Enhanced Night Vision Goggle

 

A-10 Demonstration Team 2020 Clips

 

Chinese frontier forces playing video games in border areas

In addition to guard missions, Chinese frontier forces on plateaus also enjoy diverse recreational activities. pic.twitter.com/XltwWdAZBy

— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) January 19, 2021

NUSHIP Supply Arrives in Her Homeport of Sydney

 The Royal Australian Navy’s new Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment ship, NUSHIP Supply, has arrived at its homeport in Sydney Harbour.

NUSHIP Supply is one of two new Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment ships that will provide combat and logistics support to the Royal Australian Navy’s fleet, replacing HMA Ships Success and Sirius.Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon Linda Reynolds CSC, said Supply will provide enhanced logistics to the Navy for decades to come.“The arrival of Supply into Sydney Harbour today marks the beginning of a new capability for the Royal Australian Navy, one that will extend the endurance and operational range of Australia’s entire naval fleet,” Minister Reynolds said.

“This is the second ship of the Royal Australian Navy to carry the name Supply. The first HMAS Supply has a long list of achievements and honours, including providing disaster relief in North Australia following Cyclone Tracy in 1974.“The two new Supply class ships are part of the Morrison Government’s largest regeneration of the Navy since the Second World War through our up to $183 billion Naval Shipbuilding Plan.”The Supply class Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment ships will carry fuel, dry cargo, water, food, ammunition, equipment and spare parts to provide operational support to deployed naval or combat forces that are based far from ports for long periods.

In addition to replenishment, the vessels can be used to combat against environmental pollution at sea, provide logistics support to the joint force and partner Navies, and to support humanitarian and disaster relief operations.

Supply is expected to commission into the Royal Australian Navy in April 2021.

Hermes UAVs Boost Air Force ISR Capabilities

 

The delivery and activation of Hermes 450 and 900 Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) ordered from Elbit Systems of Israel have contributed to Philippine Air Force (PAF)’s Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.“The arrival and operationalization of the Unmanned Aerial System to include the Hermes 450s and 900s are part of the continuous development of ISRS capabilities for day and night operations,” said First Lieutenant Egon Bryan Carbolledo in the latest edition of PAF’s journal Perspective.

1LT Carbolledo is assigned at 300th Air Intelligence and Security Wing (Prov) which is the unit operating the Hermes 450s and 900s.

Top 10 Coolest Science and Technology Advances

 

Weapons at North Korea’s latest military parade

 North Korea displayed new submarine-launched ballistic missiles under development and other military hardware in a parade that underlined leader Kim Jong Un’s defiant calls to expand the country’s nuclear weapons program.

Kim presided over Thursday’s parade, which took place at night under powerful floodlights, the second time the country has done so. State media said he took center stage at the parade celebrating a major ruling party meeting in which he vowed maximum efforts to bolster the nuclear and missile program that threatens Asian rivals and the American homeland to counter what he described as U.S. hostility.During an eight-day Workers’ Party congress that ended Tuesday, Kim also revealed plans to salvage the nation’s economy, hit by U.S.-led sanctions over his nuclear ambitions, pandemic-related border closures and natural disasters that wiped out crops.

The economic setbacks have left Kim with nothing to show for his ambitious diplomacy with President Donald Trump, which derailed over disagreements about sanctions relief in exchange for North Korean denuclearization steps, and pushed Kim to what is clearly the toughest moment of his nine-year rule.

Kim’s comments are likely intended to pressure the incoming U.S. government of Joe Biden, who has previously called the North Korean leader a “thug” and accused Trump of chasing spectacle rather than meaningful curbs on the North’s nuclear capabilities. Kim has not ruled out talks, but said the fate of bilateral relations depends on whether Washington abandons its hostile policy toward North Korea.

What was on display?

The parade featured the debut of a number weapons systems, primarily a number of what appears to be a new two-stage submarine-launched ballistic missile. Markings painted on the missile at the parade indicate that this new weapon is called the Pugguksong-5 and has a distinctly different warhead section from the Pugguksong-3 tested by North Korea in 2019 and the Pugguksong-4 displayed at the massive October 2020 parade.

Another notable debutant at the parade was a road-mobile, solid-fuel, short-range ballistic missile, or SRBM. The as-yet unnamed system mounted a pair of missiles on a wheeled five-axle transporter-erector-launcher, or TEL, and appeared to be a larger version of the KN-24 SRBM previously unveiled.

The new missile is also longer than the North Korean KN-23 SRBM, whose design is outwardly similar to the Russian Iskander missile. The KN-23 has been tested up to a range of 430 miles, and is also mounted in pairs, albeit on a shorter, four-axle version of the new missile’s TEL.

This North Korean parade was also notable for the missiles systems that did not make an appearance, which include the longer-ranged intermediate-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles that were present at earlier parades.

North Korean state TV on Friday aired edited footage of the parade, showing thousands of civilians and troops roaring and fireworks exploding overhead as Kim stepped out of a building and took his spot at a podium in Kim Il Sung Square, named after his grandfather and the country’s founder.

Kim, wearing a black fur hat and leather trench coat, waved and smiled widely as his troops chanted “Let’s defend Kim Jong Un with our lives!” and “Protect with our lives the Workers’ Party of Korea’s Central Committee led by Great Comrade Kim Jong Un!”Reports and video from state media suggested that Kim did not make a speech during the parade.His defense minister, Kim Jong Gwan, said in a speech that North Korea’s military would “preemptively marshal our greatest might to thoroughly punish hostiles forces” if they threaten the North’s safety.

Military aircraft flew in formation across the dark sky, using what appeared to be flares to form the symbol of the Workers’ Party — a hammer, brush and sickle.

Top 10 Iconic RAAF Aircraft - 10: F/A-18A/B Hornet