Russia Confirms Sale OF Advanced S-300 Anti-Aircraft Missile System To Iran

Russia has agreed to supply Iran with advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missiles and build an additional nuclear reactor at the Bushehr nuclear site. The Russian Kommersant daily reported on Wednesday, amid increased international pressure against the two countries' mutual ally Syria.

A "source close to the Kremlin" told the Kommersant that the agreements would be discussed during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Tehran on Friday. Putin is set to meet with high-ranking Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rohani.
During a debate Wednesday in the Russian parliament of a draft resolution on Syria, Alexei Pushkov, the Kremlin-connected chief of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house of parliament, told lawmakers that Russia could expand arms sales to Iran and revise the terms of U.S.* military transit to Afghanistan if Washington launches a strike on Syria.

Pushkov said such action now would be premature as Russia and the U.S. are working to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis, but he warned that if the "party of war" prevails in Washington, Russia should consider those moves.

"If the U.S. takes the path of exacerbating the situation and forgoing diplomacy for the sake of a military scenario, such measures would seem absolutely justified to me," Pushkov said.

He also said that Moscow hopes that the U.S. will back Russia's proposal for Syria to put its chemical weapons under international control for their subsequent dismantling.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday he hoped that a U.S. promise to pursue diplomacy to remove the threat of chemical weapons in Syria was "serious," the Iranian state news agency IRNA reported.

"I am hopeful that the United States new attitude to Syria is serious and not a game with the media. For weeks they have threatened war against the people of this region for the benefit of the Zionists ]Israel]," Khameini said during a public address.

According to the report in Kommersant, Putin reached a decision last weekend to end the ongoing controversy over the sale of S-300 missiles to Iran by finalizing the deal, on condition that Teheran drop a $4 billion lawsuit against Rosoboronexport, the state intermediary that oversees Russian defense imports and exports.

The lawsuit was filed by Iran after Russia canceled a contract for the missiles originally signed in 2007. The report indicated that the contract was canceled in 2010 due to pressure from Israel.

Earlier this year, the possible sale of Russian S-300 missiles to beleaguered Syrian President Bashar Assad caused controversy in the international community as well, and Israel staunchly opposed such a move, fearing that the advanced missiles could fall into the hands of Hezbollah, in Lebanon.

The S-300 system is considered one of the world's most advanced aerial defense systems. Apart for the system's advanced radar, which can identify and track long-range targets, the missile themselves have a range of 200 kilometers.

Because of the system's advanced technology, the time required to make it operational can range between three to six months.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the issue with European foreign ministers in May. "If the missiles are provided and become operational Israel's entire airspace will become a no-fly zone," Netanyahu told the European foreign ministers. "The missile transfer is a significant security challenge to Israel and we will not be able to stand idly by."

In June, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that his nation would honor its controversial contract to deliver the S-300 systems to Syria, but that the order has yet to be filled.

Pakistani JF-17 A Thunder OR A Blunder

Pakistan has witnessed new defense acquisitions in this decade than any other, and in the center of it all is the new fighter which was designed by China with partial funding from Pakistan. It is formally known as JF-17 Thunder. When the fighter was in development, Pakistani online communities were jumping with excitement comparing it with its arch rival India’s modern combatants Su-30MKI, Mig-29S & Mirage-2000H. There were claims of it featuring western Radars and long range missiles, & Chinese ordering some due to its superior capabilities. But the reality is far from it. China having spent significant amount of money into a fighter which it is never going to use, most probably forced Pakistan to accept its avionics to offset some its development costs. Chinese who are known for their self reliance first and quality next, are further downgrading JF-17s capabilities with their poorly copy-pirated avionics. Along with their dubious weapons, any chance of JF...

India Planned Attack On Pak Navy Mehran Base To Kill Chinese Engineers

The terrorist attack on Karachi's Mehran Naval Station on May 22 was conceived and launched by India with the primary objective of killing the Chinese engineers present there, a Pakistani newspaper has claimed, citing 'informed sources'. Four to six Taliban terrorists had entered PNS Mehran on May 22, destroying two maritime surveillance aircraft and killing ten military personnel during their 17-hour siege of the naval air base. "India is the only country in the region that feels troubled by the Pakistan Navy, which had awfully beaten the Indian Navy in Operation Dwarka of 1965. Since then, it has been an earnest desire of India to harm the Pakistan Navy but it was perhaps not possible on the battle front, hence it struck the PNS Mehran," The News quoted sources as saying.

Pakistani F-16s Shoot Down RAF Eurofighter Typhoons During Air Combat Exercises In Turkey

Pakistani pilots flying modernised versions of the 1970s-vintage F-16 Falcon fighter have beaten the RAF's brand-new Eurofighter Typhoon superfighters during air combat exercises in Turkey, according to a Pakistani officer. Analysis: The RAF Typhoon, formerly known as the Eurofighter, should nonetheless have been vastly superior in air-to-air combat whether BVR or close in within visual range (WVR). The cripplingly expensive, long-delayed Eurofighter was specifically designed to address the defects of its predecessor the Tornado F3 – famously almost useless in close-in, dogfighting-style air combat. The Typhoon was meant to see off such deadly in-close threats as Soviet "Fulcrums" and "Flankers" using short-range missiles fired using helmet-mounted sight systems: such planes were thought well able to beat not just Tornados but F-16s in close fighting, and this expectation was borne out after the Cold War when the Luftwaffe inherite...

ASIAN DEFENCE

Search This Blog