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Missile Deal
India is learnt to have pitched for supply of Akash missile system to Brazil as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday held wide ranging talks with Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin here. During the meeting, the two leaders "identified priority areas" for joint work, including exploring opportunities for co-development and co-production of defence equipment. Defence Minister of Brazil, Jos Mcio Monteiro Filho, was also present during the meeting, the defence ministry said in a statement. It is learnt that in the meeting, India has pitched for supply of Akash missile system to Brazil, people familiar with the matter said. India and Brazil share a strategic partnership. "The leaders reaffirmed their shared commitment to advance defence cooperation, focusing on military-to-military exchanges, including joint exercises and training visits," the statement said. They reviewed the progress of ongoing defence-related initiatives and "identified priority areas for joint work,
The United States has given initial approval to sell $3.5 billion worth of air-to-air missiles for Saudi Arabia's fighter jets, the latest proposed arms deal for the region ahead of President Donald Trump's planned trip to the region later this month. The sale, announced early Saturday, likely will be one of several heralded by Trump on his visit to the kingdom. Saudi Arabia has already said it wants to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years, likely as a way to woo Trump to again pick the kingdom for his first formal trip as president. Trump travelled to Italy briefly for Pope Francis' funeral. Trump's 2017 trip to Saudi Arabia upended a tradition of modern US presidents typically first heading to Canada, Mexico or the United Kingdom for their first trip abroad. It also underscored his administration's close ties to the rulers of the oil-rich Gulf states as his eponymous real estate company has pursued deals across the region. The arms sale involves 1,000
Pakistan on Thursday termed as unfortunate and biased the US decision to sanction its commercial entities for alleged involvement in ballistic missile programme. After the US designated its four entities for sanctions, a statement from the Foreign Office (FO) statement said the sanction defies the objective of peace and security by aiming to accentuate military asymmetries and claimed that double standards and discriminatory practices undermine the credibility of non-proliferation regimes. In light of the alleged continuing proliferation threat of Pakistan's long-range missile development, the United States on Wednesday designated four entities for sanctions which targets proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, the State Department said. These include the state-owned Islamabad-based flagship aerospace and defence agency National Development Complex (NDC), and three Karachi-based entities, Akhtar and Sons Private Limited, Affiliates International and
North Korea demonstrated this year that it could produce ballistic missiles and supply them to Russia for use against Ukraine in a matter of months, the head of a research organisation that traces weapons used in the war said on Wednesday. Jonah Leff told the UN Security Council that researchers on the ground examined remnants of four missiles from North Korea recovered in Ukraine in July and August, including one that had marks indicating it was produced in 2024. "This is the first public evidence of missiles having been produced in North Korea and then used in Ukraine within a matter of months, not years," he said. Leff also had briefed the Security Council in late June, telling members that the organisation he heads, Conflict Armament Research, had "irrefutably" established that ballistic missile remnants found in Ukraine early this year were from a missile manufactured in North Korea. The UK-based organisation, which was established in 2011 to document and trace weapons used in
North Korea marked the delivery of 250 nuclear-capable missile launchers to frontline military units at a ceremony where leader Kim Jong Un called for a ceaseless expansion of his military's nuclear program to counter perceived US threats, state media said Monday. Concerns about Kim's nuclear program have grown as he has demonstrated an intent to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons along the North's border with South Korea and authorised his military to respond with preemptive nuclear strikes if it perceives the leadership as under threat. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said the launchers were freshly produced by the county's munitions factories and designed to fire "tactical ballistic missiles, a term that describes systems capable of delivering lower-yield nuclear weapons. Kim said at Sunday's event in Pyongyang the new launchers would give his frontline units overwhelming firepower over South and make the operation of tactical nuclear weapons more practical and .
The White House announced Thursday that it will rush delivery of air defence interceptor missiles to Ukraine by redirecting planned shipments to other allied nations, as Washington scrambles to counter increased Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. National security spokesman John Kirby said the US had taken the difficult but necessary decision to reprioritise near-term planned deliveries of foreign military sales to other countries, though he wouldn't say which nations would be affected or how many. Right now, we know that Ukraine urgently needs these additional capabilities, Kirby said on a call with reporters, adding, Obviously more is needed, and it's needed now. The announcement comes after President Joe Biden, during last week's Group of Seven meeting in Italy, suggested such action might be necessary, saying, We've let it be known for those countries that are expecting, from us, air defense systems in the future, that they're going to have to wait." Everything
North Korea successfully tested a solid-fuel engine for its new-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile, state media reported Wednesday, claiming a progress in efforts to develop a more powerful, agile missile designed to strike faraway US targets in the region. A hypersonic missile is among an array of high-tech weapons systems that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un publicly vowed to introduce in 2021 to cope with what he called deepening US hostility. Outside experts say Kim wants a modernized weapons arsenal to wrest US concessions like sanctions relief when diplomacy resumes. On Tuesday, Kim guided the ground jet test of multi-stage solid-fuel engine for the hypersonic missile at the North's northwestern rocket launch facility, the official Korean Central News Agency reported. It cited Kim as saying the strategic value of the new missile with an intermediate-range is as important as intercontinental ballistic missiles targeting the US mainland and that "enemies know better abou
A large pool of dark liquid festering on the floor. No fresh air. Computer displays that would overheat and ooze out a fishy-smelling gel that nauseated the crew. Asbestos readings 50 times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency's safety standards. These are just some of the past toxic risks that were in the underground capsules and silos where Air Force nuclear missile crews have worked since the 1960s. Now many of those service members have cancer. The toxins were recorded in hundreds of pages of documents dating back to the 1980s that were obtained by The Associated Press through Freedom of Information Act requests. They tell a far different story from what Air Force leadership told the nuclear missile community decades ago, when the first reports of cancer among service members began to surface: The workplace is free of health hazards, a Dec 30, 2001, Air Force investigation found. Sometimes, illnesses tend to occur by chance alone, a follow-up 2005 Air Force review ..