ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

For the first time, the United States Army has begun the testing of  a ground-based robot that can shoot  at specified targets with a .50-caliber top-mounted machine gun. It’s a self-driving vehicle called the “Wingman”. It’s part of a broader program and initiative to develop other armed robotic vehicles just like it. According to reports on its development, it is currently being tested to measure its ability to accurately identify and shoot its targets. According to a statement from the U.S. Army itself, the Wingman is best described as an autonomous remote engagement system that can help reduce the time that it usually takes to identify targets. It does this by relying on a “vision-based automatic target detection and user-specified target selection,” the Army report noted. They already began tests involving the Wingman some time last year, but the Army  now hopes to conduct even more exercises  with other types of heavily armed ground robots quite soon. According to Paul Rog

The Russians have offered militants a safe passage out of the Syrian region of Eastern Ghouta [near Damascus] suggesting them to leave with their families and personal weapons through a humanitarian corridor out of the region. The proposal comes amid a rapidly developing military operation of the Syrian Army in the area, which has already led to a situation when joint forces of Ahrar al-Sham, Jaish al-Islam, Faylaq al-Rahman and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham have lost over 36% of the pocket.  MORE DETAILS “The Russian Reconciliation Center guarantees the immunity of all rebel fighters who take the decision to leave Eastern Ghouta with personal weapons and together with their families,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement adding that vehicles would “be provided, and the entire route will be guarded.” While the statement provided no details to what area militants would be evacuated, most likely, the proposed evacuation route will provide militants an opportunity to reach the m

On March 5, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian arrived Iran to discuss the 2015 nuclear agreement with President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and other top officials. However, the French diplomat immediately showed an official stance of his country accusing Teheran of “destabilizing” the Middle East hinting to the Iranian missile program as well as the country’s involvement in the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. The Iranian foreign minister responded saying that it is the US and its allies who are resnponsible for the current crisis in the region. “The United States and other countries that have turned our region into a gunpowder depot by selling arms must stop such actions,” Zarif said, according to Iran’s IRNA news agency. Zarif cointuned in his twitter account: 5 Mar Javad Zarif ✔ @JZarif In meeting today, told France FM: EU should compel US to abide by JCPOA rather than trying to appease it by repeating its extraneous d

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, center, meeting in Pyongyang, the capital, on Monday, with South Korean envoys. Credit North Korean Central News Agency, via European Pressphoto Agency North Korea and South Korea have ageed to hold a summit meeting between Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in on the country’s border in late April. According to the South, the sides have also agreed to estabsih a “hotline” between their leaders. The first phone conversation will reportedly take place before the summit. “The North Korean side clearly stated its willingness to denuclearize,” the South Korean president’s office said in a statement. “It made it clear that it would have no reason to keep nuclear weapons if the military threat to the North was eliminated and its security guaranteed.” “The North expressed its willingness to hold a heartfelt dialogue with the United States on the issues of denuclearization and normalizing relations with the United States,” the statement said. “It made i

Click to see the full-size image On March 6, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), the Tiger Forces and their allies advanced on positions of Jaish al-Islam, Ahrar al-Sham, Faylaq al-Rahman and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra) in the areas of Harasta, Hawsh Ashari, Bayt Siwwa in the Eastern Ghouta region. Clashes also continued in the area of Rayhan. On March 5, government forces entered it, but was not able to supress the militants’ resistance there. In total, government troops had already established control over about 36% of the area controlled by militants before the start of the operation. While the SAA and its allies made a major part of its gains in the eastern part of Eastern Ghouta, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham members and their counterparts also faced a significant pressure in the district of Harasta. According to pro-government sources, the SAA is now aiming to cut the district off from the areas of Duma and Madera. Click to see the full-size image The recent de

Russian Eastern Military District Press Office/TASS The Russian state-run news agency TASS reports ( source ): Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia has been quite successful in its efforts to match the status of a major weapons exporter. In 2017 the export of Russian military hardware went up for a third year running to above $15 billion. “Russia matches high standards and confirms its status of one of the leading providers on the world weapons market,” he said at a meeting of the commission on military-technical cooperation. “The export of military hardware has grown for a third year in a row to more than $15 billion.” Putin also declared that the value of weapons export contracts signed last year doubled to $16 billion. “The scope of our military-technical cooperation keeps growing in geographic terms steadily. The number of partners has already exceeded one hundred countries,” Putin said. “At the end of last year the amount of contracts signed nearly do

Illustrative image On March 4, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) fighters recaptured the key town of Tuqad in the western Aleppo countryside from the Syrian Liberation Front (SLF), according to the pro-opposition STEP News Agency. The SLF imposed its control over Tuqad on February 27 after HTS fighters had withdrawn from it without a fight. Syrian opposition sources reported that more than ten fighters of HTS and the SLF had been killed in clashes inside and around Tuqad. Meanwhile, the SLF-linked news agency Madad Press announced that SLF fighters had destroyed six tanks of HTS with rocket-propelled grenades and ATGMs in the town of Tuqad and the villages of al-Sa’adiyah and A’jil around it over the last 48 hours. Click to see the full-size image Click to see the full-size image The STEP News Agency reported that HTS fighters are currently attacking the position of the SLF around the village of al-Sa’adiyah. HTS will likely impose its control over the village in the upco

Illustrative image On March 4, a spokesman of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Brigadier General Ahmad al-Musmari, announced that different parties are set to meet in the Egyptian capital of Cairo soon to discuss the unification of Libyan military forces, according to Erem News. Over the last few months, Cairo has hosted five similar meetings between representatives of the LNA, the Libyan Government of National Accord (LGNA) and several other Libyan parties. Brig. Gen. al-Masmari revealed that the sides had agreed during the last meeting in Cairo on March 1 that the General Commander of the LNA, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, will be a top commander of the soon to come unified Libyan military force. Meanwhile, LGNA president Fayez al-Sarraj stressed during a meeting with the LGNA representatives in the Cairo talks that the unification of the military forces “is an absolutely necessary to secure borders and comforting the challenges facing Libya,” according to the Egyptian new