Missile

The Indian Navy on Wednesday successfully carried out the maiden test firing of the first indigenously developed naval anti-ship missile from a Seaking helicopter, officials said. The test was conducted at the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Odisha's Balasore. "This firing is a significant step towards achieving self-reliance in niche missile technology and reaffirms the Indian Navy's commitment to indigenisation," said a senior Navy official. The Indian Navy carried out the test in association with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). On Twitter, the Indian Navy released a brief video of the Seaking 42B helicopter firing the missile. The test-firing of the new missile came over a month after an anti-ship version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully test-fired jointly by the Indian Navy and the Andaman and Nicobar Command. The Indian Navy has been steadily enhancing its overall combat capability to effectively protect India's maritime … [Read more...] about Indian Navy Successfully Test-fires Naval Anti-ship Missile

Video allegedly shows a Russian multiple rocket launcher vehicle that can shoot thermobaric warheads. Russia showed off the weapon with video footage allegedly showing it in action somewhere in Ukraine. Russia claimed that it destroyed Ukrainian targets. The images, obtained Thursday from the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD), show the weapon firing a salvo of missiles, with the footage then cutting to explosions. The MoD said the images show "the combat work of Western Military District personnel operating a heavy TOS-1A 'Solntsepek' missile system." The Russian MoD also claimed: "Heavy TOS-1A 'Solntsepyok' systems are designed for fire support of infantry, tanks, the destruction of open and closed firing positions in various types of offensive and defensive combat, as well as for disabling lightly armored vehicles." A thermobaric weapon is a kind of explosive that, using oxygen from the air, generates a very high temperature that can reach 3,000 degrees Celsius (5,400 … [Read more...] about Russia video shows vehicle that can shoot thermobaric warheads

Three men who are alleged to have attempted to slow down the Russian military advance through Belarus at the beginning of Vladimir Putin 's invasion of Ukraine are set to face the death penalty for high treason. The three men, who have become known as the "rail partisans", have not been named but are said to be aged 29, 33, and 51. They have been labeled "terrorists" and "traitors" by Belarusian prosecutors. They stand accused by the Belarusian regime—often referred to as the last dictatorship in Europe—of high treason for having allegedly damaged a railway line in a bid to stop supplies of Russian weaponry and equipment from transiting through Belarus to Ukraine. They currently face treason and terrorism charges from the regime of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994 and is a close ally of Vladimir Putin, even allowing Russia to use Belarus as a staging area for some of the Russian forces at the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, when … [Read more...] about Men who allegedly blew up rail lines to slow Russia face death in Belarus

Ukraine's army released a video on Thursday showing how its forces successfully recaptured Snake Island from Russia , shortly after Moscow said it withdrew its forces from the strategic Black Sea outpost as a "gesture of goodwill." Moscow said on Thursday that its forces had "finished fulfilling their tasks" and "demonstrated that Russia is not blocking the UN's efforts to organise a humanitarian corridor to export agricultural goods from Ukraine." Kyiv pushed back against Russia's statement, saying that it drove Russian President Vladimir Putin 's troops from the island with military force in an overnight assault. Ukraine's armed forces released a video showing an offensive on the island, which made headlines in the early days of the war when Ukrainians stationed there told a Russian cruiser: "Russian warship, go f**k yourself!" "Unable to withstand the fire of Ukraine's artillery, missile and air strikes, Russian army left Snake Island," the commander-in-chief of the … [Read more...] about How Ukraine recaptured Snake Island from Russia

Russian troops withdrawing from Ukraine's Snake Island in the Black Sea, after repeated bombardments, could have wide-ranging significance, current and former Ukrainian officials have said. Snake Island became globally famous thanks to the now-legendary "go f*** yourself" response of the defending garrison when told to surrender to a Russian warship. Moscow has explained the withdrawal as a "gesture of goodwill" that shows Russia is "not impeding [United Nations] efforts to organize a humanitarian corridor to ship agricultural products from Ukraine," and avoid catastrophic global food shortages. But Ukrainian officials have dismissed Russia's explanation and declared the regaining of the island after 127 days of occupation as a significant strategic and symbolic victory. Andriy Zagorodnyuk, Ukraine's former defense minister, told Newsweek the forced Russian withdrawal denies Moscow use of what was essentially an "unsinkable ship." The island hosted Russian … [Read more...] about Ukraine “big victory” at Snake Island could be a turning point

Culture Films Robots Hugh Jackman Watching Chappie , the latest sci-fi-film-with-a-moral by South African director Neill Blomkamp, will be a disorienting experience for some viewers. Superhero Hugh Jackman stomps through scenes as a baddie with cargo shorts, a thick Australian accent and a thicker mullet. South African rap-hip-hop band Die Antwoord play musicians-gangsters. And the film's title character is an eerily life-like robot who makes E.T. look like a hardass. Bring on the weird. But Chappie also touches on a few issues that give it an air of seriousness, including crime, automated warfare, police brutality and artificial intelligence. Beneath the film's explosive visual effects, comic elements and frenetic pace, lies a disillusionment with how cruel humanity can be. As Blomkamp puts it, are robots "capable of being more human than the humans around them?" Chappie , which opens in theaters March 6, depicts a dystopian Johannesburg driven to desperation … [Read more...] about Director Neill Blomkamp Wants to Break Your Heart With Sweet, Gun-Toting Robot Chappie

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday stepped up pressure on the United States to pull out of a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, presenting what he called evidence of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons programme in a prime-time address on Israeli TV. Intelligence experts and diplomats said he did not seem to have presented a "smoking gun" showing that Iran had violated the agreement, although he may have helped make a case on behalf of hawks in US President Donald Trump's administration who want to scrap it. Most of the purported evidence Netanyahu unveiled dated to the period before the 2015 accord was signed, although he said Iran had also kept important files on nuclear technology since then, and continued adding to its "nuclear weapons knowledge". Tehran dismissed Netanyahu as "the boy who cried wolf", and called his presentation propaganda. Trump has threatened to pull the United States out of the international deal unless it is renegotiated by May 12. After … [Read more...] about Israel Says Iran Lied on Nuclear Arms, Tehran Likens Him to ‘Boy Who Cried Wolf’

India and Vietnam signed on Wednesday a Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030 and also inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Mutual Logistics Support to strengthen bilateral defence cooperation between the two countries. While the Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030 is expected to significantly enhance the scope and scale of existing defence cooperation between the two countries, the logistics support agreement signed by Vietnam with any country is said to be a major step towards simplifying procedures for mutually beneficial logistic support. Defence minister Rajnath Singh, who is on a three-day tour to Vietnam, met his Vietnamese counterpart General Phan Van Giang in Hanoi during which they agreed on the early finalisation of the $500 million Defence Line of Credit extended to Vietnam. To this effect, the defence ministry said the implementation of the projects will add substantially to Vietnam’s … [Read more...] about India-Vietnam Defence Pacts Aim at Bolstering Maritime Security Amidst China’s Growing Presence in Region

Washington: Hillary Clinton on Sunday posted a joke letter on Twitter supposedly sent by John F. Kennedy during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, written in the excitable style of US President Donald Trump's recent letter to Turkey. The parody letter, which has been doing the rounds for some days on social media, is written on mocked-up White House letter paper and addressed to Russia's then leader Nikita Khrushchev. "Don't be a dick, ok? Get your missiles out of Cuba," starts the letter pretending to be from president Kennedy. "Everybody will say 'Yay! Khrushchev! You're the best!' But if you don't everybody will be like 'what an asshole' and call your garbage country 'The Soviet Bunion'." The letter echoes the bizarre tone of Trump's October 9 letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in which he warned that he would wreck Turkey's economy if its invasion of Syria went too far. Found in the archives... pic.twitter.com/iFFeqloYHM — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) … [Read more...] about Hillary Clinton Mocks Donald Trump With Parody of His Letter to Turkey’s Erdogan

Ukrainians who left the country to escape the war with Russia are increasingly making their way back as the fighting enters its fifth month. More than 8 million Ukrainians, out of the prewar population of 44 million, left their homes and crossed into neighboring countries such as Poland and Romania to seek safety after the invasion. But the gap between those departing and those re-entering Ukraine is narrowing, according to recent data from the United Nations. Since mid-May, that count has been particularly close, per an NBC News analysis. “We came back because we really wanted to go home,” said Julia Fedosiuk, an attorney from Kyiv who returned to Ukraine earlier this month after spending more than three months in Poland. She fled the capital Feb. 25, the day after Russia invaded.For Fedosiuk, 37, leaving her home country was a “forced measure” to keep her children, Ivan and Vera, safe, but she said she always knew they would return home. She decided to come back … [Read more...] about Surge in Ukrainians who fled after the invasion returning home, data shows