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PACIFIC MISSILE RANGE FACILITY, Hawaii (NNS) -- The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and Sailors of USS Lake Erie (CG 70) successfully conducted a flight test of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system June 26. The test resulted in the intercept of a separating ballistic missile target over the Pacific Ocean by the Navy's newest missile defense interceptor missile, the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block 1B. At 11:15 pm Hawaii Standard Time (5:15 am EDT June 27), the target missile was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, located on Kauai, Hawaii. The target flew on a northwesterly trajectory towards a...

Technically, ballistic missile system Bulava is ready to be commissioned into Russian Navy, said its commander-in-chief Vice Admiral Viktor Chirkov on June 25 at the graduates honoring ceremony held in the Konstantinovsky Palace, St. Petersburg. "At present, we're preparing legal documents required to put the missile in service", said the naval chief. VADM Viktor Chirkov also pointed out that the lead submarine of Project 955 Borei K-535 Yury Dolgoruky would be commissioned before the Russian Navy Day which is to be celebrated on July 29 this year.

With the May 23 negotiations in Iraq failing to persuade Iran to give up its illicit nuclear program, Iranian leaders have returned to threats of war — including the provocative statement that their missiles can reach every U.S. military base in the Middle East, and a call to halt all nuclear negotiations with the West.

SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 31, 2012 – The U.S. Navy conducted successful test flights April 14 and 16 of four Trident II D5 Fleet Ballistic Missiles (FBMs) built by Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT]. The Navy launched two unarmed missiles each day from the submerged submarine USS Maryland (SSBN 738) in the Atlantic Ocean. These tests marked the 139th, 140th, 141st and 142st successful test flights of the Trident II D5 missile since design completion in 1989 – a reliability record unmatched by any other large ballistic missile or space launch vehicle.

New Launch Facilities Under Construction at Musudan-ri, Possible Iranian Connection By 38 North New satellite photos from April 29, 2012 indicate that a major upgrade of North Korea’s Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground—more commonly referred to as Musudan-ri—underway since summer 2011, is making rapid progress. The new construction is intended to support future launches of rockets larger than the recently tested Unha—more capable liquid fueled space launch vehicles or missiles with intercontinental ranges—that will also overfly Japan, further aggravating regional tensions. In addition to a new launch pad under construction, much of the nearby village of Taepodong has been razed to...

GOP lawmaker presses Obama on reports of ‘secret’ missile dealBy Jeremy Herb - 05/23/12 05:13 PM ET Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) is not backing down from his allegations that President Obama has a “secret deal” with Russia on missile defense. Turner sent another letter to President Obama on Wednesday that urged the White House to explain what missile defense deals it made with Russia, citing Russian reports that a deal was reached and then dropped without being made public. Turner and many other Republicans have seized on Obma’s “hot mic” comment to then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in March, when he...

Remember the time we bombed Mexico with German rockets? Germany spent the end of the 1930s and half the 1940s inventing and perfecting missiles. They made so many, they still had a ton of them left over after the end of World War II. So of course, the leftover weapons were confiscated by the United States. And here's one of the things we did with them. Anyone who knows the details about a V-2 rocket has to wonder how any nation managed to make so many of them. The V-2 ran on alcohol and liquid oxygen, only one of which...

Russia’s most senior military officer said Thursday that Moscow would preemptively strike and destroy U.S.-led NATO missile defense sites in Eastern Europe if talks with Washington about the developing system continue to stall. “A decision to use destructive force preemptively will be taken if the situation worsens,” Russian Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov said at an international missile defense conference in Moscow attended by senior U.S. and NATO officials. The threat comes as talks about the missile defense system, which the U.S. and its allies insist is aimed at Iranian missiles, appear to have stalled. “We have not been...

Moscow rejects Washington's claim that a planned missile defense system is solely to deal with any Iranian missile threat and has voiced fears it will eventually threaten Russia. Russia's top military officer has threatened to carry out a pre-emptive strike on U.S.-led NATO missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe if Washington goes ahead with its controversial plan to build a missile shield. President Dmitry Medvedev said last year that Russia will retaliate militarily if it does not reach an agreement with the United States and NATO on the missile defense system. Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov went even further...

Exclusive: China firm boasts about missile-linked North Korea sale: envoys By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS | Tue Apr 24, 2012 2:16am EDT (Reuters) - A Chinese firm that intelligence agencies believe provided North Korea with the body of an off-road transport vehicle used to carry missiles appears to have a press release on its website that boasts about the sale, U.N. diplomats told Reuters. Washington suspects that the Chinese firm, Hubei Sanjiang Space Wanshan Special Vehicle Co., did not sell North Korea an entire vehicle, but a chassis, and may have believed it was for civilian purposes, suggesting the company...

2012/04/24 15:43 KST (LEAD) German experts dismiss N. Korean missiles at parade as mock-ups SEOUL, April 24 (Yonhap) -- The new intercontinental ballistic missiles displayed in a military parade in North Korea were mock-ups and the presentation was "a nice dog and pony show," according to two German experts on North Korean missiles. The North showed off the missiles on transporter-erector-launchers during the parade to mark the centennial of the April 15 birth of the country's late founder Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un. The display sparked intense speculation on the North's ballistic missile capability following its...

April 20, 2012 Panetta: China Assisted North Korea Missile Program Shannon Van Sant | Beijing A Chinese border policeman displays confiscated vanadium bound for North Korea at a checkpoint in Dandong, Liaoning province. Chinese border police have seized 70 kg (154 lb) of the strategic metal vanadium bound for North Korea, foiling an attempt to smuggle a material used to make missile parts, FILE July 24, 2009. China has recently joined with other countries in condemning North Korea for a failed missile launch earlier this month. It was a rare public rebuke of its internationally isolated ally, leading many to...

2012/04/19 04:41 KST U.S. gov't urged to act on rumors of NK-China missile ties By Lee Chi-dong WASHINGTON, April 18 (Yonhap) -- A U.S. lawmaker has formally requested the Obama administration examine reports of possible missile cooperation between North Korea and China, a congressional source said Wednesday. In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) said the U.S. should do something if the allegations are found true, added the source. He cited some experts' analysis of a transporter-erector-launcher that carried what is believed to be the North's new...

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PYONGYANG, North Korea -- Defying warnings from the international community, North Korea launched a long-range rocket it says is carrying a satellite into orbit, 2 U.S. officials said. When the 90-ton rocket launched there was a larger than anticipated flare. U.S. officials said that the missile is believed to have crashed into the sea.

North Korea says fuel being injected into rocket (Reuters) - Isolated North Korea said on Wednesday it was injecting fuel into a long-range rocket "as we speak" ahead of a launch condemned by its neighbors and the West as a disguised long-range ballistic missile test. The launch, set to take place between Thursday and next Monday, has prompted neighbors such as the Philippines to re-route their air traffic just in case. Regional powers also worry it could be the prelude to another nuclear test, a pattern the hermit state set in 2009. Japan said it would shoot down the rocket...

North Korea is building a missile that is even bigger than the long-range missile it is preparing to launch this month, sources claimed Monday. South Korean and U.S. officials believe the North will unveil the missile at a military parade on April 15, nation founder Kim Il-sung's centenary, or on April 25, which marks the founding day of the North's Army. A government source here said U.S. reconnaissance satellites recently spotted a 40-m missile at a research and development facility in Pyongyang that is larger than the existing Taepodong-2 missile. "It remains uncertain whether this missile is functional or is...

Insight: Obama's North Korean leap of faith turns to ashes 2:39am EDT By Andrew Quinn WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When U.S. diplomats filed into North Korea's grim embassy in Beijing last month they found an unlikely surprise: Starbucks. Their hosts, led by North Korean's chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-gwan, had ordered U.S.-style coffee for talks both sides hoped would lead to new negotiations on Pyongyang's nuclear program and to resumed U.S. food shipments to one of the most feared and secretive countries in the world. There were more surprises to come. Five days later, the United States and North Korea simultaneously...

China-N.Korea Communication Breaks Down High-level communication channels between China and North Korea have apparently been shut down since the death of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Pyongyang is failing to inform its sole ally of important developments like the upcoming missile launch. The only high-ranking Chinese official to visit North Korea since Kim's death was Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying, who was in Pyongyang between Feb. 20 and 25 to discuss aid to the North. Fu met his North Korean counterpart Kim Sung-gi but did not speak with higher ranking officials. China was stunned by the announcement on Feb....

US: Debris from NKorea rocket risks casualties WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior U.S. military official says debris from a planned North Korean rocket launch could cause casualties. Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense Peter Lavoy told a congressional hearing Wednesday that North Korea has indicated the rocket will be launched southward, but the U.S. lacks confidence about the rocket's stability and where the impact will be.