Turkey in talks with France over missile purchase: Erdogan
Ankara (AFP) Sept 07, 2014 -
Turkey has resumed talks with France on purchasing a new missile system after negotiations on a controversial deal with a US-blacklisted Chinese company hit a rock, the Turkish president was reported Sunday as saying.
"Some disagreements have emerged with China on the issues of joint production and technology transfer during negotiations over missile defence system," President Recep Tayyip E ...
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Space Agency to be Established in UAE
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Sep 10, 2014 -
United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued a decree on the establishment of a space agency, which will deal with all issues related to space industry, according to a statement released Sunday by Emirati newspaper Al Bayan.
The headquarters of the agency will be located in Abu Dhabi, its offices - in Dubai and other emirates as well as abroad. The agency will be ...
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New NASA Probe Will Study Earth's Forests in 3-D
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Sep 10, 2014 -
A laser-based instrument being developed for the International Space Station will provide a unique 3-D view of Earth's forests, helping to fill in missing information about their role in the carbon cycle.
Called the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) lidar, the instrument will be the first to systematically probe the depths of the forests from space. The system is one of two in ...
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NASA Launches New Era of Earth Science from ISS
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 10, 2014 -
The launch of a NASA ocean winds sensor to the International Space Station (ISS) this month inaugurates a new era of Earth observation that will leverage the space station's unique vantage point in space. Before the end of the decade, six NASA Earth science instruments will be mounted to the station to help scientists study our changing planet.
The first NASA Earth-observing instrument to ...
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NRL Scientist Explores Birth of a Planet
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 10, 2014 -
Dr. John Carr, a scientist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), is part of an international team that has discovered what they believe is evidence of a planet forming around a star about 335 light years from Earth. This research is published in the August 20th issue of The Astrophysical Journal.
Carr and the other research team members set out to study the protoplanetary disk aroun ...
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DoD Agrees to Share Space Data with South Korea
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 10, 2014 -
The Defense Department has signed a memorandum of understanding to share space situational awareness data with South Korea's Defense Ministry, Pentagon officials said.
The accord provides South Korea's air force with higher-quality and more timely space information tailored for its specific purposes in exchange for satellite-positional and radio-frequency information it will provide to U.S ...
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Iraq needs more than new government to address woes: experts
Baghdad (AFP) Sept 09, 2014 -
Iraq's new cabinet lineup is not a major change and much more is needed to address grievances that contributed to the rise of brutal jihadists who seized swathes of the country, experts say.
Having the support of Iraq's various religious and ethnic communities, especially members of its alienated Sunni Arab minority, is essential to the government's fight to regain ground lost to a sweeping ...
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Britain arming Iraqi Kurds with machine guns to fight IS
London (AFP) Sept 09, 2014 -
Britain is to ship heavy machine guns and ammunition to Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State jihadists in Iraq, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon announced Tuesday.
The arms shipment, worth Pounds 1.6 million ($2.6 million, two million euros), will arrive in Iraq on Wednesday.
"The Kurdish forces remain significantly less well equipped than ISIL (Islamic State) and we are responding to help th ...
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Arabs rally behind US efforts for anti-jihadist coalition
Baghdad (AFP) Sept 09, 2014 -
Arab nations rallied Tuesday behind US efforts to form a broad coalition against jihadists in Iraq and Syria as Secretary of State John Kerry headed to the region to cement their support.
Regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia is to host talks Thursday between Kerry and ministers from 10 Arab states and Turkey on joint action against the Islamic State group.
The moves came as Britain announce ...
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Israel, US test upgraded Arrow 2 missile interceptor
Jerusalem (AFP) Sept 09, 2014 -
Israel and the United States on Tuesday successfully conducted a joint test of an upgraded Arrow 2 ballistic missile interception system over the Mediterranean Sea, the defence ministry said.
"An Arrow 2 missile was launched and performed its flight sequence as planned," the defence ministry said in a statement, with a spokesman confirming the system had been upgraded.
The two countries ...
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Ukraine in NATO would be 'unprecedented challenge': Russia
Brussels (AFP) Sept 09, 2014 -
Russia said emphatically on Tuesday it did not want Ukraine to become a NATO member, describing such a possibility as an "unprecedented challenge to European security".
"Ukraine in NATO would be an unprecedented challenge to European security, the biggest since the collapse of the Berlin Wall," said Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's envoy to the European Union.
Kiev announced its intentions to ...
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Obama tries to sell plan to defeat Islamic State
Washington (AFP) Sept 09, 2014 -
President Barack Obama stepped up his bid to convince Americans he has a plan to defeat the Islamic State, meeting top congressional leaders and scheduling a primetime speech for Wednesday.
Obama will summon the symbolic weight of a televised address to the nation at 9:00 pm (0100 GMT Thursday), speaking from the ceremonial state floor of the White House.
The speech will attempt to redre ...
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Software improvements to Tomahawk cruise missile demonstrated
Tucson (UPI) Sep 9, 2014 -
Raytheon reports that software improvements to the Tomahawk cruise missile have been validated in testing by the U.S. Navy.
The first test involved the submarine USS Hampton firing a Tomahawk Block IV missile from its vertical capsule launch system. The missile first flew a pre-planned mission until directed to a new target by strike control personnel.
In the second test, a Tomah ...
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US, Russia to hold talks on 1987 arms control treaty
Washington (AFP) Sept 09, 2014 -
A US delegation heads to Moscow Thursday to discuss the 1987 arms control treaty with their Russian counterparts, with both sides accusing the other of violations.
The United States has raised concerns over Moscow's development since 2008 of a new missile banned under the accord, while Russia wants the United States to abandon or limit its anti-missile shield plans in Europe, saying the proj ...
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China's President Xi to visit India next week
Beijing (AFP) Sept 09, 2014 -
China's President Xi Jinping will make his first state visit to rival Asian giant India next week, officials said Tuesday, as Beijing sought to allay fears it is encircling its neighbour.
The announcement came just a week after India's recently elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to take ties to a "new level" with Japan, a move seen as an attempt to shore up regional alliances to c ...
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IBC Engineered Materials to Supply BeralCast Castings for F-35
Wilmington MA (SPX) Sep 10, 2014 -
IBC Advanced Alloys Corp reports that its wholly owned US subsidiary, IBC Engineered Materials Corp., has been selected by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control to provide critical cast components for the Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS) on the F-35 Lightning II. The first component covered by this contract is an EOTS azimuth gimbal housing to be manufactured using Beralcast, the Comp ...
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Armored Ground Vehicles Could Sprint, Dodge And Shield Their Way Out Of Danger
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 10, 2014 -
One of the key goals of DARPA's Ground X-Vehicle Technology (GXV-T) program is improving the survivability of ground-based armored fighting vehicles by increasing vehicle agility.
Vehicle agility involves the ability to autonomously avoid incoming threats, either by rapidly moving out of the way or reconfiguring the vehicle so incoming threats have a low probability of hitting and penetrat ...
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Penn study demonstrates wearable sensors to detect firearm use
University Park PA (SPX) Sep 10, 2014 -
A new study from the University of Pennsylvania demonstrates that wearable sensors could one day transform the correctional system by tracking gun use by community-based offenders, who account for a disproportionate share of fatal and non-fatal shootings.
Currently, detecting and deterring this type of crime can be challenging in the absence of reliable evidence that a particular community ...
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Helicopter-Type UAVs May Appear in Russian Navy in One Year
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Sep 10, 2014 -
Research and development company Radar MMS is waiting for the Russian Navy to place orders for its Breeze, a helicopter-type unmanned flying radar.
"If the Navy wants, we are ready to supply it in one year," Sergey Ptitsyn, head of the company's department of electronic equipment development, said at a press conference at the international water and ship-based aviation exhibition Gidroavia ...
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Russian Defense Ministry Denies Reports that Its Satellite Exploded Above US
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Sep 10, 2014 -
The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday denied media reports of a Russian military satellite that allegedly exploded above the United States.
Earlier in the day, the American Meteor Society published more than 30 reports from alleged eyewitnesses, who claimed they observed a blast of Russia's Kosmos-2495 imaging reconnaissance satellite.
"The Russian satellite group functions normall ...
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Intelsat General Extends Contract to Provide Satellite Capacity to Forces in Afghanistan
Bethesda, MD (SPX) Sep 10, 2014 -
Intelsat General has confirmed that it had received a one-year contract renewal for satellite capacity from DRS Technologies, one of several previously referenced renewals that were received in the 2014 third quarter under the Future Commercial Satellite Communications Acquisition (FCSA) vehicle.
Under the contract, entering its third year, Intelsat General is supplying satellite services ...
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FirstNet-related Tactical LTE Communications System at Urban Shield Exercise
Oakland CA (SPX) Sep 10, 2014 -
At Urban Shield 2014, Mutualink, Sonim and Oceus will participate in a FirstNet-related deployment of an Enhanced System on Wheels (ESOW). The exercise will give public safety officials in northern California the opportunity to prepare for a coordinated, multi-agency, emergency response using advanced collaboration across LTE Band 14.
During the Urban Shield exercise, officials from the No ...
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US Army Europe uses technology to conduct exercises with different nations
Hohenfels, Germany (SPX) Sep 10, 2014 -
U.S. Army Europe uses its latest simulation technology to join two training exercises from different countries and allow commanders to view and control troop movements as though units from both exercises are operating in the same area.
Paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade will appear to drop into Germany near Munich, which is just south of the main body of the Saber Junction exerci ...
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Tech giants bet on 'smart home' revolution
Berlin (AFP) Sept 10, 2014 -
It's long been the stuff of science fiction, but tech giants hope the "smart home", where gadgets talk to each other and the fridge orders the milk, will soon become reality.
The futuristic vision of wireless domestic bliss that puts people and their smartphones or tablets at the centre of an "Internet of Things" is a key theme at this year's IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin.
Indu ...
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China to launch second space lab in 2016: official
Beijing (AFP) Sept 10, 2014 -
China will launch its second orbiting space laboratory in two years' time, a top official said Wednesday, the latest step in an ambitious space programme Beijing says will one day land a Chinese man on the moon.
Astronaut Yang Liwei, who in 2003 became China's first man in space and is now deputy director of the country's manned space programme, made the announcement at the Association of Sp ...
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