ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

FILE IMAGE: Sputnik/ Valeriy Melnikov Russia’s state atomic energy corporation Rosatom announced on October 31 that construction of the Bushehr 2 nuclear power plant in Iran has started,  RIA  reported. “I am sure this major Russian-Iranian investment project will strengthen the cooperation and ties between our countries,”  said  Rosatom’s General Director Alexey Likhachev at the ground breaking ceremony. Before this, Likhachev and the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi also visited the site of the Russian-built Bushehr 1 NPP which was connected to the national grid in 2011. The project’s cost is estimated at $10 billion and will take up to ten years to complete. The deal, which was signed by Russia and Iran in November 2014, also included the option of building six more reactors in the future. Russia has been a long-time proponent of helping Iran develop means of producing its own nuclear energy, as it previously  helped  Iran’s export of enriched

FILE IMAGE: Sputnik/ Valeriy Melnikov Russia’s state atomic energy corporation Rosatom announced on October 31 that construction of the Bushehr 2 nuclear power plant in Iran has started,  RIA  reported. “I am sure this major Russian-Iranian investment project will strengthen the cooperation and ties between our countries,”  said  Rosatom’s General Director Alexey Likhachev at the ground breaking ceremony. Before this, Likhachev and the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi also visited the site of the Russian-built Bushehr 1 NPP which was connected to the national grid in 2011. The project’s cost is estimated at $10 billion and will take up to ten years to complete. The deal, which was signed by Russia and Iran in November 2014, also included the option of building six more reactors in the future. Russia has been a long-time proponent of helping Iran develop means of producing its own nuclear energy, as it previously  helped  Iran’s export of enriched

F-35C Lightning II carrier variant joint strike fighter. Source: U.S. Navy The Pentagon halted shipments of Lockheed Martin Corp’s F-35 fighter jets for 30 days this fall after it discovered corrosion around fasteners and a fix was devised, the Pentagon and Lockheed said on November 1, according to  Reuters . The Air Force detected “corrosion exceeding technical limits” where the carbon fiber exterior panel is fastened to the aluminum airframe during routine maintenance at Hill Air Force Base in Utah. The Pentagon said in a statement that although the the fastener issue on the current F-35 fleet is not affecting flights, nor is it a safety concern, this issue “needs be corrected to prevent potential future corrosion, it does not pose a safety of flight risk to the F-35 fleet or affect current operations.” According to the Pentagon, a lack of protective coating at the fastening point that would have prevented corrosion was identified as the primary problem. Lockheed is inves

Russian media outlet Russkaya Vesna posted a Youtube  video  showing an ISIS fighter, Hamed Al Hasep telling about his time in ISIS. According to Russkaya Vesna  website , Hamed al-Hasep was captured by the Syrian Arab Army’s Tiger Forces near Deir ez-Zor a few weeks earlier. The story below is based on the article provided by Russkaya Vesna: 46-year-old al-Hasep initially joined the al-Nusra Front in 2013, because of poor financial state of his family, as farming didn’t get them enough money. His hopes did not come to fruition though, and al-Nusra commanders, as he said, used the militants only as cannon fodder. In 2015, when ISIS came to his village on the south-east of Deir ez-Zor province, al-Hasep, and the majority of people from the battalion he was in, did not resist, and switched sides to ISIS instead. The men, who decided to stay loyal to the al-Nusra Front, were executed. Hamed said that he hadn’t been sent to the front immediately. His main responsibility was dri

On November 1, Saudi warplanes bombed the Alaf market in Sahar district of Sa’dah governorate in northwestern Yemen, according to local sources. Reports say that 29 civilians were killed and 28 others were injured in the airstrike. Women and children were among the victims. The Houthis, and their ally, former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, condemned the massacre. The two parties also accused the Saudi-led coalition of committing war crimes in Yemen. From its side, Saudi Army Colonel Turki al-Maliki spokesperson of the Saudi-led coalition announced that the collation is closely following the reports about the Alaf massacre. Colonel Turki added that the coalition is reviewing all the data and procedures that’s linked to the accident area. Back on August 23,  46 civilians including women and children were killed in a Saudi airstrike on a hotel in Bit al-Izri village  north of the Arhab area in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a. The Yemeni al-Masirah news TV channel clamied tha

Quantum communications is considered by many to be the future of computing technology, as it represents a means by which to create “un-hackable” super-computer networks that perform better and more securely than anything currently in use. But the greatest advancements in this next-level technology  are reportedly taking place in China , not in the United States, which could mean the end of encryption as we currently know it – and the end of cryptocurrency security as well. In just the past several months, China has unveiled a quantum satellite that it says is capable of transmitting data using ultra-secure methods never before utilized for such a task. The satellite establishes a 1,243-mile quantum link between Shanghai and Beijing, a groundbreaking feat that can only be compared to other major milestones like the “space race” that resulted in the Soviet Union launching the Sputnik satellite back on October 4, 1957. Further,  China has also announced  that it is opening up a $

While North Korea has become the primary focus of all things relating to nuclear warfare, Russia has been preparing to test-launch its newest and biggest ever nuclear missile. The so-called “Satan 2” is a 100-ton intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that has been under construction since 2009 and is ready to be tested by the end of the year at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast. If the initial trials prove successful, then the massive warhead could be in use by as early as 2019. Also known as the RS-28 Sarmat, the Satan 2 will be replacing the R-36 Voevoda, which the  North Atlantic Treaty Organization  (NATO) called “Satan” in the 1970s. The Satan 2 is said to have a top speed of seven kilometers (km) or 4.3 miles per second, a range of 10,000 km or 6,213 miles, and is twice as light as the original Satan. The missile is said to have been designed to evade anti-missile shield systems and radar defenses. Moreover, it can deliver over a dozen nuclear warh

Ilustrative image This article originally appeared in Russian at russian7.ru After the collapse of the USSR the media started reporting on a mysterious weapon developed in the 1960s. Nobody really knows whether it was a hoax, or the “nuclear bullets” really existed. Nuclear machine gun The main material for creating a nuclear bomb is either uranium-235 or plutonium-239. In order for explosion to happen, the charge should have critical mass. The critical mass of uranium and plutonium is 1 kilogram. The nuclear ammo’s caliber for heavy machine guns was reported to be 14.3mm and 12.7mm. Some even reported 7.62mm caliber nuclear bullets for Kalashnikov assault rifles. Such small nuclear projectiles are widely considered to be unlikely even today. According to the sources, Soviet physicists were producing the nuclear bullet fillers out of transuranium element called californium. The atomic mass of this element is 252, while its critical mass is meager 1.8 gramm. Californium-25