we did with them. Anyone who knows the details about a V-2 rocket has to wonder how any nation managed to make so many of them. The V-2 ran on alcohol and liquid oxygen, only one of which...

Russia’s most senior military officer said Thursday that Moscow would preemptively strike and destroy U.S.-led NATO missile defense sites in Eastern Europe if talks with Washington about the developing system continue to stall. “A decision to use destructive force preemptively will be taken if the situation worsens,” Russian Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov said at an international missile defense conference in Moscow attended by senior U.S. and NATO officials. The threat comes as talks about the missile defense system, which the U.S. and its allies insist is aimed at Iranian missiles, appear to have stalled. “We have not been...

Moscow rejects Washington's claim that a planned missile defense system is solely to deal with any Iranian missile threat and has voiced fears it will eventually threaten Russia. Russia's top military officer has threatened to carry out a pre-emptive strike on U.S.-led NATO missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe if Washington goes ahead with its controversial plan to build a missile shield. President Dmitry Medvedev said last year that Russia will retaliate militarily if it does not reach an agreement with the United States and NATO on the missile defense system. Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov went even further...