Monday’s Roll-up of Naval/Missile News

India and Israel – Joint Medium-Range Naval SAM Development:        Following in the footsteps of a February announcement of joint development of a naval long-range surface-to-air missile comes the announcement that a medium-range variant will also be jointly developed. As with the long-range variant, the MR version will be based on the Israeli-developed Barak…

Reflections: Smuggler’s Blues (II)

Part I here. “Yeah, should be a good night for hunting – wonder what we’ll bag tonight…” he thought as he walked out to the waiting Hawkeye with the Skipper. “Omaha 51, check right one o’clock, 4 miles, heading 280, angels 3…” “51, negative contact” Damn he thought, Is this guy blind or what?

DoD Official: “China Pursues U.S. Military Ties More Slowly Than Hoped”

File this one under "and you were expecting maybe something different?" Outgoing DepSecDef for Asia & Pacific Affairs, Richard Lawless remarked upon the glacial pace of mil-to-mil contacts with the Chinese military during a final press conference late last month.  During the course of that press conference he highlighted several concerns, noting that a continued…

Hammer Time

No, not this one – more like this… Item: Navy ship $840 million over budget and still unfinished (h/t Phibian) — The highly touted  nerve center of the new, $1.8 billion amphibious ship San Antonio is fraught with computer hardware crashes that could cripple operations.  The ship lacks basic safety equipment, such as hand rails and…

Trust but Verify? (Доверие но подтверждает?)

From the State Department’s website: Following is the text of a joint statement by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov: "The United States and Russia reiterate their intention to carry out strategic offensive reductions to the lowest possible level consistent with their national security requirements and alliance commitments." "To this…