When I hauled myself aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Barry, one of the first things I was shown was the ship's 5-inch, 127mm gun.

"This is how the Barry pays its bills," the ensign showing me around said.

What she meant was that even though the Barry carries an array of missiles including Tomahawks, SM-2s, and SM-3s, among others, the 5-inch is the weapon of choice when engaging any surface, air, or shore targets.

Loaded with an assortment of devastating rounds the gun can pound out its 20-projectile magazine in about a minute while maintaining pinpoint accuracy through computerized targeting.

The crew of the USS Barry allowed me to poke around into all aspects of the 5-inch weapon, allowing me to explore deep in the ship's magazine, as well as the firing room.

What goes into making this gun so devastating may surprise you.

This post was originally reported, written, and produced by Robert Johnson

The 5-Inch Light Weight Gun Mount is the Navy's main anti-surface gun.

The 5-inch is more economical than a guided missile and extremely accurate up to about 15 miles away.

In a time of conflict the order to fire the gun comes from here: the bridge of the USS Barry. But getting the weapon to fire and making sure it hits the target requires coordination among people all over the ship.

The Laser Weapon System, or LaWS, is the first weaponized laser on a US warship.

The 100-kilowatt turret was installed aboard the USS Ponce this summer as part of a $40 million research-and-development project to explore the potential of a weapons system that doesn't require expensive traditional projectiles.

Missiles, along with the military systems and vehicles they are launched from, come at an exorbitant price.

This is what the laser-system operator views when selecting the target:

As the graphic from Stratfor below shows, a single SM-2 missile costs $400,000.

That's an awful lot of taxpayer money to spend on destroying modest targets like small enemy vessels or drones, which LaWS successfully brought down in tests done in November.

Projectiles used in missile defense are costly. Israel's Iron Dome rocket defense system, for instance, can reliably shoot down cheap ($750) incoming rockets, but it does so with a $40,000 interceptor of its own.

In contrast, the energy for a single laser shot from the LaWS comes at the much more sensible pricetag of $1.

The graphic also shows that the LaWS technology only culminates in the turret visible on the ship's deck. The beam director is linked to the lasers' power source via fiber-optic cables.

US Central Command has given the USS Ponce's commander clearance to use the LaWS in a defensive capacity.

Here is a video of the LaWS system in action:

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Russia has moved some advanced air defense systems to the Arctic in order to increase the capabilities of the country's Northern Fleet, according to Russia's Sputnik News.

"A division of air defense of the Northern Fleet has adopted into service new S-400 Triumph air defense missile systems," Vadim Serga, the fleet's spokesperson, said on Friday. 

The S-400 is a long-range surface-to-air missile system that can engage a variety of targets, including aircraft, drones, and other missiles. Triumph air defense missile systems can engage targets up to 250 miles away and at a maximum altitude of 18.6 miles. 

A total of nine S-400 regiments are expected to be deployed by Russia across the Arctic in the coming months.

The inclusion of heavy aerial defenses in the Arctic coincides with Russia's push to further militarize three crucial geopolitical frontlines — the Arctic, Crimea, and the exclave of Kaliningrad — as part of a new and ambitious military doctrine.

Military expansion in the Arctic has been a major Russian objective for the better part of the last decade. This special focus on the region is aimed at ensuring access to potential energy resources on the Arctic sea bed while countering anticipated Danish, Norwegian, Canadian, and US claims. 

The US estimates that upwards of 15% of the earth's remaining oil, 30% of its natural gas, and 20% of its liquefied natural gas are stored in the Arctic sea bed. 

Moscow has undertaken a construction blitz across the Arctic in order to maintain Russian military superiority in the region. Russia is constructing ten Arctic search-and-rescue stations, 16 deepwater ports, 13 airfields, and ten air-defense radar stations across its vast Arctic coast. 

As part of this policy, Russia began moving troops towards a new military installation 31 miles from the Finnish border. As of Jan. 13, 800 out of the proposed 3,000 servicemen had been moved to this new base. 

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The Navy is massively expanding its planned use of the Standard Missile-6, a new high-tech ship-launched surface-to-air missile that can destroy enemy missiles, aircraft and unmanned systems.

In total, the Navy has authorized use of the SM-6 to expand from five ships to more than 35 ships.

“This effort is steeped in fleet requirements, focusing on delivering capability to support urgent operational needs in targeted areas of responsibility,” a Navy official told Military​.com.

Previously, the SM-6 was only configured to fire from the most recent Aegis radar combat weapons system on Navy ships, a system called Aegis baseline nine. The Navy’s new authorization allows the SM-6 to integrate with the software and electronics used in Aegis Combat Weapon System baselines 5.3 and 3.A.0.

The Navy’s Aegis Weapon System, currently deployed on cruisers and destroyers, is a command and control technology using computers linked to a multi-function, phased array AN/SPY-1B radar. The high-powered, four-megawatt Aegis radar is able to search and track more than 100 potential targets, Navy officials said.

“We came to the realization that we can do AAW(anti-air warfare) with baseline 5. That opened up a world of potential for concept of operations for the Navy — for fleet defense and area defense strategies,” said Mike Campisi, SM-6 program director, Raytheon.

The SM-6, which first became operational in December of last year, is engineered with both an active and semi-active seeker, giving it an increased ability to discern and discriminate targets when compared to other missiles, Campisi explained.

“It has capabilities to go over-the-horizon,” he said.

In addition to missile defense and defense against fixed and rotary wing aircraft, the SM-6 can also defend against land-attack and anti-ship cruise missiles in flight. Having an over-the-horizon ability against anti-ship cruise missiles could prove extremely advantageous as it brings the possibility of destroying them at much greater ranges.

“As we pursue the multi-mission role for SM-6, we’re trying to understand the entire kill chain,” Campisi said.

Also, by having active guidance technology engineered into the missile, the SM-6 extends the range of the ship’s radar and also frees up the ship’s radar to focus on additional potential targets.

“Semi-Active mode means the radar has to see what it’s shooting at and guide in the missile. A ship’s radar won’t see over the horizon and won’t be able to guide in to anything that is beyond the horizon. Active mode is not tied to radar,” Campisi said.

So far, Raytheon has delivered 160 SM-6 missiles to the Navy and is on contract to deliver another 232 missiles. The Navy plans to move into full-rate production of the SM-6 in April of this year as an initial move toward eventually procuring as many as 1,800 SM-6 missiles.

Final SM-6 assembly takes place at Raytheon’s production facility at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.

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Pakistan says it has tested a short-range missile with capability to carry nuclear or conventional warheads.

The military said on February 2 that the domestically built Ra'ad cruise missile has a range of 350 kilometers and is able to maneuver during flight.

The terrain-hugging missile "enables Pakistan to achieve strategic standoff capability on land and at sea," the statement said.

It added that cruise technology had been developed by "only a few countries."

The launch comes two days after rival India announced it successfully tested a long-range ballistic missile from a mobile launcher.

Pakistan and India conducted nuclear tests days apart in 1998, after decades of secretly developing the capability.

The two neighbors have fought two wars over Kashmir, which both countries claim as their own.

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Russian mobile ballistic missile launchers have been put on combat patrol mission in six Russian regions.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman for Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN) Colonel Igor Yegorov said on February 4 that "the Topol, Topol-M and Yars mobile launchers are drilling combat duty tasks in six regions of the country with extended combat patrolling time."

Yegorov said that some 700 pieces of military equipment, including launchers, have been deployed in several regions across Russia. 

Yegorov added that the time of winter combat patrolling has been extended by nearly a month this year. 

"This means that each missile regiment will spend on combat patrolling routes about 60 days per year," Yegorov said. 

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North Korea successfully launched five missiles that have the potential to significantly increase the threat against US, South Korean, and Japanese ships operating around the Korean peninsula. 

On Feb. 8, the North Korean military fired five missiles from the country's eastern coast into the Sea of Japan. All five of the missile launches were successful, and the projectiles had a range of about 124 miles (200 kilometers), according to Victor Cha of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

North Korea claims that the missiles are “ultra-precision anti-ship rocket[s]." Based on what's known about their design, they were either provided by Russia reverse-engineered from Russian designs. 

"Whether the North reverse-engineered the missiles, or they were supplied by the Russians, the integration of this into the North's military would suggest a substantial upgrade in their threat to US, ROK, and Japanese ships in the area," Cha writes. 

The missiles represent an alarming new capability for the North Korean military. The missiles are quasi-ballistic and have the ability to change direction mid-flight, allowing for increased accuracy. Their increased range is also a cause for concern. 

“That its missiles ranges are getting longer probably implies that the North might have USFK’s Camp Pyeongtaek and Osan Air Base in its inland shooting range,” Yang Uk, a senior researcher with the Korea Defense and Security Forum, told Stars and Stripes. “I think we’re going to need to be more careful about it.” 

Due to the success of the launch, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has said he will deploy the missiles across North Korea's Navy "before long." 

The missile can travel at high speeds meters above the water, making interception difficult. Due to their range and speed, the missiles add teeth to North Korea's threats of developing its Navy. The projectiles, which bear significant similarities to Russian KH-35 missiles, also raise questions of how much Moscow may have helped Pyongyang develop this capability. 

The Feb. 8 launch was the second missile launch that North Korea has conducted in 2015. The first launch was on Feb. 6. 

The tests are a show of strength from North Korea as the US and South Korea are set to conduct annual bilateral military exercises in March. North Korea views these exercises as a form of aggression, according to Reuters.

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The US Navy has successfully altered a Raytheon Tomahawk land-attack missile (TLAM) to be able to hit a moving target at sea, USNI News reports. 

In a Jan. 27 test off of San Nicolas Island, California, the Navy launched a TLAM that was guided into a moving maritime target through directions given by a Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet flying overhead. TLAMs are capable of changing their direction mid-course.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work, the Pentagon's second-highest-ranked civilian, praised the successful test of the missile during a keynote speech at the WEST 2015 conference. He said the missiles were part of the Pentagon's "Third Offset Strategy," an initiative focused on research into new long-range weapons. 

"A big part of the Third Offset Strategies is to find new and innovative ways to deploy promising technologies," Work said. "This is potentially a game-changing capability for not a lot of cost. It's a 1,000-mile anti-ship cruise missile."

TLAMs are already used for land-attack missions against static targets. By converting TLAMs into missiles capable of penetrating thickly armored vessels at sea, the Navy plugs a serious gap in its weapons capabilities. According to USNI News, TLAMs that have been converted into anti-ship missiles could be used aboard the Navy's newer guided-missile destroyers, which cannot use the service's antiquated RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile. 

The new converted TLAMs would have a range of almost 1,000 nautical miles, allowing the US to maintain a considerable edge over rival naval powers. One of China's most threatening new military advancements is its development of its own advanced anti-ship cruise missiles. However, these missiles would have just half the range of a converted TLAM. 

If fully adapted, the newest iteration of the TLAM will function as a stop-gap measure until the Navy's next-generation Long-Range Anti-Ship missile is ready for action. 

Here's how last month's test went down.

The Tomahawk missile, after being outfitted with new sensors, was guided into a moving target by an overhead Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

The test was successful. The missile penetrated a moving maritime target, a milestone for the Tomahawk weapons system.

Here is a video of the converted TLAM in action. 

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Russia has launched what it calls the largest-ever exercises of its strategic-missile forces in 12 regions across the country.

Defense Ministry spokesman Colonel Igor Yegorov said "both road-mobile and silo-based missile systems" are taking part in the drills that began on February 12.

Yegorov said more than 30 missile regiments are involved in the maneuvers being held in an area ranging from the western Tver region to the eastern Siberian region of Irkutsk.

He said strategic-missile units were practicing several missions, including "red alert, maneuvering in actual combat, deterrence of sabotage units, and precision-guidance attacks."

Earlier on February 6, Yegorov said Russian mobile ballistic-missile launchers were put on combat-patrol in six regions, adding that the time for winter combat patrols by each regiment had been extended from 30 to almost 60 days per year.

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North Korea conducted the first flight test of a new submarine-launched ballistic missile last month, defense officials said this week.

The flight test of what the Pentagon is calling the KN-11 missile took place Jan. 23 off the coast of North Korea from a sea-based platform — not a submarine — located off the coast of the communist state, said officials familiar with reports of the flight test.

U.S. intelligence ships and aircraft monitored the test and tracked the successful missile firing.

Additional details of the flight test could not be learned. A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on the test, citing the sensitivity of information about North Korea’s SLBM program.

The flight test followed a land-based ejection test of the KN-11 in November from a static launcher located at the North’s Sinpo South Shipyard in November. Sinpo is a port city on North Korea’s southeastern coast about 100 miles from the Demilitarized Zone separating North Korea from rival South Korea.

The flight test is being viewed by US intelligence analysts as a significant step forward for Pyongyang’s submarine-launched ballistic missile program. The new program was first disclosed by the Washington Free Beacon Aug. 26.

Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Vincent R. Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the House Armed Services Committee Feb. 3 that North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs “pose a serious threat to the U.S. and regional allies.”

“Pyongyang maintains that nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities are essential to ensure its sovereignty,” Stewart said in a prepared statement.

“Because of its conventional military deficiencies, the DPRK [North Korea] also has concentrated on improving its deterrence capabilities, especially its nuclear technology and ballistic missile forces.”

Stewart added that DIA is concerned North Korea will conduct a fourth underground nuclear test in the future.

The DIA director’s testimony made no mention of the SLBM program. But he said: “Pyongyang also is making efforts to expand and modernize its deployed missile forces consisting of close-, short-, medium-, and intermediate-range systems.”

“It seeks to develop longer-range ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons to the United States and continues efforts to bring its KN-08 road-mobile ICBM to operational capacity.

Other analysts assess the SLBM missile will be developed as a nuclear delivery system for Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal. A submarine-launched nuclear missile would add a more-difficult target to U.S. regional deterrence and missile defenses.

Since the SLBM program was disclosed last year, South Korea’s government has confirmed the program.

Rick Fisher, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, said the use of a floating launch platform indicates the KN-11 could be launched from a military or commercial ship as well as from a submarine.

Platform test launches also indicate that the weapon is in an early stage of development and is not ready to be launched from a submerged submarine.

“For Pyongyang, using the KN-11 from ships as well as submarines rapidly increases the number of potential launch platforms, as it also complicates US and allied efforts to monitor a new North Korean missile threat,” Fisher said.

“Firing the KN-11 from a floating platform is still useful, as it would go far to help verify whether the missile’s guidance system is able to compensate very quickly for wave motion in order to achieve the desired trajectory for the greatest accuracy.”

As for why Pyongyang is building the underwater missile, Fisher said: “The advent of the KN-11 offers North Korea the means to launch missile strikes against U.S. forces in Japan or against South Korea and Japanese targets, from multiple directions, from land bases, and from the sea.”

Fisher said in response to the missile that the Pentagon should urgently build up additional missile defenses and revive US sea-based tactical nuclear arms in the region to bolster deterrence.

The Pentagon’s retirement of submarine-launched Tomahawk missile in 2010 was a “major mistake,” he said.

Bruce E. Bechtol, a North Korea specialist, said the major threat from any North Korean ballistic missile is whether the weapon is mobile — thus more difficult to target — and whether it can hit U.S. cities and carry a nuclear warhead.

US intelligence agencies suspect North Korea in 2013 had developed a small nuclear warhead for delivery on long-range missiles after its third nuclear test.

“The North Koreans appear to be moving toward at least two of the three key parts of the threat a missile could pose to the United States,” said Bechtol, a former Defense Intelligence Agency official currently at Angelo State University.

“If and when they are able to launch the SLBM from a submarine, it means a platform that is mobile enough that it would likely be difficult for US missile defenses to track,” he said. “The fact that the submarine could move to within just a few miles of American coastlines such as Alaska, Hawaii, or the west coast of the United States, means they could meet the second part of the missile threat to the US.”

North Korea probably obtained small nuclear warhead know-how from the Pakistani nuclear supplier group headed by A.Q. Khan.

“The fact that the North Koreans have test-launched this missile — even though it was not from a submarine — means that the DPRK is advancing their SLBM program,” Bechtol said. “This is a threat — a direct threat — to the United States that should be taken seriously if it comes to fruition.”

A US think tank, 38 North, last year revealed satellite photos of the Sinpo development site that included a land-based missile test stand and a Soviet-era submarine capable of launching missile from its conning tower.

On Jan. 8, 38 North revealed additional satellite photos showing what it calls the Sinpo-class missile submarine with one or two missile launch tubes.

“In addition, imagery over the past six months indicates that North Korea has been upgrading facilities at the Sinpo South Shipyard in preparation for a significant naval construction program, possibly related to submarine development,” 38 North stated in an article written by North Korea expert Joseph S. Bermudez Jr.

“The presence of vertical launch tubes, if confirmed by additional evidence, would signal a significant advance in North Korean naval construction capabilities and could represent an embryonic step towards expanding Pyongyang’s missile threat to South Korea, Japan and US bases in East Asia,” Bermudez wrote.

“It would also complicate regional missile defense planning, deployment, and operations,” he added. “North Korean missile-carrying submarines could be challenging to locate and track, would be mobile assets with the capability to attack from any direction, and would be able to operate at significant distances from the Korean peninsula.”

North Korea obtained from Russia SS-N-6 submarine-launched ballistic missiles several years ago. The missile was adapted to North Korea’s Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile.

North Korea also has six KN-08 road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles that were developed with launchers supplied by China.

The submarine North Korea plans to deploy the KN-11 on is not known.

North Korea obtained several decommissioned Soviet-era Golf II ballistic-missile submarines in the early 1990s.

Pyongyang may seek to copy or adapt the design of the Golf II for an indigenous missile submarine.

In another development, North Korea’s state-run news media reported Feb. 7 that the country’s military conducted a test firing of a precision-guided anti-ship cruise missile.

In addition, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un recently toured several military units and urged troops to be fully prepared for combat.

“Since November when the North began to stage winter drills, Kim has visited military units 10 times. While leading some aggressive exercises, he has encouraged the military to complete their readiness this year to fight,” South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo told legislators in Seoul, according to the semi-official Yonhap news agency Feb. 7.

Earlier this month South Korea announced the creation of an upgraded submarine command structure for its fleet of submarines. The command will operate South Korea’s 13 submarines that previously were subordinated to a surface fleet.

Some 20 U.S. Marines and 200 South Korean Marines conducted joint maritime infiltration exercises near the South’s border islands with North Korea on Feb. 10.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is "deeply concerned" about North Korea's nuclear advances, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday after a U.S. research institute predicted Pyongyang could possess as many as 100 nuclear weapons within five years.

Sung Kim, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy, told a Washington seminar he could not comment on findings presented earlier by experts at the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, because he had not seen the report and U.S. government assessments were classified.

"(But) obviously we are deeply concerned about the fact that the North Koreans are continuing to advance their nuclear capabilities; we know that they are continuing to work on their nuclear program," Kim said when asked about the report.

Experts at the U.S.-Korea Institute presented three scenarios for North Korea’s future nuclear stockpile, which they estimated currently amount to 10-16 weapons.

In the first, assuming minimal technological improvements, the stockpile was expected to grow to 20 weapons by 2020. In the second, it could grow to 50 and advances in miniaturization would allow North Korea to mount warheads on a new generation of intermediate- and shorter-range ballistic missiles.

The report's co-author, Joel Wit, described a "worst-case scenario", which would see an increase to 100 devices and significant technological advances allowing North Korea to deploy battlefield and tactical weapons if it chose to.

"This is a pretty scary scenario," Wit said, adding that the more nuclear weapons North Korea had, the more difficult it would be to try to coerce it to rolling back its nuclear program.

"To me it's a risky business trying to punish a country with so many nuclear weapons.”

The report said North Korea's existing missile systems were able to reach most of Northeast Asia, particularly its foes South Korea and Japan, and Pyongyang may also in the future be able to deploy a limited number of Taepodong missiles - a militarized version of a space-launch vehicle - that could reach the United States.

Kim said concern over North Korean advances was driving international diplomatic efforts "to find a credible path to negotiation so that we can stop North Korea’s development of their nuclear capabilities."

He said Washington was "under no illusions" about North Korea's willingness to denuclearize voluntarily and would "continue to apply pressure both multilaterally and unilaterally" though sanctions to increase the cost of failing to do so.

(Editing by Ken Wills)

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A senior general claims that Tehran had worked to develop technology to hit moving targets at sea

Senior Iranian military general Hossein Salami said during a televised interview in early February that after years of research, Iran tested the capability of ballistic missiles to sink aircraft carriers almost a decade ago.

Salami, the Deputy Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said in the interview, which aired on state-run IRINN channel, that the testing “demonstrated that we were one step closer to destroying an aircraft carrier.”

During the interview, which was translated and released by the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute Monday, Salami described the research and testing process when he served as the IRGC air force commander eight years ago.

Taking anti-missile defense systems into consideration, Salami said that the military’s researchers were forced to come up with alternatives to counter the technology.

He said they eventually began testing the use of ballistic missiles to destroy moving targets at sea, and said that Iran was likely the only one to posses the “very complex technology.”

He said that during the IRGC’s most successful test, the missile landed approximately 10 meters away from the desired target, and earned his team praise by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The US Navy’s Fifth Fleet currently has two aircraft deployed in the Persian Gulf, the USS George Washington and the USS Independence.

Earlier in February, Iranian state TV channel ran a documentary featuring a computerized video of Iranian drones bombing Tel Aviv, Haifa, Ben Gurion Airport and the Dimona nuclear reactor in a hypothetical retaliation for an Israeli or American strike on the Islamic Republic.

As recently as Saturday, a senior figure in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that should Israel launch a preemptive attack on his country to stop the project, Tel Aviv, Israel’s financial and cultural hub, would be destroyed.

Netanyahu has long threatened to attack Iran in order to destroy, or at least hobble, its nuclear program, although such threats have largely tapered off since the West launched nuclear negotiations with Tehran.

Although Iran insists its nuclear program is meant for peaceful purposes only, it has defied economic sanctions to pursue the project, remained uncooperative with United Nations inspectors and threatened repeatedly to attack Israel, a major opponent of the current negotiations.

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This week at the the International Defense Exposition and Conference, visitors got a taste of China's military technologies.

Most of the companies in the China Pavilion opted to display small models of vehicles and unmanned aircraft rather than full-sized systems.

Others shied away from displaying technical data or brochures on any item that could be considered even remotely sensitive.

Norinco — a Chinese manufacturer of ground vehicles, precision weaponry and small arms — showcased its AR3 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System.

The AR3 can fire eight 370 mm or 10 300 mm rockets that have a range of 174 and 81 miles respectively, a representative from the company said.

She declined to give further details. “If you were a customer I could tell you more,” she said.

Poly Technologies, Inc.’s 07PD 8x8 multi-weaponry armored vehicle made its international debut at the show.

The O7PD shown at the conference was outfitted with anti-tank guided missiles and can be configured as an armored personnel carrier and mortar carrier.

Aerospace Long-March International Trade Co., Ltd, or ALIT, exhibited models of CH-4 medium-altitude, long endurance unmanned aerial system and CH-91 UAS, but the only data made available on the aircraft was the endurance —five hours for the CH-91, 30 for the CH-4A and 14 for the CH-4B.

ALIT did offer some technical data, but only on items such as barbed wire and folding chairs.

At IDEX’s new unmanned system exhibit, or UMEX, AEE Technology Co, Ltd. promoted its F100 and F50 quadcopters used by the Chinese military. Both drones cruise at speeds of about 30 miles an hour, according to company information.

The larger F100 weighs 16 pounds, and has a 50-minute battery life and a maximum flight ceiling of 4,900 feet. It is equipped with a “duo camera” that can toggle between 100-degree field of view and a more magnified 30-degree swatch of that imagery. It can transmit video from distances up to six miles away from the user.

The four-pound F50 can be equipped with electro optical, low light and thermal imaging cameras and can send data from about 3.7 miles away. It can reach altitudes of 50 feet and remain in the air for 40 minutes without needing to be recharged.

China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corp. displayed information about some of its unmanned aerial systems, including an amphibious craft that can take off and land in the water. The UVS-S100 has a 40-feet wingspan as well as a propeller affixed to back of the fuselage. It can carry a 440-pound payload, fly speeds of up to 118 miles an hour and stay in the air for up to eight hours. It can be outfitted with a laser rangefinder, electro-optical camera and synthetic aperture radar.

Chinese naval power was also visible. The China Shipbuilding Trading Co. booth featured models of several of its designs including an offshore patrol vessel, large landing ship, replenishment ship and 500-ton missile corvette.

The 1,500-ton offshore patrol vessel can sprint at 25 knots and is equipped with eight surface-to-surface missiles, a 76 mm gun and two 23 mm guns. It also is outfitted with unspecified electronic warfare system and surface movement and navigation radars.

The missile corvette can sprint at 33 knots and has a 1,800-mile range at 18 knots. It is armed with six surface-to-surface missiles, a twin 37 mm gun and two twin 30 mm guns. Like the patrol vessel, the corvette has surface movement and navigation radars. It also contains an electronic warfare system as well as four chaff launchers, which emit a cloud of aluminum or other material that can confuse enemy radar systems.

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Lockheed Martin has released slow-motion footage of its new turreted weapon system successfully launching Hellfire and DAGR missiles. 

The YouTube video demonstrates Lockheed Martin's Long-Range Surveillance and Attack Vehicle (LRSAV) successfully carrying out ground-to-ground missile tests, held at Elgin Air Force Base in Florida last October.

During the tests the LRSAV launched a HELLFIRE missile 4 miles away from its target and the DAGR missile 2.2 miles away from the target. Both missiles locked onto and successfully hit their targets. 

The LRSAV is a turret weapon system, meaning that any target in a 360-degree area around the vehicle can be targeted. 

The LRSAV can also be linked with AH-64D Apache helicopters to remotely designate targets. 

In the demonstration, the missiles successfully locked onto their targets both before and after launch. 

The range of the LRSAV allows it to accurately engage targets from a safe standoff distance.  

Here is a missile strike at full speed. 

Here's the full video:

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On March 2 between 6:31 a.m. to 6:41 a.m. (local time in South Korea) North Korea fired two missiles into the East Sea from the western port city of Nampo.

According to the South Korean ministry of national defense, the missiles are presumed to be Scud-C because of their range, which was estimated to be 490 kilometers (304 miles).

The missile tests came as the United States and South Korea began their annual Key Resolve (March 2 - 13) and Foal Eagle (March 2 - April 24) military exercises on the same day.

Earlier in the day, a spokesperson for General Staff of the Korean People's Army (North Korea) had issued a statement threatening "merciless strikes" against the United States and South Korea for conducting their military exercises, which they see as a rehearsal for an invasion of the North.

Such provocative words were also voiced just a day ago by Kim Jong-un himself, where he instructed North Korean troops to be "fully prepared for war" and be ready to tear the "Stars and Stripes" to pieces during a visit to a Korean War museum.

Q: What are these annual US-ROK exercises?

Key Resolve and Foal Eagle are annual joint military exercises conducted by the United States and South Korea on the Korean peninsula each spring.

Key Resolve is a table-top exercise simulating communication, command, and control drills, and lasts a little over one week.

Foal Eagle consists of field training that combines air, land, and sea exercises involving 12,500 US troops and over 200,000 ROK troops. These exercises are defensive in nature.

Q2: Is the North Korean missile test unusual in the face of recent diplomatic overtures to Russia and to South Korea?

No. It is not unusual for North Korea to mix provocations and diplomacy in order to maximize its bargaining leverage.

North Korea offered to implement a nuclear freeze in return for suspension of exercises last month, which the State Department rejected on the grounds that US-ROK military exercises were lawful while the North’s nuclear program was not.

Today's missile tests are the third this year by North Korea. Last month it had test fired a new "cutting-edge" anti-ship missile on February 7, and had also fired 5 short-range-missiles (which flew 200 km) a day later into the East Sea from the western port city of Wonsan.

Q3: Should we expect to see an escalation of tensions during the span of these exercises (concluding at the end of April)?

It is hard to say. CSIS Korea Chair research finds a correlation between the state of US-DPRK diplomatic relations prior to the exercises and the degree to which there is escalation tension prompted by the exercises. The correlation goes back to 2006 (with a couple of exceptions).

There are two problems under Kim Jong-un’s rule. First, we have a sample size of only two years (2013 and 2014). Second, the data for 2015 does not offer a clear projection. In 2013, generally poor US-DPRK relations in January-March presaged heightened tensions as a result of the exercises (e.g., Kim’s threatening nuclear strikes against US cities).

In 2014, a neutral US-DPRK relationship in January-March meant less tension during the exercises. 2015 has seen President Obama’s imposition of sanctions after the Sony hack, but also the upping of inter-Korean humanitarian assistance and efforts at US-DPRK diplomacy, so the impact on exercises is unclear.

Victor Cha is a senior adviser and holds the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington D.C. Katrin Katz is an adjunct fellow with the CSIS Korea Chair.

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On February 25, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched its long-overdue "Great Prophet 9" naval exercise in the Strait of Hormuz by attacking a mockup of an American aircraft carrier off Larak Island.

The spectacular display of firepower took place in a waterway that plays a strategic as well as psychological role in world politics and energy markets, and the Iranians have made no secret of their desire to be recognized as the dominant military power in the area and guarantor of the world's energy security.

Indeed, being the "policeman of the Persian Gulf" is not a new aspiration — Iran has been associated with that phrase since the 1970s.

Increasingly, however, Tehran has shown a willingness to combine real military capabilities and highly publicized drills with coercive rhetorical threats. Such rhetoric generally seems designed to boost Iran's deterrence posture and reinforce its stature in the region.

But the nature and timing of the latest exercise reveals much more about the Islamic Republic's specific motivations, which are likely rooted in economic concerns, posturing over the nuclear negotiations, and internal political and military fissures.

Why now?

Ironically, the exercise seemed choreographed to intimidate the US Navy at a time of low tensions in the Gulf. In fact, there have not been any notable incidents in the volatile waterway since Hassan Rouhani ascended to the presidency in 2013.

Yet the IRGC had been itching for a chance to remind the West who is in charge in the Gulf since December, when Britain announced that it would establish a permanent military base in Bahrain and the US Navy announced that it had successfully tested and deployed an anti-swarm/anti-drone laser weapon aboard the Gulf support ship USS Ponce.

Previously, Tehran had managed to restrain the Pasdaran out of political considerations amid the sensitive nuclear negotiations, so the timing of last week's spectacle would seem to indicate a change in Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's strategic calculations — or, more likely, a pressing new factor such as plummeting crude oil prices.

Iran's oil economy is facing its most serious multipronged challenge since the 1986 fall in oil prices, and Tehran blames Saudi Arabia and the United States for both.

The 1986 crisis partly cost Iran victory in its war with Iraq, and Tehran believes the present "sequel" has been designed to once again "bring Iran to its knees" and soften its nuclear and regional stance.

Riyadh and other Gulf Arab governments continue to regard Iran's intentions in the Middle East — including in Syria, Iraq, Bahrain, and now Yemen — as hegemonic and worrisome.

At a time when Iran's economy has been hit hard by international sanctions, the drop in crude prices has halved its oil exports compared to last year, and its oil income has been set back $100 billion in the past three years.

On February 16, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh stated that his ministry is in dire straits and will run out of money to invest in field development projects by next year.

Such honest remarks are often met with strong criticism by the IRGC through its affiliated Fars News Agency, which in early February had called Zanganeh's handling of the "price war" sluggish and ineffective.

These factors paint a gloomy picture for the Iranian economy, unless — in the absence of a comprehensive nuclear deal with the West — the oil market is somehow stimulated.

By calling the oil crisis a price war, the IRGC seems to be on war footing, and no war is less costly than blowing up a mock ship.

Accordingly, the unannounced exercise can be seen as a move ordered by Supreme Leader Khamenei and executed by the IRGC to stimulate markets and push the crude price up. The Brent oil index and OPEC oil basket reacted with sharp jumps of $3 and $2, respectively, when news of the exercise broke.

Yet while such measures have influenced market speculations and triggered spot market price hikes in the past, the effects have been temporary — as has been suggested by experts, the low oil prices are here to stay for at least another year.

With Saudi Arabia cutting its prices for Asian and European buyers to the lowest levels in more than a decade, the "price war" is set to continue, so the IRGC might consider further measures to stimulate the market after assessing the results of its latest maneuvers.

Ayatollah Khamenei may also have timed the exercise based on the status of the nuclear negotiations, which are approaching their final phase.

The Supreme Leader has repeatedly voiced his suspicion about the talks, and the naval display could be intended as a reminder to both international and Iranian negotiators that he is the one who calls the shots.

Such actions show that despite the ongoing negotiations and talk of improved ties with the United States, the Islamic Republic's dominant hardline elements still retain their win-lose mentality and revolutionary ideology, which is centered on defeating the "Great Satan" and convincing America's allies that Washington is incapable of ensuring their security.

Signs of internal division

Despite its elaborate nature, the exercise also revealed signs of possible weakness and division in the regime and military.

For example, one could not help but notice the absence of government officials and national military (Artesh) representatives at the opening ceremony — the former can be interpreted as a sign of Rouhani's displeasure with the timing of the drill, while the latter seems to reiterate the substantial distrust between Iran's revolutionary (IRGC) and national armed forces.

About six years ago, the Artesh navy (IRIN) was ordered to shift its center of gravity to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea following a division of geographical areas of responsibility between the country's two naval arms.

This meant that the revolutionary navy (IRGCN) was left out of those waterways and effectively confined to the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz.

At the start of last week's drills, however, IRGC commander Maj. Gen.

Aziz Jafari specifically mentioned the IRGC's intention to control "both" the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

Such a shift would no doubt take important funding away from the IRIN, which has been fighting religiously in recent years to promote itself as Iran's "strategic military arm" (e.g., by protecting shipping lanes from Somali pirates and dispatching naval groups to far seas).

This would obviously increase friction between the two branches.

Furthermore, despite Iran's claim that Bandar Abbas Air Force Base was placed under the IRGC's tactical control for the duration of the drills, it is highly unlikely that the national air force would be involved in such maneuvers without the IRIN, apart from cosmetic overflights.

Also, photos and videos from the drill show that when the Khalij-e Fars "carrier-buster" ballistic missile with unitary warhead was fired from east of Jask at the 200-meter-long mock carrier, it failed to score a direct hit by as much as 50 meters (though its explosive force still caused notable damage to the stationary hull).

That results in a "circular error probable"— or CEP, an area around the aim point within which 50 percent of missiles would be expected to land — of much larger than the claimed 5 meters for the terminally guided missile.

Several other rockets and antiship missiles also failed to score hits, and those that did still could not sink the vessel. It seems the yard workers who constructed the mock carrier over a two-year period in Bandar Abbas did a particularly good job, since it took a lot of pounding and stayed afloat. IRGCN commander Adm.

Ali Fadavi had previously boasted that his forces could sink a US carrier in less than fifty seconds.

Conclusion

A combination of strengths, weaknesses, and challenges defines Iran's current stance in the Persian Gulf region.

The regime has amassed what looks like a formidable arsenal of modern weapons suited to its asymmetric way of defensive and offensive warfare, and it might be capable of severely disrupting — or temporarily blocking — navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

Yet doing so would risk a wider and longer confrontation with the United States and other Western countries, as well as cutting off Iran's own much-needed access to oil markets.

Thus while the Islamic Republic is increasingly confident of its ability to inflict a severe blow on the enemy, Western powers would likely be quick to dislocate a major part of its conventional military and oil export infrastructures if the situation escalates into open conflict.

Farzin Nadimi is a Washington-based analyst specializing in the security and defense affairs of Iran and the Gulf region. He has written previously for The Washington Institute regarding Tehran's missile capability and asymmetric naval warfare strategy.

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SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea test-fired seven surface-to-air missiles off its east coast on Thursday and its leader Kim Jong Un appeared to have been an observer, South Korea's military said on Friday.

The missiles fell into the sea, said an official at the South Korea's defense ministry.

"We believe they test-fired different kinds of surface-to-air missiles and the longest range is about 200 km (125 miles)," the official said. "It appears Kim Jong Un observed the firing."

The test came as the United States and South Korea finished the first of two large-scale annual military exercises on Friday. The exercise, called "Key Resolve," began earlier this month.

The other joint military exercise, known as "Foal Eagle", will last until April 24, according to the U.S. military.

The exercises anger North Korea, which considers them a preparation for war against it.

The North often tests missiles at the time of the exercises to register its defiance. It also test-fired two short-range missiles at the start of the joint exercises.

North Korea's state media said on Thursday that Kim inspected an island military unit on the east coast, accompanied by his sister, Kim Yo Jong. It made no mention of any missile tests.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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MOSCOW (AP) — Russia plans to station state-of-the art missiles in its westernmost Baltic exclave and deploy nuclear-capable bombers to Crimea as part of massive war games to showcase its resurgent military power amid bitter tensions with the West over Ukraine.

The Russian military exercises this week range from the Arctic to the Pacific Ocean and involve tens of thousands of troops, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

The Iskander missiles will be sent to the Kaliningrad region that borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania as part of the maneuvers, said a Defense Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to comment publicly.

The official also said Russia will deploy long-range, nuclear-capable Tu-22M3 bombers to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine a year ago.

In a statement, the Defense Ministry said the Baltic Fleet, the Southern Military District and the Airborne Forces have been brought to the highest stage of combat readiness and have started moving to shooting ranges as part of the drills.

The wide-ranging exercise started Monday, when President Vladimir Putin ordered the Northern Fleet and other military forces on combat alert as part of the exercise in the Arctic. Other units in the Pacific region, southern Siberia and southwestern Russia also launched drills.

The Iskander missiles deployment to Kaliningrad reflects Moscow's readiness to raise the ante in response to NATO moves to deploy forces closer to Russia's borders. The missiles, which are capable of hitting enemy targets up to 500 kilometers (310 miles away) with high precision, can be equipped with a nuclear or a conventional warhead. From Kaliningrad, they could reach several NATO member states.

Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz interpreted the move as an attempt by Russia to pressure EU nations as they consider possible new sanctions against Russia over Ukraine.

"Russia is making this gesture before the European Council meeting," she said. "It is trying to influence European Council decisions concerning extending or adding new sanctions."

Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics of Latvia, which holds the EU presidency, said Tuesday he did not expect "a discussion of new sanctions or any decisions" when EU leaders meet Thursday in Brussels.

Igor Sutyagin, a Russia expert at the Royal United Services Institute, said beefing up forces in the Baltic exclave was a top priority for the Russian military.

Iskander missiles already had been sent briefly to Kaliningrad during December's military maneuvers, but were pulled back afterward.

U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO's supreme commander in Europe, has termed Russia's "threats to deploy nuclear-capable Iskander-M missiles in Kaliningrad" part of what he called the Kremlin's "pattern of continuing behavior to coerce its neighbors in Central and Eastern Europe."

The Kremlin, in its turn, has voiced concern about U.S. plans to beef up its military presence near Russia's borders. Later this month, U.S. troops are holding joint exercises with forces from EU nations Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Four Polish NATO MiG-29s flew training missions in Lithuania on Monday, under the command and control of an alliance AWACS surveillance aircraft in a small corridor between Belarus and the Kaliningrad region. The mission — described as 'routine' by NATO officials — prompted the Russian military in Kaliningrad to scramble half a dozen fighter jets to monitor the exercise.

Monday's AWACS mission was flying from Oerland airbase, near Trondheim in Norway. The AWACS flights were part of efforts to reassure NATO members in eastern Europe, in particular the Baltic states, which are concerned about Russia's intentions amid the Ukrainian crisis.

Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said Tuesday that a battery of U.S. anti-aircraft Patriot missiles will be coming to Poland later this month for a major exercise. He previously said 10,000 foreign troops will be taking part in NATO exercises in Poland this year, the highest number ever.

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KIEV (Reuters) - A peace plan to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine came under renewed strain on Wednesday, with Ukraine and Russia clashing publicly over the next steps and further Ukrainian military casualties from rebel attacks testing a fragile ceasefire.

Moscow reacted sharply after Ukraine agreed on Tuesday to confer special status on rebel-controlled eastern regions and grant them limited self-rule - but only once local elections had been held under Ukrainian law, something unpalatable for rebel leaders who have proclaimed their own "people's republics".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Ukrainian parliament had sought to "re-write" the agreement reached in Minsk, Belarus, last month. The Kremlin said the Minsk deal was now further away from being realized than it was a few days ago.

In Kiev, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk responded that no one on the Ukrainian side had much optimism that Russia "and the terrorists" would readily fulfill the Minsk plan.

"First and foremost: to comply with the Minsk agreements, the Russian bandits must clear out of the territory ofUkraine and give the possibility to Ukraine of carrying out honest and transparent elections in line with international standards," he said in televised comments at a government meeting.

The dispute, which could lead the deal into a dead-end, highlighted the different strategies toward the issue of self-rule in the east.

SOLDIER KILLED

Kiev is pushing a decentralization agenda in which it makes concessions aimed at blunting a drive for independence, while Moscow appears to be supporting a push by the rebels for powers that could give them veto over national policy and coming closer to officially recognizing the setting-up of the two "people's republics" in Ukraine's east.

The ceasefire struck at the summit of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France in Minsk came under pressure with the Kiev military saying one Ukrainian soldier had been killed in rebel attacks in the past 24 hours and five wounded.

Fighting in a conflict in which more than 6,000 people have been killed has greatly diminished, although huge areas of Ukraine's industrialized east, including the big cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, are under rebel control.

Heavy military equipment has been withdrawn to put the opposing sides out of range of each other's big guns in line with the agreement.

There is concern in Kiev that Mariupol, a port city of half a million on the Sea of Azov and which is still held by the government, could be a prime target for the Russian-backed rebels should the ceasefire collapse.

Comments by Ukrainian leaders suggest the pro-Western leadership of President Petro Poroshenko steamrollered the law through parliament, not through any real conviction it would be acceptable to the rebels, but to show the West - whose financial and political backing it relies on - it was abiding by the deal.

In Washington, the White House said President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a phone call reiterated their agreement that there will be no easing of sanctions on Russia over its support for Ukrainian separatists until it has fulfilled all of its commitments under the Minsk agreement.

The White House said U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who spoke separately with Poroshenko, welcomed Ukraine's move regarding special status for the rebel-controlled eastern regions, the White House said.

Western governments, who are backing a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine over four years, regard the Minskagreement as still the best opportunity for a lasting settlement.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Judging by the last decision made by the Rada (Ukrainian parliament), we are today further from realising the Minsk agreements than we were a few days ago."

(Editing by Alison Williams and Cynthia Osterman)

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Beijing is commissioning an upgraded version of a nuclear attack submarine that would be capable of carrying supersonic missiles designed to take down enemy aircraft carriers, The Diplomat reported citing China Daily.

China is commissioning three upgraded Type-093 Shang-class nuclear-powered attack submarines. The new Type-093G "is reported to be an upgraded version of Type-093 … With a teardrop hull, the submarine is longer than its predecessor and has a vertical launching system," the China Daily reported.

The redesign of the submarine would allow it to move faster and more quietly than its previous iteration, the Chinese media reported. Crucially, the 093G model would also be outfitted with vertical launch tubes that would allow the submarine to be outfitted with the YJ-18 supersonic anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM).

The YJ-18 is designed to target enemy ships and battle groups with increased lethality and range. According to the Taiwan-based Want China Times, the YJ-18, when combined with aerial spotting and targeting from Chinese aircraft operating from an aircraft carrier, could hypothetically hit enemy ships almost 250 miles away.

China has only one aircraft carrier, a nearly 30-year-old Soviet-built vessel that has had its share of mechanical problems.

The YJ-18 is designed to carry a 660-pound warhead that would be capable of sinking a destroyer-sized ship, military aviation site Deagel reported. The missile is thought to be able to maneuver after being launched in order to attempt to avoid missile interceptors.

War On The Rocks noted that a missile with a range as wide as 250 miles could pose serious problems for the US Navy's Aegis Combat System. That distance is beyond the "engagement range" of aircraft carrier strike groups, leaving the vessels vulnerable to weapons operating at that distance.

This proliferation of long-range ASCMs is perhaps the single greatest military threat the US faces from China.

Expansion and deployment of ASCMs systems would allow China to build an aerial maritime strike force that could effectively control all of the maritime territory surrounding China. The Chinese military could quickly move against enemy vessels and Beijing would be able to counter the US's naval presence in the region if the two powers ever came in conflict.

However, these missiles would still do little or nothing to counter the US submarine fleet or overcome the US underwater superiority.

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