A “good number” of unmanned U.S. military and intelligence drones are operating in the skies over Syria, monitoring the Syrian military’s attacks against opposition forces and civilians, NBC News reported.

Citing unnamed U.S. defense officials, the TV network said this surveillance was not in preparation for U.S. military intervention.

Defense News

Unsuccessful launches of Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile happened due to human factor and were the result of unprofessional work of certain people, Chief of the Russian General Staff Gen. Nikolai Makarov said on Saturday.

Trials of Bulava began in 2004, six of the 18 full-scale Bulava trials failed. A series of successful launches began in October 2010.

“You know that there were several unsuccessful launches of Bulava. We stopped the trials, we carefully worked through the reasons of failures and to a greater extent it was a human factor, where a person did his work unprofessionally. You know, as there was no special control he did it “somehow” this was the main factor,” Makarov said in an interview with radio station Echo of Moscow.

At the same time Chief of the Russian General Staff said that the military men initially did not understand what the problem was, as in different four launches there were discovered four unrelated problems.

“We realized that the technical solution itself was correct and we appointed a military officer who oversaw every process and after that all the launches were successful,” general said.

On December 23, the strategic submarine Yury Dolgoruky launched two Bulava missiles. The Defense Ministry said that the launch was successful and it will now be adopted for service with the Russian Navy.

RIA

In an editorial today the Washington Times made two key factual errors in describing China’s nuclear arsenal and Chinese involvement in strategic nuclear arms control.

First, it claimed China may have the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. That claim is based on a discredited study by Georgetown University undergraduate students. Even the professor who supervised the study, which was focused on a tunnel network and not the size of China’s nuclear arsenal, now disavows any claim he may have made in the past about the number of Chinese nuclear weapons.

Analyses of China’s production of fissile material for nuclear weapons by the US government and independent groups set a limit on the number of warheads China could build. It is believed to have manufactured a total of 200-300 warheads, roughly 50 of which have been used for nuclear tests. Currently, probably fewer than 200 are ready to be deployed on missiles, approximately 50 of which can reach the US.

Second, the Washington Times claims China “has never agreed to be part of any strategic nuclear framework”. This too is false. China acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and was a full and active participant in the negotiation of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Like the US, China signed the CTBT but has yet to ratify it. Chinese officials told UCS they are waiting to see what possible reservations the US Senate may add to US ratification before China makes a decision. The US Senate, and the Obama administration, have failed to even begin discussions on possible US ratification of the CTBT, despite the promises made by President Obama in Prague.

The Washington Times makes it appear as if the Obama administration is pursuing a radical path towards nuclear disarmament. Nothing could be farther from the truth, except, perhaps, their claims about China.

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Iran’s nuclear ambitions could plunge the Middle East into “a new Cold War”, the UK foreign secretary has warned.

William Hague told the Daily Telegraph other nations in the region would want to develop nuclear weapons if Iran did.

Without “the safety mechanisms” of the US-USSR rivalry, Mr Hague said it would be “a disaster in world affairs”.

But ex-UK diplomat Sir Richard Dalton said Iran was not “rushing towards a nuclear weapon”. Tehran insists its programme is for energy purposes.

The West suspects Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons.

Mr Hague told the newspaper there was a “crisis coming down the tracks”.

“If [the Iranians] obtain nuclear weapons capability, then I think other nations across the Middle East will want to develop nuclear weapons.

“And so, the most serious round of nuclear proliferation since nuclear weapons were invented would have begun with all the destabilising effects in the Middle East.”

Source

India yesterday dismissed suggestions that its growing relations with the US were aimed at countering China, saying its armed forces were being strengthened primarily to protect and safeguard its territorial integrity.

“No, that is not correct,” said Defence Minister A K Antony on the sidelines of an Indian Air Force (IAF) event in New Delhi when asked if the US wanted to work with India mainly because of the China factor.

“We are strengthening our armed forces by providing most modern and complex equipment to them. It is not against any country but to protect our territorial integrity,” Antony said.

India had made a conscious shift in its military hardware purchasing strategy by not placing all its eggs in the Russian basket, but has in the recent decade tried to spread the pie among other nations too, including the US, France, and Israel.

During this period, India has bought American defence equipment work $10bn. These include C-17 and C-130J military transport aircraft for the air force and P-8I maritime reconnaissance aircraft for the navy.

It has also bought the USS Trenton warship which has been inducted as INS Jalashwa.

India is also in the process of buying 145 M777 ultralight howitzers from the US and is considering the Javelin anti-tank missiles.

“We want to have a very modern and capable force capable of protecting our territorial integrity and any challenge from any quarters,” Antony noted.

The Western media and think-tanks have, in the recent days, reported that India is wary of Chinese military growth and hence was preparing for a war in the near future. They had also speculated that the US-India relations could be an effective counter to China’s increasing military ambitions.

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The Afghan defense minister warned late Feb. 17 that a U.S. proposal to cut the size of Afghan security forces by more than one-third after 2014 could lead to a catastrophe.

The minister, Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak, expressed his concerns in an interview with The Wall Street Journal after the United States circulated a new proposal to cut troops from 352,000 to 230,000 after 2014.

Defense News

Syrian security forces fired live ammunition to break up a protest against President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Saturday, killing at least one person, opposition activists said.

A Chinese envoy met the Syrian leader earlier in the day and urged all sides to end 11 months of bloodshed, while backing a government plan for elections.

The shooting broke out at the funerals of three youths killed on Friday in an anti-Assad protest that was one of the biggest in the capital since a nationwide uprising started.

“They started firing at the crowd right after the burial. People are running and trying to take cover in the alleyways,” said a witness, speaking to Reuters in Amman by telephone.

The opposition Syrian Revolution Coordination Union said the gunfire near the cemetery had killed one mourner and wounded four, including a woman who was hit in the head.

Up to 30,000 demonstrators had taken to the streets in the Mezze district of Damascus, witnesses said.

Footage of the funeral broadcast live on the Internet showed women ululating to honor the victims. Mourners shouted: “We sacrifice our blood, our soul for you martyrs. One, one, one, the Syrian people are one”.

Assad described the turmoil racking Syria as a ploy to split the country.

“What Syria is facing is fundamentally an effort to divide it and affect its geopolitical place and historic role in the region,” he was quoted by Syrian state television as saying after meeting Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun.

Source

Lt.Gen Jürgen Bornemann, the Director General of the International Military Staff (IMS) paid an official visit to China from 13 to 15 February, on invitation by the Chinese Military Authorities.

LtGen Bornemann and his delegation met with MGen Qian Lihua, the Chief of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Ministry of National Defence (FAO MND), and Gen Ma Xiaotian, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

LtGen Bornemann had the opportunity to deliver a key note speech to senior scholars and Foreign Affairs experts at the National Defense University, followed by a substantive exchange of views with the audience.

To demonstrate the capabilities of the Chinese Armed Forces, the NATO delegation was also invited to visit the 3rd Guard Division of the Beijing Military Garrison.

The programme was rounded off by a meeting with MGen Guo Jingzhou, Commander of the Shan’xi Provincial Military Region. Main topics of discussions, held in a very friendly, open and frank atmosphere, were NATO-China military cooperation, reform of the Chinese Armed Forces, NATO Reform, NATO Operations as well as the situation in the Asia-Pacific Region. At the end of the talks, both sides agreed to deepen cooperation in a number of fields, in particular in the areas of Counter Piracy and Training & Education. Finally, it was agreed to hold annual military staff talks between IMS and FAO MND. In this context, LtGen Bornemann invited MGen Qian to visit NATO Headquarters early next year.

Source

The Amur Shipyard in Russia’s Far East has started the construction of a new Steregushchy class corvette for the Russian Pacific Fleet, the Khabarovsk Territory government said.

“A Steregushchy class corvette will be built for the Pacific Fleet,” the Khabarovsk Territory government said in a statement on Friday. “It will be delivered in 2015.”

The Gromky corvette is the sixth Steregushchy class vessel designed by the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau and second being built at the Amur Shipyard.

Two corvettes of this class, the Steregushchy and the Soobrazitelny have been already put into service with the Russian Navy, while three others are under various stages of construction and trials.

The Steregushchy class corvette can be deployed to destroy enemy surface ships, submarines and aircraft, and to provide artillery support for beach landings. Advanced stealth technology is used to reduce the ship’s secondary radar field, as well as its acoustic, infrared, magnetic and visual signatures.

Russia plans to have up to 30 vessels of this class to ensure the protection of its coastal waters, as well as its oil and gas transportation routes, especially in the Black and the Baltic seas.

Each corvette has a displacement of 2,000 metric tons, maximum speed of 27 knots, and a crew of 100.

The ship’s armament includes SS-N-25 Switchblade anti-ship cruise missiles, a 100-mm gun, a variety of air defense and anti-submarine systems, and a Ka-27 Helix ASW helicopter.

RIA

Afghanistan’s defence ministry has begun ordering soldiers who have families in Pakistan to move them to Afghanistan in a bid to rid the army of Taliban infiltrators, officials said Saturday.

The new policy was crafted in response to a recent spate of incidents in which Afghan soldiers reportedly with links to militants carried out attacks against Nato troops.

“We have been told to ask our soldiers who have relatives in Pakistan to move them to Afghanistan,” Abdul Hamid Hamid, the army corps commander in Kandahar, told AFP, adding that the policy was not yet finalised.

“Sometimes their families are used as hostages by some intelligence agencies to put pressure on them to do what they don’t want to,” he said.

Most of the soldiers who are recruited in Kandahar have families in Pakistan, he added.

“We have put up more strict rules in enlisting the new recruits. Those who have families in Pakistan are checked more seriously,” ministry of defence spokesman Daulat Waziri said.

A renegade Afghan soldier who shot dead four French troops in January had visited Peshawar before rejoining the army, according to officials.

Six percent of overall Nato deaths in Afghanistan have been attributed to attacks by Afghan security forces, according to a confidential alliance report leaked to the media.

Some 40 attacks were reportedly committed by Afghan forces against Nato troops in the last four years, including 18 last year.

There are about 130,000 Nato troops in Afghanistan, working with more than 300,000 members of the Afghan security forces.

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