RUSSIA vs NATO

Russian rocket artillery troops have equipped Iskander missiles with a terminal guidance system using photos of the target to greatly improve precision. The tactical ballistic missiles are Russia’s answer to NATO’s controversial European ABM shield.
The upgraded missile designated 9M723 for the Iskander system was tested last week by an artillery use and research center, reports Izvestia newspaper citing a source in the General Staff.
“The guided missile is homed ‘by photo’, that is compares the actual view to a pre-loaded digital image of the target,” the source explained.
The technology is similar to Pentagon’s Digital Scene-Mapping Area Correlator (DSMAC). In the case of the Iskander it helped improve the missile’s accuracy twofold. The versions currently deployed have Circular Error Probable (CEP) of 10 meters, while for the new missile it was lowered to merely 5 meters.
The improved precision makes the Iskander more efficient against highly fortified underground targets, the source says.
Iskander is a mobile theater-level ballistic missile system. It is a designated replacement for the older Tochka missiles, which had been deployed since 1970s. The first brigade armed with the missiles was formed in October this year. A total of 120 Iskander launchers are to be deployed by Russia by 2020.
The missile can be armed with different loads, including tactical nuclear warheads. Its estimated maximum range is 280 kilometers. An Iskander launcher can also potentially fire cruise missiles.
In 2008 amid the heated dispute over American plans to deploy an Antiballistic Missile system (ABM) in Eastern Europe, President Medvedev threatened to deploy Iskanders in the Russian western exclave, the Kaliningrad Region. It would allow for the attack of ABM sites in Poland and Czech Republic, which were to become part of the system.
source RT

US's Hypersonic weapon REALL? or LIE?

The US Army has tested a hypersonic missile, which travels six times faster than the speed of sound. It is part of a larger plan to have the capability to strike any place on the planet within an hour.
The missile, called the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW), was launched from Hawaii on Thursday, the Pentagon reported. A rocket delivered it to suborbital altitude, after which the glider went for its target on the Marshall Islands, some 3,700 kilometers away.
It hit less than 30 minutes later, which means its speed was at least 7,400 kilometer per hour, or about Mach 6. An aircraft must be able to fly faster than Mach 5, to qualify as hypersonic.
A Mach number is used to describe the speed of an object or a fluid in comparison to the speed of sound in that medium. Mach 1 means the object travels at the same speed as sound. However the speed of sound may vary depending on such conditions as temperature and composition, so the speed expressed in Mach number is also variable. The now-retired Concorde supersonic passenger planes used to fly at a cruising speed of about Mach 2.
The test was aimed at gathering data on "aerodynamics, navigation, guidance and control, and thermal protection technologies," the Pentagon said.
The AHW is one of several projects of the Prompt Global Strike program. It is aimed at developing several weapons which can be launched from American territory and reach their destinations within an hour.
On August 11 the US Air Force tested another hypersonic glider called the HTV-2. It is faster than the AHW, with speeds reaching 27,000 kilometer per hour. But unlike the Army’s vehicle, it does not work well – the test was aborted due to a technical failure.
The Soviet Union developed ramjet engines capable of hypersonic locomotion and even tested one design, which successfully reached Mach 5.7. The work was stalled by the collapse of the USSR, and no weapon using this technology was ever produced.
sourc RT

Moscow wants proof NATO’s ‘toy is non-toxic’

It is likely that NATO’s European missile defense shield will be created without the Russian participation in the project, Moscow’s envoy to the alliance, Dmitry Rogozin has said.
“We are interested in a serious step by NATO toward Russia. Since, apparently, the missile defense will be created without Russian participation, we have every right to insist that NATO’s toy won’t appear poisonous to the Russian Federation,” Rogozin told RIA Novosti.
Earlier in October, it was rumored in the media that due to differences in approaches to the missile defense issue next Russia-NATO summit in Chicago in 2012 could be canceled. Commenting on the matter, Rogozin said that the Russian head of state must have a really good reason to set off on a trip to the US in April next year, shortly after the presidential election in March.
“There could be such motivations, but they certainly should be connected with Russian and European security. We mean that NATO should do something that would lay real grounds for a Russian president to make such a decision (to go to the summit),” the envoy pointed out.
What Moscow wants, Rogozin said, is a “certificate” that NATO’s “toy” is going to be “non-toxic”. If the military alliance was ready for this step, there would be something to discuss and for the president to consider.
During the Russia-NATO summit in Lisbon in November 2010, Moscow accepted the invitation to co-operate with the West in the creation of a missile defense shield in Europe. However, Russia insisted it would only participate in the project as an equal partner.
Now, almost a year on, negotiations on the matter have been stalled since the US has refused to provide legally-binding guarantees that the system will not be targeted against Russia. In addition, Washington has failed so far to explain what role exactly Russia would play in the project rather than being a passive observer and exchanging information.
According to Rogozin, NATO is only a fig leaf for "a missile defense umbrella that says 'Made in USA'”. The European members of the organizations would have “neither a button nor a finger to press it with.” That is why Russia continues to insist on guarantees exactly from the American side.
On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the fact that the American side ignores Moscow’s ideas “makes us think that our partners are not sincere in full.”
“This runs counter the agreements, which were concluded at the Russian-American bilateral summits and within the Russia-NATO Council summit, including the summit in Lisbon, saying we will work jointly," he pointed out, as cited by Itar-Tass.
source RT