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Category: military – Page 113

Russia’s Clandestine Chemical Weapons Programme and the GRU’s Unit 29155

On October 15, 2020, the European Union imposed sanctions on six senior Russian officials and a leading Russian research institute over the alleged use of a nerve agent from the Novichok family in the poisoning of opposition leader Alexey Navalny. Russia dismissed as baseless the EU’s allegations that it had not complied with its obligations, under the convention it ratified in 1997, to discontinue its chemical weapons program. Russian officials said the country had nothing to do with Navalny’s poisoning and implied that if any party had used nerve agents on him, it would have been Western secret services. Vladimir Putin, who in 2017 had personally watched over the destruction of the last remaining Russian chemical weapons stash, ridiculed the findings of four separate laboratories, confirmed by the OPCW, that a Novichok-type organophosphate poison was identified in Alexey Navalny’s blood.

Two years earlier, in 2018, Russia had dismissed as unfounded allegations that its military intelligence had used Novichok to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Similarly, Russia had then stated that it had no ongoing chemical weapons program and had destroyed all of its prior arsenals; while alluding that UK agencies may have used their own stash of Novichok to poison the Skripals in a false-flag operation.

A year-long investigation by Bellingcat and its investigative partners The Insider and Der Spiegel, with contributing investigations from RFE/RL, has discovered evidence that Russia continued its Novichok development program long beyond the officially announced closure date. Data shows that military scientists, who were involved with the original chemical weapons program while it was still run by the Ministry of Defense, were dispersed into several research entities which continued collaborating among one another in a clandestine, distributed R&D program. While some of these institutes were integrated with the Ministry of Defense – but camouflaged their work as research into antidotes to organophosphate poisoning – other researchers moved to civilian research institutes but may have continued working, under cover of civilian research, on the continued program.

Military rescuers geared up for safe landing of Soyuz spacecraft carrying space tourists

“Specialists of the Central Military District’s search/rescue and parachute service have been relocated in full to the Republic of Kazakhstan to provide for the safe landing of the Soyuz MS-20 descent capsule with space tourists from Japan on its board,” the press office said in a statement.

The Central Military District has redeployed additional personnel from the Chelyabinsk Region in the Urals to bolster the basic group that provided for the safe launch of the Soyuz spacecraft. In particular, about 50 more rescuers have been redeployed to Kazakhstan together with eight Mi-8 helicopters and two PEM-1 and PEM-2 ‘Blue Bird’ search and evacuation vehicles, the statement says.

Overall, the search and rescue operation to provide for the safe landing of the Soyuz MS-20 descent module involves about 200 rescuers, 12 Mi-8 helicopters, two An-12 planes and an An-26 aircraft and over 20 motor vehicles, including six pieces of ‘Blue Bird’ rescue and evacuation equipment.

Will the Emergence of Drones Mean the End of Crewed Aircraft?

All good things come to an end.

Uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, have proved to be something of a revolution in many aspects of our modern world. Among the most dramatic, in the field of combat.

The ability to project power at a distance without risking a human’s life is an incredibly technological feat. It could be so revolutionary, in fact (if some experts are to be believed), that it could put an end to more than a century of aerial dominance in warfare.

But, is this a realistic prediction for the future of war? Let’s find out.

But first, let’s take a look at some disruptive war technologies of the past.

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The Navy’s Last Stealth Zumwalt Destroyer Comes with 80 Megawatts of Power

Having completed sea trials, it will now have its combat system activated.

Back in December of 2017, we brought you news of the U.S. Navy’s stealth destroyer the U.S.S. Monsoor breaking down during sea trails. At the time, we asked the question if this event would spell the end for Zumwalt-class destroyers?

It seems the Zumwalts are alive and well with the U.S. Navy’s third and final Zumwalt-class ship, the U.S.S. Lyndon B. Johnson, recently completing basic sea trials, according to 1945. This means that the massive ship will now have its combat system activated.

Zumwalt-class destroyers are top-of-the-range warships with advanced electrical generation systems. These systems power the ship’s engines, electronics, weapons, and propulsion systems.

Each Zumwalt-class destroyer comes with an Integrated Power System. These generate up to 80 megawatts of power and have been included with the expectation that the ships will be equipped with a new generation of power-hungry weapons such as electromagnetic railguns and perhaps even lasers.

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Russia’s Heavy Stealth Drone ‘Hunter’ is Ready for Its First Flight

And it’s likely to meet its 2024 deadline.

United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), a subsidiary of Rostec, the Russian state corporation that supports military manufacturing, has unveiled the first flight prototype of its S-70 Okhotnik combat drone, Tass reported. The unveiling that took place on Tuesday was attended by Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister, Alexey Krivoruchko.

The Okhotnik, Russian for Hunter\.

Russia to resume tests of Tsirkon hypersonic missile from submarine in 2024

By TASS Russian news agency

The source said:

“The flight development tests from an underwater carrier are planned to be resumed no sooner than in 2024. They will be carried out from the Project 885M submarine Perm that will differ from its predecessors by a slightly modified design. If the submarine is not be ready for the Tsirkon test-launches in 2024, they will be resumed in the first half of 2025,”

DARPA OpFires Can Provide the USMC with Mobile Hypersonic Missiles

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in collaboration with Lockheed Martin are developing the OpFires mobile medium-range hypersonic missile assembly to fit on the back of an U.S. Army’s Palletized Load System (PLS) 5-axle 10×10 truck. OpFires will provide the U.S. Army with a highly mobile vehicle for firing hypersonic missiles that is independent of the tractor and trailer combination for the longer-range (strategic) hypersonic missiles. The U.S. Marines may also be interested in OpFires as they use the similar Logistic Vehicle Replacement System (LVSR) 10×10 truck.

The OpFires Project will use throttleable rocket motors on hypersonic missiles to achieve varying ranges in flight; therefore, OpFires can hit targets within the range envelope up to 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers). At Mach 5+, the OpFires’ warhead can fly 1,000 miles in approximately 20 minutes.

China begins mass production of J-20 fighters because of the WS-10 engine

Global Times, controlled by the government, announced on December 12, that China has “significantly” increased the serial production of the J-20 stealth fighter.

BEIJING, ($1=6.36 Chinese Yuans) – The information website Global Times, controlled by the Chinese government, announced yesterday, December 12, that China has “significantly” increased the serial production of the J-20 stealth fighter, learned BulgarianMilitary.com.

“The transition to imported WS-10 engines has made mass production possible,” said Fu Qiangshao, a Chinese military aviation expert, noting that other J-20 systems, including the avionics system, radar system, and weapons systems, have already been developed. in the country.