Steeljaw Scribe

Little steps…
• 2004 - meet and fight (under albeit very favorable terms for the home team  ) “vanilla” USAF F-15’s (non-AESA birds) with your new SU-30’s;

• 2006 - do it again, but this time against F-16’s  ;

• 2008 - Join up in RED FLAG   flying with 4th and 5th gen fighters against adversary air (but never going beak-to-beak [...]

Red Flag has always been a varsity exercise and in recent years, it has seen increased participation from allies and friends.  This year has been no exception with Brazil (F-5s), Sweden (JAS-39 Grippens), France (Rafales) and Turkey F-16s) among the many participants.  This was in addition to the usual USAF, USN and USMC participants.
Notable among [...]

(ed. Been a while since we’ve run this recurring item - some interesting items of note from this week for your perusal.  - SJS)
 
India: Agni-III IRBM Test Successful
 
India’s third test of the indigenously developed Agni-III IRBM on 7 May was evidently a complete success.  Launched from Wheeler Island on the east coast of India, the [...]

So your one neighbor, Pakistan, possesses nuclear weapons and is working assiduously on short- and medium-range missiles, no doubt with nuclear delivery in mind as part of a deterrent package against your own nuclear forces.  China, with whom you share a fairly long (and disputed) border has also been engaged in building a modern force of short- [...]

 
Pursuing disarmament is like chasing butterflies — enjoyable for some retired old men but never-ending and beyond the pale.
 
Bemused commentary from The Dark Prince 2 following Shultz et al’s article on disarmament in the WSJ  earlier this year?  Nope, a commentary by a strategic analyst from India underscoring India’s justification to seek a nuclear [...]

Catching our collective breath before heading out the door for a week of TDY, we pause to review some of the more noteworthy items making the rounds this past week beginning with one reaction to the 2008 DoD report to Congress on China’s Military Power…

Inside The Ring - China Missiles
(WASHINGTON TIMES 07 MAR 08) … [...]

In 2001 India signed a contract with Russia to upgrade 10 Kilo class submarines to enable them to employ the Klub land attack cruise missile,  The first of these subs, the INS Sindhuvijay, recently conducted pre-delivery tests with an Indian crew which included six test firings of the Klub.  All six tests were considered failures [...]