Author: Defenceline Webdesk

U.S. President Donald Trump made his long awaited trip to China this week, arriving in the country on May 13 and holding a bilateral meeting, as well as a state banquet, with China’s Xi Jinping on May 14. He will have tea and lunch with Xi on May 15 before departing for Washington. Trump’s visit marked the first by a U.S. president to China since 2017 – during Trump’s first term. From Beijing, Trump and Xi promised a new era for the bilateral relationship. Xi even presented an entirely new formula: “building a constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability.” According…

Pakistan’s sudden activation of multiple restricted air corridors just days after India’s successful test of an advanced Agni-series ballistic missile equipped with Multiple Independently Targeted Re-entry Vehicle capability has sharply intensified strategic signalling between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.The restrictions, issued through a sweeping NOTAM covering major low-altitude aviation corridors over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab between 12 and 14 May, coincided with the simultaneous activation of the Gadani and Somiani firing ranges along the Balochistan coastline.This pattern strongly resembled previous Pakistani live-fire missile validation procedures linked to the Army Rocket Force Command, fuelling speculation of significant military activity.Open-source intelligence accounts monitoring…

CDR Salamander …the best we can do, really… Source link

On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced a new effort called the Low-Cost Containerized Munitions program, aiming to deliver 10,000 small cruise missiles in the next three years. In this episode of The Pentagon Buzz, Breaking Defense Editor-in-Chief Aaron Mehta explains who is making them, and why the Pentagon is moving in this direction. Subscribe to our Pentagon newsletter to get the latest information from the building delivered directly to you. Source link

The HQ-7 (红旗-7, ‘Red Banner-7’) is a Chinese short-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) system reverse-engineered from the French Thomson-CSF R-440 Crotale by the Changfeng Electromechanical Technology Design Institute. The FM-90 is the export designation of the improved HQ-7B variant. Pakistan operates the FM-90 as its primary Enhanced Short-Range Air Defence (ESHORAD) system within the Pakistan Army’s Comprehensive Layered Integrated Air Defence (CLIAD) architecture. The FM-90 sits at the bottom of Pakistan’s layered SAM hierarchy — above the Anza MANPADS family (~5 km) and below the LY-80 medium-range SAM (40 km). It provides point-defence coverage for Pakistan Army formations, high-value installations, and…

India’s early optimism about relations with Nepal is quickly fading. Following Nepal’s Gen Z uprising last year, New Delhi had firmly backed the interim government of Sushila Karki and its single-point agenda of holding timely elections. The Karki government delivered on that promise. In the March 5 parliamentary elections, the Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) secured nearly a two-thirds majority. Its projected prime ministerial candidate, Balendra Shah, took over the government’s reins on March 26. India, which supposedly had a pre-poll understanding with the RSP that its vital interests would be protected should the party come to power, seemed happy with…

India has achieved a technological milestone that has surprised many observers, particularly in the United States and China, by successfully conducting a long-duration ground test of a scramjet combustor.The test, carried out deep inside the Scramjet Connect Pipe Test facility in Hyderabad on 9 May, lasted over 1,200 seconds, nearly doubling the duration of a previous trial conducted in January this year. This achievement marks a significant step forward in India’s hypersonic cruise missile development program, with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh describing the result as “a solid foundation for the nation’s Hypersonic Cruise Missile Development Program.”The Defence Research and Development…

Freedburg, BrDef The forthcoming Wraith Shield software update uses the existing antenna to scan for drone control signals, identify enemy ones, and jam them Source link

WASHINGTON — After years of delays and rising costs, the modernization of the decades-old B-52 Stratofortress is now on solid ground, a top service official said before the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee. William Bailey, who is performing the duties of the Air Force’s acquisition czar, said on Wednesday that he met with government and industry officials “to get to the bottom of what’s been going on [with] the program” to upgrade the bomber, confirming he was satisfied with the results. “I think you’ll find that we have stabilized the cost and schedule,” Bailey said in response…

The Spada 2000-Plus is an Italian ground-based air defence system manufactured by MBDA, firing the Aspide 2000 semi-active radar-homing (SARH) missile. The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) operates 10 Spada 2000-Plus batteries — procured in a €415 million deal in 2007 and delivered between 2010 and 2013 — making it the only Western-origin SAM system in Pakistan’s current inventory. The Spada 2000-Plus provides point-defence for PAF air bases, command-and-control nodes, and strategic installations. It sits at the lower tier of the PAF’s layered air defence architecture — below the HQ-9BE (260–280 km) and HQ-16FE (160 km) — within Pakistan’s integrated air…