EU says Lithuania can use funds for border surveillance, not fences

EU says Lithuania can use funds for border surveillance, not fences Brussels (AFP) Jan 17, 2017 - Lithuania can use EU funds to install surveillance systems on its border with Russia's militarised Kaliningrad exclave but not to build a fence, the EU said on Tuesday. Vilnius has said it wants to build a fence on the border with Kaliningrad amid concern from fellow Baltic states over the Russian military build-up. The so-called exclave of Kaliningrad is sandwiched between Poland and Li ... more

Russia test-fires Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile Moscow (UPI) Jan 17, 2017 - Russia's military successfully test-fired a Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile, according to the country's defense ministry. The missile, one of Russia's first ICBMs developed after the fall of the Soviet Union, was fired from the Plesetsk spaceport and struck its target at a firing range in the Kamchatka Peninsula. Russian defense authorities say the test was conducted to confi ... more

Taiwan begins F-16 upgrade program Taipei, Taiwan (UPI) Jan 17, 2017 - A $3.4 billion Taiwanese program to upgrade its F-16A/B Fighting Falcons got underway this week with the first four aircraft flown to a plant in Taichung. The retrofitting of the aircraft to a "V" configuration is being performed by Taiwan's Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. in Taichung with Lockheed Martin, manufacturer of the aircraft. According to the Taipei Times, the fo ... more

China to develop prototype super, super computer in 2017 Beijing (AFP) Jan 17, 2017 - China plans to develop a prototype exascale computer by the end of the year, state media said Tuesday, as it seeks to win a global race to be the first to build a machine capable of a billion, billion calculations per second. If successful, the achievement would cement its place as a leading power in the world of supercomputing. The Asian giant built the world's fastest supercomputer, th ... more

Russia-China Joint Space Studies Center May Be Created in Southeastern Russia Krasnoyarsk (Sputnik) Jan 17, 2017 - A joint-working space center of Russian and Chinese specialists could be built in Russia's southeastern Zabaikalsky Territory, the press service of the region's head said Monday in a statement. A center for joint work of Russian and Chinese specialists in the sphere of space studies could be built in Russia's southeastern Zabaikalsky Territory as a part of the comprehensive plan of the reg ... more

Russia, China Work on Joint High-Precision Satellite Navigation System Moscow (Sputnik) Jan 18, 2017 - Russia and China are in the process of setting up a joint Differential Corrections and Monitoring (SDCM) high-precision satellite navigation system, China National Space Administration (CNSA) chief representative in Russia Zhang Yuan said Tuesday. "We are not in the process of implementing [the system]," Zhang told RIA Novosti in response to a question on the time frame for building the sy ... more

Raytheon completes qualification testing of next-gen GPS Launch and Checkout System Aurora CO (SPX) Jan 18, 2017 - Raytheon has reached another milestone in developing the U.S. Air Force Global Positioning System Next-Generation Operational Control System, known as GPS OCX, with the completion of the Factory Qualification Test of the Launch and Checkout System (LCS). GPS OCX will unleash dramatically increased performance and security of the GPS system that benefits millions of people worldwide. Raythe ... more

Russian Smerch, Uragan Rocket Launchers to Get Stealth Cloaks Moscow (Sputnik) Jan 18, 2017 - Russia will outfit its Smerch and Uragan heavy multiple rocket launchers with specially designed canvas tents to make them invisible to enemy satellites and radar, the Moscow-based newspaper Izvestia wrote.The first eight such tents, equipped with their own systems of ventilation, fire control, power supply and heating, will arrive at a missile brigade of the Eastern Military District stationed ... more

US-led coalition strikes IS near Syria's Al-Bab Washington (AFP) Jan 17, 2017 - The US-led coalition has conducted four strikes near the Syrian town of Al-Bab, a significant move that will help Turkish forces fighting the Islamic State group there, a US official said Tuesday. "These strikes were the result of continued cooperation with Turkey, and we saw a window of opportunity where it was in our mutual interests to get those targets destroyed," coalition spokesman Col ... more

Damascus says Israel missiles caused airbase explosions Damascus (AFP) Jan 13, 2017 - The Syrian army said on Friday that Israeli missile strikes caused a series of explosions at an airbase outside Damascus before dawn. "In a desperate attempt to support terrorist organisations, Israeli enemy aircraft launched missiles from the north of Lake Tiberias (the Sea of Galilee) at 00:25 am (2225 GMT Thursday)," a military source told the state SANA news agency. "The Syrian armed ... more