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US firm Raytheon has unveiled its anti-aircraft laser at the Farnborough Airshow in Hampshire. The Laser Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) can either be used on its own or alongside a gunnery system. In May, the laser was used to shoot down unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in a series of tests. Raytheon said the solid state fibre laser produces a 50 kilowatt beam and can be used against UAV, mortar, rockets and small surface ships. The idea of using lasers as weapons has been around almost as long as the laser itself, invented in 1960.

There's a laser-guided antiaircraft missile jammer sitting on the table of the conference room in the office of Popular Mechanics. It comes in a medium-size box, weighing in at about 30 pounds, topped with a clear hemisphere housing a prominent mirror mounted on a 360-degree gimbal. Peering inside the dome, a viewer can see a network of other mirrors that bounce light from a laser housed below, directing the beam to the main lens affixed to the gimbal. This prototype is the only one in the world, and this is the first time its inventors, BAE Systems, have brought it...

Pyongyang area: anti-aircraft sites

Three years after the first foreign customer (Syria) received the Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft systems, the Russian Air Force is getting some. The Russian Air Force recently received the S1E version, with an improved radar (36 kilometer range) and missile (more reliable). Curiously, the air force is using their first ten Pantsir-S1s to guard S-300 anti-aircraft missile bases located around Moscow. There was no explanation from the Russians as to why they felt a mobile, low level anti-aircraft system was needed to guard a larger, high altitude one. Perhaps additional protection against cruise missiles. The Russians aren't saying. These ten vehicles were...

The Russian air force took delivery of the first Pantsyr-S short-range air-defense systems in March. The Pantsyrs will gradually replace the old Tunguska antiaircraft weapons. The first 10 systems were released from KBP Instrument Design Bureau’s assembly site in Tula and transported to Alabino, near Moscow, and will be part of the Victory Day parade in Red Square on May 9. What’s unusual is that the first Pantsyr systems are being deployed to protect high-end surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) against aircraft, missiles and bombs. The Pantsyr battery will be deployed to the 606th air-defense regiment in Elektrostal, near Moscow, says Lt....

: China recently received the last of 15 battalions of S-300MPU anti-aircraft missile systems bought from Russia. Increasingly, however, China is using its own, locally designed and built, HQ-9 systems. These are also being pushed aggressively to export customers as well. Unlike the S-300, China can upgrade the HQ-9 and sell it to anyone. Thus, earlier this year, an HQ-9 anti-aircraft system successfully shot down a ballistic missile. This capability is important to many potential export customers. China offers HQ-9 for export as the FD-2000. The HQ-9 is roughly equivalent to the U.S. Patriot. While about 30 percent of Chinese...

Egyptian security forces uncovered a massive arms cache in central Sinai Peninsula before dawn yesterday, the Egyptian daily Al-Yum a-Saba reported. No details were given about whether the arms were intended for smuggling into the Gaza Strip or where they were from. However, the Egyptian forces suspect the smugglers to be Sinai Bedouin who found and collected weapons following battles and hoped to sneak them into the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian news agency Maan cited Egyptian security sources saying officers discovered a large arms warehouse containing some 100 anti-aircraft missiles, 45 missile launchers, 40 bombs, an RPG missile and other...

Russia sees no reason to stall on the sale of its S-300 anti-aircraft systems to Iran, the Kremlin's powerful Security Council said Sunday, hours before the premier of Iran's adversary Israel was due to visit Moscow. Barack Obama | Russia The possible sale of Russian air defense hardware to the Islamic Republic is a major irritant for both Israel and close ally the United States. Both have pressed Moscow not to go ahead with a deal that may help protect Iran's nuclear facilities from potential air strikes. "There is a signed contract (to supply S-300 missiles) which we must implement,...

On the eve of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Moscow, senior Russian security officials were speaking out on defense-related issues that have provoked tensions between the two countries. An hour before Netanyahu's plane took off on Sunday, Russian officials said that Moscow sees no reason to delay the sale of the S-300, a powerful air-defense system, to Iran. In addition, on Friday, Russian intelligence officials leaked comments expressing their displeasure with plans by an Israeli firm to close a major arms deal with Georgia. "There is a signed contract [for the S-300 missiles] which we must follow through on,...

Once a long time ago I was upgraded on a flight to Orlando and found myself next to a gray-haired German who had been visiting his family in Minnesota. Over drinks I learned that he had emigrated to the US after the 1939-45 war, and that during the war he had shot down a de Havilland Mosquito and a Messerschmitt Me262. He'd achieved this unusual, quite possibly unique distinction as the commander of a gun crew using the 88mm L71, the highest-performing version of the classic 88. The Luftwaffe had designated free-fire zones in which anything would be fired on,...

The Indian army is set to order an unspecified number of Akash anti-aircraft missiles to replace its aging Russian SAM-6 Kvadrat air defense missile system. The missile system is for the T-72 main battle tank and has a Hyderabad-developed Rajendra phased-array radar capable of tracking up to 64 aircraft simultaneously over a radius of just under 40 miles. It can shoot down aircraft within 15 miles, according to Indian media reports. The Akash is part of India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. Its main target will be use against attacks from unmanned combat aerial vehicles including Cruise missiles and aircraft....

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- Mexican authorities arrested a woman guarding an arsenal that included the first anti-aircraft machine gun seized in Mexico, police said Tuesday, as the army announced the capture of an alleged top drug cartel lieutenant. The arsenal belonged to a group linked to the powerful Beltran-Leyva drug cartel, federal police coordinator Gen. Rodolfo Cruz said. It also included ammunition, five rifles, a grenade and part of a grenade launcher. ... Cruz said the confiscated .50-caliber, anti-aircraft machine gun can fire 800 rounds per minute and is capable of penetrating armor from more than 5,000 feet (1,500...

Advanced S-300 on way to Iran July 24, 2008 The Jerusalem Post Yaakov Katz Iran is likely to begin receiving advanced S-300 anti-aircraft systems by the end of the year, defense officials said Wednesday. The S-300 is one of the best multi-target anti-aircraft-missile systems in the world today and has a reported ability to track up to 100 targets simultaneously while engaging up to 12 at the same time. Iran has already procured several S-300 systems to protect its nuclear facilities although reports have differed as to whether the systems have already been supplied by Russia. The systems will likely...

S-400 missile defense systems will be put on combat duty around Moscow July 1, the commander of the Russian Air Force said Monday. The S-400 Triumf (NATO codename SA-21 Growler) is a new air defense missile system developed by the Almaz Central Design Bureau as an upgrade of the S-300 family. "On July 1, one battalion of S-400 missile defense systems will be put on combat duty to defend the airspace of Moscow and Central Russia," Colonel-General Alexander Zelin said. Zelin said the battalion is at an Air Force range, and after range practice, the battalion, based in the...

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela plans to obtain air defense missiles to guard strategic sites such as oil refineries and major bridges against any air strike, a top military adviser to President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday. Gen. Alberto Muller said Venezuela is looking to buy surface-to-air missile systems from Russia or another country to defend "strategic points in the country." "They are for air defense," Muller told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "They are not for attacking anybody." Chavez, a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, has repeatedly warned against a possible U.S. invasion, and his government is...

Russia anti-aircraft weapons sales to Syria, Iran on schedule Tue Jan 2, 2006 MOSCOW (AFP) - Controversial Russian contracts to sell anti-aircraft weapons to Syria and Iran are being fulfilled on schedule Russian officials said. At least half of the 29 Tor-M1 missile systems bought by Iran for 1.4 billion dollars (1.06 billion euros) had been delivered, state-run ITAR-TASS quoted an unnamed source at the defence ministry as saying Tuesday. "We are actively carrying out deliveries of the system to Iran. At least 50 percent of the contract has been delivered," the official was quoted as saying. The air defence...

Fonda flick doesn't fly in Hardin County By JOHN FRIEDLEIN The owner of Hardin County's two movie theaters is refusing to show the nation's top-grossing movie. Like many veterans, Ike Boutwell has an issue with "Monster-in-Law" star Jane Fonda. On the ticket window at the Elizabethtown Movie Palace is a sign that tells movie goers the cinema will not show the film because of what she did in Vietnam. Below the message are pictures of Fonda clapping with a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft crew in 1972. The sign on the marquee outside Showtime Cinemas in Radcliff reads: "No Jane Fonda movie...

JANE FONDA REGRETS THE "BETRAYAL" HER PHOTO ON A NORTH VIETNAMESE ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN SYMBOLIZED - "60 MINUTES" SUNDAY Ê Iconic Actress Wasn't "Forced" by Husband Roger Vadim Into Three-Way Sex, But Says "I Went Along With it" in Her First Interview About Her Upcoming Autobiography Ê ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ Jane Fonda has no regrets about her trip to North Vietnam in 1972 - with one big exception: her visit to a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun site used to shoot down U.S. pilots.Ê She says her appearance there, which earned her the epithet "Hanoi Jane," was a "betrayal" of the U.S. military, its...

Russia's decision to sell anti-aircraft missiles to Syria is a "wrong deal to the wrong country at the wrong time," a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Wednesday. Sharon revealed on Tuesday that he had received a letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin informing him of Russia's decision to go ahead with the sale of SA-18 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to Syria. Both Israel and the U.S. had voiced their strong opposition to the sale. "We are not pleased with the sales of weapons to Syria, particularly sophisticated weapons that Russia intends to sell to Syria, weapons that...

Jerusalem asked Moscow not to go through with a sale of sophisticated weapons to Syria, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Thursday, in the first public acknowledgement by Jerusalem that such a deal is being contemplated. "I passed this message on to the deputy Russian foreign minister [Alexander Saltanov], who visited the region recently. I passed on the message that Syria is a country that supports terror and transfers weapons to Hizbullah and that the whole world is working to isolate it. There is no reason why Russia should go against this trend. I hope that a satisfactory solution will be...