China Pushes Forward Hypersonic Missile Tests

 

China has conducted four hypersonic weapons tests in just 18 months, a sign of its continued efforts to make advanced weapons.

Hypersonic weapon delivery vehicles can reach supersonic speeds more than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5 and above).

China confirmed conducting test flights of the new hypersonic missile delivery vehicles, most recently on June 9, but Beijing insisted that the testing of these vehicles, capable of delivering nuclear warheads with record breaking speed, is “purely scientific and not targeted at any country.”

Iran Announces Development of Ballistic Missile Technology

IRGC leader: ‘We own this technology as well’

A top Iranian military leader announced late Tuesday that Iran has developed “indigenous” ballistic missile technology, which could eventually allow it to fire a nuclear payload over great distances.

Brigadier General Hossein Salami, the lieutenant commander of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), made the critical weapons announcement just days after Iran and the West signed a deal aimed at curbing the country’s nuclear activities.

‘Netanyahu is not bluffing on intention to strike Iran’

WASHINGTON – Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu “is not bluffing” on his intentions to strike Iran, should the Islamic Republic continue its nuclear program for much longer, a former senior Israeli military official told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

“Bibi’s not bluffing,” said the retired senior official, who requested anonymity to speak freely. “He thinks it’s the 1930s. The Iranians are the Germans, and history has a sense of humor with six million Jews now in Israel.”

Under-the-Radar Launchers

Obama administration continues to ignore Beijing’s illegal transfer of ICBM launchers to N Korea

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Six Chinese transporter-erector launchers (TELs) were sold to North Korea in 2011 and were first revealed carrying new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) during a Pyongyang military parade in April 2012.

The launchers are now part of North Korea’s newest and most-lethal road-mobile nuclear KN-08 missiles, which are capable of hitting parts of the western United States.

Iran ICBM Advances — Iran conducts test of new rocket motor with ICBM capability

U.S. intelligence agencies recently detected Iran conducting a static ground test of a large rocket motor that could be used for a future intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), according to U.S. officials.

Disclosure of the recent rocket engine test comes as Congress is prodding the Obama administration to deploy a third ground-based missile defense interceptor base on the U.S. East Coast.

‘Father’ of Pakistan’s Nukes Says N.Korea Is Ready to Attack

The colourful “father” of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, has claimed North Korea may have perfected a nuclear weapon and long-range missile warheads, according to Al Jazeera English.

Khan, a gifted scientist but shady individual, is believed to have sold nuclear technology to North Korea.

North Korean military cleared to wage nuclear war on U.S.

PAJU, South Korea — North Korea warned early Thursday that its military has been cleared to attack the U.S. using “smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear” weapons, while the U.S. said it was strengthening protection in the region and seeking to defuse the situation.

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The strident warning from Pyongyang is the latest escalating threats from North Korea, which has railed against joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises taking place in South Korea and has expressed anger over tightened sanctions for its February nuclear test.

Seized Chinese Weapons Raise Concerns on Iran

An Iranian dhow seized off the Yemeni coast was carrying sophisticated Chinese antiaircraft missiles, a development that could signal an escalation of Iran’s support to its Middle Eastern proxies, alarming other countries in the region and renewing a diplomatic challenge to the United States.

Among the items aboard the dhow, according to a review of factory markings on weapons and their packing crates, were 10 Chinese heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles, most of them manufactured in 2005.

The missiles were labeled QW-1M and bore stencils suggesting that they had been assembled at a factory represented by the state-owned China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation, sanctioned by the United States for transfers of missile technology to Pakistan and Iran.

Report: China, Russia missile tech threatens U.S. interests in Mideast

This is a prime example of what makes regional war so dangerous this time around. You may sink their ships. You might bomb their tanks. You might even take out quite a number of their military installations and facilities… But what about those that are buried deep in the ground and unreachable to the current weapons the US and Israel may have and use? Or better yet, what about the sites we don’t know about? Both Syria and Iran have tens of thousands of missiles, and they’re advanced. We could lose quite a few bases and ships, resulting in tens of thousands of lives lost on the Allied side.

WASHINGTON — Middle East adversaries could threaten U.S. military bases with advanced ballistic missiles, a think tank said.

The Lexington Institute asserted that Middle East allies of China and Russia were receiving missile technology that threaten U.S. bases in the
region.

The institute, regarded as being close to the Defense Department, said Iran and Syria were developing ballistic missiles that could target U.S. and Western facilities.

Target: Syrian WMD — U.S. concerned Israel may launch attacks on Syrian WMD sites

For those that do pay attention to Bible prophecy, the use of chemical weapons by Syria would invite a strike on Damascus that could lead to the fulfillment of Isaiah 17:1.

U.S. intelligence agencies are closely watching Israel’s military for signs it will conduct strikes on Syria’s stockpiles of chemical weapons, amid concerns the deadly nerve agents could fall under the control of Hezbollah or al Qaeda terrorists, U.S. officials said.

Syria’s arsenal remains vulnerable as the result of the internal conflict currently underway in Syria between government forces and opposition rebels, one official said.

“Everyone suspects Syria maintains an active chemical weapons program; and it would be dangerous not to plan accordingly,” the official said.

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Senior officials in Israel told the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth that if Syria’s army gave chemical weapons to Hezbollah or other terrorists an Israeli attack would be needed.

The newspaper reported May 31 that Israel failed to prevent Syria’s transfer of M-600 rockets to Hezbollah and the weapons can now threaten central Israel. One military source was quoted as saying that mistake would not be repeated.

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IDF Deputy Chief Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh also said June 11 that Israeli forces must be on alert because Syria’s military has “the largest chemical weapons arsenal in the region, which can reach any spot in Israel.” He expressed worries that the weapons could “fall into the hands of the rebels or the terrorists.”

A State Department arms compliance report from 2010 stated that Syria is also believed to have an offensive biological weapons program in addition to the chemical arms.

Calls for military intervention could increase if Syrian forces begin using the deadly chemical weapons in battling opposition forces.

A Syrian rebel leader, Col. Riad al-Asaad of the Syrian Free Army, told Al Jazeera June 8 that Syrian military aircraft had dropped chemical bombs that poisoned people, and that government forces had distributed gas masks to troops 10 days earlier in preparation for the use of the weapons against northern areas of the country.

State Department cables disclosed last year revealed Syria had obtained large quantities of chemical weapons precursor agents from China, Italy, and other states.

A July 10, 2008, cable said: “While Syria proclaims its desire to cooperate with the IAEA in investigating serious evidence of a covert nuclear program and allowed an extremely restricted June 22-25 IAEA visit to investigate a covert nuclear program, Syria has never accounted for its [chemical weapons] stocks, refuses to join the Chemical Weapons Convention, and is modernizing its long-range missile systems in cooperation with Russia, North Korea, and other countries.”

“There remain suspicions Syria could be sharing missile technology with Hezbollah,” the cable said, noting, “Just as Washington has done in past demarches regarding Syrian WMD and missile programs, Post believes a new scrub of releasable intelligence would strengthen our arguments regarding the gap between Syrian rhetoric and actions.”

A June 20, 2006, cable reported that Iran was assisting Syria’s chemical warfare program with construction of four to five precursor chemical production facilities.

“Iran would provide the construction design and equipment to annually produce tens to hundreds of tons of precursors for VX, sarin, and mustard,” the cable said.

Full article:  Target: Syrian WMD — U.S. concerned Israel may launch attacks on Syrian WMD sites (Washington Free Beacon)

N Korea vows to reduce South leadership to ashes

North Korea sharply escalated the rhetoric against its southern rival, claiming it will soon conduct “special actions’’ that would reduce South Korea’s conservative government to ashes within minutes.

Full article: N Korea vows to reduce South leadership to ashes (The Indian Express)

Iran launches observation satellite: media

At times, countries wishing to develop and test long-range missile (ICBM) technology will launch satellites. While there is indeed a satellite and it may serve legitimate purposes, the methods of delivery and its performance under the guise of ‘science’ as to not stir up suspicion is what the focus is on. Whether this is the case here is an unknown, however, what it certainly uncovers is a wide range of points: Iranian technology is modernizing, a proven delivery system capability exists without the need of outsourcing to a third party such as Russia, and a highly ambitious drive to be a world power. Combine that with Islamic radicalism and, Houston, we have a problem.

Iran on Friday launched an observation satellite into orbit above Earth, its third since 2009, the official IRNA news agency reported.

“The Navid satellite was launched successfully…. It will be placed into an orbit (at an altitude) between 250 and 370 kilometres,” IRNA quoted the head of Iran’s Space Organisation, Hamid Fazeli, as saying.

The launch comes as Iran is marking the anniversary of its 1979 Islamic revolution — and as tensions are heating up over Iran’s nuclear programme.

The 50-kilogram (110-pound) satellite is meant to stay in orbit for 18 months, sending back images to Iran as it completes a revolution of Earth every 90 minutes. It was unveiled two years ago and its launch had long been expected.

Full article: Iran launches observation satellite: media (Space Daily)