Taiwan scrambled fighter jets on Friday as 18 Chinese aircraft buzzed the island, including
crossing the sensitive mid-line of the Taiwan Strait.
This comes at a time when US Undersecretary for Economic Affairs Keith Krach arrived in
Taipei who is the most senior State Department official to come to Taiwan in four decades.
The Taiwanese defense ministry said in a tweet, "Sep. 18, two H-6 bombers, eight J-16 fighters,
four J-10 fighters and four J-11 fighters crossed the midline of the TaiwanStrait and
entered Taiwan's southwest ADIZ.
ROCAF scrambled fighters, and deployed air defense missile system to monitor the activities”
China has been very sensitive to the ever-closer relationship between Taipei and Washington
and has stepped up military exercises near the island which includes two days of large-scale
air and sea drills last week.
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Lieutenant-General Sergey Kobylash, the Russian Aerospace Forces’ Long-Range Aviation Commander,
told reporters that Russian Tu-160 supersonic bombers (NATO reporting name of Blackjack)
has broken the world record for longest non-stop flight for this type of aircraft.
"Two crews of the Long-Range Aviation have set a new record for distance and duration
on Tu-160 supersonic strategic missile-carrying bombers.
The pilots of the Russian Aerospace Forces were in the air for more than 25 hours, covering
a distance of more than 20,000 kilometers," Kobylash said adding that "nobody has flown
this type of aircraft longer."
The previous record was set in 2010 by Tu-160 bombers that had been in the air for 24 hours
24 minutes.
The defense ministry said,
"The Tu-160 strategic missile-carrying bombers were accompanied by Su-35S fighter jets along
with foreign aircraft along certain sections of their route,"
Blackjack is the largest combat aircraft in the world, with a maximum takeoff weight of
about 275 tons.
It can cover a distance of more than 12,000 km or 7,456 miles without refueling.
The Tu-160 has a crew of four and is powered by four Kuznetsov NK-32 afterburning turbofan
engines, the most powerful ever fitted to a combat aircraft.
The War Zone has reported that between late February and early March of last year Andersen
Air Force Base on the Island of Guam experienced repeated incursions by unmanned aircraft.
Interestingly the UAVs seemed to be focused in U.S. Army's Terminal High Altitude Area
Defense (THAAD) battery which is present at the base.
Viewers mat note that the THAAD battery is deployed to defend the island from ballistic
missile attacks.
It is considered to be one of the best when it comes to ballistic missile defense systems
having been designed from grounds up for this purpose.
THAAD is engineered to defend against ballistic missiles in challenging scenarios like even
if the rival launches a barrage of missile and simultaneous interception of multiple
missiles is required.
The War Zone reported that the intruding craft was described as "quadcopter-like" vehicles
with bright spotlights that flew from over the water and then across the North West Base.
The Stryker Family of Vehicles has reached a new milestone as the U.S Army started deploying
the third generation of Stryker vehicle platforms designated as DVHA1 at Fort Carson, Colorado.
Col. William Venable, Army project manager for the Stryker Brigade Combat Team stated,
“The Stryker program is healthy.
It’s a good time to be in the Stryker business.
Stryker is one of the key platforms that are part of the Army’s overall modernization
strategy and, as such, we’ve had several key decisions in the past that are modernizing
our various platform capabilities and examining modernizing future capabilities.”
Venable stated the "DVHA1 offers substantial improvements in mobility, power, and network
interoperability.
It has got a larger horsepower engine and improvements in suspension and larger tires,
giving it greater ground mobility.
It has got a much larger alternator for power generation.
And it’s the first vehicle that has a built-in and integrated vehicle network that will make
us fully compatible with the Army’s future Integrated Tactical Network.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has compared the development work of Avangard hypersonic
missiles with the scale of the USSR's nuclear project
Putin said on the Gunsmith Day with an engineer – designer of rocket and and space technology
Gerbert Efremov, "The results of your work can hardly be overestimated.
You not only stood at the origins of this technological idea, but you are its author.
In modern conditions, the embodiment of your idea for our country is undoubtedly comparable
to the implementation of the Soviet Union's nuclear and missile projects, which were carried
out by outstanding Soviet scientists Kurchatov and Korolev,”
The Russian President stated that the US withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in
2002 forced Russia to develop hypersonic weapons.
He explained, "We had to create these weapons in response
to the US deploying strategic missile defense system, which in the future would be able
to actually neutralize, nullify our entire nuclear potential,”
Viewers may note that In 2018, during the 'state of the nation' address, President Putin
had unveiled several new weapons and one of them was Avangard.
At that time Mr. Putin had described it by saying “It heads to target like a meteorite,
like a fireball”
The British Royal Navy has completed extensive trials of the upgraded Spearfish torpedo in
Scotland.
This marks an important milestone as it is expected to it enters service with the navy.
During trials, the new advanced torpedo was ‘fired’ continually at another frigate,
HMS Sutherland, and scientists, engineers, and sailors assess its performance.
Weapon engineer officer lieutenant commander David Tinsley added: “This is not the first
time Sutherland has contributed to Spearfish trials and we’re glad to be supporting a
small part of a larger defense programme, which will deliver a world-class weapon into
service.
“A range of military and industrial partners have come together to deliver an efficient
trial, which in due course will deliver another exciting capability for the Royal Navy.”
Reports indicate that the upgraded weapon was tested over four days near the Kyle of
Lochalsh.
The testing included software and hardware enhancements.
The powerful torpedo is capable of taking out frigates, destroyers and similar-sized
ships and eliminate underwater threats.
U.S. Central Command has directed the deployment of Bradley Fighting Vehicles, advanced Sentinel
radar systems, and other assets to northeastern Syria to protect the remaining few hundred
U.S. troops against Islamic State attack, CENTCOM stated in a statement.
It is to be noted that the nature of the new threat posed by ISIS that triggered this U.S.
response was not divulged.
The M2A2 Bradleys carry a 25mm Bushmaster chain gun and TOW anti-tank missiles and the
Sentinel system can be used for counter-battery target acquisition and air defense.
Army Col. Wayne Marotto, the new spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent
Resolve in Iran and Syria, said in a Twitter post
"Despite the territorial defeat of ISIS, the degradation of its leadership and the widespread
refutation of its ideology, this violent Islamist extremist group still poses a threat.
Unless pressure on Daesh [ISIS] is maintained, its re-emergency remains a very real possibility.”
Viewers may note that an estimated 200-500 U.S. troops remain in Syria.