US & Russian nuclear forces briefing

May 13, 2009 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment

FAS has a very interesting briefing on the past, present & near-future of US and Russian nuclear inventories. Highly recommended reading material for recognizing trends and intentions.

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Pakistan developing armed UAV

May 13, 2009 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment

The Air Force Times report that Pakistan is on its way to develop an armed UAV, possibly as a companion to US Predator & Reaper UAVs already operating in the region.

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Pakistan nukes

May 12, 2009 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment

The FAS strategic security blog has a story about the US SecState expressing “concern over the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons”, with regards to the recent violent events in the country. According tot he story, Pakistani systems are widely dispersed as a standard procedure.

A handy recent overview of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is also provided, here.

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VR-3 Reys

May 11, 2009 · Posted in UAV, Uncategorized · Comment

The VR-3 Reys and later VR-3D Reys D system was the Soviet Union’s primary drone from the late 70’s to the present day. It incorporated the Tu-143 and later TU-243 drones fired from a SPU-143 launcher truck and carried one of two known sensor packages (film or video camera). The Soviets assigned the systems to the Air Force which were deployed to squadrons of 4 launcher trucks with 12 drones each. The systems were tasked with penetrating to an operational depth of 40 miles behind enemy lines and then return and recover via parachute. 950 were eventually manufactured with the VR-3’s coming into service in 1977 and the VR-3D’s in 1982. Client states include Czechoslovakia, Romania and Syria.