Category Archives: Weapons technology

UK poised to hand further £1.3bn military package to Ukraine

Posted on by

Equipment will include anti-battery radar systems, plus GPS jamming and night-vision devices

An extra £1.3bn in military support is to be handed to Ukraine by the UK, in a significant increase in support for the country as it continues to resist Russia’s illegal invasion.

In a package that marks the UK’s highest rate of military spending since the end of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns, the funding was revealed before a meeting of G7 leaders to discuss what additional help can be given to Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s forces. Boris Johnson is also due to meet arms companies to ask for an increase in production.

Continue reading...

Russia tests nuclear-capable missile in warning to enemies

Posted on by

Putin boasts new intercontinental ballistic weapon will provide rivals with ‘food for thought’

Russia has said it had test-launched its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, a new addition to its nuclear arsenal, which Vladimir Putin said would give Moscow’s enemies something to think about.

The Russian president was shown on television being told by the military that the missile had been launched from Plesetsk in the north-west and hit targets in the Kamchatka peninsula in the far east.

Continue reading...

Russia ‘using weapons smuggled by Iran from Iraq against Ukraine’

Posted on by

Iraqi militias and others say undercover networks being used to supply materiel such as RPGs and anti-tank missiles

Russia is receiving munitions and military hardware sourced from Iraq for its war effort in Ukraine with the help of Iranian weapons smuggling networks, according to members of Iranian-backed Iraqi militias and regional intelligence services with knowledge of the process.

RPGs and anti-tank missiles, as well as Brazilian-designed rocket launcher systems, have been dispatched to Russia from Iraq as Moscow’s campaign has faltered in the last month, the Guardian has learned.

Continue reading...

UK to announce fresh military aid package for Ukraine

Posted on by

UK and Ukrainian ministers met to view missile systems and armoured vehicles that could be used in next phase of fighting

Britain is preparing to announce a fresh package of military aid for Ukraine and has demonstrated new missile systems and armoured vehicles that it believes can help Kyiv in the next phases of fighting.

Junior defence ministers Jeremy Quin and James Heappey invited Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Volodymyr Havrylov to Salisbury Plain on Wednesday, where they discussed what extra weapons the UK could supply.

Continue reading...

Britain and US fear Russia could be setting stage to use chemical weapons

Posted on by

White House press secretary Jen Psaki says false Russian claims about alleged US chemical weapons in Ukraine may be pretext

Britain and the US fear Russia could be setting the stage to use a chemical weapon in Ukraine after Kremlin officials alleged without firm evidence that the US had been supporting a bioweapons programme in the country.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that Russia had been making “false claims about alleged US biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development in Ukraine”, and added that the allegations had been echoed in Beijing.

Continue reading...

North Korea says latest missile test part of building satellite surveillance system

Posted on by

Eighth rocket launch this year looked to be fired from area near Pyongyang international airport

North Korea says a test conducted on Sunday was for the development of a reconnaissance satellite system, state media reported a day after a missile launch was detected from the country.

The report from state news agency KCNA did not elaborate on what type of rocket had been used in the test, but authorities in South Korea and Seoul said it appeared to be a ballistic missile fired from an area near Pyongyang where its international airport is located.

Continue reading...

Analysis: what weapons is Russia deploying in Ukraine invasion?

Posted on by

Fears that use of indiscriminate armaments could amount to war crimes

Footage captured by a CNN crew of the deployment of a T0S-1 heavy flame thrower system which was filmed being transported towards the Ukrainian border on Saturday has focused increased attention on what weapons Russia is beginning to deploy and how indiscriminate they are.

The TOS-1, nicknamed the “Buratino” – the Russian version of Pinocchio – for its big nose, is one of the most feared weapons systems in Russia’s conventional armoury, a multiple launch rocket system mounted on the chassis of a T-72 tank capable of firing thermobaric rockets which use oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion.

Continue reading...

US accuses Russia of ‘dangerous’ behavior after anti-satellite weapons test

Posted on by

Russia fired missile at its own satellite, generating debris that US says ‘threatens interests of all nations’

The US has accused Russia of “dangerous and irresponsible behavior” after it conducted an anti-satellite weapons test that forced astronauts on the International Space Station to prepare for evacuation.

Russia fired a missile at one of its own satellites over the weekend, generating more than 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris and hundreds of pieces of smaller debris, which the US said “now threaten the interests of all nations”.

Continue reading...

US ‘very concerned’ despite China denials over hypersonic missile

Posted on by

Disarmament ambassador casts doubt on ability to defend against technology after reports of test

The United States is “very concerned” about China’s development of hypersonic technology, the US disarmament ambassador, Robert Wood, has said, after reports that Beijing had recently launched a hypersonic missile with a nuclear capacity.

“We are very concerned by what China has been doing on the hypersonic front,” Robert Wood told reporters in Geneva.

Continue reading...

Microwave weapons that could cause Havana Syndrome exist, experts say

Posted on by

Russia and possibly China have developed technology capable of injuring brain and a US company made a prototype in 2004

Portable microwave weapons capable of causing the mysterious spate of “Havana Syndrome” brain injuries in US diplomats and spies have been developed by several countries in recent years, according to leading American experts in the field.

A US company also made the prototype of such a weapon for the marine corps in 2004. The weapon, codenamed Medusa, was intended to be small enough to fit in a car, and cause a “temporarily incapacitating effect” but “with a low probability of fatality or permanent injury”.

Continue reading...

Havana syndrome: NSA officer’s case hints at microwave attacks since 90s

Posted on by

When Mike Beck developed a rare form of Parkinson’s US intelligence concluded he was the victim of a hi-tech weapon

When the first reports surfaced of a mysterious disorder that was afflicting dozens of US diplomats in Cuba, Mike Beck’s reaction was one of recognition and relief.

Beck, a retired National Security Agency counterintelligence officer, was at his home in Maryland, scrolling through the day’s news on his computer when he spotted the story, and remembers shouting out to his wife.

Continue reading...

Colette: former French Resistance member confronts fascism and family trauma after 75 years

Posted on by

On the anniversary of the start of the Nuremberg trials, 90-year-old Colette Marin-Catherine confronts her past by visiting the Nazi concentration camp in Germany where her brother was killed. As a young girl, she had been a member of the French resistance and had always refused to set foot in Germany. That changes when a young history student named Lucie enters her life. Prepared to reopen old wounds and revisit the terrors of that time, Marin-Catherine offers important lessons

Continue reading...

‘I’ll never be the same again’: facing family trauma in a Nazi concentration camp

Posted on by

Filmmaker Anthony Giacchino and producer Alice Doyard explain how a young history student persuaded Colette, 90, to visit the German concentration camp where her brother died

The new Guardian documentary, Colette, follows the remarkable story of a former member of the French resistance, as she travels to Germany for the first time to the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp where her brother died 75 years ago. Persuaded to go on the journey by history student Lucie, 17, the pair support one another through an emotional journey into the past. “When I cross into Germany I’ll never be the same again,” says Colette, 90.

Continue reading...

Britain will respond to space threat from Russia and China – minister

Posted on by

‘Provocative test of a weapon-like projectile’ from Russian satellite shows peaceful use of space is under threat, says defence secretary

Britain will boost its ability to handle threats posed by Russia and China in space as part of a foreign, security and defence policy review, the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said.

“This week we have been reminded of the threat Russia poses to our national security with the provocative test of a weapon-like projectile from a satellite threatening the peaceful use of space,” Wallace wrote in the Sunday Telegraph, adding that China also posed a threat.

Continue reading...

Britain and US accuse Russia of launching ‘weapon’ in space

Posted on by

Launch of projectile from satellite into orbit ‘threatens the peaceful use of space’

The US and UK have accused Russia of testing an anti-satellite weapon in space, in the latest sign that a space-based arms race is heating up.

General John Raymond, the head of the new US Space Force, said the alleged test of a projectile, conducted on 15 July, was “further evidence of Russia’s continuing efforts to develop and test space-based systems, and consistent with the Kremlin’s published military doctrine to employ weapons that hold US and allied space assets at risk.”

Continue reading...

‘The end of an era’: oil price collapse may force Saudis to rein in arms spending

Posted on by

The world’s fifth largest weapons buyer is eating up its reserves - and its political clout

Saudi Arabia may be forced to forego new weapons contracts and delay already-agreed weapons purchases as a financial crisis grips the kingdom, experts predict.

The expected delay of new weapons deals could have long-term political repercussions for the country under the rule of Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince and de facto ruler who has waged a bloody war with neighbouring Yemen.

Continue reading...

UK increases arms sales to repressive regimes

Posted on by

Campaigners condemn government and defence exporters accused of selling weapons to states with poor human rights records

UK arms sales to repressive regimes increased by £1bn last year compared with 2018.

The increase, of more than 300%, has been condemned by arms control campaigners, who accuse the government of putting profits before human rights.

Continue reading...

Drone attacks in Middle East raise fears of escalating conflict

Posted on by

Multiple attacks in region suggest drone warfare could extend to distant battlefields

A spate of drone attacks in Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and now Lebanon has raised the spectre of a new era of conflict in the region, due to the ability of stealth-like weapons to penetrate distant battlefields and hit closely guarded targets.

Drone warfare has become an instrumental factor in the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, now being fought over both sides of the Israeli border and in skies across the region.

Continue reading...

House orders Pentagon to review if it exposed Americans to weaponised ticks

Posted on by

A New Jersey lawmaker suggests the government turned insects into bioweapons to spread disease and possibly released them

The US House of Representatives has called for an investigation into whether the spread of Lyme disease had its roots in a Pentagon experiment in weaponising ticks.

The House approved an amendment proposed by a Republican congressman from New Jersey, Chris Smith, instructing the defence department’s inspector general to conduct a review of whether the US “experimented with ticks and other insects regarding use as a biological weapon between the years of 1950 and 1975”.

Continue reading...

The Guardian view on Egypt and Europe: embracing authoritarianism | Editorial

Posted on by
The summit of the EU and the Arab League in Sharm el-Sheikh highlights the ongoing and ill-advised support for President Sisi

Days after Egypt executed men who said they were tortured into confessions of killing the country’s former top prosecutor, Europe’s heads of state are enjoying the hospitality of its president. The resort of Sharm el-Sheikh is hosting the inaugural summit of the European Union and the Arab League. Donald Tusk, president of the European council, is co-chairing with Abdel Fatah al-Sisi; Britain’s Theresa May is among the guests.

If the event itself is a first, the approach is familiar. As Mr Sisi entrenches his rule, presiding over what Human Rights Watch calls Egypt’s worst human rights crisis in decades, European countries murmur about their “quiet diplomacy” on such issues. Then they carry on building ties and providing the air of international legitimacy that he needs given his grim record since seizing power in 2013’s coup. Mr Sisi’s recent spate of executions is instructive: he must have felt confident there would be no repercussions for putting people to death so close to the summit – despite their blatantly unfair trials.

Continue reading...