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Russia to Proceed with Supersonic Cruise Missile Sale to Syria

Russia has evidently opted to proceed with sales of the SS-NX-26/Yakhont ASCM to the Syrians. The intent was voiced by Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov over the weekend. “The contract,” he told journalists in Vladivostok, “is in progress.” The minister added his country was also bent on carrying through on promises to deliver several Bastion…

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Commander: “IRGC Mass-Producing Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles”

What they want you to think: “The IRGC’s smart ballistic missiles are now in mass-production and this type of missiles can hit and destroy targets with high-precision,” Jafari told reporters in a news conference here in Tehran on Monday. “These new missiles enjoys supersonic speed and cannot be tracked or intercepted by enemy,” the commander…

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New START – “YES”

On 13 April 2010, the Presidents of the United States and Russia signed the collection of agreements and protocols which aggregated have been popularly called “New START,” following on the heels of the first START treaty, signed by President Bush and Secretary Gorbachev in July 1991, and the Moscow, signed by Presidents George W. Bush…

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Iran, Venezuela and MRBMs

According to some reports from various locations (I’ll begin with Hudson Institute’s as that is where I first read it with a h/t to Xformed for his heads-up) it would appear that back in October, Iran and Venezuela signed an agreement that, among other things, would establish a joint base in Venezuela as well as…

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Competition in the South China Sea

At its root it is all about resources — protein to supplement meager domestic harvests and oil to drive economies that governments push to unnatural and unsustainable annual growth.   It is about an emergent regional power, poised on the brink of asserting itself as something more, flexing new-found muscle in new domains and deepening…

QDR 2010 and China

Tomorrow brings the much anticipated release of the first of three documents of significant import to the US Navy – the QDR for 2010 (Draft-QDR-2010-predecisional).  Language in the draft highlights China as one of several state-actors that have acquired significant anti-access capabilities over the past ten years. Additionally, it points out that: Chinese military doctrine…

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DPRK and Long Range Missiles: Here We Go Again

Looks like the missiles of spring are coming back for return engagement this summer: SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea may this month test a missile designed to fly as far as U.S. territory and may also be gearing up for skirmishes with the South around their disputed sea border, South Korean media reported on Monday….