The Ansta-M light weight helicopter by Kazan Helicopters has made its first flight on Dec. 29

US Army Special Forces Night Raid In Afghanistan

 

Russian Northern Fleet Exercises

 

South Korean Main Battle Tanks In Action: Loud Tank Live Fire

 

Russia Tests Modular Unmanned Ground Vehicle Prototype

 The Russian military’s advanced research agency said it has tested a prototype of Marker, a new modular unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) in snow-covered Chelyabinsk region recently.

The wheeled unmanned platform autonomously trekked up a 30km path during the test, Russian Foundation for Advanced Research Projects said in a statement Wednesday.“The UGV was provided with coordinates of its destination. Its motion control system ensured the platform’s arrival at the finish line in an hour and a half, relying on the data of the technical vision system built on new neural network algorithms. The autonomous control system of the platform movement provides autonomous laying and adjustment of the route of movement in the event of obstacles – trees, rises, ravines, bushes, etc,” the statement said.

The technical characteristics of the platform provide the possibility of autonomous operation for up to 48 hours on paved roads and up to 24 hours on rough terrain. As part of the next tests, the Marker platform will have to cover 50km, 100km and 200km.The Marker is expected to lay the basis for testing inter-operability of ground robots, unmanned aerial vehicles and Special Operations Forces. It is positioned as a modular kit for creating unmanned vehicles for future warfare.

Report estimates Chinese nuclear stockpile at 350 warheads

 A paper published by the Chicago, Illinois-based Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has estimated that China has 350 nuclear warheads, significantly more than that estimated by the U.S. Defense Department.

The report, written by Hans Kristensen, the director at the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, and Matt Korda, a research associate at FAS, arrived at the number by counting both operational warheads and newer weapons “still in development.”

These weapons include hypersonic missiles, silo-based and road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles, and their submarine-launched equivalents, bringing the total number of nuclear warheads to more that the “low 200s” estimated by the Pentagon in its 2020 report on China’s military.The think tank’s report also said an estimated 272 of the 350 warheads in the People’s Liberation Army are operational. That estimate includes 204 land-based missile warheads, 48 submarine-launched warheads and 20 aircraft-delivered gravity bombs.

The latter mission had been dormant for a while, although it has recently been reconstituted with China said to be developing an air-launched ballistic missile with a possible nuclear capability. A Chinese Xi’an H-6 bomber was recently seen carrying what is believed to be a mock-up of a hypersonic boost-glide missile, although its development status is unclear.The estimate of 350 nuclear warheads does not include the suspected air-launched ballistic/hypersonic missile, nor does it include the multiple, independent warheads that will be fitted on the DF-5C ICBM, potentially further increasing the size of China’s nuclear stockpile even after accounting for the retirement of older systems.

Nevertheless, the report noted that the size of the Chinese nuclear stockpile is still significantly below that of the United States and Russia, which have thousands of nuclear weapons in their respective stockpiles. The authors wrote that claims by the Trump administration’s special envoy for arms control, Marshall Billingslea, that China is striving for a form of “nuclear parity” with the U.S. and Russia “appears to have little basis in reality.”

It also added that China has traditionally maintained a low alert level for its nuclear forces, with most warheads at a central storage facility and smaller numbers kept in regional equivalents.

Philippine Navy’s new frigates will only get its missiles in October next year

 The Philippine Navy’s new Jose Rizal-class guided missile frigates will only get its first shipment of missiles starting from Octover 2021.

The Philippine Navy (PN) said Wednesday the surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles of BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150) and BRP Antonio Luna (FF-151) are scheduled for delivery in October next year and the first quarter of 2022, respectively. 

"(Deliveries for) the surface-to-air missile is (on) October 2021 and March 2022 for the surface-to-surface missile," Navy public affairs office chief, Lt. Commander Maria Christina Roxas, said in a message to the Philippine News Agency (PNA) when sought for updates on the acquisition of primary weapons of the two guided-missile frigates.

Roxas said the surface-to-surface missile project is under "Frigate Acquisition Lot 2A" and that South Korean defense manufacturer LIG Nex 1 would deliver C-Star missiles. The C-Star is described as a "sea-skimming surface-to-surface anti-ship cruise missile".

Meanwhile, the surface-to-air missile project is under "Frigate Acquisition Lot 2B" and was awarded to MBDA, France, which would deliver a quantity of Mistral 3 anti-aircraft missiles.The BRP Jose Rizal and BRP Antonio Luna are modern warships capable of surface, sub-surface, air, and electronic warfare using state-of-the-art electronic sensors, long-range missiles, acoustic guided torpedoes, and an embarked anti-submarine helicopter.

The BRP Jose Rizal was delivered to the Philippines in May and commissioned last July, while the BRP Antonio Luna is expected to be delivered to the PN by February next year.The contract for the two ships was placed at PHP16 billion with another PHP2 billion for weapon systems and munitions. 

South Korea’s President flew in Peace Eye on New Year’s Day

South Korean President Moon Jae-in spent the morning of New Year’s Day on board a Boeing 737 Peace Eye airborne early warning aircraft.