Latest news with #FIM-92Stinger
Straits Times
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Taiwan to mark World War Two end in history narrative battle with China
FILE PHOTO: Paintings on display at Taiwan's defence ministry, which will be used in exhibitions for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in Taipei, Taiwan March 26, 2025. REUTERS/Ben Blanchard/File Photo FILE PHOTO: Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te stands next to soldiers holding an FIM-92 Stinger as he pays a visit at Songshan airbase in Taipei, Taiwan March 21, 2025. REUTERS/Ann Wang/File Photo TAIPEI - President Lai Ching-te will next week mark for the first time in Taiwan the end of World War Two in Europe and underscore that aggression must be defeated, sources told Reuters, at a time the island is facing increasing military pressure from China. Taiwan has since the start of this year sought to cast the war as a lesson to China in why aggression will end in failure, and take back the narrative from Beijing that it was not communist forces who took victory. World War Two, and the full-scale Japanese invasion of China in 1937 that preceded the start of the conflict in 1939, is a touchy historical subject in both China and Taiwan. The Chinese government at the time was the Republic of China, part of the U.S. and British-led alliance, and its forces did much of the fighting against Japan, putting on pause a bitter civil war with Mao Zedong's Communists whose military also fought the Japanese. The republican government then fled to Taiwan in 1949 after finally being defeated by Mao, and Republic of China remains the democratic island's official name. Four sources familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media, told Reuters that Lai will host foreign diplomats and other dignitaries in Taipei on Thursday and give a speech about the 80th anniversary of the war's end. This marks the first time that Taiwan will formally commemorated the victory of the war in Europe. By doing so Lai is expected to call on the island's friends to unite in the face of the growing aggression from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, two of the sources said. "The victory in World War Two came from the unity of these nations, and it's important to note that aggression must be defeated. All these peace-loving nations must unite," the source said. The source said Lai is likely to remind the world that democracies are now facing the same threats to democracy as 80 years ago, pointing to examples including China's military aggression, political coercion and disinformation campaigns. Taiwan's presidential office did not respond to a request for comment. China's foreign ministry, asked about Taiwan's interpretation of the war and the events it is planning to mark its end, said the "distortion of history, tampering with facts and spreading of lies and fallacies" had long been a ploy of its ruling party. "Bringing about the reunification of the motherland and national rejuvenation are the best ways to commemorate the victory in the war," it said in a statement sent to Reuters. XI EXPECTED AT MOSCOW MILITARY PARADE Lai will be speaking ahead of the following day's military parade in Moscow hosted by President Vladimir Putin to mark the war's end, which Russia's government says Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend. Beijing claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, a position the government in Taipei rejects. The event will be held at the Taipei Guest House, the sources said, the residence of the governor general under Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan, which ended in 1945. A second source familiar with Lai's event next week said it was also about Taiwan trying to take back the narrative about the war from China. "Lai has a strong sense of history," the source said, pointing to previous comments from him including last year where he said if China's claims on Taiwan are about territorial integrity then it should also take back land from Russia signed over by the last Chinese dynasty in the 19th century. Lai, who took office in May last year, is condemned by Beijing as a "separatist". He says only Taiwan's people can decide their future. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Inside the virtual battles Ukrainian soldiers are fighting with top-of-the-line fake guns to train for real combat
BI visited a facility in Kyiv where Ukrainian soldiers use virtual simulators to train for combat. One soldier training on air defense weapons said it helps him gain muscle memory with the system. The founder of the company making the simulators believes future training will be entirely virtual. A quiet, sunny day is suddenly interrupted by the hum of a Russian drone. Moments later, another appears. Then another. Suddenly, they're crisscrossing in the sky as cruise missiles soar overhead. It is fast becoming impossible to shoot everything down. This overwhelming scenario is one that Ukraine's defenders have faced repeatedly over the past three years of war, but when Business Insider experienced it, the Russian attack wasn't real. BI recently visited a training center in Kyiv where Ukrainian forces from across the military use highly immersive virtual reality simulators to get ready for a fight — engaging lethal Russian threats like drones, missiles, and aircraft. Ukrainian technology company PSS by Logics7 makes these simulators. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops have used the company's systems to sharpen their combat skills and train for real-life battles, ones in which failing to shoot down an enemy threat can have deadly consequences. "Future training systems will be only in virtual space," PSS founder Igor Belov told BI in an interview. "We do it right now." The training simulators offer Ukrainian soldiers a cheaper and faster training process. They get the same feel for the weapon without expending valuable ammunition. It's also a safer way to practice and learn, as Russia has demonstrated that it will launch deadly strikes on Ukraine's training grounds. BI observed Ukrainian soldiers training on the American-made .50-caliber M2 Browning machine gun and FIM-92 Stinger, and Soviet-era 9K38 Igla. The training weapons mimic the real deal in appearance, weight, and touch, so the soldiers develop strong muscle memory habits and become familiar with the systems. The Browning is a popular weapon for Ukrainian mobile air defense units tasked with shooting down Russian drones like the Shahed-136, Iranian-made loitering munitions; Russia also has its own domestically produced version. The heavy machine guns are often mounted in the beds of ordinary pickup trucks. The Stinger and Igla, meanwhile, are man-portable air-defense systems, or MANPADS. These shoulder-launched weapons can fire missiles at higher-threat targets like planes, helicopters, and even cruise missiles. The soldiers wear virtual-reality goggles and are placed in simulated battlefield scenarios. An operator can customize the combat experience, such as having drones attack from different directions or changing the weather to a low-visibility fog, making it significantly more challenging to spot and defend against threats. Igor said the simulators make the soldiers more effective in actual combat scenarios, and the soldiers can attest to that. Vitaliy, a Ukrainian soldier in an anti-aircraft unit, told BI through a translator that there's a clear difference between the simulation and firing a real gun on the battlefield. But the VR experience helps provide that muscle memory and feel that makes it easier to use the weapons in real life. Vitaliy, who is identified only by his first name for security purposes, said training on the Stinger is easier than the Igla because the American launcher provides its operator with two chances to hit a target, whereas the Soviet system only gives one. He has been in combat before, but the training helps him keep his edge. Soldiers serving in a mobile air defense unit on the outskirts of Kyiv told BI in a separate interview that simulator training helped them hone their skills on the Browning machine gun. At the facility in Kyiv, this reporter tested the Browning simulator. It was manageable at first to shoot down a few slow-moving Shahed drones traveling in a straight line, leading the airborne threats by aiming just a little ahead of the drone to ensure the interception was perfectly timed. But as more drones came in from different directions, it got more complicated. Eventually, cruise missiles were added into the mix, and the complex attack became completely overwhelming. PSS offers soldiers plenty of other weapons for Ukrainian soldiers to train with beyond air defense, such as drones, small arms, or anti-tank weapons, like the Next-generation Light Anti-tank Weapon, or NLAW. The simulator service is offered to the Ukrainian military at no cost as it wages war against the Russian invasion force, but Igor said PSS can still sell its product and wants to put it on the international market for foreign militaries to try. "This system can be the main system for training in the whole world," Igor said. "It's necessary to develop as fast as we can." VR and AR training is a highly sought-after training capability. Ukraine is not the only military that uses augmented reality to train on different weapons. Last year, this reporter visited a facility at Oklahoma's Fort Sill, where American soldiers practice with Stinger simulators just like the Ukrainians. BI has also previously participated in augmented-reality room-clearing exercises at what is now Fort Barfoot. Read the original article on Business Insider
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Army's Stinger Surface-To-Air Missile Replacement Makes Progress
The U.S. Army's ongoing effort to field a successor to the FIM-92 Stinger man-portable air defense system (MANPADS) has seen a series of successful subsystem demonstrations, with the next step planning to put the system into troops' hands for field evaluation. The latest demonstrations as part of the Army's Next-Generation Short-Range Interceptor program (NGSRI) were carried out by RTX's Raytheon business unit. The need to field a replacement for the aging Stinger has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, which has seen the United States transfer thousands of the older missiles, while the drone threat has continued to grow globally. Raytheon announced today that it had completed all 10 planned subsystem demonstrations for its NGSRI entrant over the past several months. These successful subsystem demonstrations are a crucial step in meeting the U.S. Army's range and performance requirements for this transformational short-range air defense capability,' said Tom Laliberty, president of Land & Air Defense Systems at Raytheon. 'We are confident in our ability to rapidly deliver the Army an affordable, low-risk, highly producible NGSRI solution.' The company provided specific details of four of the subsystems that were looked at. First of these is the seeker assembly, which demonstrated a maximum acquisition range 'far exceeding Stinger in both laboratory and outdoor environments.' Meanwhile, the rocket motor 'demonstrated the ability to extend the intercept range of maneuver short-range air defense engagements.' As for the command launch assembly (CLA) — the man-portable missile launcher interface — this also demonstrated an 'enhanced range for operator detection and identification of aerial targets in real-world, low-visibility environments.' Finally, the warhead, which underwent static arena testing, demonstrated 'precise and repeatable lethality against a broad spectrum of aerial threats.' The remaining six demonstrations addressed other critical functions of the new missile, including tracking, guidance, aerodynamic control, fuzing, and safety. The success of the subsystem demonstrations, Raytheon says, should lead to exercises in which U.S. Army soldiers and Marines will get their hands on NGSRI prototypes and test them in exercises. It seems likely these trials won't involve troops actually firing the missiles — at least, not yet. Raytheon said a first system flight test demonstration is only planned for later this year. A replacement for the venerable Stinger short-range heat-seeking surface-to-air missile has been in the works for some time now, as TWZ has reported in the past, with the original plan being to get a finalized weapon into production no later than the 2027 Fiscal Year. The Army issued a formal request for information (RFI) for the proposed Stinger replacement in March 2022, at which time the program was known as Maneuver Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) Increment 3. While other M-SHORAD increments focused on the development of air defense vehicles, Increment 3 was exclusively focused on developing a new missile to replace to that RFI, 'The system must be capable of defeating Rotary Wing (RW) aircraft, Group 2-3 Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), and Fixed Wing (FW) ground attack aircraft with capabilities equal to or greater than the current Stinger missile (with Proximity Fuse capability). The system must provide improved target acquisition with increased lethality and ranges over current capability.' At least some of those performance aspirations look to have been met in the recent subsystem demonstrations. We also know that the Army wants the new missile to be faster than the existing Stinger and more resistant to countermeasures. As well as being soldier-portable, the new missile is designed to be integrated on vehicles, via the existing Stinger Vehicle Universal Launcher (SVUL). This is a four-round launcher used on the M-SHORAD Increment 1 vehicle and the Avenger system, which can be mounted on a Humvee or in a static position. The rendering at the top of this article shows how Raytheon expects the new missile to appear when deployed in M-SHORAD-based and man-portable forms. RTX and Lockheed Martin have both received contracts to competitively develop the Stinger replacement. Speaking in October 2023, Brig. Gen. Frank Lozano, who runs the Program Executive Office Missiles and Space, told Defense News that the service expected to spend the first two years of the program developing the missiles, which would be built in a 'very small quantity.' Then there would be a competitive fly-off, with the possibility that both RTX and Lockheed Martin entrants could progress to the second phase: a rapid prototyping effort. This will see improvements made to the missiles (or missiles) and another round of prototypes. After another fly-off round, if required, the service would look to start low-rate production — sometime before the end of 2028. The original drivers behind fielding a Stinger successor included the determination that the Stinger Reprogrammable Microprocessor (RMP) would become obsolete in Fiscal Year 2023, with the Stinger Block I meanwhile undergoing a life extension to keep it relevant. This upgrade includes the addition of a proximity fuze, making the missile more effective against smaller targets, such as drones. 'We found some ways to buy time in the near term, including, for example, refurbishing older Stinger missiles,' Army acquisition head Douglas Bush said in March 2023, during an online Defense News event. 'We think we'll get at least 1,200 good new Stingers out of that effort, and save a lot of money doing it.' At the same time, the Army's Stinger inventory has been in decline for some time now, with a steady reduction due to normal training and test and evaluation requirements now compounded by the war in Ukraine. This has seen the U.S. military transfer thousands of these missiles to Ukraine, which has an urgent need for air defense equipment. The dwindling missile inventory in the United States across the board has led to broader questions about the feasibility of replenishing these stocks, or surging production if more missiles are required, as you can read more in this previous TWZ piece. As far as Stinger is concerned, the production of all-up missile rounds can no longer be undertaken, with all work now focusing on modernizing existing missiles. All this taken together helped the Army decide to develop a Stinger replacement, although it's still unclear exactly how much of the older Raytheon system might have made its way into that company's NGSRI offering. Meanwhile, the conflict in Ukraine has only further underlined the need for more capable SHORAD capabilities for the U.S. military. In particular, the threat posed by small drones, which is very much a reality now and only continues to grow, has already shown the need for improved SHORAD systems, and in significant numbers. The generally parlous state of the U.S. military's SHORAD enterprise is something we have discussed in this previous TWZ feature. All in all, while many details of the Next-Generation Short-Range Interceptor are still to be revealed, the program is fast-emerging as one of the most important for the U.S. military as it seeks to optimize its short-range air defense capabilities to better meet current and emerging threats. Contact the author: thomas@
