CHINA'S ANSWER TO U.S. LASERS
The Department of Defense has used lasers to guide missiles, intercept and neutralize kinetic targets, and even burn through targets with focused energy. Now, in an effort to combat U.S. military advances in laser weapons, the Chinese military is experimenting with a potential countermeasure: smoke. Natural disturbances including fog, smoke, turbulence, and dust are known to have the potential to greatly distort and scatter the beam of a laser, rendering it ineffective. Thus a proper smokescreen can theoretically shield a target from lasers, and the People's Liberation Army is experimenting with portable smokescreen launchers which could deploy a smokescreen armor in the field where needed. (Popular Science, May 3, 2016)
EUROPEAN MISSILE DEFENSE MOVES AHEAD
Despite Russia's continued admonishments, the newest component of NATO's missile shield is now coming online. After years of planning and billions of dollars spent, a ground-based facility in Romania will be formally inaugurated in coming days as part of a broad-based expansion of defense capabilities on the Continent. Construction is also now underway for a final missile defense site in Poland - one that will be operational in 2018, thereby completing NATO's anti-missile system. (New York Times, May 5, 2016;Reuters, May 11, 2016)
SPACE ASSETS AND THE FIGHT AGAINST ISIS
American assets in what has colloquially been called "the final frontier" could soon play a growing role in counterterrorism. The recently established Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center (JICSPoC), located at a sprawling complex in Colorado, is the setting for war-games that focus on both satellite defense and the role space plays in ground-based military operations. Now, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter wants the center and the technologies it harnesses to take on an active role in combatting the Islamic State terrorist group. "[W]e are in the counter-[Islamic State] fight, and I have instructed our space community to join the fight, to figure out what we can do to contribute," Carter has confirmed. Current concerns with satellite security involve ground to space missiles and cyber attacks that can endanger communications. The goal of using JICSPoC in combatting the Islamic State is to deny them access to satellites for communication and encryption purposes. (Washington Post, May 13, 2016)
ANOTHER STEP FORWARD FOR IRON DOME
One of Israel's premier anti-missile systems has chalked up another success. The Iron Dome rocket defense system was able to intercept a shore fired 122mm Grad rocket while deployed on a naval cruiser - thereby opening up new applications for the previously ground-based system. Future plans now under development by the Israeli military call for the integration of the Iron Dome with units of the sophisticated Barak-8 system on naval platforms as a response to more advanced cruise missile threats. (Defense News, May 18, 2016)
RAILGUNS BECOMING A REALITY
In a first for defense technology, the Navy is close to deploying the U.S. military's newly developed railgun. Railguns use electromagnetic propulsion to fire objects at speeds of Mach Six, or over 4,500 miles per hour. Projectiles are accelerated down the barrel of the cannon, with electric charges on either side of the barrel increasing the speed of the object as it exits. The cannons require a massive 25-megawatt power source, however - something which limits their use to larger warships. Yet the Navy’s new class of Zumwalt destroyers are likely to have the capability to incorporate railgun technology in what represents a potential technological game changer. Current six-inch naval guns have an effective range of roughly fifteen miles, while a railgun can fire objects a staggering 125 miles. Due to their incredible speed, railguns are also more accurate than current artillery. Moreover, the current progress in railguns will likely lead to further technological advances in the future, including miniaturization and more versatile deployment and targeting options. (Futurism, May 31, 2016)
CHINA TAKES AIM WITH NEW MISSILE
During its most recent military parade in Beijing, the Chinese government unveiled a new - and sophisticated - ballistic missile. The land-launched DF-26 intermediate range missile can be armed with conventional warheads and has the longest striking range of any missile in the PRC's arsenal, aside from its ICBMs, making it capable of hitting Guam. A recent report by the Congressionally-mandated U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission has highlighted the potential threat this poses to U.S. security in the region, given the island's importance to U.S. basing and to the Obama administration's so-called U.S. "pivot" to Asia. (Washington Free Beacon, May 11, 2016)
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