Without a doubt, navies are among the most expensive arms a nation may deploy. Our own ongoing going experience being germane – Russia is re-discovering the cost of admiralty and it isn’t always in rubles: “The project to modernize an aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy in Severodvinsk Sevmash has resulted in the bankruptcy of…
UPDATE: Lots of comparisons to the F-22 based on the front end shots and planform, but I’m also thinking that Sukhoi took some cues from this bad boy: based on a comparison from the tailfeather POV: for comparison, here is an in-flight of the YF-22 and YF-23: Things that make you go hmmm…. In this…
A quick history lesson. A quarter of a century ago, the US (and NATO) were engaged in an unprecedented nuclear arms build-up in Europe that was initiated with the deployment of the SS-20 Sabre (NATO)/RT-21M Pioneer (Russia) IRBM in 1976. Unlike the much older SS-4 and SS-5 IRBMs, employed in 1959 and 1961,…
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…
(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…
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 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…
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…
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…
