TRENDING

U.S. Marine veteran kept in Russian custody for espionage charges

A Moscow court denied release on bail for Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine jailed in Russia on an espionage charge. After the bail hearing on Jan. 22, 2019, Whelan's attorney suggested his client was the victim of a setup. Whelan, who also holds citizenship from Ireland, Canada, and Britain, was arrested in Moscow by Federal Security Service (FSB) agents on Dec. 28, 2018.

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TRENDING
Christopher Woody

US Navy's 'agile' new fleet prepares to counter Russia in the Arctic

In the six months since its activation, the Navy's 2nd Fleet has bulked up and is embracing its mission in the North Atlantic and the Arctic, where the US and its partners are focused on countering a sophisticated and wily Russian navy.

Second Fleet was deactivated in 2011 for budget reasons — 65 years after being set up to deter the Soviet Union in the Atlantic and around Europe. Most of its assets were shifted to Fleet Forces Command.

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History

America wanted to stop Earth's rotation during Cold War

Project Retro envisioned 1,000 rockets that would slow or stop the spin of the Earth, causing the Soviet missiles to land to the east of their targets. But there's a number of problems with the plan. The most important one is "science."

A book from a nuclear whistleblower has a stunning claim that the U.S. Air Force once had a plan to throw off Soviet missiles by stopping the rotation of the earth with a thousand rockets.

Yup, the Wile E. Coyote missile defense plan which, theoretically, could have worked.

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TRENDING
David Blagden

How Britain’s Ministry of Defence plays for time (and money) in a dangerous world

In December 2018, just before policymakers and pundits escaped their besieged bunkers for Christmas, the UK government published the long-awaited final report on its Modernising Defence Programme. This programme was meant to update the military commitments made in the last full-blown Strategic Defence and Security Review of 2015.

How far it has succeeded in that task is debatable, however. The report's brevity and lack of detail left many lamenting a missed opportunity.

Revising 2015's review became necessary thanks to a marked change in circumstances. Partly, those changes are strategic. Relations with Russia have deteriorated even further since 2015, Islamic State (IS) is much diminished, and new military technologies and tactics are advancing.

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TRENDING
Alex Lockie

Israeli fighters dominating Russian-made defenses in Syria

Russia deployed some of its best air defenses to Syria to keep US missiles and jets at bay as the US military's immense air and naval power fought ISIS in close proximity — but the supposedly airtight defenses are routinely defeated by Israel.

In February 2017, a Syrian-manned Russian-made S-200 missile defense system shot down an Israel F-16 returning from a massive raid targeting Iranian forces in Syria.

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TRENDING

Four hospitalized after Russian chemical plant destroyed

Four people were hospitalized with cuts and other injuries after a powerful explosion ripped through a chemical factory in the northwestern Russian city of Kingisepp.

The blast destroyed a two-story building at the Polyplast plant in the city, 140 kilometers southwest of St. Petersburg, Leningrad Oblast Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said.

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TRENDING
Alex Lockie

Putin threatens Europe with massive nuclear torpedo

Russian media appeared to threaten Europe and the world with an article in MK.ru, saying that a new nuclear torpedo could create towering tsunami waves and destroy vast swaths of Earth's population.

Russia's "Poseidon" nuclear torpedo, which leaked in 2015 before being confirmed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2018, represents a different kind of nuclear weapon.

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TRENDING
Alex Lockie

Russia upgrades stealth on its attempted F-35, F-22 killer

Russian media announced on Jan. 11, 2019, that it had significantly improved the stealth on its Su-57 fighter jet by applying a coating to the glass canopy on the cockpit, as well as similar upgrades to its Tu-160 nuclear bomber.

Russia's state-owned defense corporation Rostec told Russian media the new coating "doubles radar wave absorption and reduces the aircraft cockpit's radar signature by 30%" and added that Russia's Su-57, Su-30, Su-34, Su-35, and MiG-29K jets already have the upgrade.

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TRENDING
Terry Thompson

Countering Russian disinformation the Baltic nations’ way

As the new Congress begins, it will soon discuss the comprehensive reports to the U.S. Senate on the disinformation campaign of half-truths, outright fabrications and misleading posts made by agents of the Russian government on social media in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

After years of anemic responses to Russian influence efforts, official U.S. government policy now includes taking action to combat disinformation campaigns sponsored by Russia or other countries. In May 2018, the Senate Intelligence Committee endorsed the concept of treating attacks on the nation's election infrastructure as hostile acts to which the U.S. "will respond accordingly." In June 2018, the Pentagon unleashed U.S. Cyber Command to respond to cyberattacks more aggressively, and the National Cyber Strategy published in September 2018 clarified that "all instruments of national power are available to prevent, respond to, and deter malicious cyber activity against the United States."

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