Tamar missile fired from U.S. Army Multi-Mission Launcher
White Sands Missile Range, N.M. (UPI) May 13, 2016 -
The U.S. Army successfully fired a Tamir missile from its newest launch platform April 14 at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
The missile successfully destroyed a drone as part of an engineering demonstration of the Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2-Intercept system.
The system features a truck-mounted Multi-Mission Launcher that fires a variety of inter ...
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China using 'coercive tactics' in maritime claims: Pentagon
Washington (AFP) May 13, 2016 -
China is using "coercive tactics" and fostering regional tensions as it expands its maritime presence in the South China Sea and elsewhere, but is avoiding triggering an armed conflict, the Pentagon said Friday.
In an annual report to Congress, the Defense Department outlined China's rapid military growth and described how it is assertively defending sovereignty claims across the contested E ...
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Santos expects Colombia deal with FARC 'very soon'
London (AFP) May 13, 2016 -
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said Friday that he hoped the war with Marxist FARC rebels would end "very soon" after further progress this week on peace talks in Cuba.
"We hope that very soon the issue related to the definitive ceasefire between FARC and the government will be resolved," Santos told reporters during a visit to London.
This would mean "the end of the armed confli ...
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Iran says European banks still wary of US sanctions threat
Tehran (AFP) May 15, 2016 -
Big European banks remain reluctant to work in Iran four months after the lifting of international sanctions under a landmark nuclear deal with world powers, an Iranian official said Sunday.
"Major European banks have not yet started their interactions with Iranian banks, but some medium- and small-sized financial institutions have established relations, including opening letters of credit," ...
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F-35 test pilot completes 1,000th vertical landing
Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. (UPI) May 13, 2016 -
British test pilot Peter "Wizzer" Wilson recently completed his 1,000th vertical landing in an F-35 Lightning II aircraft, BAE Systems announced Friday.
It happened at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, about six years after a test pilot conducted the jet's first vertical landing, the company said.
Wizzer is the lead test pilot for the Short Take Off and Vertical Landi ...
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IS snipers prevent civilians leaving Fallujah: US official
Washington (AFP) May 13, 2016 -
Islamic State snipers are targeting humanitarian corridors established by Iraqi security forces to relieve suffering in the IS-held city of Fallujah, a Pentagon official said Friday.
Baghdad-based military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said the shooters were preventing residents from escaping Fallujah, which is only about 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Baghdad and is facing major shortage ...
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Belgium to begin air strikes against IS in Syria
Brussels (AFP) May 13, 2016 -
Belgium will extend its F-16 air strikes against Islamic State jihadists in Iraq into Syria, the government said Friday, as it grapples with the aftermath of deadly IS-claimed bomb attacks in Brussels in March.
"In accordance with UN Resolution 2249, the engagement will be limited to those areas of Syria under the control of IS and other terrorist groups," a spokesman for Prime Minister Char ...
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Gun, grenade and bomb attack kills 16 north of Baghdad
Samarra, Iraq (AFP) May 13, 2016 -
Gunmen attacked a cafe with gunfire and grenades north of the Iraqi capital and later detonated suicide belts against security forces in pursuit, officials said on Friday.
The deadly raid targeted a cafe that was popular with local fans of Real Madrid football club and drew condemnation from the Spanish government.
The club even announced that its players would wear black armbands for th ...
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Efforts to counter IS propaganda bear fruit, experts say
Washington (AFP) May 15, 2016 -
US authorities and Internet giants are boosting attempts to counter the Islamic State group's online propaganda, though it is unclear how effective these efforts are in hampering the jihadists' public-relations machine.
With calls to jihad and highly produced videos of IS fighters in battle or killing captives, the IS group has long used the Internet and social media to recruit fighters for ...
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Senate NDAA bill erases acquisition undersecretary
Washington (UPI) May 13, 2016 -
The Senate Armed Services Committee's proposed Fiscal 2017 defense bill would eliminate the Pentagon's undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, divvying up that office's responsibilities in the name of greater efficiency.
The bill proposes $602 billion in funding for the Defense Department and the Department of Energy's national security programs, according to Thursday' ...
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Eight Turkey troops killed in anti-PKK operations: army
Diyarbakir, Turkey (AFP) May 13, 2016 -
Six Turkish soldiers were killed on Friday in a clash with Kurdish militants in the southeast of the country while two more lost their lives when a military helicopter sent to the scene crashed, the army said.
The six troops were killed and eight others wounded in fighting with members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) near a military base in the Cukurca district of Hakkari prov ...
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Fallen hero: How the tide turned for Taiwan's Ma
Taipei (AFP) May 13, 2016 -
He won Taiwan's largest ever landslide victory, a safe pair of hands promising prosperity and stability - but president Ma Ying-jeou leaves office this month caricatured as incompetent, aloof and wildly out of step with public sentiment.
Coolly coiffed with a sweep of jet-black hair, urbane Ma was seen as a reliable "Mr Clean" when he stormed to victory for the Kuomintang party in 2008, rep ...
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US, Russia step up war of words over missile shield
Redzikowo, Poland (AFP) May 13, 2016 -
The United States and Russia on Friday accused each other of mounting an aggressive military presence in northern Europe, with Moscow vowing to "end threats" posed by a US missile shield near its border.
The stepped-up war of words came as Poland on Friday broke ground on the northern section of a US missile defence shield launched in Romania a day earlier, which Russia slammed as a serious ...
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US says bid to retake Iraq's Mosul from IS making progress
Amman (AFP) May 15, 2016 -
The US-led offensive to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State group is making progress, the top American envoy to the coalition said Sunday.
IS had "returned to suicide bombing" because the area under its control was shrinking and it was on the defensive, Brett McGurk said at a conference in the Jordanian capital.
His remarks came as jihadist suicide assailants broke i ...
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US ready to loosen Libya arms embargo
Washington (AFP) May 13, 2016 -
The US government is ready to loosen a ban on arms exports to Libya, in a bid to help the country's fledgling unity government fight the Islamic State group, officials and diplomats have told AFP.
Under White House-backed plans, the United Nations would carve out exemptions to an embargo introduced by the Security Council in 2011, during Moamer Kadhafi's failed attempt to suppress a popular ...
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Philippines' Duterte wants friendly ties with China
Davao, Philippines (AFP) May 15, 2016 -
Philippines' president-elect Rodrigo Duterte said Sunday he wanted friendly relations with China and confirmed he was open to direct talks over a territorial row that has badly damaged bilateral ties.
Duterte also announced that China's ambassador to Manila would be among the first three foreign envoys he planned to meet on Monday, after winning the May 9 presidential election in a landslide ...
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Iran says it has equipped tanks with anti-TOW jamming system
Tehran (UPI) May 13, 2016 -
The head of Iran's ground forces said Wednesday that the country has quipped its M60 tanks with anti-TOW missile jamming systems.
Brig. Gen. Ahmadreza Pourdastan said in an interview with the army magazine Saf, as reported by the semi-official Fars News Agency, that the new system will also disrupt other anti-tank missiles.
TOW missiles - tube-launched, optically-tracked, wirele ...
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IGC Team Will Continue on the Same Path
McLean, VA (SPX) May 13, 2016 -
It's an exciting time to become President of Intelsat General Corp. - a time of challenges and opportunities, and a time that includes a great new asset to help meet both: the high-throughput Intelsat EpicNG constellation of satellites.
The most important aspects of the job do not change, no matter who occupies the seat. We want to continue to lead the commercial satellite industry in brin ...
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A year of mystery swirls around latest X-37B mission
Sydney, Australia (SPX) May 13, 2016 -
The semi-classified X-37B robot spaceplane hasn't received much attention, despite the fact that it is on its fourth flight in space. At least, that's the official story. Launched in May 2015, the latest mission seems even more covert than the three previous launches. Absolutely no images of the spaceplane were released before launch. That's a big change from the past, when we saw high-resolutio ...
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Canada's oil production weakened by Fort McMurray fire
Edmonton, Alberta (UPI) May 13, 2016 -
Even as the situation becomes less severe, it may be the third quarter of 2016 before Canadian oil sands operations return to normal, a government report shows.
Fires in the Fort McMurray area of Alberta have moved east toward the provincial border with Saskatchewan and most energy companies working in the oil-rich area have started to assess their situations.
A short-term market ...
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Seven dead in raid on Iraqi gas plant claimed by IS
Baghdad (AFP) May 15, 2016 -
Suicide attackers stormed a gas plant north of Baghdad Sunday, killing at least seven people and setting fire to tanks in the latest such assault claimed by the Islamic State group.
Brett McGurk, the top US envoy to the coalition battling IS, said meanwhile that the increase in such attacks showed the jihadists were under pressure in the face of the offensive against it.
The attack on th ...
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US unveils first federal methane regulations
Washington (AFP) May 12, 2016 -
The United States on Thursday unveiled the first federal regulations on methane - a powerful greenhouse gas that accelerates global warming - aimed at reducing emissions from new oil and gas operations.
The Environmental Protection Agency rules are part of President Barack Obama's plan to fight climate change, curb pollution and protect public health, the agency said.
"Today, we are un ...
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OPEC: Energy industry spending to decline
Vienna (UPI) May 13, 2016 -
Global spending in exploration and production over the next two years is expected to be about half what it was between 2012 and 2014, OPEC said in a monthly report.
In February, when crude oil prices were hovering around $30 per barrel, a review from the U.S. Energy Information Administration found 2015 investments in the energy industry declined in the United States by more than 30 per ...
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Russia sees oil market balance in 2017
Moscow (UPI) May 13, 2016 -
Barring any compromise among OPEC members or a serious degradation in Middle East security, oil markets won't balance until next year, Russian analysis finds.
Crude oil prices started moving below $100 per barrel in mid 2014 as energy companies ramped up production, notably in U.S. shale basins. The excess of supply has lingered for years as global economic recovery is too slow to corre ...
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Microwaved nanoribbons may bolster oil and gas wells
Houston TX (SPX) May 16, 2016 -
Wellbores drilled to extract oil and gas can be dramatically reinforced with a small amount of modified graphene nanoribbons added to a polymer and microwaved, according to Rice University researchers.
The Rice labs of chemist James Tour and civil and environmental engineer Rouzbeh Shahsavari combined the nanoribbons with an oil-based thermoset polymer intended to make wells more stable an ...
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