ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Though China and the United States are also rushing to develop hypersonic vehicles and missiles that are capable of evading conventional missile defenses, it appears as though Russia might be the first nation to actually deploy them. As  reported  by the  Washington Free Beacon , Moscow is planning to field revolutionary hypersonic missiles by 2020, a Russian defense industry leader said. Boris Obnosov, director of the Tactical Missiles Corp., which is run by the government, told a Russian news agency the new missile would be able to penetrate advanced missile defense technologies and thus represents a major step forward in military technology. “It’s obvious that with such speeds—when missiles will be capable of flying through the atmosphere at speeds of seven to 12 times the speed of sound, all [air] defense systems will be weakened considerably,” Obnosov told the  Rambler News Service  last week. The revelation comes as Navy Adm. Cecil Haney, commander of U.S. Strategic Comm

After decades of waste, overpayments,  trillions of missing or improperly accounted for dollars , and most recently losing track of  44,000 US soldiers ,  the Pentagon is about to undergo its first audit in history  conducted by 2,400 auditors from independent public accounting firms to conduct reviews across the Army, Navy, Air Force and more – followed by  annual audits going forward.  Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis speaks with DoD Comptroller David L. Norquist, June 15, 2017 The announcement follows a  May commitment  by Pentagon comptroller David Norquist, who previously served as the CFO at the Department of Homeland Security when the agency performed its audit. “ Starting an audit is a matter of driving change inside a bureaucracy that may resist it ,” Norquist told members of the Armed Services Committee at the time when pressed over whether or not he could get the job done at the DHS. According to the  DoD release : The audit is massive. It will examine every aspec

Merkava Mk.4 Main Battle Tank. Photo by Michael Mass. On December 11, a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip on targets in southern Israel, according to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). The IDF said that the target of the rocket was not identified.  In response, an IDF battle tank and the Israeli Air Force conducted strikes on positions of the Hamas movement in southern Gaza. 15 h IDF ✔ @IDFSpokesperson A short while ago, rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel. Hits have not yet been identified IDF ✔ @IDFSpokesperson In response to the rocket, an IDF tank and the IAF targeted Hamas terror posts in the southern Gaza Strip. The IDF holds Hamas responsible for these aggressive acts originating from the Gaza Strip 18:58 - 11 Dec 2017   33 33 Replies     159 159 Retweets     301 301 likes Twitter Ads information and privacy This was the fourth incident between Israeli forces and Palestinian grou

The future of warfare is starting to look more and more like something out of a  Terminator  movie. Military forces around the globe are increasingly looking toward robots to replace combat soldiers, hoping to keep boots off the ground, while minimizing collateral damage and limiting civilian casualties. Now, the latest breakthroughs in technology have led to the development of a small multi-rotor drone known as TIKAD, which has been modified to carry multiple different kinds of weapons, including grenade launchers and machine guns. Produced by a Florida startup called Duke Robotics, TIKAD was developed by the company’s co-founders, Lt. Col. Raziel “Razi” Atuar, a 20-year veteran of the Israeli military and a reservist in the Israeli Special Forces, and two of his fellow soldiers.  Defense One  reports  that the men were motivated by a desire to see the end of “chaotic street battles” that have unnecessarily taken the lives of their colleagues and countless innocent civilians. (Re

Click to see the full-size image On December 10, the Israeli Army announced in an official statement that it discovered and demolished a tunnel under the Israeli territory east of the Gaza Strip. According to the statement, the tunnel was built by the Palestinian Hamas movement and its entrance is located in the central part of Gaza, near the city of Khan Yunis. The Israeli Army also revealed that it used a new system to detect and demolish the tunnel. The new system was developed thanks to a joint effort between combat, logistics, intelligence, and research units of the Israeli Army, according to the official statement. Map by the Israeli Army This was the second tunnel in a month a half discovered and demolished by the Israeli Army around the Gaza Strip. On October 30, seven fighters and a commander of Hamas were killed when  the Israeli Army demolished a tunnel also east of Gaza   while they were inside it. In a short video message,  Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conri

Colonel Turki al-Maliki, a spokesmen for the Saudi-led coalition, revealed during a press conference how the Houthis managed to turn Soviet-made R-27T and R-73E air-to-air missiles into ground-to-air missiles. Click to see the full-size image The Houthis likely got the R-27T and R-73E missiles from airbases of the Yemeni Air Force, which they captured during 2015. The Yemeni Air Force used to operate these types of air-to-air missiles and others like the R-27R on its Mig-29SMTs. The R-73E has a range of 30km, while the R-27T has a range of up to 70km. The Houthis likely chose these missiles because the both types are guided by infrared homing, and has the “fire and forget” feature. Other types of air-to-air missiles like the Soviet-made R-27R are guided by semi-active radar homing, which make them harder to turn into ground-to-air missiles, because this type of guidance system requires support from a separate guidance radar detecting the target for the missile. Click to see

Written by  Elijah J. Magnier ; Originally appeared in English in  HIS BLOG Well informed sources have said the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp Brigadier General Haj Qassem Soleimani sent a verbal letter, via Russia, to the head of the US forces commander in Syria, advising him to pull out all US forces to the last soldier “or the doors of hell will open up”. “My message to the US military command: when the battle against ISIS (the Islamic State group) will end, no American soldier will be tolerated in Syria. I advise you to leave by your own will or you will be forced to it”, said Soleimani to a Russian officer. Soleimani asked the Russian responsible to expose the Iranian intentions towards the US: that they will be considered as forces of occupation if these decide to stay in north-east Syria where Kurds and Arab tribes cohabit together. The Russians are not against the US presence and can adapt to this after defining the demarcation lines to avoid any cl

A report of the Conflict Armament Research (CAR) revealed new details about the Water-Born Improvised Explosive Devices (WBIEDs) that the Houthis have used to attack several warships of the Saudi-led coalition over the last two years. The CAR inspected a WBIED captured by the UAE Navy. It was a 10-meter patrol boats powered by two 200 horsepower L200A Ymaha outboards engines. The boat was made in the UAE by Al Fattan Ship Industry. According to CAR, the UAE donated 60 boats of this type to Yemen before the outbreak of the war. Click to see the full-size image According to CAR report, the WBIED were guided by a DIY mission computer aided by a GPS antenna made by Garmin, an autopilot compass made by Nexus and remotely controlled turntable and gimbaled camera installed on the boat’s tower. Click to see the full-size image Click to see the full-size image Click to see the full-size image Click to see the full-size image The WBIED is steered via a hydraulic system