DTN News - RUSSIA DEFENSE NEWS: ‘Missile Defense Killer’- Russia Finalizes Testing On Prototype ICBM

Asian Defense News: DTN News - RUSSIA DEFENSE NEWS: ‘Missile Defense Killer’- Russia Finalizes Testing On Prototype ICBM

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Russia Today
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - June 10, 2013: Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces have reported a successful launch of a next-generation ICBM that can supposedly pierce any anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system. The test came after the US announced it would resume its ABM program in Europe.

The test missile launched from a mobile pad at 9:45pm (17:45 GMT) on Thursday, the Defense Ministry said Friday. The test was carried out in the Astrakhan region, deep inside Russian territory, and the prototype’s payload successfully hit the Balkhash range in Kazakhstan.

“The test launch was a success as the [simulated] warhead hit a designated target within the set timeframe,” the Russian Defense Ministry statement said. “This test launch was intended to confirm technical characteristics of the missile, as well as to check the safety of the launch procedures and equipment.”

The launch was the fourth successful test of the prototype ICBM. The development of a new solid-fuel ICBM was officially announced in 2012, and is set to gradually replace the existing Topol-M and later the recently developed Yars missile complex. 

Russia will put the new strategic missile complex on combat alert by the end of the year, and deployment of the first regiment will start in 2014, announced the Head of the Main Operations Directorate of the Joint Staff Colonel-General, Vladimir Zarudnitsky.

He made the remarks during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin about assigning officers to higher military ranks.

"In the framework of the approved plan of development of the armed forces of the Russian Federation last night we conducted a test launch of the perspective intercontinental ballistic missile complex Rubezh (‘frontier’) with increased accuracy," Zarudnitsky said, adding that the test launch was ordered to work out "the new combat equipment."

"We assess the launch results as successful, all the blocks (warheads) hit their targets. To complete the tests one more launch is needed, it is scheduled to take place by the end of the year. Then ‘Rubezh’ system will be adopted by the strategic missile forces," Zarudnitsky said.

Tactical training exercises of Air Defense Forces at Kapustin Yar range. Troops prepare the anti-aircraft missile system S-300V to detect and destroy air targets. (RIA Novosti / Kirill Braga)

He also revealed that infrastructure preparations are underway for the new complex, as is personnel training and the coordination of combat crews.

"The new missile complex will have a significantly improved, compared with the existing complexes, maneuvering characteristics that significantly enhance the potential of Russia's nuclear forces to ensure strategic deterrence," Zarudnitsky concluded.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin welcomed the test, calling the new ICBM a “missile defense killer... Neither current nor future American missile defense systems will be able to prevent that missile from hitting a target dead on.”

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. (RIA Novosti / Sergey Mamontov)

Russia maintains at least 58 silo-based Soviet-made P36M ('SS-18 Satan' NATO classification) ballistic missiles, believed to be the most powerful in the world with up to 10 megaton-class warheads. The Strategic Missile Forces have 160 mobile Topol-M ('SS-25 Sickle') missile systems, 50 silo-based and 18 road-mobile Topol-M ('SS-27 Sickle B') systems, and 18 RS-24 Yars systems.

In recent years, two missile divisions were rearmed with the newest Topol-M and Yars systems, and more will follow in 2013. The Defense Ministry is also preparing to introduce the latest automated battle management system (ASBU), enabling rapid retargeting of ICBMs.

Russia sped up development of new intercontinental ballistic missile systems after the US announced plans to continue deploying its missile defense system in Eastern Europe, near Russian borders.

 

Tactical exercises of the Air Defense Forces at Kapustin Yar range. Anti-aircraft S-300V missile system. (RIA Novosti / Kirill Braga)

The issue of the US missile shield in Europe has become a major stumbling block in Russia-US relations. Moscow has demanded legal guarantees from Washington that missile defense systems deployed in Europe would not target Russia's strategic nuclear deterrence capabilities. But Washington refused, citing a need to protect Europe from ‘rogue states' like Iran and North Korea.

In mid-March of 2013, Washington attempted to engage Moscow in new talks about further nuclear arms reduction, after presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev agreed to reduce their nuclear stocks with the New START arms reduction treaty. The US said it would no longer deploy SM-3 IIB ballistic missile interceptors in Poland until 2022.

Nevertheless, Moscow still demands legally binding guarantees from Washington that the system's intentions are peaceful.

On Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry met with the Polish Foreign Minister, and committed to deploy missile defenses in Poland by 2018 as planned. “We are on track to deploy a missile defense site in Poland by 2018 as part of NATO’s modernized approach to our security,” Kerry said.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Russia Today
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - BREAKING NEWS: Russia’s Sukhoi SuperJet-100 Goes Off Radars In Jakarta, Hijacking Not Ruled Out

Asian Defense News: DTN News - BREAKING NEWS: Russia’s Sukhoi SuperJet-100 Goes Off Radars In Jakarta, Hijacking Not Ruled Out
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources RT
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 11, 2012: A Russian jet carrying 50 passengers has disappeared from the radars during a demonstration flight for potential buyers in the Indonesian capital. Hijacking and a high-altitude crash into a mountain have not been ruled out.


Due to low visibility and fog the helicopters had to stop the search and return to base. The rescue operation is now restricted to a ground search. The search will continue throughout the night. 

“Now we are mobilizing ground teams in coordination with the local police and military units to find the aircraft’s whereabouts,” the Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency chief, Vice Marshal Daryatmo told the Jakarta Post.

Rescuers have updated the plane's last-known coordinates and narrowed the search area. In the morning, five helicopters are expected to join the rescue operation. According to Russian diplomats, connection with the plane was lost as it passed over the western end of Java. The search mission is concentrating around Mount Salak, a 2,200-meter-high volcano about 50 km from the airport. 

Indonesia's Transport Ministry is still considering the plane as “missing,” as a crash has not been confirmed.

The latest reports suggest the mobile phones of several passengers might still be working. Blogger and traveler Sergey Dolya, who was on a previous flight on the same aircraft, tweeted that he has been trying to call his Russian friends for several hours. 

“Sometimes the calls go through, sometimes they get rejected. But no one picks up. Locals do not know how to locate [the phone’s position],” a recent tweet by Dolya says. Dolya has also tweeted that he sent a short message to each of the phones and is now waiting to receive delivery notifications.

Earlier, the director of Angkasa Aviation magazine said he was calling his two employees onboard the missing plane and nobody was answering, though a “call waiting tone" could be heard.

The plane went missing 20 minutes into its demonstration flight. The aircraft did not return to the airport at the scheduled time following takeoff.  By that time, the fuel should have been totally spent. 

Shortly before going off the radar, the crew of the aircraft had asked for permission to descend. It got permission to descend from an altitude of 10,000 feet to 6,000, after which radio contact was lost.

The Sukhoi SuperJet-100 is a modern regional jet with a passenger capacity of up to 100 people. It was designed by the Russian aerospace company Sukhoi in co-operation with Alenia Aeronautica. It is the first civil aircraft developed in post-soviet Russia. The aircraft conducted its maiden flight on May 19, 2008. In January 2011 the plane was certified by the Interstate Aviation Committee.  It was subsequently certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency in February 2012. The Sukhoi Superjet 100 flies at a Maximum Operating Speed of Mach 0.81and can reach an altitude of 40,000 feet. The operating range for the basic version is 3,048 km and 4,578 km for the long range version. Since its first commercial flight on April 2011, SuperJet has performed over 3300 flights. Currently there are eight jets operated by Armavia and Aeroflot.

There were 50 people onboard, including 8 Russians, two Italians, a French, an American, and 38 Indonesians – mostly representatives from major airline companies.

The aircraft was operated by a Russian crew: senior test-pilot Aleksandr Yablontsev and co-pilot Aleksandr Kochetkov.

RIA Novosti also released the names of six other Russian nationals. Aero navigator Oleg Shvetsov, flight engineer Aleksey Kirkin, leading test flight engineer Dennis Rakhmanov, test flight deputy head Nikolay Martyshenko, “Sukhoi” company Sales Director Evgeny Grebenshchikov, and contract manager Kristina Kurzhukova were all reportedly on board.

Indonesian authorities have called in a crisis group comprising local authorities and Russian embassy employees. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Industry and the airplane manufacturer to investigate the incident.

Sukhoi's Asian expo tour

The Russian aircraft arrived in Indonesia on May 9 – the fourth stop on its Asian demonstrative tour, which includes six countries in total. The plane had previously visited Myanmar, Pakistan and Kazakhstan. After Jakarta it was supposed to go to two more Asian countries – Laos and Vietnam.

The aircraft has already made one half-hour long demonstration flight in Jakarta. The first time it took to the skies, flight attendants from the Sky Aviation airliner, representatives from “VEB-Leasing” company, and others from a Russian insurance agency were on board.  

During its second flight, the aircraft took the potential buyers – representatives from Indonesia’s Batavia, Pelita, Air Aviastar, and Sriwijaya Air. 

Olga Kulikova, press-secretary for Russia’s “United Aircraft Corporation”, told RT the first flight went without a hitch and there were no signs of trouble the second time around.   

“Both flights were carried out from the same airport in Jakarta. Before the second flight, the plane underwent required maintenance and was technically in good order.”

Hardware failure, human error or hijacking?

Shortly before going off the radar, the crew of the aircraft had asked for permission to descend. They received permission to lower from an altitude of 10,000 feet to 6,000, after which radio contact was lost. There is a 6,200 foot-high mountain in the area where the plane went missing. Rescuers fear the plane may have crashed into it.

The plane's alleged trajectory is shown on a photo tweeted by blogger Sergey Dolya from the emergency operation center. The plane flew around the mountain, then sharply changed course as it began descending near a point marked with black arrows. 

Photo Sergey Dolya / @dolyasergey

That part of Jakarta has very rough terrain, former test pilot Magomed Tolboev, who used to fly there, told RT. “There is a mountain 6,158 feet high, it's very difficult,” he said. “The pilot must have seen the mountain because the plane is very modern. It is equipped with all the latest aviation equipment.”

Pilot Martin Medic agrees that properly-working ground proximity warning systems would have warned the plane’s crew in time enough to “avoid any kind of collision with terrain.”

However, Indonesian aviation authorities have not ruled out the possibility that the aircraft was hijacked. They say that in the case of a crash, an emergency beacon should have immediately gone off, which did not happen.

But Chris Yates, an aviation expert, rejects the hijacking scenario because in that case, some kind of “radar blip on the screen” would indicate where the aircraft might be.

Meanwhile, David Learmount, formerly of the aviation news website Flightglobal, believes that the fact that this particular flight was a demonstration for prospective customers could be a significant part of the equation. Quite a large number of flight accidents take place purely because the aircraft are being shown off right up to the edges of their potential, he told RT.

“It was a display flight, it was a demonstration flight,” Learmount said. “Sometimes the pilots or the crews deliberately take the aircraft right to their limits. And they do that sometimes when the aircraft is quite close to the ground. That is what a demonstration flight is often like. Sometimes they push the limits just too far. And that might have happened.”

Meanwhile, witnesses living near Salak Mountain say they heard and saw the missing aircraft flying over the Gunung Halimun Salak National Park, the park’s management told the Jakarta Post. So far the park authorities have failed to locate the plane.

Superjet-100 (RIA Novosti / Iliya Pitalev)

Incident history 

Since the SuperJet-100 was accepted into service, there have been several minor incidents involving the aircraft. None of the incidents resulted in injury or death. 

• On May 6, 2012, an SSJ-100 shortly veered off of a runway upon landing at the Airport in Kazan.
• On March 16, 2012, a jet had to make a u-turn and return to Moscow during a flight to Astrakhan after the crew discovered the landing gear had not been fully retracted. 
• On December 25, 2011, the flight of an SSJ-95 modification of a SuperJet from Minsk was cancelled due to a landing gear failure. The aircraft returned to Moscow without passengers.

Sukhoi SuperJet being inspected before its demo flight (Image from fotografersha.livejournal.com)

Emergency operation center (Photo by Sergey Dolya / @dolyasergey)

Photo by Sergey Dolya / @dolyasergey

Photo by Sergey Dolya / @dolyasergey

Photo by Sergey Dolya / @dolyasergey

Photo by Sergey Dolya / @dolyasergey

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources RT
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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