China Wants to Develop a New Long-Range Stealth Strategic Bomber

China needs to develop a new long-range strike bomber capable of attacking targets farther out in the Pacific. This is the principal conclusion of a meeting of Chinese military officials, according to AFP citing a full-page China Daily article published last Tuesday as its source.
In the meeting the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) was also referred to as a “strategic force” a title usually reserved for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Second Artillery Corps – Beijing’s “de facto strategic missile force,” according to China Daily.
The new bomber should be capable of striking targets as far as the “second island chain” – an area stretching from the Kurils in the North through Japan, the Bonins, the Marianas, the Carolines and Indonesia in the South – the paper further states.
The PLA’s definition of a long-range strategic bomber is a minimum range of 8,000 km (5,000 miles) without refueling and the capacity to carry a payload of more than 10 tons of air-to-ground ammunition.
This definition would correspondent to the sparse details available on China’s prospective subsonic stealth bomber – the H-20 (or H-X) – which could enter service by 2025 some analysts note.
H-20 is believed to be able to evade modern air defense systems and penetrate deep into the enemy territory. Some analysts argue that the primary mission of the new bomber will be do attack U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups.
The PLAAF currently operates approximately 15 H-6K nuclear-capable bombers, a locally built version of the Russian Tupolev Tu-16 Badger which can “reach Okinawa, Guam and even Hawaii from China’s mainland, depending on the bombers armament.
thediplomat

Pentagon: We Can’t Afford to Replace Aging ICBMs, Bombers, Subs

The Defense Department cannot afford to replace its aging nuclear-missile submarines, ICBMs, and long-range strategic bombers unless it gets a funding boost or radical policy changes are made, according to a top Pentagon official.
Even if Congress approves the White House’s 2016 budget for the Pentagon, the Pentagon will find itself $10 billion to $12 short beginning in 2021.
“We don’t have a solution to that problem right now,” Kendall said, asked by a reporter about the plan for funding a replacement for the Navy’s Ohio-class submarines. All more than 30 years old, these “boomers” slip silently around the world’s oceans, waiting for the command to launch their nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles.
The entire U.S. nuclear inventory needs to be upgraded by the 2030s. That includes the submarines, land-based Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles and new stealth bomber. Together, the three make up the “nuclear triad,” the cornerstone of America’s deterrent force. The Pentagon also says it needs a new nuclear cruise missile.
defenseone

Russia lifts ban on S-300 missile system delivery to Iran

Russia has lifted a ban on supplying Iran with a sophisticated air defence missile system.
Delivery of the S-300s was cancelled in 2010 after the UN imposed sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.
But the Russian president gave the go-ahead after Tehran struck an interim deal with world powers to curb nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
The US and Israel have criticised the news.
When it was cancelled, Iran filed a lawsuit seeking billions of dollars in damages.
The S-300 is a surface-to-air missile system that can be used against multiple targets including jets, or to shoot down other missiles.
It is not clear when the system would be delivered. Russia has stopped producing the model specified under the original contract and has instead offered an upgrade.
bbc

Russia threatens to aim nuclear missiles at Denmark ships if it joins NATO shield

Russia threatened to aim nuclear missiles at Danish warships if Denmark joins NATO's missile defense system, in comments Copenhagen called unacceptable and NATO said would not contribute to peace.
Denmark said in August it would contribute radar capacity on some of its warships to the missile shield, which the Western alliance says is designed to protect members from missile launches from countries like Iran.
Moscow opposes the system, arguing that it could reduce the effectiveness of its own nuclear arsenal, leading to a new Cold War-style arms race.
No missiles are to be placed on Danish soil under the NATO program, but they could be deployed some day in Greenland.
Denmark's foreign minister said Russia's comments were unacceptable.
reuters

France scrambled MIrage 2000 after German's wayward flight over nuclear power station

A Mirage 2000 fighter jet was scrambled after a German tourist set off alarm bells after flying his microlight aircraft over two nuclear power stations in the south of France.
The German, who had taken off from Avignon on August 1st for a day’s flying, was forced by authorities to land in the town of Valence escorted by the Mirage 2000.
Security at French nuclear power stations has been repeatedly called into question in recent years. Anti-Nuclear campaigners calling for plants to be closed claiming the poor security makes them an easy terrorist target.
In March this year, around 60 activists from Greenpeace stormed Fessenheim plant - France’s oldest power station to highlight the lack of security and denounce “the risks” taken by France and other countries in Europe by continuing to use nuclear power.
For his part, the German tourist insisted there was nothing sinister behind his flight, telling police that he had flown over the sites by mistake.
He said he flown too low and didn’t look carefully enough at the navigational charts.
He was released after questioning.
However, in May a German doctor was handed a six month suspended sentence after landing his paraglider on the site of the nuclear power plant at Bugey in south eastern France.
thelocal

USAF Defends Shielding Nuclear Force From Service Cutbacks

Air Force brass on Wednesday defended their decision to spare nuclear-arms personnel from the force cutbacks happening in other parts of the service.
The Air Force announced in June that it had decided to retain 4,000 airmen working in the nuclear mission who would otherwise have faced possible involuntary separation from the service. In explaining the decision, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said it was necessary to have "full manning in our nuclear positions" because of the "vital importance of this mission." Earlier this spring, the secretary told that due to budget constraints the service intended to reduce its active-duty force by 16,700 personnel in the next fiscal year.
The Air Force this year has publicly shown more concern for its strategic deterrence mission, after a number of scandals highlighted low morale and a lack of professionalism by some airmen assigned to maintain, operate and protect the service's arsenal of strategic nuclear-tipped missiles.
nti.org

India To Induct Agni-V In 2014

India says it plans to induct the Agni-V ballistic missile into the country’s armed forces by the end of 2014 after the successful launch of the missile last weekend.
The test-firing, the second in two years, was conducted from Wheeler Island off the coast of the eastern state of Odisha. The missile, powered by three-stage solid rocket motors, flew on a predefined path and reached its destination with expected precision.
Jay Menon-aviationweek

All U.S. nuclear reactors vulnerable to terrorism, probe finds

All 107 nuclear reactors in the United States are inadequately protected from terrorist attacks, according to a Defense Department-commissioned report released Thursday.
The report, by the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project at the University of Texas, warns that the current security required of civilian-operated reactors fails to safeguard against airplane attacks, rocket-propelled grenades and more than a small handful of attackers.
mcclatchydc

BRITISH NUCLEAR SUBMARINE DOCKS IN GIBRALTAR AFTER FIVE-YEAR BREAK

The Trafalgar-class ‘hunter killer’ submarine HMS Talent slipped into Gibraltar early yesterday morning, escorted by vessels from the Gibraltar Squadron and the Gibraltar Defence Police.
chronicle

North Korea halts missile launch preparations

North Korea has stopped work on preparing for the launch of a medium-range Musudan ballistic missile, according to government sources in Japan, the United States and South Korea.
Although the U.S. military has also temporarily eased back from being on high alert, the three nations will continue to keep a wary eye on Pyongyang as it is deemed likely that it will continue with its provocative actions in the medium to long term.
The sources said that from about April 20, intelligence units have been unable to intercept radio signals that North Korea had been transmitting on a test basis in preparing for a missile launch. The signals include telemetry signals transmitted by the Musudan missiles to ground bases that would track its course, as well as radar waves used for communications control within the ground base.

ajw.asahi

South Korea Expects Missile Launch by North

The South Korean government warned on Sunday that the North might launch a missile later this week, while a top military leader postponed a scheduled trip to Washington, citing escalating tensions on the peninsula.
The warning by Kim Jang-soo, director of national security for President Park Geun-hye, came three days after the South Korea’s defense minister said that the North had moved to its east coast a missile with a “considerable range” but not capable of reaching the mainland United States.
The missile was widely believed to be the Musudan, which the South Korean military says can travel “more than” 3,000 kilometers or 1,864 miles. But South Korean media and analysts say the missile can extend its range to 4,000 kilometers or 2,490 miles, which would put American bases in Guam within its reach.
nytimes

N. Korea approves nuclear strike on United States

North Korea dramatically escalated its warlike rhetoric on Thursday, warning that it had authorised plans for nuclear strikes on targets in the United States.
"The moment of explosion is approaching fast," the North Korean military said, warning that war could break out "today or tomorrow".
Pyongyang's latest pronouncement came as Washington scrambled to reinforce its Pacific missile defences, preparing to send ground-based interceptors to Guam and dispatching two Aegis class destroyers to the region.
spacewar

Brazil to get its first nuclear subs

Brazil is set to join the select group of countries that have nuclear-powered submarines, President Dilma Rousseff said Friday.
Rousseff stressed Brazil was committed to peace but also needed its defense deterrent, as she inaugurated a naval shipyard in Rio de Janeiro state where the country's first nuclear-powered sub is set to be built in partnership with France.

spacewar