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Russia, Vietnam to Jointly Manufacture Anti-Ship Missiles
Russia and Vietnam are planning to start in 2012 joint production of a modified anti-ship missile, head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Mikhail Dmitriyev said on Wednesday.
“We are planning to build facilities in Vietnam for the production of a version of the Russian Uran [SS-N-25 Switchblade] missile in a project that is similar to joint Russian-Indian production of the BrahMos missile,” Dmitriyev said.
The Uran subsonic anti-ship missile can be launched from helicopters, surface ships and coastal defense batteries. It has a range of up to 250 kilometers (135 nautical miles) and carries a 145-kilogram high explosive warhead.
Russian-Indian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace Ltd, set up in 1998, manufactures supersonic cruise missiles based on the Russian-designed NPO Mashinostroyenie 3M55 Yakhont (SS-N-26).
Sea- and ground-launched versions have been successfully tested and put into service with the Indian Army and Navy.
Russian superlaser to be as good as H-bomb
The design of the Luch laser device is to be used for the future Russian superlaser (image from vniief.ru)
Russia has launched a $1.5 billion project to create a high-energy superlaser site which designers pledge will be the best in the world. Capable of igniting nuclear fusion, the facility will be used both for thermonuclear weapon and civil purposes.
The new laser device will be used for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) studies. The field aims to recreate in the lab the processes which happen inside a star or in a hydrogen bomb explosion. ICF is similar to what scientists are trying to do with the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, but takes an alternative approach to how nuclear fusion is started.
The laser facility will be developed by the Research Institute of Experimental Physics (RFNC-VNIIEF), a leading Russian nuclear laboratory. In its six decades of history, it was involved in the development of both the military and civilian nuclear programs in Russia.
The site will have the size of a 360 Full article here
Russia ready to defend Iran and Syria
Russia believes that Syria and Iran are in its national interest and is apparently ready to use military force to defend them:
Following are excerpts from an interview with Colonel-General [ret.] Leonid Ivashov, former member of the Russian Joint Chiefs of Staff, which aired on Russia Today TV on February 1, 2012:
Interviewer: Dr. Leonid, do you think that these preparations and very large maneuvers, which will soon be conducted by Russia, are meant as preparation for war, or rather, a military strike against Read more…
Russia, China to Jointly Build Mi-2A Helicopters
Russian helicopter maker Rostvertol and Chinese Xi’Ao Aeroplane Manufacturing will build a plant in northern China capable of manufacturing 100 lightweight civil Mi-2A helicopters annually, Xinhua said on Monday.
The first phase of the plant, located on 47 hectares in Hebei Province, will be completed by the end of July, Xinhua said citing local officials.
The investment for the first phase is estimated at $224 million.
The plant will also serve as a repair hub for Russia’s Mi-series choppers in the Asia region.
Mi-2A is a modernized version of the Russian Mi-2 Hoplit helicopter, which features a new power plant, advanced piloting and navigation equipment, and significant flight performance improvement.
Strategic Importance of Iran for Russia and China: Eurasian “Triple Alliance”
CONFRONTATION BETWEEN MILITARY BLOCS: The Eurasian “Triple Alliance”
Despite areas of difference and rivalries between Moscow and Tehran, ties between the two countries, based on common interests, have developed significantly.
Both Russia and Iran are both major energy exporters, they have deeply seated interests in the South Caucasus. They are both firmly opposed to NATO’s missile shield, with a view to preventing the U.S. and E.U. from controlling the energy corridors around the Caspian Sea Basin.
Moscow and Tehran’s bilateral ties are also part of a broader and overlapping alliance involving Armenia, Tajikistan, Belarus, Syria, and Venezuela. Yet, above all things, both republics are also two of Washington’s main geo-strategic targets.
The Eurasian Triple Alliance: The Strategic Importance of Iran for Russia and China
China, the Russian Federation, and Iran are widely considered to be allies and partners. Together the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China, and the Islamic Republic of Iran form a strategic barrier directed against U.S. expansionism. The three countries form a “triple alliance,” which constitutes the core of a Read more…
India to pay gold instead of dollars for Iranian oil. Oil and gold markets stunned
India is the first buyer of Iranian oil to agree to pay for its purchases in gold instead of the US dollar, debkafile’s intelligence and Iranian sources report exclusively. Those sources expect China to follow suit. India and China take about one million barrels per day, or 40 percent of Iran’s total exports of 2.5 million bpd. Both are superpowers in terms of gold assets.
By trading in gold, New Delhi and Beijing enable Tehran to bypass the upcoming freeze on its central bank’s assets and the oil embargo which the European Union’s foreign ministers agreed to impose Monday, Jan. 23. The EU currently buys around 20 percent of Iran’s oil exports.
The vast sums involved in these transactions are expected, furthermore, to boost the price of gold and depress the value of the dollar on world markets.
Iran’s second largest customer after China, India purchases around Read more…
Russian Threats of Nuclear War Grow Louder
The most recent threats of nuclear war come from the Russian foreign minister. Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov is threatening a “very big war” with “suffering across the world” if the west encourages anti-government uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa.
Russian threats of nuclear attack started out in Georgia back in 2008. These threats expanded to the trans-Caspian gas pipeline. Then they moved onto the expansion of NATO. Then onto Iran and Syria. Now these threats have expanded onto the entire Middle East and North Africa. Does anybody see a problem here?
Back in August of 2008 we got a first taste of Russia’s nuclear threats:
Moscow has issued an extraordinary warning to the West that military assistance to Georgia for use against South Ossetia or Abkhazia would be viewed as a “declaration of war” by Russia.
Later Russia issues an implied nuclear threat if Georgia joins NATO. Obvously, attack on Georgia would then be an attack on Read more…
DANGEROUS CROSSROADS: NATO launches radar in Turkey to target Russia, Iran and Syria
Turkey has recently launched the early warning radar station, a part of NATO’s missile system, which the USA has been building near Russia’s borders. The radar station will be controlled from Germany. The station is located in the town of Malatya, which is 500 kilometers to the south-east of Ankara and some 700 kilometers from the border with Iran. Turkish and US servicemen will serve at the station.Turkey agreed to deploy the radar station on its territory in September 2011. Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan stated back then that the deployment of the radar in Turkey would be an important step for the whole region.
Data from the station will be transferred to command posts in the United States and to the ships equipped with the AEGIS system (a sea-based missile defense system). NATO officials stated that the radar station was deployed in Turkey in connection with the growing threat for Iran to use small and medium range missiles in the Middle East.
Several local politicians stood up against the deployment of the elements of NATO’s missile defense system in Turkey. They believe that the West would thus get Turkey involved in a possible conflict with Teheran.
Needless to say, Iran was Read more…
Syria-bound ship with arms changes course
LIMASSOL, Cyprus, Jan. 11 (UPI) — Cyprus allowed a Russian-owned ship suspected of carrying ammunition bound for Syria to leave port after agreeing to switch course, officials said Wednesday.
The St. Vincent-Grenadines-flagged ship Chariot was heading from St. Petersburg, Russia, to the Syrian port Latakia when it made an unscheduled docking at the Cypriot port Limassol Tuesday for refueling after bad weather, RIA Novosti reported.
The ship was allowed to return to sea Wednesday, but Cypriot officials gave no indication of its new destination.
“It has been decided the vessel will be released after the ship decided to change its destination and will not go to Syria,” Cypriot government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said.
The Cypriot Foreign Ministry said the ship carried a “dangerous cargo,” but didn’t violate the European Union arms embargo on Syria.
Cypriot media said the Chariot, owned by the St. Petersburg firm Westberg Ltd., was carrying 35-60 tons of ammunition and explosives meant for the Syrian Defense Ministry.
Seized Iranian ammunition exploded in July near Cyprus’ biggest power station, killing 13 people, RIA Novosti said.
Iran, Russia Replace Dollar with National Currencies in Trade Exchanges
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran and Russia have replaced US Dollar with their own currencies in their trade ties, a senior Iranian diplomat announced on Saturday.
Speaking to FNA, Tehran's Ambassador to Moscow Seyed Reza Sajjadi said that the proposal for replacing US Dollar with Ruble and Rial was raised by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Astana on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting.
“Since then, we have acted on this basis and a part of our interactions is done in Ruble now,” Sajjadi stated, adding that many Iranian traders are using Ruble for their trade deals.
“There is a similar interest in the Russian side,” the envoy stated, adding that that Moscow is against unilateral sanctions on Iran outside the UN Security Council, specially the recent sanctions against Iran’s Central Bank (CBI).
“The move (imposing sanction on the CBI) is unacceptable. Russians have clearly announced that they will not accept these sanctions and Iran’s nuclear issue is resolvable just through negotiations.”
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hit back at the US after Washington introduced new sanctions against Iran’s central bank.
President Ahmadinejad told an annual meeting of senior central bank officials that Iran’s central bank would respond with Read more…
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