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For gamers, the urge to conquer and pillage dates back to time immemorial. Tabletop amusements like chess and its numerous variants have enthralled players for centuries. Given their often-complex rules and cluttered pieces, military simulations were among home computing's earliest killer apps, giving rise to popular publishers such as SSI and MicroProse. But despite a rapid retail decline in the late '90s that forced many titles out of stores and into the hands of niche online publishers like Matrix Games and HPS Simulations, "wargames" are still going strong today. Now disguised under catchall categories like "strategy" and "simulation," you can...

A number of Norway stores have pulled violent video games from sale - including Call of Duty games and World of Warcraft - in the wake of the massacre carried out by Anders Behring Breivik. According to Danish gaming website Gamer's Globe, a spokesperson for Coop Norway said: 'In light of Friday's horrific events, and out of respect for those affected, we have chosen to remove selected items from our range.' The site says that the affected games are Call of Duty: Black Ops; CoD: Modern Warfare 2; CoD: World at War Platinum; CoD 4: Modern Warfare Classic; Homefront; Sniper:...

President Obama has authorized the use of aerial drone strikes in Libya to aid rebels fighting to oust dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Thursday. Gates stressed that even though the United States will begin using the armed Predator drones in Libya, American soldiers will not be deployed to the country. He said the Libyan people will have to remove Gadhafi themselves, though the U.S. "can provide them with some cover from the air." The announcement falls in line with the Obama administration's pledge to not put American boots on the ground to remove Gadhafi from power....

A senior Iranian military commander says his country has conducted defense drills at its sensitive nuclear facilities ahead of planned aerial war games taking place over the country this week. The Mehr state news agency quoted air force commander Gen. Ahmad Mighani saying that "tactical drills that resembled real combat" had been carried out in Fordo, Tehran, Natanz, Bushehr and Isfahan where Iran's nuclear reactors are located.

US intelligence services and other countries in the Far East are closely monitoring the grand naval drills being conducted by the Russian Navy. “The naval phase of Russia's Vostok-2010 (Orient-2010) military exercises has drawn increased attention from the intelligence services of the United States and Asia-Pacific countries,” a senior Russian Navy source was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti. On June 29, Russia launched the biggest ever post-Soviet war games in the eastern part of the country involving 20,000 troops, up to 70 combat aircraft and 30 warships, including North Fleet's nuclear powered guided missile cruiser ‘Pyotr Veliky’ (Peter-the-Great), world's...

US forces will regain control over a major annual military exercise with South Korea amid rising tensions with the North following the sinking of one of Seoul's warships, officials said on Thursday. Seoul's defence ministry said the Combined Forces Command led by US General Walter Sharp will retake control of the computerised war game called Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) from this year. In 2008 and last year the South's military took control of the exercise, to prepare for a scheduled transfer of wartime command in the military alliance. UFG, which is due to start in mid-August, is the world's largest...

Iran began new naval war games in the Gulf on Thursday to show the Islamic state's "power to defend" itself against any attack, state television reported. was the second such display of military might in less than a month. The maneuvers by Iran's regular navy, due to last eight days in the waterway crucial for global oil supplies, coincided with rising tension in Tehran's long-running nuclear dispute with Western powers. The United States is lobbying U.N. Security Council members to back a fourth round of sanctions on Iran, to press it into curbing sensitive atomic work the West suspects is...

The armies of India and Pakistan are mobilising for separate large-scale war games on either side of the international border this month to experiment with concepts they will employ in the event of a war with each other. Each side has informed the other — as is normally done in peace time — that it is conducting military exercises near the international boundary and that the movement of troops, tanks, guns and fighter aircraft is not a sign of aggressive intent. Pakistan Air Force combat aircraft landed on and took off from a motorway on Saturday in an exercise named...

Pakistan Air Force formally commenced a country-wide exercise aimed at conducting operations in a "near-realistic tactical environment" and integrating its new acquisitions like the JF-17 Thunder combat aircraft and Saab 2000 AWACS into its fleet. The manoeuvre, codenamed "High Mark 2010" began with Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman disseminating the "air tasking orders" to all PAF units on Monday. The exercise will cover the whole of Pakistan, from Skardu in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south. The PAF’s new inductions, including the JF-17 Thunder combat aircraft, Saab 2000 airborne warning and control aircraft and Il-78 air-to-air...

US experts in weapons of mass destruction are taking part in a military exercise simulating an attack by North Korea on South Korea, the US commander in the South said Thursday. The communist North has bitterly denounced the US-South Korean exercise as a preparation for a nuclear attack, and vowed to respond to any aggression with its atomic weapons. The visiting experts are from a team called Task Force Elimination, of the Maryland-based 20th Support Command. US commander General Walter Sharp said they brought unique WMD expertise to the Key Resolve/Foal Eagle drill, in which 18,000 American troops and 20,000...

China and Pakistan will conduct a joint anti-terrorism military exercise here this summer, the third such operation between the two countries, the Ministry of National Defence has said. Top military officials of the two countries have already started discussions for the anti-terror exercise code-named "Friendship-2010," the ministry said on Sunday. The training was not targeted at any third party, but aimed at "deepening the friendly and cooperative relationship between the two armies" while "enhancing their capabilities in coping with terrorism and safeguarding regional peace and stability," state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry as saying, without giving further details of...

The United States and South Korea began their annual joint military exercise on Monday, dismissing a verbal warning by North Korea, which views the drill as a preparation for war. The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercise is to continue across South Korea through March 18, drawing about 18,000 U.S. troops from bases here and abroad and mobilizing more than 20,000 South Korean troops. The U.S. says the drill is a routine exercise to improve its ability to defend South Korea, but North Korea insists it is a precursor to invasion. On Sunday, North Korea said in a statement it...

The United States and South Korea will go ahead next month with a major annual military exercise set to anger North Korea but fewer US troops than last year will take part, officials said Thursday. North Korea denounces the exercise and other annual military drills in the South as a rehearsal for invasion, a claim denied by Seoul and Washington. The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercise, slated for March 8-18, will draw 18,000 US troops including 10,000 stationed in South Korea and 8,000 from abroad, said Combined Forces Command spokesman Kim Yong-Kyu. Some 26,000 US troops took part in...

The IAF is planning to hold a joint war game with the Chinese Air Force in 2012, even as it prepares to showcase its capabilities to fight a war during "day, dusk and night" on February 28 in Rajasthan. The planning for the joint exercise with China's People’s Liberation Army (Air Force) had already commenced and the exercise will be held keeping with its policy of joining an international war game biennially, IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik told reporters here on Monday. "As far as China is concerned, around 2012 we hope we will also be able...

Field training for the annual Hankuang war games this year will be brought forward to late April to allow the troops to be deployed to help combat possible flooding in the coming typhoon season later in the year, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense (MND) announced Tuesday at a news conference. Lee Yue-chang, assistant deputy chief of the General Staff for Operations and Planning under the MND, said the field training will be held in late April instead of in the traditional July-October period so that the troops can be better trained in May and June in preparation...

What if Iran's hardline leadership emerges from the current confrontations at home strengthened and emboldened? If so, the nuclear issue will be back with a vengeance. And three recent war games focused on the Iranian nuclear weapons issue suggest that the prospects for halting the regime's progress toward nuclear weapons are not good. The games -- conducted by highly respected Western think tanks -- explored various strategies for preventing the Iranian nuclear threat from becoming real. The results, unfortunately, were uniformly negative. Given that these were serious games played by serious people, officials who deal with the nuclear problem as...

– The US military began its largest war games in the Pacific region Monday -- an annual training exercise with troops from Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore, now joined by South Korea. At the opening ceremony in the eastern Thai province of Rayong, US Ambassador Eric G. John said that the "Cobra Gold" exercise, now in its 29th year, had become a "multinational showcase event". "The US continues to view this exercise, which is our premier training event in Thailand, as an important symbol of US military commitment to maintaining peace and security in Asia," he told the audience. John...

More so than in most other places, modeling and simulation are critical to training in Korea. Units in Korea do not have access to live combat training centers such as those found in the United States and Europe. Large-scale maneuver training areas, for example, are limited. Environmental and political restrictions severely limit training and traffic congestion curtails the ability of units to get to training areas. Modeling and simulations are a cost-effective means of overcoming these obstacles. Exercise Key Resolve is an annual training event that is designed to ensure that the Combined Forces Command (CFC) is ready to defend...

The Pentagon's top military officer oversaw a secret war game this month to evaluate the two primary military options that have been put forward by the Pentagon and are being weighed by the Obama administration as part of a broad-based review of the faltering Afghanistan war, senior military officials said. The exercise, led by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, examined the likely outcome of inserting 44,000 more troops into the country to conduct a full-scale counterinsurgency effort aimed at building a stable Afghan government that can control most of the country. It also examined adding...

Moscow accused the United States of hysteria today after reports that Russian nuclear submarines were patrolling off the East Coast of America. Russian officials responded vehemently to accusations that they were dabbling in Cold War-style cat-and-mouse manoeuvring but did not deny that two vessels had entered international waters just 200 miles of the US coast. “Activities of Russian submarines in the world’s oceans outside their own waters do not violate international maritime law and are within normal practice,” a military-diplomatic source told the Russian state media. US defence and intelligence officials told the New York Times that two Akula class...

Terrorists groups could soon use the internet to help set off a devastating nuclear attack, according to new research. The claims come in a study commissioned by the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND), which suggests that under the right circumstances, terrorists could break into computer systems and launch an attack on a nuclear state – triggering a catastrophic chain of events that would have a global impact.

Israel Air Force test pilots are flying MIG 29 jets and conducting dogfights against the IAF's F-16 fighters, Channel 2 revealed Wednesday evening. This F-16 IAF jet is seen during an experiment where it is armed to its maximum capacity. SLIDESHOW: Israel & Region | World The MIG 29, a jet developed by the soviets in the 1970s, is one of the best fighter jets used by eastern and Arab countries, as well as by Syria and Iran. It was developed to counter American-made jets such the F-16 or F/A-18.

Bill Clinton's election in 1992 gave rise to the American "militia movement": hordes of overwhelmingly white, middle-aged men from suburban and rural areas who convinced themselves they were defending the American way of life from the "liberals" and "leftists" running the country by dressing up in military costumes on weekends, wobbling around together with guns, and play-acting the role of patriot-warriors. Those theater groups -- the cultural precursor to George Bush's prancing 2003 performance dressed in a fighter pilot outfit on Mission Accomplished Day -- spawned the decade of the so-called "Angry White Male," the movement behind the 1994 takeover...

Their progress watched closely by increasingly jittery western militaries, dozens of nuclear bombers will take part in the exercise. Tu-95 Bear bombers will fire cruise missiles at targets in sub-Arctic Russia for the first time since 1984. While Russia insists that the war games are not meant as a gesture of aggression, the West is growing increasingly uneasy about the scale of the manoeuvres. The aerial exercises, which will take place close to American airspace in Alaska, are part of a month-long war game known as Stability 2008 that Russia claims is the biggest for 20 years.

Excerpt - MOSCOW. Sept 16 (Interfax-AVN) - Two Russian Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bombers have patrolled the eastern coast of South America, aide to Russian Air Force commander Col. Lieut. Vladimir Drik told Interfax-AVN. "The aircraft took off from the Libertador military airfield in Venezuela at 4.30 p.m. Moscow time [on September 15]. They flew over neutral waters along the eastern coast of South America in the direction of Brazil. They landed at an airfield in Venezuela at 10 p.m.," Drik said. The Alexander Molodchy and Vasily Senko bombers were in air for about six hours. The crewmembers practiced synchronization and...

It is not just the Indo-U.S. Civilian Nuclear Deal that has gained momentum in recent days, nor is it just the ever growing economic and business ties but the Armed Forces of the two largest democracies in the world are coming together at an unprecedented rate even as the Government of India has gotten rid of its Communist backers in the Indian Parliament. Operation Vajraprahar Indian and American armed forces are holding joint maneuvers on counter-terrorism in the famous Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School at Vairangte, Mizoram - about 100 km from Mizoram capital Aizawl. The three week-long 'Operation...

Think of some of the movies you really want a chance to see on the big screen. The Wizard of Oz? Lawrence of Arabia? Star Wars? Would you ever, ever put War Games, the 1983 Matthew Broderick thriller, on that list? No, me neither. But, lucky us, we will have the chance to see War Games in theaters this summer—on July 24, the movie will screen for one night only in select theaters across the country, thanks to NCM Fathom, a company that specializes in special theater events. It’s the 25th anniversary of the movie, and the Fathom website boasts...

Muslim outrage over 'corporate war game' where office workers shoot enemies dressed as ArabsLast updated at 15:06pm on 7th April 2008  Muslim leaders condemned a new war game where teams of soldiers shoot at enemies - dressed as Arabs.   Men in camouflaged military gear battle opponents wearing shemaghs - the traditional headdress of Arab men - at Zulu 1 Tactical Airsoft Simulations. Participants use replica machine guns, pistols and sniper rifles which fire 6mm BB rounds at a 20-acre former RAF hospital in Nocton, Lincs. Images from the company's website show soldiers pointing rifles at hooded "Arab" men spreadeagled...

WASHINGTON: The ongoing naval wargame in the Bay of Bengal involving five nations does not "target" China but is designed to shape strategic choices by regional actors like India, a senior Pentagon official has said. "This exercise does not target China. It is designed to shape strategic choices being made by all regional actors. Malabar is a sign of responsible stakeholders interested in promoting peace and security by a visible presence," said Brigadier General John Toolan, Principal Director for South and South East Asia at the US Department of Defence. The four-day 'Malabar Exercise' started on September 4 with the...

Front PageIAF Jaguars ‘sink’ USS Nimitz, F-18s return the favour to INS Viraat Manu Pubby Posted online: Saturday, September 08, 2007 at 0000 hrs Malabar Exercise: From tracking nuclear submarines to managing 200 aircraft and taking on deep-sea terror threat, five Navies cover sweeping range of maritime operations ON BOARD USS Kitty Hawk (150 miles west of Port Blair), September 7: As the small green dots approached closer on the radar screen, the Indian officer sitting deep inside USS Nimitz knew it was too late to save the ship. Jaguar maritime fighters of the Indian Air Force (IAF), operating from...

I've seen this video numerous times but I don't think it's been posted to FR. It's a BLAST. I promise, you WILL NOT be disappointed. Go to the link provided to: Dillon Aero Videos Click onto the M134 Highlight Reel. Enjoy...

Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Army Ataollah Salehi said that for the first time, the Saeqeh, or Thunderbolt, fighter plane "carried out a mission to bomb virtual enemy targets in northwest of Iran." He added that the plane, which is similar to the US F-18 fighters, was designed, remodeled and improved by Iranian experts at the army's Sattari Air Base. Salehi noted that the technology needed for manufacturing Saeqeh fighters basically came from foreign countries such as the US, Russia, China and India and was only modified by Iranian experts...

The DOD is developing a parallel to Planet Earth, with billions of individual "nodes" to reflect every man, woman, and child this side of the dividing line between reality and AR. Called the Sentient World Simulation (SWS), it will be a "synthetic mirror of the real world with automated continuous calibration with respect to current real-world information", according to a concept paper for the project. SWS provides an environment for testing Psychological Operations (PSYOP)," the paper reads, so that military leaders can "develop and test multiple courses of action to anticipate and shape behaviors of adversaries, neutrals, and partners" SWS...

Iran's navy started more than a week of war games in the Gulf on Thursday using tactical submarines and small vessels carrying missile launchers, state television reported. The exercises are the latest in a series of maneuvers staged by Iran's military in the Gulf, where the United States has deployed a second aircraft carrier, a move widely seen as a warning to Tehran over its nuclear ambitions. State television said the war games staged by Iran's regular naval forces "showed their defensive power for protecting the Persian Gulf." It said the maneuvers would last until March 30...

Excerpt - TEHRAN (AP)--Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards launch Monday their second war games in a month, just days ahead of a U.N. deadline regarding Iran's nuclear program. The Revolutionary Guards will begin three days of ground maneuvers, dubbed Eghtedar, or Grandeur, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Sunday "The guards will practice various kinds of fighting tactics including tactics of asymmetrical warfare," the report said without elaborating. ~ snip ~

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed that Iran will never bow to UN resolutions over its nuclear programme, as the military prepared for war games that will include short-range missile tests. "Even if they adopt 10 other resolutions it will not have any effect," Ahamdinejad told parliament as he introduced a new budget for the Iranian year starting March 21.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran plans to conduct missile war games during a three-day period beginning Sunday, state-run television reported. The war games will be carried out near Garmsar city, about 60 miles southeast of Tehran, according to the broadcast. "Zalzal and Fajr-5 missiles will be test fired in the war game," the broadcast quoted an unnamed military commander, as saying. Both are considered short-range missiles. The exercise will be the first by Iran since the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on December 23, which banned selling materials and technology that could be used in Iran's nuclear and missile programs and...

WAR can be funny. Amid the blood, the broken lives and fractured affairs of state there must, somewhere, sometimes, be reason to smile; the "if you didn't laugh you'd cry" axiom. Think about the war on terror. We have George W. Bush – a complete joke every time he opens his mouth without a teleprompter. We have nasty little men running around with tea-towels on their heads trying to blow up civilisation as we know it. We have fridge magnets exhorting us to be alert but not alarmed – and this sage counsel is nothing to do with the cold...

The Chinese Communist Party's People's Liberation Army (PLA) personnel and 1,000 tanks were involved in a major military exercise recently to test their ability to engage in high-technology combat. More than 20,000 personnel participated in the exercise code-named "North Sword -- 0607(S)", organised by the PLA Beijing Area Command at a north China training base. It was the first joint exercise involving troops from a PLA area command, the Air Force, the Second Artillery, and the Chinese People's Armed Police, Xinhua news agency quoted military sources as saying.

That sounds a bit ominous... Iran: Khamene'i Message Greets Congress of University Students' SocietyIRNA (Internet Version-WWW)Saturday, August 19, 2006 Shiraz, Fars Prov, Aug 19, IRNA -- The Islamic Society of University Students opened its 8th national congress in this southern city Saturday with an inaugural message from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.In an inaugural ceremony, the Supreme Leader's message to the congress was read for him by the representative of the Vali-ye Faqih (religiousjurisprudent) in universities. "Dear university students! I hereby greet you one by one and pray that God Almighty would grant you a more prosperous and dignified future...

The number of vessels participating in the show of force — and some of the specific war games they played — were fine-tuned to train for countering long-range missiles even though the exercises were scheduled long before the current threat from North Korea. Led by the U.S. Navy, the countries participating included Japan, South Korea, Chile, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain — the last still viewed as a Pacific naval power in view of its colonial legacy and strong ties to other participants. The exercise, called RIMPAC, the acronym for Rim of the Pacific, held every two years...

ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam - The largest U.S. military exercise in the Pacific in decades ended Friday after showing North Korea and other nations that the United States can swiftly muster a huge combat force in the region, officials said. The five-day "Valiant Shield" exercises massed an armada of three aircraft carriers and 25 other ships along with 22,000 troops and 280 warplanes off this tiny U.S. territory about halfway between Hawaii and Japan. Tensions are rising in the region over the possible test-launch of a North Korean long-range missile. Two guided missile cruisers participating in the games were...

As tensions with North Korea rise, three U.S. aircraft carriers filled the skies with fighters Tuesday for one of the largest U.S. military exercises in decades off this small island in the Pacific. For the first time ever, a Chinese delegation was invited to observe the U.S. war games. As the show of American military power began, North Korea — one of the region's most unpredictable countries — was rattling swords of its own. The maneuvers, dubbed "Valiant Shield," bring three carriers together in the Pacific for the first time since the Vietnam War. Some 30 ships, 280 aircraft and...

In a step up of service-to-service engagement, India and the United States will conduct the biggest-ever army level exercises near Ranikhet in Uttaranchal in January, as American officials on Friday indicated that Washington was working to open doors to high-technology transfers. A company force of the US army will conduct joint exercises with a thrust towards anti-insurgency operations in the mountainous terrain near Choubhatia, US officials said adding that, in the coming year, armed forces of the two countries would participate in 'more complex, patterned war games'. "The US Pacific Command wants to expand its military-level innteraction with India over...

October 03, 2005 - "Reality Game" maker Kuma Reality Games has released a stunning 3-D video game simulation of what a U.S. attack on Iranian nuclear facilities might look like. Based on declassified documents and the latest thinking of military experts, Kuma's latest episode, "U.S. Attacks Iran," is available for free download at Kuma\War. As with all Kuma\War episodes, "U.S. Attacks Iran" contains in-depth, expert analysis and a thoughtful discussion of the political ramifications and tactical considerations of military action as well as a playable 3D event simulation, letting ordinary individuals experience firsthand what military planners think such an attack...

WASHINGTON: The United States is deploying its F-16 fighter jets for large scale air exercises with India to be held at the Kalaikunda Air Base outside Kolkata in November this year. Twelve F-16 CJs and an E-3 AWACS from the Misawa and Kadena Air Base on Okinawa in Japan will be flying down for the ten-day Cope India exercises starting November 7, according to defence sources. It is the first time the US is deploying F-16 fighter jets for exercises in India. Washington held back its F-16s and sent six F-15 Eagles from the Elmendorf Air Base in Alaska during...

BEIJING (Reuters) - China praised its first joint military exercises with Russia on Friday for lifting relations to an all-time high and opening room for further cooperation. Eight days of drills involving more than 10,000 troops from the former Cold War foes' armies, navies and air forces concluded on Thursday with a practice air and ground assault in China's eastern Shandong province. The last event on the schedule was an outside "family-style lunch" of noodles, braised eggplant and fried fish washed down with beer as tank engines roared in the background, Xinhua news agency said. "Through the exercises, the two...

Russian-Chinese first-ever joint military exercise, Peace Mission 2005, will take place in the north-east of China on August 18-25. All kinds of troops, including naval forces, will be involved in the exercise. Officially, the exercise is supposed to demonstrate joint anti-terrorist measures, although even Russian and Chinese leaders say that the entire event is meant to reveal the nearing tendencies between the two countries. The news about the joint efforts made Washington feel rather nervous, taking into consideration the fact that Russia and China called upon the USA to withdraw its army bases from Central Asia before. Vladimir Putin signed...

President Vladimir Putin donned navy uniform to watch a missile launch at sea yesterday, hours after dressing as a pilot and flying in a supersonic bomber. "I think a man in my position must know how it all happens," the president said after a five-hour flight on a giant TU160 strategic bomber to test-fire a cruise missile over northern Russia. He then boarded the cruiser Peter the Great in the Barents Sea to watch a missile launched from the nuclear submarine, Yekaterinburg. It hit a target 5,000 miles away in Russia's far east, helping to offset the failed missile launches...

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (AP) -- Russian navy ships and long-range bombers headed Wednesday to a Chinese peninsula jutting into the Yellow Sea for the first-ever joint military exercises between the two nations. Moscow and Beijing will stage a mock intervention to stabilize an imaginary country riven by ethnic strife. But they insist the "Peace Mission 2005" exercises - which were to start Thursday and include some 10,000 troops from land, sea and air forces - aren't aimed at a third country. And analysts agree Russia and China are unlikely to team up against a common foe. They say the maneuvers are...