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The head of the Russian defense conglomerate Rostec, Sergey Chemezov, confirmed that the state-of-the-art Russian tank, the T-14 “Armata,” is not being deployed in the war in Ukraine, which the Kremlin has labeled a “special military operation.” Chemezov attributed this decision to the tank’s exorbitant cost, indicating that the military is opting for the more economical T-90 tanks instead. He underscored the prohibitive expense of the Armata as a deterrent to its immediate deployment, stressing the need for funds to develop newer and more cost-effective tank models. “In terms of its functionality, it certainly surpasses existing tanks, but it’s too...

“We are sending an armada.” Pres. Donald J. Trump’s declaration during a television interview on the Fox Business Channel signaled the deployment of Carrier Strike Group One to the Korean Peninsula in response to North Korea’s bellicose rhetoric and upcoming missile test. The Navy canceled a series of port calls for the strike group earlier this month and diverted the ships to the Korean Peninsula in a show of force against the hermit kingdom. But what’s in the armada?

credit: Heather Humphries (Twitter feed)

Storms off the west coast of Ireland have disturbed the seabed to reveal two 16th century cannons wrecked from the Spanish Armada. The cannons were brought to the surface this week by underwater archaeologists and are said to be in "extraordinarily good condition". They are thought to come from the wreck of the merchant vessel La Juliana, which sank in storms off Stredagh, Co Sligo on Ireland’s west coast in September 1588 along with two others,La Lavia and Santa Maria de Vision. The artifacts were recovered by the Underwater Archaeology Unit of Ireland’s Department of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht. One...

Navantia Prepares Spanish Navy Fifth Frigate for Sea Trials (Source: Navantia; issued January 16, 2012) On 9th January, the F-100 class frigate “Cristóbal Colón”, under construction in Navantia for the Spanish Navy, left the shipyard dry dock after a period of dry docking for hull and platform readiness for sea trials, that will take place in March 2012. During this month, Navantia will proceed to the completion of the Combat System integration functional trials, in order to have the sea trials in May. The frigate is now in the final phase of construction, and after the sea trials it is...

An Armada of Royal Navy ships is poised to rescue Britons stranded by the aviation shutdown. The dramatic operation would carry thousands of families home from Channel ports in a rerun of the 1940 Dunkirk evacuation. Security Minister Lord West said commercial ships and amphibious landing craft could also be drafted into service.

I read an article by Malcom Gladwell, “How David Beats Goliath: When Underdogs Break the Rules,” some months ago and have been thinking about ever since. In it, Gladwell highlights an analysis of when Davids took on Goliaths in history. The Goliaths, the ones ten-times stronger in the fight, won the encounters over 70% of the time. But in instances when the Davids broke the rules and stuck to a strategy that played to their strengths, the Davids’ win percentage rose to almost 64%. In other words, the Davids won when they chose not to play by the assumed rules...

American armada prepares to take on Iran By Damien McElroy aboard USS Eisenhower Last Updated: 1:09am GMT 24/02/2007 It is four and a half acres of US power in the middle of the Arabian Sea but the influence of USS Dwight D Eisenhower stretches hundreds of miles. The aircraft carrier, backed by its sister vessel, a handful of destroyers and a shoal of support ships, has placed a ring of steel around an increasingly unstable region. While the Eisenhower is ostensibly assisting US operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is increasingly occupied by the looming threat of Iran. Recent tensions...

Fear that immigrants will hijack G8 armada By Hugh Davies (Filed: 08/06/2005) Bob Geldof's plan to ferry 10,000 French G8 protesters Dunkirk-style to Britain is causing alarm among immigration officers, who warned yesterday that the proposed armada could be "hijacked" by illegal immigrants. John Tincey, national vice chairman of the Immigration Service Union, said that "hundreds, if not thousands" of people were camping out on the other side of the Channel "just looking for an opportunity to get to the UK."He said: "There are lots of people there keen to jump on board, and I fear there might be total...

TEHRAN (MNA) -- During the latest season of excavations of the northern gate of Takht-e Suleiman, an ancient Zoroastrian fire temple located in northwestern Iran, the stamps of two seals were discovered which indicate that objects entered Takht-e Suleiman from other regions with special tags attached to them which seem to be advertisements. They signify that an early form of advertising was being practiced during the Sassanid era (224-642 C.E.), Yusef Moradi, the head of the excavation team, said on Friday. “The team began its excavations in early August and found the stamps of two seals at the upper levels...

Secrets of an ancient Persian armada sunk off the coast of Greece 2500 years ago are being dredged up by modern archaeologists. A team from Greece, Canada and the United States has just completed a second expedition to retrieve artefacts from 300 ships of the Persian King Darius that were wrecked in a storm off the Mt Athos Peninsula, northern Greece, in 492BC or 493BC. Aucklanders will be among the first to hear the results today when three of the expedition leaders present their findings in a free public lecture at Auckland University. In two trips so far, last October...

Navy Sending Seven Ships From West Coast 1 hour, 31 minutes ago Add White House - AP Cabinet & State to My Yahoo! By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer WASHINGTON - Building up for a possible war against Iraq, the Navy is deploying a seven-ship armada with up to 7,000 Marines from California, matching a force already under way from the East Coast. The new amphibious task force would mirror a seven-ship deployment of Marines that headed out over the weekend from bases on the Virginia coast, Navy officials said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity. Together the task forces...