DTN News - VENEZUELAN DEFENSE NEWS: Venezuela Making Drones, Assembling Rifles Says President Hugo Chavez

DTN News - VENEZUELAN DEFENSE NEWS: Venezuela Making Drones, Assembling Rifles Says President Hugo Chavez
*Iranian Mohajer-2 drone appears in Venezuela. Chavez’s building his own drone fleet with the help of Tehran
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Miami Herald & The Aviationist
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - June 13, 2012:   Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says his government has begun to assemble Kalashnikov assault rifles with assistance from Russia and has also started making surveillance drones.

Chavez says Venezuela has produced three drones so far. One of the small planes was shown on television atop a truck.

Chavez also said during a televised speech on Wednesday that Venezuela has so far assembled 3,000 Kalashnikov AK 103 rifles. 


He said that Venezuela has also started making grenades and ammunition for its military.


Chavez says Venezuela is strengthening its military with help from allies including China, Russia and Iran.

*Iranian Mohajer-2 drone appears in Venezuela. Chavez’s building his own drone fleet with the help of Tehran


Under the name of Sant Arpia, the Mohajer 2, a quite famous Made-in-Iran drone, is currently flying in Venezuela.


Reportedly operating from the Cavim (CA Venezolana de Industria Militares) Maracay factory, where a new UAV facility has been unveiled by recent satellite imagery, the Mohajer 2 is a light unarmed drone that can be used for surveillance missions within a range of 50 km from the departure airfield at a speed of 200 km/h. Its ceiling is 11,000 feet of altitude and endurance is reported to be around 90 minutes.

Being equipped with skids, the Mohajer 2 is recovered using a recovery chute.

Although the dozen are believed to have been slightly modified by Caracas, the Mohajer 2 is an Iranian UAV model and, as such, it could not be purchased by Chavez, because of the embargo on the ayatollah regime.

Moreover, as highlighted by the special correspondent in Washington for the Spanish ABC.es Emili J. Blasco, the technology transfer agreement worth 28 million USD would seem to excede the price of a dozen drones (three of those crashed) that were purchased by Venezuela.

Indeed, along with a drone factory that has not come into operation, some more facilities have been built at Cavim. What Iranian personnel is doing inside the other facitilies remains a mystery. Maybe the mystery that U.S. drones aim to investigate.

The following image, published on several forums around the world (attribution hence impossible to determine), shows a Venezuelan Sant Arpia: noteworthy the tail section wears registration Arpia-002 while front section is marked “Arpia-003″. Does this mean the drone is made up of parts from different examples?

Along with the Sant Arpia, the Fuerza Aérea Venezolana (FAV) operates the ANT-1X, a smaller drone used for ISR (Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance) purposes.

Both drones equip the Grupo Aéreo de Inteligencia, Vigilancia y Reconocimiento Electrónico Nº 8, based at El Libertador, Maracay-Palo Negro airbase.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Miami Herald & The Aviationist 
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - SYRIA UNREST: Syrian Forces Fire On Protests After Friday Prayers

DTN News - SYRIA UNREST: Syrian Forces Fire On Protests After Friday Prayers

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Khaled Yacoub Oweis - Reuters

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada / AMMAN, Jordan - August 12, 2011:

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian forces fired live ammunition at protesters coming out of a main mosque after Friday prayers in the besieged city of Deir al-Zor, witnesses said, as demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad resu

med elsewhere in the country.

"Military intelligence directed their AK-47s at the mosque, hitting the main air-conditioning unit, which caught fire. The whole neighborhood is echoing with the sound of bullets," said one witness, an engineer who lives near Harwil Mosque.

"Worshippers are running to take cover in alleyways," he said by phone.

A resident of Hama also said protesters came under fire in the central Syrian city. Hama was stormed by the army at the start of the month in an assault which killed more than 100 people, according to activists and rights groups.

British-based activist Rami Abdel Rahman also reported clashes in Hama and said tens of thousands of people were protesting in the city of Homs.

"We will only kneel to God!" chanted protesters.

Syrian authorities have barred most independent media, making it difficult to verify events on the ground in the unrest, among a series of popular revolts against repressive power elites across the Arab world this year.

Assad's forces have intensified assaults on towns and cities across the country since the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan to try to subdue mounting dissent against the ruling family, despite threats of new U.S. sanctions and calls from Turkey and Arab nations to end attacks on dissenting civilians.

Activists said at least 19 people were killed by Syrian forces in raids near the Lebanon border and in the country's Sunni Muslim tribal heartland Thursday. Assad's family belongs to the minority Alawite sect that dominates Syria.

They say more than 1,700 civilians in all have been killed in the military crackdown on protests against Assad which broke out in March. Syria blames the violence on armed groups, who it says have killed 500 soldiers and police.

CLINTON APPEALS TO CHINA, INDIA, EUROPE

Another resident of Deir al-Zor said: "Assad wants to finish off the uprising before international pressure is becoming too much for him. But people have gone out of almost every major mosque in Deir al-Zor, meters away from tanks that occupy every main square and roundabout."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said sanctions against Syria's vital oil and gas industry were needed to put pressure on Assad. She called on Europe and China, main foreign players in Syria's energy sector along with Russia, to do more in imposing sanctions on Syria.

Clinton, in a CBS interview, also said an organised, united opposition was needed in Syria.

Syria's oil industry, with which the ruling family has close links, generates most of the state's hard currency from crude output of 380,000 barrels per day.

The global campaign group Avaaz urged European nations on Friday to impose immediate restrictions on purchases of Syrian oil to "dry up" funding of Assad's security services. It said over 150,000 Avaaz members had signed a petition to that effect.

But there is little prospect of Western states putting teeth into the sanctions on Assad by targeting Syria's oil because of vested commercial interests against doing so.

Asked why the United States had not called on Assad to step down, Clinton said Washington had been "very clear" in its statements about Assad's loss of legitimacy, and wanted other nations to add their voices.

Wednesday Washington imposed sanctions on Syria's largest bank and its biggest mobile telephone company, controlled by Assad's cousin Rami Makhlouf. The next day U.S. ambassador to Damascus Robert Ford said more sanctions would follow if the Syrian authorities did not halt the violence.

In addition to the Friday protests, nightly Ramadan prayers, or "tarawih," which follow the breaking of the fast, have given more Syrians a focus for daily protest marches against 41 years of Assad family supremacy.

Regional powers Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt have all applied pressure on Assad to stop the violence.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul warned Assad not to leave reforms until it is too late in a letter delivered to the Syrian president earlier this week, Turkey's state-run Anatolian news agency reported Friday.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan spoke Thursday and agreed Syrians' demands for a transition to democracy must be met, the White House said.

Diplomats in New York quoted United Nations deputy political affairs chief Oscar Fernandez-Taranco as saying Wednesday that nearly 2,000 Syrian civilians had been killed since March -- 188 since July 31 and 87 on August 8 alone.

Syria says 500 soldiers and police have died in the bloodshed, which it blames on armed gangs and terrorists.

(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny in Beirut; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Khaled Yacoub Oweis - Reuters

*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News

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DTN News: British Army To Use 'Dirty Harry' Bullet Against The Taliban

DTN News: British Army To Use 'Dirty Harry' Bullet Against The Taliban

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources including DailyMail.co.uk By Christopher Leake

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - August 15, 2010: British troops are to be issued with a new 'super-bullet' to fight the Taliban as their current ammunition does not have the punch to kill the enemy at long range.

The high-performance round will be fired from standard-issue SA80 assault rifles. Nicknamed the 'Dirty Harry round' after the powerful bullets used by Clint Eastwood in the 1971 movie, it is expected to be on the front line in Afghanistan by 2011.

Its development by UK defence firms BAE Systems and QinetiQ follows Army concern in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, last year that the standard 5.56mm SA80 round was failing to hit its target at distances of more than 400 yards.

British troops are to be issued with a new 'super-bullet' to fight the Taliban as their current ammunition does not have the punch to kill the enemy at long range

The Taliban use more powerful rounds in Russian-designed AK-47 rifles to hit British forces at a range of 600 yards. Now the British troops' new round will even up the odds.

The new bullet gives greater range and force against human targets and light vehicles. Because it is the same calibre as the standard bullet, the SA80 rifle will not need modification.

Military sources say initial trials have been successful. Pending formal approval, the MoD is expected to order up to one million rounds.

A senior Royal Marines officer just back from Afghanistan said the new bullet would be welcomed on the front line.

He said: 'It will give our infantry soldiers an edge which at present we are lacking.' An MoD spokeswoman said: 'We work closely with industry to ensure equipment is continuously improved.'

*Link to this article from source; "British Army To Use 'Dirty Harry' Bullet Against The Taliban - DailyMail.co.uk By Christopher Leake"

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News, contact:dtnnews@ymail.com

DTN News: Copycat Weapons A Threat To Russia's Economic Security

DTN News: Copycat Weapons A Threat To Russia's Economic Security *Source: DTN News / RT (NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW, Russia - February 16, 2010: Pirate production is among the key problems of the global weapons market. Superpowers that used to help their allies establish their own defense industries during the Cold War now face the consequences of that help.

Many countries have created successful copies of foreign weapons and do not need to import arms any more. Furthermore, weapon clones are offered for export, which poses an immediate economic threat for major players in the arms market. Copying weapons is a worldwide policy favored by countries whose scientific potential and defense industry are not up to the task of producing this or that type of weapons or lack a certain technology. As early as during World War II, combating countries did their best to get hold of the most successful weapon models. For example, Germany was trying to produce something similar to the USSR’s Katyusha MLRS, but their multiple-launch systems were still inferior to the Soviet original. Also, the Wehrmacht recognized the advantages of the T-34 tank, whose efficient sloped-armor design was used in Germany’s Panther tank. The USSR, too, copied Allied equipment. By the end of the war, the USSR began working on a strategic bomber project, and the Americans involuntarily assisted Soviet designers in that. In 1944, B-29 Superfortresses made numerous emergency landings on Soviet Far East airfields after bombing missions in Japan and Manchuria. According to the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact, the aircraft and their crews were subject to internment. Aircraft designers carefully studied the bomber and created its copy: the Tu-4, which was hard to tell from its American original. Today, the main victim of weapons piracy is perhaps the famous Kalashnikov assault rifle. During Soviet times, licenses to produce the AK were granted to most Warsaw Pact countries, Cuba, China, Libya, Egypt, and Finland. In most cases, the deals were politics-driven, their goal being to ensure that all friendly armies field uniform weapons. Despite the expiration of the licenses, the Kalashnikov rifle is still manufactured in Hungary, Poland, Croatia, Slovakia, and even the US. Rosoboronexport is trying to change the situation by claiming royalties or seeking new license agreements. However, according to the company, only China has so far obtained a new license to manufacture the world’s most popular assault rifle. The pirate parade China is the world-recognized leader in arms copying. This is largely due to the fact that the entire Chinese economy is based on borrowing foreign technology. Besides this, the country has a well-developed defense industry, so its copycats are quite good. The scale of “reproductions” was obvious at the military parade commemorating the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. The Chinese leadership made a point of the fact that only Chinese-made vehicles and equipment took part in the parade. (Image/Photo Type 88 ~ PLZ-05, China). In reality, many models presented that day clearly had foreign origins. The FT-2000 surface-to-air missile system is a carbon copy of Russia’s S-300. China never obtained a Smerch multiple rocket launcher from Russia, but fields its own look-alike PHL-03 system. The People’s Liberation Army has a “carbon copy” of the Russian-made Msta self-propelled howitzer under the designation of Type 88. A clone of Russia’s BMP-3 is an infantry fighting vehicle with a Russian turret mounted on Chinese ZBD-05 chassis. Sometimes, Chinese designers create hardware blending two foreign origins at once. For example, the PGZ-04 self-propelled air defense system features 25-mm cannons taken from Italian SIDAM-25 AD system and four QW-2 missiles that copy Russia’s Igla-1. Quite often, Chinese copies, upon permission by China, are further reproduced in other countries. France’s Crotale short-range air defense system has become HQ-7 in China, but that same system, under the designation of Shahab Thaqeb, is now produced in Iran. According to experts, China has made great progress in copying missile technology. Having purchased the X-55 missile from Ukraine, the Chinese created their own DH-10 cruise missile. License with no guarantee Quite often, a license to manufacture military equipment is not protection from copying but quite the opposite: a rather legal way to obtain samples for the development of similar weapons. Ruslan Pukhov, head of the Strategy and Technology Analysis Center, says software codes are not transferred under military equipment supply agreements. Also, there are restrictions on essential and most complex components and systems of the armaments in question; such items are usually supplied assembled by the supplying country. However, sales of equipment without sales of technology are impossible, Mr. Pukhov says; some countries (e.g. India) flatly refuse to consider offers that do not provide for production technology handover. China uses production licenses to create helicopters and airplanes. France’s helicopter SA-365 Dauphin 2 has been upgraded to the WZ-09 combat chopper. However, the clearest example of “licensed copying” is the Chinese J-11 fighter jet, based on Russia’s Su-27. In 2006, Moscow and Beijing struck a deal on licensed production of the Su-27SK (Chinese designation J-11A). The agreement only provided for licensed assembly of components provided by Russia. The Chinese, though, studied the aircraft while assembling it and ended up producing a similar fighter, the J-11B, only with a Chinese-made engine and avionics. Tehran is keeping up Iran, spurred by its aspiration to become the leader of the Islamic world yet strangled by numerous sanctions, is forced to develop an independent defense industry of its own. Evidently, the easiest way to achieve such a goal is to upgrade and copy foreign armaments instead of developing weapons from scratch. However, Tehran, upon permission of friendly powers, often copies the already-copied weapons. Its Sayyad-1A missile is based on the Soviet S-75, supplied by China. Procured during the Iran-Iraq war, those missiles became the base for the development of Iran’s tactical ballistic missile Tondar-68. With the help of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iranian factories were able to launch production and assembly of SCUD-B missiles (Iranian designation Shahab-1). North Korea also supplied the longer-range version SCUD-C (Shahab-2), with a range of 500km. The North Korean missile Nodong-1 later became Iran’s Shahab-3, capable of hitting targets at ranges of up to 1000km. Such approaches to creating and upgrading missile armaments now prevail in the development of other missile classes. Iran currently produces anti-tank guided missiles based on American TOW (Toophan and Toophan 2) and Dragon (Saeghe and Saeghe-2) systems, and its I-RAAD-T missiles is nothing else than the Soviet Malyutka ATGM. Another sphere where Iran is attempting to copy is shipbuilding. Few countries today would sell Tehran warships for use in the Gulf without facing negative reaction from the US. Iranian shipyards are currently busy building small frigates (copies of Britain’s Alvand frigates) and missiles boats (copies of French La Combattante II). The originals were, of course, procured before the complication of relations between Iran and Western countries. Still unresolved is the issue of possible deliveries of the S-300 surface-to-air missile system to Iran. Such a system can significantly strengthen Iran’s air defense. The US and Israel are strongly against the sale of the S-300 to Iran. All “technical difficulties” hampering the sale of the missile system to Iran are purely diplomatic problems. In the meanwhile, General Heshmatollah Kasiri said recently that Iran is about to field an air defense complex that is superior to the S-300. According to the general, the new complex is the brainchild of Iran’s defense industry. The unit has yet to be shown to the public, yet experience shows that Iran’s military developments often have Chinese and North Korean roots. The solution “There is only one way we can prevent the copying of Russian armaments in other countries, and that is to sign intergovernmental intellectual property agreements,” Rosoboronexport chief Anatoly Isaikin told reporters recently. But the results of that work are scarce so far. First, licensing and various agreements are complicated bureaucratic procedures that not all Russian companies can cope with. For example, for many years the Russian armored personnel carrier Tigr has had its Jordan-made clone Nimr (which means “tiger” in Arabic). Second, not all countries are willing to extend existing, or sign new, agreements regarding the production of Soviet military equipment, considering them to be past their expiration date. In the meanwhile, copying of Russian military technology means colossal economic losses for Russia. For example, the United Arab Emirates have purchased the Jordanian-made vehicles for their army, not the Russian “Tigers.” The Malaysian Armed Forces have bought Polish PT-91 tanks, which are a modification of the Russian T-72. In the future, China may be the key threat to Russia’s arms exports. It is China’s cheap yet quality clones of Russian military products that have aroused the interest of Pakistan and a number of states in Africa and Southeast Asia. Egor Sozaev-Guryev, Infox.ru