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Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday he was “100 percent” confident that his forces would destroy the Pentagon’s most advanced air defence system that US President Joe Biden has promised to send to Ukraine. “Of course we will destroy it, 100 percent!” Putin said, referring to the Patriot missile battery in extracts of an interview aired on Russian television.

MOSCOW—The Kremlin said that U.S. Patriot missile-defense systems would be a legitimate target if supplied to Ukraine, signaling that Russia doesn’t intend to cease its military offensive even in the face of superior weaponry. U.S. officials this week said Washington was finalizing plans to provide Ukraine with the highly advanced weaponry that would significantly boost its air-defense capabilities, following months of Russian missile and drone attacks on the country’s power grid, cities and civilian infrastructure. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday that the coveted missile- defense batteries would absolutely be fair game for a strike, but added that he...

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki: "I look at the latest developments, including Helsinki, where it might have been that one president of our neighboring country (Putin) was pressuring the U.S. president for concessions. But I have not seen any concessions, neither as regards the annexation of Crimea nor the war in Ukraine," Morawiecki said. "None of the voices that were appearing beforehand as hypothetically possible - concessions by the United States - have materialized. So I don't see where he (Trump) has made any significant concessions. Poland is the biggest former communist country in both the European Union and NATO,...

Poland signed the largest arms procurement deal in its history on Wednesday, agreeing with the United States to buy Raytheon Co’s (RTN.N) Patriot missile defense system for $4.75 billion in a major step to modernize its forces against a bolder Russia. “It is an extraordinary, historic moment; it is Poland’s introduction into a whole new world of state-of-the-art technology, modern weaponry, and defensive means,” President Andrzej Duda said during the signing ceremony. NATO member Poland has accelerated efforts to overhaul its ageing weaponry following Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014. Two-thirds of Poland’s weaponry dates from the Cold...

VIDEO: Footage of a Saudi Patriot missile interceptor veering off-course and crashing tonight in #Riyadh follow reports of a Houthi ballistic missile attack Hope you can see this video. Kind of dramatic.

Japan completed on Thursday the deployment of its ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptors in Okinawa Prefecture to prepare for North Korea's planned rocket launch sometime next week. With the arrival of the Maritime Self-Defense Force transport ship Kunisaki carrying the PAC-3 at Ishigaki Island, the interceptors are now deployed to four locations in Okinawa that also includes its capital Naha, Miyako and Nanjo. Japan is bracing itself for the rocket launch after North Korea announced last month that it will launch an ''earth observation satellite'' to mark the centennial of its state founder Kim Il Sung's birthday on April 15....

The Japanese Air Self Defense Forces (JASDF) successfully concluded its annual training exercise at Fort Bliss, Texas. The exercise included target engagement and successful test firings of the Patriot Air and Missile Defense System in tactical mission configurations. Raytheon Company provided operational support for JASDF's Annual Service Practice (ASP). "It's a great team effort by JASDF, Mitsubishi Heavy Industry (MHI) and Raytheon, focused on mission success," said Sanjay Kapoor, vice president for Patriot Programs at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS). "The success of this year's exercise speaks volumes to the results this team delivers." Patriot fire unit crews operating Raytheon's...

A force to be reckoned with Posted on 9 August 2010 in Defence The Egyptian Air Force (EAF) or Al Quwwat Al Jawwiya Il Misriya, is one of the largest air arms in the region and is also one of the longest established. Formed in 1930 as the Egyptian Army Air Force, it became fully independent in 1937. Initially it had close links with the British Royal Air Force and was primarily equipped with British-supplied aircraft. Spitfires gave way to Meteors and Vampires before the 1952 revolution, after which the new president, General Gamal Abdel Nasser, turned to the Soviet...

A U.S. Patriot missile battery has arrived in Poland as part of an agreement to upgrade the NATO ally's air defenses, the U.S. embassy said on Monday, in a deployment likely to irritate neighboring Russia.The battery, manned by up to 150 U.S. troops, will be stationed for about one month four times a year in Morag, northern Poland, close to Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad. Its main mission is to train Polish military personnel. U.S. troops were unloading 37 railway cars of equipment on Monday, the embassy said. U.S. and Polish officials are due to visit the site on Wednesday and...

Aerojet, a GenCorp company, announced today that it provided the advanced Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) propulsion that propelled Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control's (LMMFC) successful PATRIOT Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) Guided Test Flight – 1B (GTF-1B). This mission was the first successful guided flight test for the MSE interceptor where a target simulating a tactical ballistic missile was intercepted in the MSE extended battlespace. The PAC-3 MSE spiral development program is being managed by the U.S. Army's Lower Tier Project Office (LTPO) in Huntsville, Ala. The program is significantly expanding the capability of the already battle-proven...

Lockheed Martin has won a contract from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to explore firing Patriot Advanced Capability-3 anti-ballistic missiles from airplanes. The company said the tests would initially focus on using the Boeing McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagle as the launch platform for the PAC-3s. Although the initial $ 3 million funding for the research program is small by the expensive R and D budgets of the BMD programs, its implications could be far reaching. The program is known as the Air-Launched Hit-to-Kill, or ALHTK, initiative. If successful, the program would eventually see U.S. Air Force fighter aircraft equipped with PAC-3s...

The first batch of United States Patriot missiles will be deployed in Poland in April, defence ministry spokesman Janusz Sejmej said Saturday, AFP reported. US troops tasked with operating the missiles will arrive at the same time, the PAP news agency quoted Sejmej as saying. The surface-to-air missiles are to be deployed in northern Poland some 60 kilometres (35 miles) from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Poland's Defence Minister Bogdan Klich said last month that the choice of the site close to Kaliningrad had "no political or strategic meaning -- its good infrastructure is the only reason." Polish President Lech...

Poland is set to host a battery of U.S. Patriot missiles and the American troops to man it from the start of April, PAP news agency said Sunday. The Defense Ministry expects the first stage of the stationing of a Patriot air-defense battery and a 100-man service team to get under way in the (northern) town of Morag at the turn of April," the agency said. The Patriots are part of a Polish-U.S. agreement signed last December to upgrade the NATO member's air defenses, following Washington's decision last September to scrap a Bush-era Missile Shield incorporating installations in Poland and...

Raytheon has been awarded a $58.2 million contract for Patriot Guidance Enhanced Missile-Tactical, or GEM-T, missiles. The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command (AAMCOM), Redstone Arsenal, Ala., issued the contract to upgrade 124 Patriot Advanced Capability-2 missiles to the configuration. This is a follow-on contract issued as part of AAMCOM's Patriot missile continuous technology refreshment program initiated in 2000. "Patriot is combat proven and trusted by 12 nations around the globe, and the continuing upgrades speak to the critical role Patriot plays in those countries' air and missile defense capabilities," said Sanjay Kapoor, vice president for Patriot Programs at Raytheon...

As Polish and American parties have agreed the site for the stationing Patriot missiles in Poland will be Morag in the northeast of the country near the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. As the Minister of National Defence Bogdan Klich said practical reasons stay behind the choice of the site for the temporary stationing of U.S. air defence batteries The location of Warmia-Mazury province was determined by good logistic and lodging conditions, Klich explained. In Morag currently station units of 20th Mechanized Brigade. “The location of missile bases in Morag will not require significant investment that would have to be made...

Raytheon, the world's largest missile maker, has won a $1.1 billion order from Taiwan for new Patriot missile systems. The order covers an initial ground-system hardware contract valued at $965.6 million and a $134 million contract for spares. The order, according to a statement by Raytheon, will include advances in technology, improved man-machine interface and reduced lifecycle costs. The deal has been in the making since October 2008 when the U.S. Defense Department proposed a $6.46 billion arms sale package to Taiwan, including the most advanced Patriot anti-missile system. Raytheon said the new Patriot fire units will be produced in...

The Obama administration is moving toward possible new arms sales to Taiwan, including design work on diesel-electric submarines, a U.S. State Department official told Reuters on Wednesday. China strongly opposes arms sales to Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a renegade province, as interference in its domestic affairs. New submarines could help challenge any Chinese seaborne assault on the self-governing island, which Beijing reserves the right to take by force. Also progressing toward notification to the U.S. Congress is the sale to Taiwan of UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, said Robert Kovac, acting deputy assistant secretary of state for defense trade. In...

In the deepening international stand-off over Iran's nuclear program, the Islamic Republic's quest for advanced air- and missile defense technologies could play a decisive role. "For years now, Tehran has been working hard to acquire sophisticated Russian antiaircraft missiles that would make it far tougher for Israeli planes to stage a successful attack on Iranian nuclear facilities," Christian Caryl wrote on October 2nd in the online edition of Foreign Policy magazine. That system is the S-300, an advanced interceptor array believed to be superior to the U.S. Patriot. Russia signed a deal to deliver units of the S-300 to Iran...

The United States will deploy ground-to-air Patriot missiles in Poland in 2010 and is discussing its plans for a new anti-missile system with Warsaw, a US defence official said Friday. "We presented some detailed information on how the rotations of our Patriot batteries would be conducted over the next few years under the August 2008 agreement" with Poland, US Assistant Secretary of Defence for International Security Alexander Vershbow said in Warsaw. "We look forward to the commencement of those rotations next year," Vershbow said following talks with Poland's Deputy Defence Minister Stanislaw Komorowski Friday ahead of next week's visit by...

Israel and the US are in talks regarding the possibility that America will leave several Patriot 3 missile defense systems behind, following a joint missile defense exercise that will begin next week, defense officials said Monday. The Juniper Cobra exercise will begin next week in southern Israel, where US and Israeli forces will run simulations on various threat scenarios involving missile attacks against Israel. Ahead of the exercise, some 15 US Navy ships have arrived in Israel, in addition to about a dozen transport planes that brought equipment to air force bases in the Negev. This year's drill is being...