Latest news with #USMilitary
CBS News
23-07-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Russian aircraft spotted and tracked flying near Alaska again, NORAD says
Russian military planes were detected flying near the coast of Alaska on Tuesday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said, marking the latest in a string of sightings in recent months. The planes were not considered a threat, as Russian activity in that airspace happens regularly, according to the military command. U.S. officials have not specified the type of aircraft spotted this week or how many of them were there. CBS News has reached out to NORAD for more information. The aircraft flew through a section of international airspace called the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), which is a designated area just outside of U.S. and Canadian sovereign space that both countries surveil closely for national security reasons. Aircraft are also expected to identify themselves when entering this region. NORAD said it tracked the Russian planes after detecting them and confirmed that they remained in the international zone. "NORAD employs a layered defense network of satellites, ground-based and airborne radars and fighter aircraft to detect and track aircraft and inform appropriate actions," the command said in a news release, adding that it "remains ready to employ a number of response options in defense of North America." Military officials in the U.S. have reported the presence of Russian planes in the ADIZ a handful of times already since the beginning of the year. In April, NORAD said the command had detected Russian warplanes flying off the coast of Alaska, within the bounds of the defense identification zone. Less than three months earlier, the U.S. and Canada scrambled fighter jets to follow Russian warplanes seen over the Arctic, in an incident that drew some scrutiny as the region became a source of increasing geopolitical tension. The U.S. military said it later dispatched two F-16 fighter jets from Alaska to Greenland, to "forward posture NORAD presence in the Arctic." In September 2024, NORAD posted dramatic video of a Russian fighter jet flying "within just a few feet" of NORAD aircraft off the coast of Alaska. At the time, a U.S. general said "the conduct of one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all." Two months before that incident, the U.S. military said it intercepted four Russian and Chinese bombers in international airspace off the Alaskan coast.
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
China's new X-shaped rail gun design doubles firepower and improves range
Chinese researchers are experimenting with a new rail gun design to help overcome the firepower limitations of existing designs. They believe that stacking two rail guns in an X-shape in a single barrel could be the solution they need. A rail gun is a futuristic weapon that utilizes electromagnetic force, rather than explosives or gunpowder, to launch projectiles. Designs vary, but rail guns typically utilize electricity to generate powerful magnetic fields that accelerate a projectile to extremely high speeds, around Mach 7 (approximately 5,344 mph or 8,600 kph). Many nations around the world have experimented with the technology, with China developing its own version in 2018. This gun was mounted on the Haiyangshan, a Chinese Type 072III-class landing ship, and was seen as a first-of-its-kind at the time. Meanwhile, the U.S. has abandoned its rail gun program owing to cost, complexity, and the rise of hyper-sonic missiles. Japan is working on a smaller rail gun—essentially a technology demonstrator—that fires tiny 0.66-pound (300g) shells from ships. X marks the spot China's existing rail gun, which seemed insurmountable during its induction, has displayed its set of limitations over time. Being a naval gun, the weapon needs to pack a punch but this requires more power, which in turn leads to issues. Too much current melts the metal components, like the U-shaped armature (which helps carry current and launch the shell). Magnetic forces can tear apart melted metal mid-shot, likened to a "magnetic saw." This leads to the rails getting damaged, reducing performance. At present, the navy's rail gun is capped at firing 33-pound (15 kg) shells, which is not nearly enough to damage a ship—suggesting the weapon is not yet war-ready. In a bid to address the issue, a group of Chinese army researchers—led by associate professor Lyu Qingao from the Army Engineering University of PLA in Shijiazhuang—proposed a x-shaped 'double-decker' rail gun which could overcome power limitations. To this end, the design features each rail gun having its own power circuit, allowing them to operate independently but in parallel. The setup utilizes four rails and two U-armatures that work together. Patent pending Vertical magnetic fields don't interfere with each other, so stacking two rail guns does not reduce performance. You can think of it like twin engines on a rocket, delivering more power without one interfering with the other. This design, the team believes, will enable the weapon to launch a 132-pound (60 kg) shell at speeds of at least Mach 7. The improved ordinance size also happens to be four times more than the current Chinese Navy requirement. The team has already filed a patent for the new 'x-shape armature' technology, but has not conducted any live-fire tests as yet. If the trials prove successful, it should translate to ranges in the region of 248 miles (400 km), with the shell able to cross that distance in as little as 6 minutes. The team also believes the impact speed of the shell could exceed Mach 4 on target. However, researchers caution that the 'proximity effect' (interference between nearby electrical currents) may still cause issues with performance and reliability. To this end, real-world testing is necessary to demonstrate its effectiveness. Solve the daily Crossword
Washington Post
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Largest-ever warfighting drills in Australia, Exercise Talisman Sabre, is underway
MELBOURNE, Australia — The largest-ever warfighting drills in Australia, Exercise Talisman Sabre , is underway and expected to attract the attention of Chinese spy ships. Talisman Sabre began in 2005 as a biennial joint exercise between the United States and Australia. This year, more than 35,000 military personnel from 19 nations, including Canada, Fiji, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, and the United Kingdom, will take part over three weeks, Australia's defense department said on Sunday.
New York Times
13-07-2025
- General
- New York Times
‘Nazi Creek' in Alaska Gets a New Name After More Than 70 Years
Little Kiska Island, at the far western end of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, is a remote speck of land that was heavily contested during World War II. In an attack possibly timed to draw away U.S. forces before the planned invasion of Midway Island, about 1,100 miles northwest of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese military captured Kiska Island, along with Little Kiska, in June 1942. While the Japanese occupation lasted a little more than a year, it left a far longer imprint on the map of the three-square-mile Little Kiska. A one-mile creek that flows southeast into the Pacific Ocean was named Nazi Creek — a designation given by Americans, not by the Japanese. Until last week, when it was officially renamed, the creek was the only geographic feature in the United States with 'Nazi' in its name, according to a United States Geological Survey database of place names. The name was 'arbitrarily applied to features in this area' by the United States Army Air Forces for tactical purposes during World War II, an entry in the Dictionary of Alaska Place Names says. The name appeared on an Army map in 1953. The name was picked because the U.S. military needed a name beginning with 'N' to correspond with the 'N' square on an alphanumeric grid it had superimposed on the area. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Asharq Al-Awsat
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Iran Attack on Qatar Air Base Hit Geodesic Dome Used for US Communications, Satellite Photos Show
An Iranian attack on an air base in Qatar that's key to the US military hit a geodesic dome housing equipment used by the Americans for secure communications, satellite images analyzed Friday by The Associated Press show. Hours after the publication of this AP report, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell acknowledged that an Iranian ballistic missile had hit the dome. Qatar did not respond to requests for comment about the damage. The Iranian attack on Al Udeid Air Base outside of Doha, Qatar's capital, on June 23 came as a response to the American bombing of three nuclear sites in Iran — and provided Iran a way to retaliate that quickly led to a ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump ending the 12-day Iran-Israel war. The Iranian attack otherwise did little damage — likely because of the fact that the US evacuated its aircraft from the base, which is home to the forward headquarters of the US military's Central Command, before the attack. Trump also has said that Iran signaled when and how it would retaliate, allowing American and Qatari air defense to be ready for the attack, which briefly disrupted air travel in the Middle East, but otherwise didn't tip over into the regional war long feared by analysts. Images show burn marks, dome gone after attack Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC show the geodesic dome visible at the Al Udeid Air Base on the morning of June 23, just hours before the attack. The US Air Force's 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, which operates out of the base, announced in 2016 the installation of the $15 million piece of equipment, known as a modernized enterprise terminal. Photos show a satellite dish inside of the dome, known as a radome. Images taken June 25 and every day subsequently show the dome is gone, with some damage visible on a nearby building. The rest of the base appears largely untouched in the images.
