Il tiro della corda .....

[richelieu]

Russia 2018 ..... tirando le somme .....

..... russianforces.org ..... "Counting missile launches in 2018" .....

[richelieu]

Gli USA verso una nuova fase delle 'Guerre Stellari' di reaganiana memoria ?

The Defense Department will study the possibility of space weapons — perhaps particle beams, ray guns, space lasers, or orbiting missiles — that could intercept enemy missiles coming off the launch pad, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters on the Missile Defense Review, due out on Thursday.
But the Pentagon will forgo actually developing them, for now.
It’s part of the Trump administration’s effort to “expand the scope of what we’re postured to defend against,” the official said.

Fonte: defenseone.com ..... "Pentagon to Study Putting Anti-Missile Laser Weapons in Space" .....
.

[richelieu]

INF ..... gli USA sospendono la loro partecipazione al trattato .....

..... e la Russia fa altrettanto ..... http://tass.com/politics/1042971 .....

Un commento ..... nytimes.com ..... "Welcome to the New Age of Nuclear Instability" .....

[richelieu]

Armi ipersoniche ..... negli USA l' operatività non è poi tanto lontana .....

airforcemag.com ..... http://www.airforcemag.com/Features/Pag ... -Away.aspx .....

[richelieu]

Dalla Russia ... senza amore ...

... RID ... "Due nuovi missili per la Russia - Subito pronti i piani per 2 nuovi missili dopo l'uscita dal Trattato INF" ...

[richelieu]

Pattugliamento artico .....

Il compito assegnato a velivoli della Marina russa .....

Want another sign of the Cold War's return?
Russia has announced it will deploy two squadrons of MiG interceptors to fly patrols over the North Pole.
The patrols, which were routine during the Cold War, are largely symbolic.
They're meant to be a show of force, and to demonstrate that Russia takes its nuclear defense mission seriously.
As relations with the United States continue to deteriorate, they're back on.
According to the Barents Observer, two squadrons of MiG-31BM interceptors will fly regular patrols over the North Pole region.
One squadron, part of the 98th Guards Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment stationed in Murmansk region at Monchegorsk airfield, will carry out the patrols from European Russia.
Russia’s Izvestia news agency reports another squadron, part of the 317th Composite Air Regiment stationed in the Kamchatka region out of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Yelizovo airport, will carry out the patrols from the other side of Russia.
Both squadrons are assigned to the Russian Navy.
The patrols will continue until the end of 2019.

Fonte: popularmechanics.com ..... "Russia Resumes Fighter Patrols Over the North Pole" .....
.

[richelieu]

Zircon ... arma letale o ... sarchiapone ?

While addressing the Russian Federal Assembly on February 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin touched on the Zircon, describing it as “a hypersonic missile able to accelerate to about Mach 9.”
The Russian president said this is “yet another innovation, work on which proceeds successfully and shall be completed on schedule.”
It has a firing range of “over one thousand kilometers” (540 nm) and “is able to destroy both sea-going and land targets,” he added.
Notably, Putin’s figures are considerably above those previously suggested by local and overseas experts, who believed that Zircon’s firing range would fall somewhere between 400 and 500 km [215-270 nm], and top speed limited to between Mach 5 and 6.
According to Putin, the Zircon is primarily intended to arm seagoing platforms such as “serially made surface warships and submarines, including those that are already operational and being built - those that come with the Caliber cruise missile launchers.
Because of this, this is not going to be [too] expensive for us.”

L'articolo prosegue qui: ainonline.com ..... "Putin Reveals Zircon Mach 9 Missile Specification" ...

[richelieu]

Scambio di cortesie ...

Russia to Goldfein: If F-35s Enter Our Airspace, “Remember Vietnam” ...

The Russian Embassy in the US tweeted (*) a cryptic message to the US Air Force and Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein on Friday, pairing a threat against Joint Strike Fighters that enter Russian airspace with propaganda-like video footage.
The tweet stated that if the country was to detect an F-35 Lightning II within its airspace, it would tell Goldfein to “remember Vietnam.”
It proceeded to caution that one of the Lockheed-built fighters would “never be alone.”
The attached video included footage of an aircraft being shot down. The message and video weren’t cross-posted to any of the embassy’s social media sites, and Goldfein didn’t immediately respond.
As of press time, the tweet had been shared hundreds of times, and the video racked up more than 50,000 views.

- Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

(*) ... ...
.

[richelieu]

Armi ipersoniche ... entra in gioco un nuovo veicolo sperimentale ...

An experimental test rocket used to refine the Air Force’s understanding of hypersonic flight has passed its critical design review, the service said Monday.
The X-60A, an air-dropped liquid rocket designed to help research scramjet propulsion, high-temperature materials, and autonomous control, will now be built and head to its first flight test in about a year, according to the Air Force Research Laboratory (*).
AFRL partnered with Generation Orbit Launch Services to develop the vehicle, which is the first Small Business Innovative Research program awarded the experimental “X” designation.

L' articolo ... airforcemag.com ... "AFRL’s Experimental Hypersonic Flight-Testing Rocket Passes CDR" ...

(*) ... "X-60A HYPERSONIC FLIGHT RESEARCH VEHICLE PROGRAM COMPLETES CRITICAL DESIGN REVIEW" ...
.

[richelieu]

Altro giro ... altra corsa ...


First Lt. Terrence Dale Duarte, 320th Missile Squadron missile combat crew commander and 2nd Lt. Nikolas Ramos, deputy missile combat crew commander, sit at the control console inside the launch control center at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., on Nov. 5, 2016.
Air Force photo by SSgt. Christopher Ruano.

I Minuteman III si avviano a diventare 'eterni' come i B-52 ...

Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff USAF Gen. Paul Selva said Thursday the Air Force’s intercontinental ballistic missiles may need a fourth refurbishment program to extend their viability before the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent becomes available in the late 2020s.
“The Minuteman III was put in the ground in 1973 with a plan to do two life extensions,” Selva said at a Strategic Deterrent Coalition conference outside Washington, D.C.
“We are now on the third and may have to do a fourth before we can get its replacement in the ground.”
GBSD, in development at Boeing and Northrop Grumman, is expected to begin entering service in fiscal 2029.

... airforcemag.com ... "Selva: DOD May Again Refurbish ICBMs" ...
.

[richelieu]

Schermaglie ...

... defensenews.com ... "US rolls ‘100K tons of international diplomacy’ into the Med. Will Russia get the message?" ...

[richelieu]

Aegis “virtual twin” system ... una rivoluzione ...

A test announced in late March could herald an enormous change in the way the Navy modernizes its ships, while making a once prohibitive cost of maintaining older ships attainable.
The Navy destroyer Thomas S. Hudner participated in a live-fire missile exercise using an Aegis “virtual twin” system, which the service is developing to significantly reduce the hardware footprint inside a ship needed to run the Aegis combat system.
When the Navy built its Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, installing the Aegis combat system into the hull required a large suite of hardware - computers, servers, consoles and displays - designed specifically to run Aegis software. Any significant upgrades to the suite of systems already installed, or to the Aegis system in general, required cutting a hole in the ship and swapping out computers and consoles - a massively expensive undertaking.
The virtual twin upends that model.
According to a Naval Sea Systems Command news release (*), the virtual twin system is carried on the ship in rugged cases that, when stacked up,” are small enough to fit under a dining room table.”

... c4isrnet.com ... "Off the Eastern Seaboard, a US Navy missile test could make big waves" ...

(*) ... "AEGIS Virtual Twin Successfully Intercepts First Cruise Missile Target" ...
.

[richelieu]

Altra rivoluzione in vista ... questa volta nel settore degli armamenti "aria-aria" ...



... armi laser a scopo difensivo imbarcate su aerei da combattimento ...

The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) successfully used a laser weapon to shoot down multiple air-launched missiles in flight (*).
The AFRL Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) Advanced Technology Demonstration Programme downed the missiles using a ground-based laser demonstrator.
The SHiELD programme is developing a directed energy laser system to be installed on an aircraft for self-defence against surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles.

... flightglobal.com ... "USAF Research Laboratory shoots down multiple missiles with laser" ...

(*) ... "Air Force Research Laboratory completes successful shoot down of air-launched missiles" ...

Altre fonti ...

... airforcemag.com ... "Experimental Laser Weapon Downs Multiple Missiles in Test" ...

... thedrive.com/the-war-zone ... "The Air Force Just Shot Down Multiple Missiles With A Laser Destined For Fighter Aircraft" ...

[richelieu]

La Russia invia in Cina una grossa quantità di missili S-400 in sostituzione di una partita che rimase danneggiata nel 2017 ... 

Russia has reportedly send dozens of new missiles for S-400 Triumf long-range interceptor-based air defense system (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) to China as a replacement for missiles damaged aboard a Russian cargo ship that got caught in a storm in the English Channel in December 2017.
“At the start of April, several dozens of new S-400 missiles were sent by maritime transport from the Baltic to China to replace those damaged in a storm in the English Channel,” a military-diplomatic source told TASS news agency on April 30.
The press office of Russia’s state arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, declined to comment on the matter.
According to Russian sources, the cargo ship that was forced to return to a Russian port as a result of the damages sustained during the storm carried an export variant of the S-400’s most advanced interceptor, the 40N6E, reportedly capable of intercepting targets at a distance of up to 400 kilometers.

... thediplomat.com ... "Russia Sends New Missiles for S-400 Air Defense System to China" ...
.

[richelieu]

Avvertimenti ... fin troppo espliciti ...

The US military is deploying a bomber task force and the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to US Central Command in a move the White House says puts Iran on notice.
The bombers and carrier group “send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests, or on those of our allies, will be met with unrelenting force,” National Security Advisor John Bolton said In a Sunday statement (*).
“The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces.”

... airforcemag.com ... "White House: Bomber, Carrier Deployment to Middle East is a Message to Iran" ...

(*) ... https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-st ... -bolton-2/ ...
.

[richelieu]

Nuovi missili per i bombardieri russi ...

... ainonline.com ... " New Missiles for the ‘Bear’ and ‘Blackjack’ " ...

[richelieu]

Se ne parla in queste ore ...
... vendite di armamenti USA a paesi del Golfo ...

In a controversial move, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, citing unnamed threats from Iran, bypassed approval from the US Congress and pushed through the sale of $8.1 billion of arms to Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Pompeo said in a press release (*) issued late in the day on 24 May, titled “Emergency Notification,” that the State Department had approved the sale of 22 arms sales agreements, including tactical unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), missiles, aircraft spare parts, logistics support and military training.
The secretary said he had authority to bypass the US Congress via section 36 of the Arms Export Control Act.

(*) ... https://www.state.gov/emergency-notific ... di-arabia/ ...

Il contratto più importante ... dsca.mil ... https://www.dsca.mil/major-arms-sales/k ... services-0 ...
.

[richelieu]

L' USAF punta alla possibilità di effettuare, in caso di situazioni di emergenza, lanci spaziali militari nel giro di 24 ore ...

A recent Air Force solicitation takes the first steps toward being able to order space launches on just 24 hours notice, a goal that would make the service more responsive to combat developments and avoid the weeks- or months-long waits typical of launches.
“The US Air Force is investigating the possible procurement of a capability to rapidly launch and deploy space payloads critical to national security in an ultra-responsive manner,” the service wrote in a May 30 sources-sought notice.
“The objective is 24 hours from ‘call up’ notification to on-orbit capability.”
If industry doesn’t believe a 24-hour window is long enough, they should recommend a different time frame that would work in case of a national emergency, the Air Force said.

... airforcemag.com ... "Air Force Targets Next-Day Space Launches" ...
.

[richelieu]

Manovre pericolose ...

On June 4, 2019, a U.S. P-8A Poseidon aircraft flying in international airspace over the Mediterranean Sea was intercepted by a Russian SU-35 three times over the course of 175 minutes.
The first and third interaction were deemed safe.
The second interaction was determined to be unsafe due to the SU-35 conducting a high speed pass directly in front of the mission aircraft, which put our pilots and crew at risk.

... c6f.navy.mil ... "Russian Intercept over Mediterranean Sea" ...

[richelieu]

Manovre pericolose ...

On June 4, 2019, a U.S. P-8A Poseidon aircraft flying in international airspace over the Mediterranean Sea was intercepted by a Russian SU-35 three times over the course of 175 minutes.
The first and third interaction were deemed safe.
The second interaction was determined to be unsafe due to the SU-35 conducting a high speed pass directly in front of the mission aircraft, which put our pilots and crew at risk.

... c6f.navy.mil ... "Russian Intercept over Mediterranean Sea" ...

Da un'altra fonte USA ...

news.usni.org ... "Russian Su-35 Fighter Makes ‘Irresponsible’ Intercept of Navy P-8A Over Mediterranean" ...
.

[richelieu]

Argomento non propriamente aeronautico ... ma interessante ...

Su Taiwan e Mar Cinese Meridionale ... la dura presa di posizione della Cina in occasione di un summit internazionale ... https://www.iiss.org/events/shangri-la- ... logue-2019 ...

China’s Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe struck an uncompromising tone on Taiwan and the South China Sea in his Sunday speech IISS Shangri La Dialogue.
“If anyone dared to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese military has no choice but to fight at all costs to preserve national unity” and defending China’s militarization of disputed territories in the South China Sea as “ the legitimate rights of a sovereign state to carry out construction in its own territory.”
Wei argued that over 100,000 ships annually sailed through the South China Sea but none had been threatened but in recent years, several countries from outside the region had come to the South China Sea to flex their muscles in the name of freedom of navigation, a clear allusion to U.S., French and U.K. sailings in the region.

... news.usni.org ... "Shangri-La: Chinese Defense Minister Talks Tough on South China Sea, Taiwan" ...
.

[richelieu]

Mare caldo ... una quasi collisione fra navi da guerra americane e russe ...

... navy.mil ... https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=109833 ...

... news.usni.org ... https://news.usni.org/2019/06/07/navy-r ... e-maneuver ...

[richelieu]

La 'quasi collisione' ... qualche ulteriore informazione ...

... thedrive.com/the-war-zone ... https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/2 ... he-pacific ...

[richelieu]

Lo afferma l' Iran ...

Further raising tensions in the Middle East, the government of Iran claims to have shot down a Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned air vehicle (UAV) over Kuh Mubarak, a coastal area of Iran at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on its news website that it has shot down an American spy drone that had violated Iranian airspace.
The Islamic Republic News Agency posted a grainy picture of what appears to be a burning UAV falling out of the sky with a wing blown off (*).

... flightglobal.com ... https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... wk-459217/ ...

(*) ... en.irna.ir/news ... https://en.irna.ir/news/83362061/Iran-s ... -spy-drone ...
.

[richelieu]

Ancora sull'abbattimento del 'Global Hawk' ...

... news.usni.org ... " VIDEO: Iran Shoots Down Navy Surveillance Drone in ‘Unprovoked Attack’ " ...

... airforcemag.com ... "CENTCOM: Iranian SAM Shoots Down US Drone Over Strait of Hormuz" ...

[richelieu]

Mossa precauzionale ...

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued an emergency order prohibiting US carriers from flying in the overwater area of Iranian-controlled airspace until further notice.

... flightglobal.com ... https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... -a-459241/ ...

[Valerio Ricciardi]

Però storicamente delle due, fra i due acerrimi rivali, l'unico ad avere abbattuto un volo civile dell'altro son stati proprio gli Stati Uniti...

da che pulpito...

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volo_Iran_Air_655

[richelieu]

Più potente di quanto, a suo tempo, si suppose ...

Scientists looking anew at a 2017 North Korean nuclear test discovered that the explosion was likely about two-thirds more powerful than U.S. officials previously thought.
Earlier data put the yield somewhere between 30 and 300 kilotons; the U.S. intelligence community said 140 kilotons. That was already the most powerful device tested by North Korea, topping a 2016 test by about an order of magnitude.
But a new look at seismological data suggests that the blast was between 148 and 328 kilotons, and probably around 250 kilotons.
That’s the conclusion from a group of researchers from the University of California, Santa Cruz; the Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica; and elsewhere, as published Monday in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth (*).

... defenseone.com ... "North Korea’s Nuclear Bomb Is Much Bigger than Previously Thought" ...

(*) ... news.agu.org ... "2017 NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR TEST ORDER OF MAGNITUDE LARGER THAN PREVIOUS TESTS, NEW STUDY FINDS" ...
.

[richelieu]

Difesa di Mosca ... si avvia la fase di modernizzazione ...

... ainonline.com ... https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news ... le-defense ...

Inoltre ... da russianforces.org ...

... http://russianforces.org/blog/2019/06/t ... se_i.shtml ...

... http://russianforces.org/blog/2019/06/r ... udol.shtml ...

... http://russianforces.org/blog/2019/07/s ... erce.shtml ...
.

[richelieu]

ICBM di nuova generazione ...
Alla ricerca di chi produrrà il successore del Minuteman III ...

The Air Force is moving ahead with its program to replace Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles amid congressional debate about future nuclear weapons.
The service on July 16 issued an industry solicitation that will ultimately help choose which company builds the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, the new generation of ICBMs, according to a release.
Boeing and Northrop Grumman have been refining and prototyping their missile designs under government contracts for the past two years, and the Air Force next year will pick a single contractor to provide more than 600 weapons.
The Air Force is asking for cybersecure, easily upgradeable, reliable weapons that can meet the challenges of 21st-century nuclear deterrence, and officials tout the program as a model for smart, flexible procurement.

... airforcemag.com ... "Air Force Begins Final Search for Next ICBM Builder" ...
.

[richelieu]

ICBM di nuova generazione ...
Colpo di scena ... Boeing abbandona la competizione ...

Boeing is abandoning its bid to build the next intercontinental ballistic missile amid an ongoing dispute with the Air Force about rocket propulsion.
The Air Force had planned to choose between Boeing and Northrop Grumman to be the program’s sole contractor about a year from now.
By not bidding, Boeing is walking away from its six-decade legacy of Minuteman missile work and throws a wrench into the Air Force’s plans for a competitive selection.
With only two vendors in the US solid rocket motor industrial base, the Air Force must now decide whether a single bidder is acceptable, or whether it must revise its request for proposals to satisfy Boeing’s objections.

... airforcemag.com ... "Boeing Backs Out of Nuclear Missile Competition, Prompting USAF Choices" ...
.

[richelieu]

ICBM di nuova generazione ...

Only one company is left in the running to build the next generation of nuclear Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles leading to the natural question: should the Air Force change the proposed contract to better accommodate Boeing’s concerns to ensure more fair competition or allow Northrop Grumman to go ahead ?
If the current Ground-based Strategic Deterrent program’s requirements can be met through amending the RFP without delaying the program, then we can go in that direction.
Otherwise, as there is precedent for going with a single bidder, we should proceed with the GBSD research and development contract.
There are in place considerable controls and requirements that assure a cost-effective ICBM will be built and deployed, protecting the American people for decades to come.
How did we get here?
It’s simple, really.
There were three competitors: Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.
The Air Force whittled that down to Boeing and Northrop.
Then Boeing, clearly worried by Northrop’s acquisition last year of Orbital ATK, which builds solid rocket motors and is reportedly still a Boeing supplier, dropped out of the program.
So, we are left with what Boeing sees as an uncompetitive program.

... breakingdefense.com ..... "Compete Or Not, But Go Full Steam Ahead On GBSD" ...

Domanda puramente retorica ... ci sarà mai un programma militare statunitense che non sia afflitto dalla solita
caterva di complicazioni ?

[richelieu]

Scrutate il cielo ! ...

On July 5, a Soyuz rocket blasted off from Vostochny Cosmodrome in the easternmost territory of Russia, carrying with it 33 satellites, including a polar-orbiting Meteor M2-2 weather satellite owned by the Russian government and a host of cubesats and nanosatellites launched on behalf of universities and commercial entities.
More than 3,500 miles away, the airmen of Thule Air Base in Greenland were watching, dispatching real-time reports to the Combined Space Operations Center, or CSpOC, at Vandenburg (*) Air Force Base, California.
Located on the northwestern coast of Greenland, Thule Air Base is the U.S. military’s northernmost base and the only installation north of the Arctic Circle.
It is home to the 12th Space Warning Squadron, a cadre of Air Force officers and enlisted personnel that provide 24/7 missile warning and space surveillance using a massive AN/FPS-132 radar.

... defensenews.com ... "Watch the skies: How a US base in Greenland tracks ballistic missiles" ...

(*) ... Vandenburg ? ...
.

[richelieu]

Il più recente rapporto sugli armamenti nucleari russi ...

... fas.org ..... "Russia's Nuclear Weapons: Doctrine, Forces and Modernization" ...

[richelieu]

Il Dipartimento della Difesa USA cancella il contratto relativo al programma di sviluppo del veicolo RKV ...

... defensenews.com ... https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/20 ... terceptor/ ...