Sunday, August 31, 2008
Kornet E Anti-Armour Missile, Russia
Kornet E Anti-Armour Missile, Russia
(NSI News Source Info) August 31, 2008: Kornet E is the name given to the export version of the Russian Kornet missile system. The system, first shown in 1994, has been developed by the KBP Instrument Design Making Bureau, Tula, Russia and is in production and service with the Russian Army and has been sold to the Syrian Army.
Kornet is a third generation system, developed to replace the Fagot and Konkurs missile systems in the Russian Army. It is designed to destroy tanks, including those fitted with explosive reactive armour (ERA), fortifications, entrenched troops as well as small-scale targets. The system can be fitted to a variety of tracked and wheeled vehicles, including the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle, as well as serving as a standalone, portable system. The self-propelled Kornet missile system is manufactured by the Volsk Mechanical Plant, Volsk, Russian Federation.
It was reported in April 2005 that the Kornet E missile system has been ordered by the government of Eritrea.
MISSILE
The launcher fires Kornet missiles with tandem shaped charge HEAT warheads to defeat tanks fitted with ERA or with high explosive/incendiary (thermobaric effect) warheads, for use against bunkers, fortifications and fire emplacements. Armour penetration for the HEAT warhead is stated to be 1,200mm. Range is 5km.
The missile has semi-automatic command-to-line-of-sight (SACLOS) laser beamriding guidance, flying along the line of sight to engage the target head on in a direct attack profile.
Kornet-E is a 3rd generation anti-armour missile system.
The Kornet-E tripod launcher
The Kornet-E launch tube and missile.
The operator uses either optical or thermal sight to detect and track the target.
The Kliver missile and gun turret mounted on the Russian Army's BTR-80 armoured personnel carrier.
LAUNCHER
The tripod launcher includes optical sight, thermal sight, laying drives, missile launch mechanism and missiles kept in storage and transport containers. The operator uses either optical or thermal sight to detect and track the target. The thermal sight is designated 1PN80 and is produced by the State Institute of Applied Optics (NPO GIPO) of Kazan, Russia.
VEHICLE MOUNTS
The Kornet anti-tank guided weapon system is mounted on a cross-country, armoured chassis based on the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle which entered production in the late 1980s and is in service with the Russian Army. BMP-3 is a tracked, armoured, amphibious vehicle. It has a 500hp diesel engine, weighs 18.7t and is capable of a maximum speed of 70km/hr and range of 600km. The vehicle is equipped with night vision devices.
The self-propelled Kornet missile system has the capability for automatic loading and the simultaneous launching of two missiles at a single target. 16 missiles can be carried. It has a crew of two.
KLIVER MISSILE / GUN TURRET
The KBP Instrument Design Making Bureau has recently developed the Kliver missile / gun turret based on the Kornet missile system, which can be mounted on a variety of vehicles including the Russian Army's BTR-80 armoured personnel carrier and BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle. It can also be installed on small ships such as coastal patrol boats.
The Kliver turret carries four Kornet missiles and a 30 mm 2A72 gun. The gun has a range of 4,000m and can fire at the rate of 350 - 400 rounds per minute. There is also a 7.62mm PKT machine gun. Total weight of the turret is around 1,500kg, including ammunition and missiles. The automatic fire control system includes ballistic computer, thermal sight, laser rangefinder and stabilisation system. The turret has a 360° traverse and an elevation of -15° to +60°.
India to carry out test flight of LCH soon
(NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI - August 31, 2008: India's first indigenously-developed Light Combat Helicopter will be test flown later this year, in a major step aimed at giving a boost to the country's fighting capabilities in the Himalayas. State-run aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has completed development of the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) and it will test fly the chopper by the year-end. If the test flight goes smoothly, the LCH, built on the platform of a Cheetah body would be the second big feather in HAL's cap after the Advanced Light Helicopter. The LCH is expected to fill vital gaps in India's security as the armed forces lack a helicopter gunship which can operate in extreme high altitude above 9,000 feet. The indigenous development of such a helicopter comes as IAF has recently floated international tenders for the purchase of 22 advanced helicopter gunships. Besides Eurocopter which is part of the defence and aviation consortium EADS, the other major contenders for this competition are Boeing's AH-54D, Augusta Westland's AW-129 Mangustu and Russia's MI-28N NightHunters. Top HAL officials said work on the project was going on as per schedule. The aerospace major had taken five years to design the Advanced Light Helicopter 'Dhruv' but it completed the design of the LCH within 16-17 months. The helicopter will be equipped with helmet-mounted targeting systems, electronic warfare systems and advanced weapons systems.
'Right is on our side' over Georgia crisis says Putin
Russian Su-30 Fighter Planes Arrive In Venezuela
(NSI News Source Info) Caracas, Venezuela - August 31, 2008: At least 24 Russian-made Sukhoi-30 fighter jets were delivered to Venezuela on Sunday as part of the country's defense capability build-up. The purchase came after the Bush administration refused to sell parts for Venezuela's aging F-16 jet fleet.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said of the delivery, "We received the Sukhoi aircraft as well as pilots, crew and missiles, and the aircraft will begin military practice with missiles soon."
He said the purchase of the aircraft from Russia was intended for defense capabilities only.
Chavez in 2006 announced his plan to buy the jets from Russia after the U.S. refused to sell Venezuela spare part for the F-16 fleet of the Venezuelan Air Force.
The Su-30, a multi-role strike fighter that can perform both air superiority and ground attacks, was dubbed by a German defense review magazine as the best combat fighter bomber plane ever built in the world.
Chavez said the purchase of 24 Su-30 is only the beginning as he hopes to buy the more advanced Su-35s from Russia.
DRS Awarded Contracts To Provide MSTAR
(NSI News Source Info) Parsippany NJ - August 31, 2008: DRS Technologies has announced that it was awarded contracts from various customers with a combined value of approximately $47 million to provide Man-Portable Surveillance and Target Acquisition Radar (MSTAR) systems, accessories, and/or support.
The systems will support the U. S. Deparent of Defense (DoD) in a variety of surveillance and security applications.
The work for these contracts will be performed by the company's DRS Sustainment Systems, Inc. unit based in St. Louis, Missouri. Product deliveries are expected to begin immediately and will continue through May 2009.
Thomas G. Cornwell, president of the company's Sustainment Systems Business Segment, said, "The MSTAR is a 'best in class' product based on its performance, price, reliability and availability. Over 1,300 MSTARs have been deployed around the world as a stand-alone system, or as an integral part of a larger sensor suite. Its high reliability is supported by unmatched global logistics, to ensure that the warfighter or border security forces get the operating picture they need."
The MSTAR is a low-power ground surveillance radar, which provides wide-area coverage in all weather conditions during both day and night. It locates moving targets and classifies them as personnel, tracked or wheeled vehicles.
The system is ideally suited for deployable perimeter security applications, or as part of an integrated security system for force protection, border surveillance and asset protection.
The technology and capabilities of the MSTAR can be customized to fulfill military and homeland security missions when intrusion detection, border surveillance and perimeter security are unique and require a tailored application.
"MSTAR provides enhanced security system operations with the capability to rapidly monitor large surveillance areas and provide information about potential hostile intrusion," Cornwell added. "Its highly accurate tracking ability may be used to cue other sensors or weapons."
Military Matters: Economic crisis and 4GW
(NSI News Source Info) Washington - August 31, 2008: Despite the recent drop in the price of oil, the world economy is still sailing into troubled waters. The U.S. credit crisis is intensifying and spreading to Britain. Europe is moving toward recession. The international financial system continues to depend on mountains of debt. If the financial panic that the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank thus far has managed to stave off materializes, we could witness a meltdown of historic proportions.
What does all this portend for fourth-generation warfare? Regrettably, it means the omens are favorable for some non-state entities, especially those that compete with the state in the delivery of vital social services.
Here we must remind ourselves that the root and origin of 4GW is a crisis of legitimacy of the state. One of the functions the state is now expected to perform, in free market as well as socialist countries, is to ensure that the economy functions as well. A worldwide financial panic followed by a world recession or depression would mean the state was failing in one of its core functions. That in turn would further diminish the legitimacy of the state.
Wilsonians and other "democracy" hucksters think a state's legitimacy is a function of elections. Even in established democracies such as the United States, those elections are becoming empty forms, political kabuki in which citizens are not given an opportunity to vote against the New Class. In most of the world, elections do not even determine which collection of thieves will next get to plunder the treasury. The game is blatantly rigged.
In poor countries, the state's legitimacy is more a function of its ability to provide vital services than the election of ju-ju. Often, those services include allowing people to eat. Most people's diets depend on subsidized state rations, such as the bread ration in Egypt. Recent riots there when the issue of cheap bread was disrupted showed the potential power of hungry mobs.
A worldwide depression would cause hardship in rich countries. In poor countries, it would quickly lead to widespread starvation. The state no longer would be able to provide the subsidized rations millions of its citizens rely on. The rise in world food prices already under way would put states in a double squeeze: The state's revenues would be falling at the same time that the difference between market and subsidized prices was growing. Add in global financial panic where credit dries up, and we will see the number of failed states rise rapidly.
In the Great Depression of the 1930s, states' economic failure brought governments and even systems of government, including democracy, into question. In both Europe and the United States, communism and fascism gained a certain popularity because in the Soviet Union, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, everyone had a job. But the state itself was not challenged, because there was no alternative to the state.
Now, there is. Intelligent 4G entities, ranging from some drug gangs through organizations such as Hezbollah, the Shiite Party of God in southern Lebanon, are competing directly with the state for people's primary loyalty. If those 4G entities can provide basic services, including food, when the state can no longer do so, they will gain the legitimacy that the state is losing. In fourth-generation war, that is a bigger win than any potential military victory.
In terms of 4GW theory, the lessons here are two. First, a global economic crisis is likely to lead to a much deeper crisis, a widespread existential crisis of the state itself. Second, the 4G entities that benefit from this crisis will be those that provide basic services more effectively than the state.
Once again, just as from a military perspective, we see that the "Hezbollah model" is the most promising model for 4G, non-state organizations. That model includes a highly competent military that can defeat state armed forces. But it employs its military capability sparingly, fighting only when attacked or when a low-risk, high-payoff military opportunity presents itself, which will be seldom.
For 4GW entities as for states, the outcome of wars will remain unpredictable. Instead, the Hezbollah model focuses day-to-day on providing services to the people, building its legitimacy vis-a-vis the state and gaining the population's primary loyalty. At some point, that loyalty will become so strong that not even military defeat by a state's armed forces will destroy it.
Pakistan & India's internal unrest making headlines news
Google Earth Changed The Game
DTN News: Reborn Afghan Air Force Slowly Taking Shape
DTN News: Reborn Afghan Air Force Slowly Taking Shape
(NSI News Source Info) KABUL - August 31, 2008: At the south end of the runway at Kabul's international airport, a large hangar covers three helicopters that make up the "presidential squad" reserved for the country's leader Hamid Karzai.
The Afghan air arm deteriorated following the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 and collapse of the Najibullah Government in 1992, and it was nearly eliminated by US/Coalition air strikes in 2001. Especially since 2007, the redesignated Afghan National Army Air Corps has been gradually increasing its aircraft inventory, personnel, and operational capabilities, the result of extensive partnering with the US-led, international Combined Air Power Transition Force.
The gleaming Mi-17s come with VIP cabins, comfortable sofas, large leather armchairs, satellite telephones and flat screen TVs. Their crew and mechanics are Afghans, but the instructors are American.
Also under cover are about 30 other aircraft. This is the Afghan National Air Corps, the embryo of the country's future air force.
The helicopters are a symbol of the rebirth of a force that had its moment of glory at the time of the Soviet occupation in the 1980s.
The country then had several hundred military aircraft - transport and attack helicopters, fighter jets, bombers - enough air power to worry its neighbors.
But the retreat of the Soviets was the death knell of this force, quickly reduced to a handful of aircraft left in the hands of the anti-Soviet Northern Alliance under the late Ahmad Shah Massoud and the Taliban.
The last craft were destroyed in the U.S. offensive launched in October 2001 against the Taliban regime, following the September 11 attacks on the United States.
In a few weeks, however, the Afghan Air Corps is due to move into a new base built by the United States on the other side of the runway - the north of the airport.
The cost is $183 million, a bill that reflects the scale of the plan.
"Basically, it's a self-contained city that we are building here," said one U.S. officer.
The 1,300 or so residents of the base will benefit from modern installations: barracks, an Mi-17 flight simulator, hospital, post office, electric generators and a conference centre.
Still empty, two gigantic hangars - designed to American standards and to resist seismic activity - will accommodate the aircraft of the Afghan National Army, the interior ministry and the presidency.
As Moscow once did, Washington provides everything and looks after everything. The Afghan pilots are trained here and abroad - in Ukraine and the United States.
A number of them are pure products of the Soviet flying school, hence the decision to initially put them in aircraft from the ex-Soviet bloc.
"They are very well trained," said the instructor of the presidential flying team, Captain Nick Noreus.
"I have been training them like Westerners. So they're able to navigate with a map, talk on the radio," he said.
"They would have no problem flying in a U.S. formation. They use Western style flying. They are good pilots. They have been flying since the Russian times."
For the time being, the Afghan Air Corps has 17 MI-17 transport helicopters and three MI-35 attack helicopters as well as six Antonov transport planes.
From now until 2011, this fleet is expected to grow to 49 Mi-17 and 18 Italian C-27A transport planes, which will replace the Antonovs.
So as not to be relegated to troop transportation and medical evacuation, the Afghan air force should receive between now and 2012-2013 small combat planes with single motors and propellers capable of carrying rockets and bombs.
In the meantime, and as a souvenir of its glorious past, the force has to be content with two L-39, Czech-made training jets that are unarmed and fly only on military parades.

Thousands flee Japan floods
said. Three other people were reported to be missing.
Hachioji, a western suburb of Tokyo, was also hit by record rainfall, triggering landslides that destroyed several homes.
Several train lines were affected and hundreds of people on their way to work in the city suffered delays.
Japan is often hit in summer by heavy rains, which can trigger flash flooding.
Earlier this month, five workers were killed in Tokyo after being pulled down a manhole when sewage waters suddenly rose after a thunderstorm.
Last month, a woman, two girls and a boy were found dead after being washed away by a swollen river after a downpour in the port city of Kobe, west of Tokyo.
Pakistan: Six killed in Miranshah missile strike - official report
Putin in Vladivostok to discuss 2012 APEC summit
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