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Russia has successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile that is capable of launching nuclear warheads anywhere across the globe, but the Pentagon has said it is not a threat to the United States or its allies. In a televised address following the missile's reported launch on Wednesday (April 20), Russian President Vladmir Putin boasted that the missile, officially called the RS-28 Sarmat and nicknamed "Satan II" by NATO, had no equivalents anywhere in the world and would make adversaries "think twice" before making threats against Russia. But just how much does the diabolically nicknamed missile add to Russia’s nuclear...

TOKYO —North Korea fired two ballistic missiles off its east coast Wednesday, just two days after it announced a test of a new long-range cruise missile, in what is likely a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. The projectiles were identified as short-range ballistic missiles by the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff. If confirmed, it would be the first such test since March.... U.S. military officials said they have assessed that the Wednesday launch “does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies.” Still, “the missile launch highlights the destabilizing impact of the...

The U.S. military is removing Patriot antimissile systems from Saudi Arabia as part of a shift of forces and equipment in the region following a buildup last year in response to Iranian threats, a U.S. official confirmed on Thursday. The Wall Street Journal first reported that Washington is moving four Patriot missile batteries from the region. The U.S. official confirmed to The Hill that two Patriot systems will come from Saudi Arabia — along with the roughly 300 military personnel deployed to man them. The two systems had been sent to the country last year after a Sept. 14 strike...

President Donald Trump on Monday signed into law a $717 billion defense spending bill that puts China in the crosshairs of a host of new US Navy missiles and tactics. The US Navy will get new, longer-range missiles to outgun China's missiles, which can get clean shots on US ships well before US missiles have them in range. The increase in spending comes as China has increasingly edged out the US Navy's competitive advantage in open waters. The US suffers a missile gap with both Russia and China, meaning those countries have longer-range missiles designed to sink massively valuable platforms...

Starting in May 2010, The Washington Examiner reported, drawing on emails obtained by Citizens United, “Clinton Foundation staff pushed Hillary Clinton’s State Department to approve a meeting between Bill Clinton and a powerful Russian oligarch as her agency lined up investors for a project under his purview.” His name was Viktor Vekselberg of Renova (a Clinton Foundation donor) and the project under his purview was the Skolkovo Innovation Center, which is being built near Moscow. The following month, Bill Clinton would receive $500,000 for a speech in Moscow from a Renaissance Capital, a Russian investment bank with ties to the...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — North Korea said Friday it can't pay nearly $184,000 in dues to the United Nations because of U.N. sanctions that prevent the transfer of funds from Pyongyang. North Korea's U.N. Mission said sanctions imposed by the Security Council in early August on the Foreign Trade Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which is in charge of international transactions, made payment impossible. The mission said Ambassador Ja Song Nam met Undersecretary-General for Management Jan Beagle Friday afternoon to request the opening of "banking channels" to make the DPRK's required $183,458 payment for 2018 for the...

SIMI VALLEY, Calif (Reuters) - The U.S. agency tasked with protecting the country from missile attacks is scouting the West Coast for places to deploy new anti-missile defenses, two Congressmen said on Saturday, as North Korea's missile tests raise concerns about how the United States would defend itself from an attack. West Coast defenses would likely include Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missiles, similar to those deployed in South Korea to protect against a potential North Korean attack. The accelerated pace of North Korea's ballistic missile testing program in 2017 and the likelihood the North Korean military could...

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton said today that the diplomatic options are running out after North Korea fired a new kind of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The rogue dictator Kim Jong Un boasted that the Hwasong-15 can be armed with a nuclear warhead and could strike the U.S. mainland. The ICBM was fired at 2:48 a.m. local time on Wednesday, the regime said, traveling 596 miles and demonstrating the potential to reach a range of 8,100 miles. Bolton said this test-launch is "significant" because, if the early estimates are confirmed, it leaves no doubt that Pyongyang is "getting very close"...

Iran’s state media showed video Friday of the successful test-launch of a new ballistic missile capable of reaching portions of the Middle East, including Israel. Just hours earlier, the Khorramshahr missile was unveiled at a large military parade presided over by Iranian President Hassan Rohani who vowed to continue Tehran’s missile program in defiance of demands from Washington to halt it.

US Strategic Command systems detected a failed North Korean ballistic missile launch Saturday evening near the northwestern city of Kusong, the Pentagon said. "We strongly condemn this and North Korea's other recent missile tests, which violate UN Security Council resolutions explicitly prohibiting North Korea's launches using ballistic missile technology," Pentagon spokesman Gary Ross said in a statement. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America. Washington called on Pyongyang to "refrain from actions that further raise tensions in the region," Ross said.

BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbia's authorities are investigating reports that a cargo package bound for Portland contained two missiles with explosive warheads on a passenger flight from Lebanon. N1 television said the package with two guided armor-piercing missiles was discovered Saturday by a sniffer dog after an Air Serbia flight from Beirut landed at a Belgrade airport.

Senior Iranian military officials this week boasted that they had stockpiled a huge quantity of long-range ballistic missiles that are pointed directly at Israel. Two such missiles were tested this week on targets at a range of 1,400 kilometers (870 miles), putting Israel well within range if fired from western Iran. Brig. General Amir Ali Haji Zada, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's air corps, told Iranian media that these missiles "belong to the Palestinian people." It was also reported that the test missiles were inscribed in Hebrew with the words "Israel must be wiped out." Brigadier General Hossein Salami,...

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is to hold talks on Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the conflict in Syria, the Kremlin said, amid concerns Moscow plans to deliver advanced missiles to the Damascus regime. --snip-- The weapons would significantly strengthen Syria's defenses... --snip-- Russia last week refused to rule out supplying weapons to Syria, saying it has to honor existing contracts. --snip-- "Vladimir Putin [said] that the S-300 complexes will be delivered to Syria for sure," wrote the Kommersant daily on Monday, according to AFP.

China has placed military forces on heightened alert in the northeastern part of the country as tensions mount on the Korean peninsula following recent threats by Pyongyang to attack, U.S. officials said. Reports from the region reveal the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recently increased its military posture in response to the heightened tensions, specifically North Korea’s declaration of a “state of war” and threats to conduct missile attacks against the United States and South Korea. According to the officials, the PLA has stepped up military mobilization in the border region with North Korea since mid-March, including troop movements and...

Q Do you agree with the U.S. sending troops, missile-defense system to Turkey? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Yes, situation is worsening No, should stay out of it

Bill Gertz of the Washington Times reports that President Barack Obama has indicated he is prepared to convey information about secret American missile defense technology to Russia: In the president’s signing statement issued Saturday in passing into law the fiscal 2012 defense authorization bill, Mr. Obama said restrictions aimed at protecting top-secret technical data on U.S. Standard Missile-3 velocity burnout parameters might impinge on his constitutional foreign policy authority. As first disclosed in this space several weeks ago, U.S. officials are planning to provide Moscow with the SM-3 data, despite reservations from security officials who say that doing so could...

The huge explosion that destroyed a major missile-testing site near Tehran three weeks ago was a major setback for Iran’s most advanced long-range missile program, according to American and Israeli intelligence officials and missile technology experts. In interviews, current and former officials said surveillance photos showed that the Iranian base was a central testing center for advanced solid-fuel missiles, an assessment backed by outside experts who have examined satellite photos showing that the base was almost completely leveled in the blast. SNIP The sprawling complex where the blast took place has expanded dramatically in the last few years. Michael Elleman,...

"First, I am instructing the Defense Ministry to immediately put the missile attack early warning radar station in Kaliningrad on combat alert. Second, protective cover of Russia's strategic nuclear weapons, will be reinforced as a priority measure under the programme to develop out air and space defenses. Third, the new strategic ballistic missiles commissioned by the Strategic Missile Forces and the Navy will be equipped with advanced missile defense penetration systems and new highly-effective warheads. Fourth, I have instructed the Armed Forces to draw up measures for disabling missile defense system data and guidance systems if need be... Fifth, if...

New documents added to WikiLeak’s leaked United States embassy cables revealed that China has been selling missiles and parts to Iran,Syria and Pakistan in violation of its agreement with the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). MTCR MTCR was formed in 1987 as an informal voluntary partnership of 34 countries to prevent the export of long range weapons of mass destruction to hostile nations. China is not a member but has assured the members it will support the group’s policy of Missile Nonproliferation. China has not been allowed to join the MTCR because of its non-existent export controls. China has not...

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2011 – Coalition members fired 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libya’s integrated air and missile defense system today as a precursor to setting up a no-fly zone over the country, Pentagon officials said. Navy Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, director of the Joint Staff, briefs reporters at the Pentagon on the launch of Operation Odyssey Dawn, a coalition effort to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya and protect the Libyan people from Moammar Gadhafi’s regime, March 19, 2011. DOD photo by Cherie Cullen  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. In Brazil, where he is on the first...