North Korea’s Missile Test Re-Entry Vehicle Burned Up as it Continues to Develop Submarine-Based Cap
North Korea’s Missile Test Re-Entry Vehicle Burned Up as it Continues to Develop Submarine-Based Capability
Osama bin Laden's son Hamza is reportedly set to be the next leader of al-Qaeda and wants the organization to be the most feared and powerful terror group in the world eclipsing the Islamic State (ISIS).
Nigeria has ramped-up its military response to the Boko Haram insurgency in the country’s northeast, and continuing search for oil workers abducted by the jihadist group.
The US military air-strike on Sunday targeted and killed a senior member of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab extremist group, Ali Mohamed Hussein, who served as al-Shabab's shadow governor for Mogadishu.
Al-Shabaab executed a deadly ambush on African Union Mission (AMISOM) forces in southern Somalia yesterday with at least 12 soldiers killed and several others wounded.
Some 9000 Syrians including jihadists from Jabhat al-Nusra now known as Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and their families will cross from Lebanon into Syria as part of a ceasefire deal between a former al-Qaeda affiliate and Hezbollah. In exchange, five Hezbollah prisoners held by fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra will be freed.
It was reported that in the last six months the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has begun using waters further up the Persian Gulf between Kuwait and Iran to circumvent an embargo on arms shipments to its Yemeni Houthi allied.
On the international security front, the US imposed sanctions Monday on Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro, a day after he claimed victory in his attempt to rewrite the Constitution. Maduro has been accused of “deliberately and repeatedly abusing the rights of citizens through the use of violence, repression, and criminalization of demonstrations.” At least 14 people died in the capital and there are reports of improvised explosive device attacks as the country moves towards civil war.
There are new fears of electoral violence in Kenya after a senior Kenyan election official who was found tortured and murdered.
The US Department of Defense and State Department reportedly have plans to supply Ukraine with anti-tank missiles and other weaponry to battle Russia-backed separatists.
US embassy staff in Moscow have been barred from a diplomatic property on the outskirts of Moscow, after Russia agreed to grant access until midday on Tuesday for them to retrieve belongings.
Russia is preparing to send 100,000 troops to the eastern edge of NATO territory at the end of the summer. The troops are bound for exercise “Zapad” Russian for “West,” in Belarus, the Baltic Sea, western Russia and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, and will feature the re-constituted First Guards Tank Army.
Pakistan’s military has forced the ouster of Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, who the view as too soft heightening instability in the nuclear-armed region again.
The Japanese government has protested through diplomatic channels after confirming China started the development of disputed gas fields near the median line in the East China Sea.
The Trump administration is preparing new measures including trade restrictions and economic sanctions against China to put further pressure on North Korea’s major ally.
A newly emerged video captured Friday of North Korea’s latest test of its Hwasong-14 Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) appears to show the rocket’s re-entry vehicle “breaking up” over waters just off Hokkaido in a sign that the North has yet to master technology to ensure the warhead’s survival on re-entry. Brilliant analysis by the US-based think-tank 38 North suggests that the re-entry vehicle in the second test was smaller than the 500-kilogram vehicle in the first test by about 150-200 kilograms and, thus not as robust, and hit the atmosphere as such a high speed that it burned up on re-entry. While there was improvement in terms of the Hwasong-14’s range, the reduction of the re-entry vehicle weight, and its burn up on re-entry means that the test was not successful.
The US military has detected "highly unusual and unprecedented levels" of North Korean submarine activity and evidence of an "ejection test" on Sunday. An ejection test examines a Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile’s (SLBM) "cold-launch system," which uses high pressure steam to propel a missile out of the launch canister into the air before its engines ignite. The test was carried out on land at Sinpo Naval Shipyard, in the third ejection test this month, and fourth this year, key to developing submarine launch missile capabilities. As well, US officials also pointed to a North Korean Sango-class conventional-powered patrol submarine (SSK) operating in the Yellow Sea and the length of its deployment was noteworthy. Two Romeo-class SSK were also detected in the waters off Japan, each operating there for about a week. From all accounts, it looks like North Korea is pushing to develop a sea-based nuclear strike capability to increase the survivability of its limited fission-based deterrent.
South Korea's military reportedly has plans for a 'surgical strike' to kill Kim Jong-un and destroy the North’s missile and nuclear facilities. Taurus cruise missiles fired from F-15 fighters would be used to carry out the decapitation strike backed-up by South K
