International Military Discussion

KrishnaK · Post by **KrishnaK** » 22 Feb 2014 00:14

Austin wrote:Its upto you to believe or not but the JSF head speaking about LM and PW trying to squeeze every dime from Pentagon is a good enough from some one serving the force ......thats how it works in US , if you dont believe what he says then there is nothing much to add.

LM and PW make a profit of 6.75% and 9.x% on it's revenues. Numbers don't back the JSF chief's or your claims up. You could choose to go on to explain how those are the wrong numbers to be looking at, or those numbers are wrong or hide the true story with more *numbers*. Or you could choose to continue to peddle your conspiracy theories. Or better still be phillipesque and repeat phrases like "LM and PW trying to squeeze every dime from Pentagon" ad nauseam.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 22 Feb 2014 01:15

Putin the Evil Man very original from American Main Stream Media

I know!!!!

The sad part is that the Austin Main Stream Media is mimicking them too.

Anyways, here is another segment of the 60 min, JSF/F-35 story, from the very same "reporter", that never gets a mention:

Getting F-35 costs under control

It is a very short video (less than 3 minutes), but please check @1:20.

The only way the US is different is that since the total amounts are so huge, the problems are amplified. Else, everyone is the same. every company wants to make a quick buck, every politician wants more power, ..................

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 26 Feb 2014 15:26

^^

AW&ST:Opinion: Does the Pentagon give contractors an incentive for slow R&D?

Sometime in the 1970s and 1980s, a strange thing happened to the defense research and development process. An enterprise that had put a nuclear submarine to sea with 16 long-range nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles in four years, and taken a spyplane from drawings to operational missions in two years, seemingly became incapable of developing bigger than a primary trainer in less than 20 years.

Producing the Air Force's next bomber in 15 years (from its 2010 restart) is considered a challenge, even though in many respects it will be a smaller B-2 and the requirements have been ruthlessly pared down.

This glacial pace has many consequences, all negative with one exception. It raises costs. In-service systems must be rebuilt and upgraded. Fewer programs can be funded and executed, so the knowledge base grows weak and rusty. Talented people leave for more dynamic industries.

The one exception is that the companies that carry out this work make money. It's easy to wonder whether R&D that is directly funded by the customer has become a revenue stream in its own right, so contractors have little incentive to plan or offer quick programs, or to finish them on time.

As Willie Sutton did not say (snopes.com is this column's friend) when asked why he robbed banks: “That's where the money is.” Analyst Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments believes R&D spending could equal or even surpass procurement in the coming downturn. The procurement-to-R&D ratio (see graph) was between 2:1 and 3:1 in the Cold War with a couple of spikes toward 3.5. In the 1990s and 2000s, it was between 1:1 and 1.5:1.

R&D contracts are sole-source. They are cost-plus, with fixed margins and incentives. They support expensive engineers and their more expensive bosses, rather than hourly-paid factory workers.

Another attractive feature of R&D, from a business viewpoint, is that it is a low-capital business. Cubicle farms are cheaper to buy, and easier to divest, than factories full of machine tools, tape-layers and autoclaves. That factor may be growing in importance with the advance of modeling, simulation and additive manufacturing: You can buy much of the capital equipment for an R&D program from Dell.

That makes a case for suggesting contractors have an incentive to drag out R&D, but it is not a conclusive one. R&D margins are fixed: A negotiated fixed-price production contract can and usually does have higher margins. Wall Street cares about margins like Willie Sutton cared about banks.

And if production margins are pay dirt, support can be an even richer lode. One model that is used in performance-based logistics is a fixed-term contract that will be renewed as long as the contractor offers an agreed, lower price. The contractor's strategy is to offer a target price that he knows he can beat. The customer sees a lower price—a win-win situation—but a savvy contractor can run the margins through the roof, with relatively little capital.

So the contractor does have some incentive to get to production—with some caveats. One is the near-parity relationship between R&D and procurement spending, which reflects both long R&D programs and truncated or canceled production plans. Contractors need to make money on R&D, and those with relatively small production programs (Northrop Grumman, for instance) are insisting on higher margins.

Also, once a system is in production, the contractor has no incentive to make low-margin bids on R&D for block upgrades or performance improvements. That's the dark downside of spiral development.

And it's not as if R&D is fixed-price, let alone self-funded, as it is in commercial aerospace. Underbidding R&D, or making decisions based on underestimated R&D, will not kill you, even though it may not be the optimal use of your resources. Indeed, it may be better to underbid R&D than to let a competitor do it, because defense is zero-sum and the money you receive does not go to your competitor, but supports your overheads instead of his.

Also, there is little incentive to terminate a program that is not going well, or that requirements are making less relevant. You see that in the commercial sector, where Airbus dropped its initial A350 in favor of a bigger aircraft aimed at a market segment above the 787, and Boeing has continuously revised its 777X to stay above the A350.

Customer-funded R&D may not be the only culprit behind quarter-century development cycles, but it is certainly a factor. And it's surprising that (as far as I know) nobody has proposed, let alone conducted, a Packard Commission-like investigation into the increase in development times. Could it be that nobody really wants to know what the answer is, let alone have it come out in public?

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 26 Feb 2014 15:38

Austin Main Stream Media back at work.

Sweetman, Axe, etc are OK, nothing wrong, but they represent one segment of the spectrum - thus form a bias. And, anyone following just that crowd is bound to think like them and inherit their bias. Which is what I see in you.. But, it is up to you.

To address that article, it really does not matter. Sweetman has not even covered the major aspect of R&D in the US in that article. He has a platform and is miss using it, is all I can say.

I would not worry, even with the deep budget cuts, R&D has been impacted for sure, but yet is doing FAR batter than other nations. Far better.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 26 Feb 2014 15:47

In the 80s, when I worked for one of the baby Bells, I used to say there was at least 40% wastage. My SQH nearly beat me up for saying that. Today none of them exist.

True, there is a huge amount of inefficiencies in the US (NOT just in def related companies), IRS, Education dept, LM, Boeing, UTILITIES etc, etc, etc. Due to the huge budgets, most of these inefficiencies are hidden or glossed over. No two ways about that. I would put national inefficiencies at around 25% (you can cut 25% of the budgets, people will feel the pain), but the companies will either reorg or rebound.

The US, in a slightly different way, can do with a Kejriwal. : ) Very true.

BUT, yet, with all these warts, the US will still do well enough. And, in fact (as much as I hate to compare) will do better than others.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 26 Feb 2014 15:48

NRao , I post article that comes up on AW&ST on the subject biased or not is something BRF Members can read and decide.

Sweetman and others have made their point and most of the times they are backed up US own assesment agency like DTO&E its for the other side to put its point of view.

From what I see in the US there are two key pillers that rip off Public Money by willy nilly tacit approval from the government the big one is the Banking Sector and the other is MIC .. the others do but its a very small compared to these two sectors.

The only other nation that had huge MIC comparable to US and used to rip their public fund is Soviet MIC but they dont exist any more. For the Europeans its less of MIC and more of Banking Sector

For India we are very safe for now as our own MIC/Banks etc are being overlooked by Babus so some cheque and balance does exist.

I suspect in a decade time China might go the US way.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 26 Feb 2014 15:50

Austin,

True, and thanks for posting such articles.

Just *requesting* (as I had in the Turkey thread) to post opposing views too.

Again, up to you.

thx.

prahaar · Post by **prahaar** » 26 Feb 2014 15:55

NRao wrote:In the 80s, when I worked for one of the baby Bells, I used to say there was at least 40% wastage. My SQH nearly beat me up for saying that. Today none of them exist.

True, there is a huge amount of inefficiencies in the US (NOT just in def related companies), IRS, Education dept, LM, Boeing, UTILITIES etc, etc, etc. Due to the huge budgets, most of these inefficiencies are hidden or glossed over. No two ways about that. I would put national inefficiencies at around 25% (you can cut 25% of the budgets, people will feel the pain)

According to my interactions with a veteran in US MIC (strategic), the inefficiency compared to a top end OEM in technology industry is about 4 times more, and most of it is known but considered "essential" by the bureaucracy. Do you concur with such critical observations?

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 26 Feb 2014 16:02

Oh Man!!

Back to statistics!!!

There was a Russian who observed this, but here is one of my fav stats about the US. I have used these stats for the past 30+ years.

Again, what Sweetman sees and you religiously quote is miniscule. And, BTW, the "Small Business" in the US has one more very interesting stat: Most of those that have SBs are either high school drop outs or at best with a high school diploma. *It has been that a way since the 1970s*

So, yes, you do have a point about the MICs and Banks, but they only rock the boat. The SBs will sink the boat.

Sweetman has no place in these matters and has no clue about them either. He just reports about a small segment of the economy - which is fine I have no problems with that. But having dealt with (personally) with such issues I read his stuff as I need data points.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced the top 10 reasons to love small business, what the SBA's Office of Advocacy calls "the heart of the American economy."

10. Small businesses make up more than 99.7% of all employers.

9. Small businesses create more than 50 percent of the nonfarm private gross domestic product (GDP).

8. Small patenting firms produce 13 to 14 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms.

7. The 22.9 million small businesses in the United States are located in virtually every neighborhood.

6. Small businesses employ about 50 percent of all private sector workers.

5. Home-based businesses account for 53 percent of all small businesses.

4. Small businesses make up 97 percent of exporters and produce 29 percent of all export value.

3. Small businesses with employees start-up at a rate of over 500,000 per year.

2. Four years after start-up, half of all small businesses with employees remain open.

1. The latest figures show that small businesses create 75 percent of the net new jobs in our economy.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 26 Feb 2014 16:03

NRao fair point lets move on. No harm done

More details on Samarat ICBM , Gives details on flexibility offered by Heavy ICBM

Russian Strategic Rocket Forces: Prospects

Russian Strategic Missile Command expects that by the year 2018-2020 will be completed development work on the "Sarmatian" associated with the development of a new heavy liquid ICBM, said Feb. 25 at a press conference in "Interfax", the former Chief of Staff of the Strategic Missile Forces, Colonel-General Viktor Esin. New missiles will be replaced in two divisions standing on alert ICBM RS-20V "Governor."

In turn, the former head of the 4th Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of Russia Vladimir Vasilenko indicated that the development in Russia of a new heavy liquid ICBM will deter U.S. plans to deploy a global missile defense system. That heavy silo-based ICBMs, he said, "gives you the opportunity to deliver the warheads to targets not only energetically optimal trajectories with hard azimuths of approach warheads to targets, therefore, with the predicted azimuths of approach, but also deliver warheads and strikes from different directions including shipping units via the South Pole. "

In addition, a huge stock of useful payload to heavy ICBM allows equip its various means to overcome missile defense, which ultimately will "oversaturate" any missile defense system.Heavy ICBMs at equipping its precision warheads with conventional warheads would be an adequate response to the implementation of the constraint in the United States announced the concept of global instant impact by conventional means

Another priority of the Strategic Missile Forces, as said Victor Esin, - completion of work this year complex "yars" and its modifications - the SS-26.

The third priority - creating long-term combat equipment, which will be able to overcome existing and future missile defense system.

Speaking about the place RVSN Russian nuclear triad, Esin noted that they accounted for 60 percent of carriers and more than 50 percent of nuclear weapons. The costs for the maintenance and development of the Strategic Missile Forces do not exceed 5 percent of the total expenditure on national defense.

According to him, Russia is not being developed bottom of intercontinental ballistic missiles. They were banned Soviet-American agreements still in the 1980s.

However, in Russia are conducted development work on the creation of combat rail missile systems designed to launch an ICBM. Viktor Esin recognized that the development of such systems, there are several obstacles. Thus, in Russia there is no technical experience in this field, as in Soviet times they were created in Ukraine. Second, lost all the infrastructure that was created in Soviet times, and recreating it is necessary to invest huge amounts of money.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 26 Feb 2014 16:06

Reading between the lines , I suspect the Heavy ICBM developed by DRDO with throwup weight of 3T will serve the same purpose.

Which is to target long distance target over the South Pole .... Considering Agni-3/5 overwhelming covers China ....DRDO is moving ahead with long distance targeting ( 10000 km and beyond ) , Reason FAS was recently questioning why do we need such ICBM.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 26 Feb 2014 16:11

So, yes, you do have a point about the MICs and Banks, but they only rock the boat. The SBs will sink the boat.

No the big banks are getting bailed out at Tax Payers Expense at rate of Trillion and growing without creating any tangible wealth for the nation and indulging in speculation and creating Bubble , The SB it seems is actually generating wealth.

Check post 2008 who got bailed out and how much good did QE did for them.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 26 Feb 2014 16:15

prahaar wrote:
NRao wrote:In the 80s, when I worked for one of the baby Bells, I used to say there was at least 40% wastage. My SQH nearly beat me up for saying that. Today none of them exist.

True, there is a huge amount of inefficiencies in the US (NOT just in def related companies), IRS, Education dept, LM, Boeing, UTILITIES etc, etc, etc. Due to the huge budgets, most of these inefficiencies are hidden or glossed over. No two ways about that. I would put national inefficiencies at around 25% (you can cut 25% of the budgets, people will feel the pain)
According to my interactions with a veteran in US MIC (strategic), the inefficiency compared to a top end OEM in technology industry is about 4 times more, and most of it is known but considered "essential" by the bureaucracy. Do you concur with such critical observations?

I concur on the dimensions of it.

I also concur about huge pay packs (as Sweetman says too).

But, where I differ is that it is not relegated solely or even mostly to MIC/Banking. Utilities anyone? {And, Delhi, anyone?}

BUT, on the flip side, I cannot talk to other nations, in the US there is LOT of great research that is going on. There are a ton of very honest people that are holding the banner - some here on BR too. (Which is my gripe with David Axe and Bill Sweetman. They are too biased. Not terribly wrong.)

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 26 Feb 2014 16:20

Austin wrote:
So, yes, you do have a point about the MICs and Banks, but they only rock the boat. The SBs will sink the boat.
No the big banks are getting bailed out at Tax Payers Expense at rate of Trillion and growing without creating any tangible wealth for the nation and indulging in speculation and creating Bubble , The SB it seems is actually generating wealth.

Check post 2008 who got bailed out and how much good did QE did for them.

Yes, the US also has their own Ambani or the like. And Rahul and Modi and.......

Need a Kejriwal to complete the picture. Has not reached that stage - but they will rise if need be.

Two other things (while on the topic), US can absorb crap far more than other nations and the civilians in the US are far more reactive.

Having said ALL that, the US economy is still based on the small business - it always has been and it will always be. MIC/Big banks matter, but will only rock the boat. Not sink it.

Moving along ....................................

Prem Kumar · Post by **Prem Kumar** » 27 Feb 2014 08:35

Very interesting Israeli DIRCM development from Elbit called C-Music system

http://www.firstpost.com/world/israel-t ... 10323.html

RajeshA · Post by **RajeshA** » 01 Mar 2014 02:07

rohitvats · Post by **rohitvats** » 02 Mar 2014 23:03

Declassified details of Have Doughnut Program under which a Mig-21 was tested in 1960 in Area 51 by US Air Force:

http://theaviationist.com/wp-content/up ... ughnut.pdf

tushar_m · Post by **tushar_m** » 05 Mar 2014 13:01

Russia Reinforces Armenian Base With Overhauled MiG-29 Fighter Jets

MOSCOW, March 4 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has strengthened its airbase in Armenia with a batch of overhauled MiG-29 fighter jets, a military official said Tuesday.
Russia’s 3624th Air Base at the Erebuni airport in Yerevan previously hosted at least 16 MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter jets operating under the framework of air defense agreements concluded between the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
“A batch of fourth-generation MiG-29 multirole fighter jets has been put in service with the Russian airbase at Eerebuni after an extensive overhaul,” a spokesman for the Southern Military District, Col. Igor Gorbul, said without specifying the number of aircraft.
The Erebuni air base is part of Russia’s 102nd military base in Gyumri, near Armenia’s border with Turkey.
The Russian military said in January that in addition to fighter jets the Erebuni base will soon host a helicopter squadron armed with at least 18 attack and military transport choppers.

http://newz.defenceradar.com/russia-rei ... hter-jets/

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 05 Mar 2014 23:24

Russia To Invest $55.6B To Boost Aerospace Defense Forces

WARSAW — Russia is planning to invest 2 trillion rubles (US $55.6 billion) to acquire new weapons and upgrade the existing armament of its Aerospace Defense Forces (VKO), Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said.

The new and overhauled air and space defense systems are expected to be operational by 2025, reported local news agency ITAR-TASS.

“The main purpose [of the program] is to provide … systems capable of combating all existing and potential means of aerospace threats,” Borisov said. The announcement was made during the minister’s visit at local defense manufacturer Almaz-Antey.

The priorities pursued by Russia’s military policy include acquiring an effective range of weapons and military equipment, and developing advanced weapons with an open and modular design, Borisov said. This is to be achieved despite the challenges posed by the ongoing economic crisis, according to the minister.

The acquisitions will be part of the country’s plan to spend $650 billion on new arms and military equipment by 2020.

Russia’s Aerospace Defense Forces were set up in 2011 with the aim of ensuring air and space defense of Russian territory. ■

tushar_m · Post by **tushar_m** » 09 Mar 2014 17:34

U.S. deploys 12 F-16 fighter jets to Poland amid Crimea crisis

Twelve F-16s and 300 military will deploy next week to Lask air base in central Poland, for a combined exercise with the Polish Air Force.

According to the Polish Minister of Defense Tomasz Siemoniak, the exercise was initially scheduled on a much smaller scale, but it was enhanced following the crisis on Poland’s eastern border.

U.S. F-16 deploy quite regularly to Poland. In May 2013, six F-16s and 150 men from the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 176th Tactical Fighter Squadron from Truax Air Force Base deployed to Lask to train integration and interoperability with the Polish F-16s, Su-22s from 21 AFB in Świdwin and MiG-29s from 23 AFB in Minsk Mazowiecki.

Meanwhile, six F-15s from RAF Lakenheath reinforced the U.S. detachment at Siauliai in Lithuania, where the U.S. fighter jets provide Baltic area air policing tasks.

For the moment, these appear to be symbolic deployments: in case of confrontation, Washington will have to commit much more powerful assets.

Manish_P · Post by **Manish_P** » 09 Mar 2014 19:01

Cross-post from the Indian Military Aviation

tushar_m wrote:MiG Building MiG 31 replacement

They are going to need it...

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works has confirmed that it is developing the SR-72 spy plane

The successor to the SR-71 Blackbird, which was capable of Mach 3.5, the SR-72 will be a hypersonic unmanned aircraft capable of Mach 6, or just over 4,500 mph. At hypersonic speeds, the SR-72 will be able to traverse any continent in around an hour — meaning, if they’re strategically positioned around the world on aircraft carriers , the US military can strike or survey any location on Earth in about an hour.

TSJones · Post by **TSJones** » 09 Mar 2014 21:05

The problem is, the US gets no credit from the rest of the wolrd for its transparency. Problems are made known. They're put in the public news. It's made part of the political process. Those who dislike America love to use these American cultural traits against us. The fact is that most of the time, these problems are grunted out, in public.

I would point out that the M1 tank was similarly developed. The turbine engine was decried far and wide. Wouldn't work. It was incrementally dealt with however. Whn my son was in the army and worked on the M1 he could change out an engine pack on the M1 faster than a tank crew could go through the check out procedures on the tank's new engine! They said the tank couldn't work in the desert with all the sand blowing into the turbine. New filteres were developed and the tank worked just fine in Iraq. They said the tank was under armed with the 101mm gun. So a new gun 120mm was developed and used. People actually quit their jobs in disgust over this tank that wouldn't "work". This is America. It's the way we roll.

And here's the kicker....if you are going to rely on these American cultural traits as signs of failure......an enemy may be miscalculating the power that lies beneath the turmoil.

member_28454 · Post by **member_28454** » 09 Mar 2014 21:28

TSJones wrote: The fact is that most of the time, these problems are grunted out, in public.

In India the Army and the press would have grunted it out loudly and repeatedly in public and continuously frustrated the incremental solutions developed by the problem solvers till the project gets killed. Then an expensive and obsolescent import will be found in its stead.
So the US's problems with public browbeating are not so bad in comparison.

Misraji · Post by **Misraji** » 09 Mar 2014 21:35

TSJones wrote:The problem is, the US gets no credit from the rest of the wolrd for its transparency. Problems are made known. They're put in the public news. It's made part of the political process. Those who dislike America love to use these American cultural traits against us. The fact is that most of the time, these problems are grunted out, in public.

I would point out that the M1 tank was similarly developed. The turbine engine was decried far and wide. Wouldn't work. It was incrementally dealt with however. Whn my son was in the army and worked on the M1 he could change out an engine pack on the M1 faster than a tank crew could go through the check out procedures on the tank's new engine! They said the tank couldn't work in the desert with all the sand blowing into the turbine. New filteres were developed and the tank worked just fine in Iraq. They said the tank was under armed with the 101mm gun. So a new gun 120mm was developed and used. People actually quit their jobs in disgust over this tank that wouldn't "work". This is America. It's the way we roll.

And here's the kicker....if you are going to rely on these American cultural traits as signs of failure......an enemy may be miscalculating the power that lies beneath the turmoil.

+1. Thanks for the insight, TSJones.
These are the qualities needed from one-and-all for a country to become an engineering giant.

--Ashish

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 09 Mar 2014 21:47

I would point out that the M1 tank was similarly developed. The turbine engine was decried far and wide. Wouldn't work. It was incrementally dealt with however. Whn my son was in the army and worked on the M1 he could change out an engine pack on the M1 faster than a tank crew could go through the check out procedures on the tank's new engine! They said the tank couldn't work in the desert with all the sand blowing into the turbine. New filteres were developed and the tank worked just fine in Iraq. They said the tank was under armed with the 101mm gun. So a new gun 120mm was developed and used. People actually quit their jobs in disgust over this tank that wouldn't "work". This is America. It's the way we roll.

1. In the US there is something called Entrepreneurship { is a process of identifying and starting a business venture, sourcing and organizing the required resources and taking both the risks and rewards associated with the venture}, that plain does not exist at this level in other nations.

In India the Army and the press would have ..................

2. This also happens in the US. Just that invariably #1 trumps #2.

But, failures line the walls everywhere. I recall a news item, during the very early days of the LCA, one of the higher ups on the team, after a trip to the US Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH, noticing the number of air crafts that had failed.

There is a nice series (of 18 episodes, each 1 hour long) (on youtube) called "Wings on Russia". Did they fail too.

But then #1 kicks in and they get a F-16 or a MiG-21 out of it.

These are the qualities needed ................

3. They have to be cultural not something that is picked up at a IIM/T. It has to be in every ones blood.

But, ........................ all that in another thread. Perhaps.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 09 Mar 2014 22:20

Is Afghanistan really impossible to conquer?

TSJones · Post by **TSJones** » 12 Mar 2014 12:23

US Army gets the Carl Gustav.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/03/11/bi ... latestnews

Before only the US Army Rangers had this.

Now the US Navy needs the Joint Strike Missile for its littoral boats and US Coast Guard.

rkhanna · Post by **rkhanna** » 12 Mar 2014 17:20

^^^^

Marine Corp equivalent:

http://specialoperations.com/28861/smaw ... ick-corps/

tushar_m · Post by **tushar_m** » 13 Mar 2014 08:58

NATO sends 2 surveillance planes to Ukraine border

GEILENKIRCHEN, Germany — NATO deployed two surveillance aircraft Wednesday to monitor Ukraine’s air space and Black Sea ship movements as Russia consolidated its military buildup in Crimea.

NATO headquarters spokesman Lt. Col. Jay Janzen said one aircraft based in England would observe Russian air and sea movements from Polish air space, while the other based in Germany would fly over Romania. Both Poland and Romania are NATO members and border Ukraine, and Romania’s Black Sea coast is only about 220 kilometers (140 miles) from the Crimean peninsula.

Janzen said the planes – both Boeing E-3 Sentry aircraft that sport a rotating radar dome above the fuselage – would be able to monitor military movements covering an area of 300,000 square kilometers (115,000 square miles) and will not leave NATO air space.

“Regardless, we can observe, we can look, a very long way,” he said.
The Sentry is also known as AWACS, short for “airborne warning and control system,” and is the main battlefield command and surveillance aircraft for NATO air forces.

The 28-nation NATO alliance decided Monday to use AWACS to monitor Russia’s military buildup, and the first Sentry sortie over Romania happened Tuesday, Janzen said.

The Tuesday and Wednesday sorties had previously been planned as training flights before NATO’s decision, but were then reconfigured to be part of the new mission, Janzen said. More operations are now being planned.

The U.S. Air Force already has deployed extra combat fighters to NATO bases in Eastern Europe, including six F-15s last week in Lithuania and a dozen F-16s this week in Poland.

Meanwhile, a U.S. Navy destroyer joined Bulgarian and Romanian naval forces in the Black Sea for exercises a few hundred miles off the Crimean peninsula.

The drills on Wednesday include the guided-missile destroyer USS Truxton, the Bulgarian naval frigate Drazki and three Romanian vessels.

Bulgaria’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that the drills were planned in 2013 and were in no way related to the recent events in the Ukraine.

TSJones · Post by **TSJones** » 13 Mar 2014 11:12

US Marine EA6-B Prowlers rotate to Qatar.

http://defense-update.com/20140224_u-s- ... cific.html

TSJones · Post by **TSJones** » 13 Mar 2014 11:18

....more Marines to Spain.

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/ccbf3774cfd1

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 15 Mar 2014 06:30

Wireless electricity? It's here

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 24 Mar 2014 08:53

Satellite navigation "Glonass-M" launched into the target orbit

March 24, 2014 6:37

Moscow. March 24. INTERFAX.RU - navigation satellite "Glonass-M" global positioning system GLONASS successfully separated from the upper stage "Fregat" and went into the target orbit, said Monday, "Interfax-AVN," spokesman Forces Aerospace Defense (VVKO) Colonel Alexei Zolotukhin .

"Spacecraft" Glonass-M "cleanly separated from the upper stage. 06:26 MSK it took control Main Testing Space Center Titov," - he said. "With the spacecraft installed and maintained stable telemetric communication. Its onboard systems are functioning normally," - said A.Zolotuhin.

tushar_m · Post by **tushar_m** » 25 Mar 2014 07:58

Argentina to Host Russian Military Bases While America Sleeps

Argentina, South America’s second largest country, has agreed to host Russian military bases on the South American continent. Long a political ally of militant Islam, Argentina seeks to bring economic relief to the region. Argentina, and its close ally, Venezuela, have long been on friendly terms with Iran and this latest move opens the door to another political foe of the United States.

While the world — and the US — have been fixated on the events happening in Ukraine, the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has been inking deals with leaders in Latin America. First discussed by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in February, Putin intends to set up arm forces units and increase munitions sales in the Latin American realm.

Moscow’s plan comes on the heels of a recent statement from Iran involving the patrolling of waters off of the American coast. Russia and Iran have sited their reasons as being the increased US military presence near their borders. The US has urged the stretching of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to push up against the Russian perimeter.

The formation of indefinite Russian bases and a strong Russian existence in the Western Hemisphere will be a challenge to US policies and will diminish Washington’s influence. With South America in Russia’s good graces, the country will have a base to coordinate and store offensive weapons, putting another challenge in place for US homeland defenses.

America has never had sufficient missile defenses along its southern borders and cannot adequately defend against any missile strike coming from the south. Additionally, Russia has been sending missile bearing nuclear submarines to the South Hemisphere for 3 years.

Experts, including former Strategic Defense Initiative Director Henry Cooper, have been saying that America needs to utilize the existing Aegis defense framework in the southern parts of the US.

An Electro-Magnetic Pulse, EMP, attack could destroy the fragile US electrical grid along with other infrastructure upon which America has come to rely. An attack could conceivably last months and would have the possibility of killing up to 90 percent of the American population through starvation and lack of medical attention.

Published reports in South America say that Putin is seeking to create military bases in Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Argentina. All four countries are close partners of Moscow. Sources say that Putin will focus on Nicaragua because of its relatively stable political and economic environment. The Russian leader is concerned with Venezuela and Argentina’s instability since both countries are experiencing significant economic problems. Demonstrations have recently begun eroding the support of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and unrest is growing over Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s corrupt and inefficient administration.

The increase in Russian military appearance in South America would give Moscow the capability to start combat missions not only in Latin America but also North America as well. Latin American periodicals are reporting that the Obama administration is doing nothing to counter Russian, Iranian or Chinese expansion in the hemisphere.

The current American administration has already announced the end of the Monroe Doctrine, a nineteenth century declaration that says any efforts by European nations to colonize land in North or South America would be considered acts of aggression which would trigger US retaliation.

In a speech before the Organization of American States in November, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced the ending of the Monroe Doctrine. Saying that the relationship which America seeks and have worked to foster is “…not about a United States declaration…” in regard to how it will interfere in the affairs of other countries in the hemisphere.

Kerry’s statement didn’t take into consideration the possibility that US adversaries would set up bases in the Western Hemisphere at the request of Argentina and other regional governments.

rkhanna · Post by **rkhanna** » 26 Mar 2014 10:13

Considering the Russian action in Ukraine and previously in Georgia looks like the Polish SF have a come a long way:

GROM:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBb-sow4oLA

Also have you guys noticed to difference in Russian Solider Kit between 2008 (Georgia) and Today?

rkhanna · Post by **rkhanna** » 26 Mar 2014 10:19

Cross posting from WAFF: First pic of Russia's Heron-TP equivalent emerges

"With an AESA in the nose per the warning written on the side"

http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/9827/812 ... 1_orig.jpg

***Warning Large size

Paul · Post by **Paul** » 26 Mar 2014 10:28

Yes, the Russkies we saw in Crimea appear to be the cream of the lot. We will see the run of the mill troops in Chechnya and other hot spots. Their equipment though not as TFTA as the west appears to be functional and upto par in performance with the west.

Instance look at their SAW.

But this appears to be a big jump in performance all the way from the top from the Chenchya war - I days in the 1990s. The west better watch out.

+++++++++++++

The guy with the blue tie is the Sukhoi top guy who visited the HAL planet in Nasik few days ago.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 26 Mar 2014 11:09

Paul, they were equally good in the second chechnya wars and the georgia intervention. The intervention in Ukraine is merely the result of decades plus of hard fighting.

The Russians have decades of hard won, hard bitten experience.

Check out this guy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoly_Lebed

He served on combat operations in Afghanistan in 1986–87 as an aircrew member in a helicopter regiment.[2]

After his return from Afghanistan, he served successively in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, in the Trans-Baikal and Siberian military districts in the 329th Transport & Combat Helicopter Regiment and in the 337th Independent Helicopter Regiment.[2]

His service had earned him the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces" 3rd class and three Orders of the Red Star.
Russian Federation Military Service

He retired to the reserves in 1994 and worked for the Afghan Veterans benevolent fund.[2]

In 1999, he went to the North Caucasus as a volunteer in the combined militias after purchasing his own equipment and flying to Makhachkala in Dagestan. When military ops moved into Chechnya in October 1999, he went to Moscow and re enlisted in the service signing a contract with the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation and immediately returned to Chechnya to participate in counter-terrorism operations. From 1999 to 2007, he made over 10 trips to Chechnya and participated in special operations in the areas of the cities of Gudermes and Argun, as well as in the suburbs of Grozny and the Vedeno region.[2]

In 2003, while engaged in combat in the Ulus-Kert mountains, he stepped on a mine and lost a foot. He refused to resign from the Armed Forces, his superior physical fitness allowed him to remain in the service, to carry on parachuting (over 840 jumps) and to still do martial arts with the prosthesis.[2]

On January 9, 2005 his patrol was ambushed, refusing to let his injured men be captured by the enemy, he single-handedly engaged and overcame an enemy superior in numbers.[2]

In a subsequent battle on January 24, 2005, he was injured by multiple fragment wounds in the back while shielding his men from the blast of a rocket propelled grenade. Even wounded, he personally neutralised the enemy rocket and machine gun post then continued leading the patrol leading to the capture and destruction of a terrorist base.[2]

He was awarded the Title of Hero of the Russian Federation on April 6, 2005 by Presidential Decree citing "for courage and heroism in the performance of military duties in the North Caucasus".[3] He then held the rank of captain.

His actions during the 2008 South Ossetia war earned him the honour of becoming only the second Knight of the Order of St. George 4th class.[4] During the October 1, 2008 award ceremony, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said of Lebed: "Among us there is a Special Forces officer, a Hero of the Russian Federation, Anatoly Vyacheslavovich Lebed. He always led from the front during combat operations, always displaying the epitome of personal courage itself".[5]

On April 27, 2012, in Moscow, Lebed was killed in a motorcycle accident.

And in between all the above, he even went to Yugoslavia to train the Serbs in case NATO intervened on the ground.

The blue tie guy is the legendary Mikhail Pogosyan.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 26 Mar 2014 11:27

rkhanna wrote:Cross posting from WAFF: First pic of Russia's Heron-TP equivalent emerges

"With an AESA in the nose per the warning written on the side"

http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/9827/812 ... 1_orig.jpg

***Warning Large size

That was the UAV shown to Medvedev when he visited Kazan yesterday , A bit of info is available from yesterdays visit

http://www.aviaport.ru/digest/2014/03/25/280281.html

For the Prime Minister also organized an exhibition of companies engaged in the production of aircraft. Medvedev drew particular attention to the UAV, developed by request of the Russian Defense Ministry to monitor the Arctic zone. The machine can operate autonomously to 48 hours and range to 10 thousand kilometers.

Video of UAV ---> http://youtu.be/Pomn0UIVIBY

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 27 Mar 2014 13:22

Deputy Defence Minister: Russia’s new S-500 system to destroy any target at any altitude
Russia
March 26, 23:25 UTC+4

MOSCOW, March 26. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s new fifth-generation air defence system S-500 will be able to destroy any target at any altitude, Deputy Defence Minister Yuri Borisov said on Wednesday, March 26.

“Work is underway to create a new fifth-generation air defence system S-500 which can destroy aerodynamic and ballistic targets of all types at all altitudes used in combat,” he said.

Borisov said S-400 systems would continue to be supplied to the Aerospace Defence Troops this year. The system “is about 2-2.5 times better than existing systems in terms of cost efficiency”, he added.

S-400 Triumf air defence systems were put on combat duty in Russia's Southern Military District at the end of last year to replace S-300PM missiles.

Supplies of new air defence systems to the 4th Air Force and Air Defence Command in the District started in 2009. Since then, more than 60 pieces of new military hardware have been delivered and put into operation.

The Triumf system is more than two times more effective that previous systems. Each system can attack 10 targets with up to 20 missiles.

The S-400 uses 3 different missiles to cover its entire performance envelope.

The Russian Ministry of Defence has stated that the S-400 is for the Russian Armed Forces only; it will not be exported to other countries.

The Russian Defence Ministry and the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) are also building a new carrier rocket called Angara and have stepped up preparations for its first launch. “We have done a tremendous amount of work to step up preparations for the Angara launch and to catch up with the schedule. And there is no doubt today that Angara will fly in July,” he said.

The new carrier rocket will be used to launch both civilian and military spacecraft and for international space cooperation projects.

A mock-up of the Angara carrier rocket was taken out of the assembly shop at the northern Plesetsk Cosmodrome and installed in the launch pad area in February.

Angara is one of the priorities in the development of the Plesetsk spaceport. In November 2013, a full-scale mock-up of the rocket was for the first time put up at the launch pad. It was a fully operational rocket but intended for ground testing only, not for launching.

A super-heavy lift launch vehicle will be able to carry a payload of 80 tonnes to low-earth orbits. In the future, its capacity can be increased to 160 tonnes and more.

The launch site for super-heavy lift vehicles will be built at Russia’s new Vostochny Cosmodrome now under construction in the Far Eastern Amur Region.

Khrunichev Space Centre Director-General Alexander Seliverstov said that the Angara development had reached the flight test stage and the focus was on finalising the launch site in Plesetsk.

The Angara 1.2 vehicle was shipped to Plesetsk in late May 2013 to allow adequate time for extensive testing and interface verification efforts being performed prior to the planned launch in the first half of 2014. The Angara 5 vehicle is expected to launch later in 2014, he said.

Seliverstov said that light and heavy versions of Angara rockets would be launched in 2014 and work was proceeding as scheduled.

“The first rocket is to be launched in 2014,” Seliverstov said.

A heavy version of the rocket is being assembled. “Work is proceeding as scheduled. We have to make the heavy version before the end of the year as its launch is scheduled for the end of 2014,” he said last year.

Angara will allow Russia to launch all kinds of spacecraft to any orbit. Now Russia can launch heavy satellites only aboard Proton rockets from Baikonur, which it leases from Kazakhstan for about 115 million U.S. dollars a year.

According to Khrunichev, a big advantage of the new rocket carrier is that “it is a universal space rocket system” capable of taking three types of rockets into space: light with a payload of up to 3.5 tonnes, medium with a payload of up to 14.6 tonnes, and heavy with a payload of up to 24.5 tonnes. Medium lift and heavy lift launch vehicles can take payloads to the geostationary orbit as well.

The vehicle uses a unique engineering solution: the carrier can be assembled of the same modules. Their maximum number is five in a heavy version, three in a medium version, and one in a light version. They can all be launched form the same pad, not like now at Baikonur where each carrier requires its own launching pad.

The Angara class of rockets comprises four types of vehicles, with payload capacities ranging between 3.7 tones /light class, intended for low orbits/ and 28.5 tonnes.

http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/725453