Tag: missile
North Korea ballistic missile launch sparks emergency evacuation order in Japan
North Korea fires missile in Sea of Japan as Kim Jong-un in yet another launch
US believes Russia carried out intercontinental ballistic missile test while Biden was in Ukraine
US Air Force ‘missed in first attempt to shoot down UFO’ over Lake Huron & deployed second $400,000 ‘Sidewinder’ missile
THE US Air Force reportedly “missed” in its first attempt to shoot down a UFO yesterday and had to deploy a second $400,000 Sidewinder missile.
It’s unclear where the first missile landed, reported Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson, and what exactly was shot down over Lake Huron is still unknown.
An E-3 Sentry, an airborne warning and control system aircraft, was spotted flying toward Lake Huron the same day an unidentified object was shot down[/caption]
Two missiles, both costing $400,000 each, were reportedly needed to take down the object[/caption]
“U.S. Air Force F-16 that shot down an unknown object over Lake Huron yesterday missed on its first attempt, U.S. officials say,” Tomlinson wrote.
“It’s not clear where the first missile landed. A second Sidewinder air-to-air missile was needed.”
The reported missed attempt drew flack and jokes on social media as Twitter users speculated where the first missile went.
“Well that’s a spendy missed shot at a balloon,” wrote one person with laughing emojis.
“So there’s an unexploded sidewinder missile just chillin [sic] in someone’s backyard in Michigan?” said another person.
Others were shocked about the reported costly mistake.
“So $800,000 to kill what we believe to be some kid’s science project?” a third person said.
Michigan Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin said the incident wasn’t a national security concern.
“NORAD, which has the mission of protecting the United States, is paying extremely close attention to anything that’s flying in our skies,” she said on Monday.
“They’ve really lowered the threshold of what they’re looking at and this pinged on their radars about 24 hours ago.”
The U.S. Sun asked the Department of Defense for confirmation that a second missile was used to down the object.
A spokesperson said: “In light of the People’s Republic of China balloon that we took down last Saturday, we have been more closely scrutinizing our air space at these altitudes, including enhancing our radar, which may at least partly explain the increase in objects that we’ve detected over the past week.”
The spokesperson added that the unidentified object was spotted flying across several states and the agency began tracking it as they tried to find the best way to intercept it.
“We monitored the track of interest as it passed over Lake Michigan. We assessed that it was no threat, physical threat, military threat, (inaudible) infrastructure. That’s my assessment. It continues to be today.”
The Air Force didn’t immediately respond to The U.S. Sun’s request for comment.
In a news conference on Sunday, officials confirmed an AIM-9X missile was used. However, information about how many shots were fired was not immediately clear.
Glen VanHerck, a general in the Air Force who serves as the commander of both the US Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said: “First of all, maintaining a radar track on an object this small is very hard. So taking a radar shot such as AIM-120 would be a lower probability of success.
“We assessed taking a gunshot yesterday in that event, as well as today. And the pilots in each situation felt that that was really unachievable because of the size, especially yesterday in the altitude, and also because of a – the challenge to acquire it visually because it’s so small.”
He added that there was also “potentially a safety of flight issue” due to getting close to the object before actually seeing it.
“Therefore, in each situation, the AIM-9X, a heat-seeking missile or infrared missile that sees contrast, has been the weapon of choice against the objects we’ve been seeing.”
“In each case, we have taken extreme caution to ensure that we limit potential collateral damage. So today, we worked closely with the FAA to clear out the airspace. I gave directions specifically to the pilots to use their visual acuity to check for mariners on the ground, airplanes in the air, to clear with their radars as well.
“And when they were comfortable that we could minimize collateral damage, they selected the best weapon. Today, that was the AIM-9X, and they took the shot.”
The increased attention on American skies comes after the U.S. shot down a Chinese “spy balloon” on February 5.
On Monday, the Navy recovered a “significant” portion of the spy balloon, according to a defense official.
Crews are working to get parts of the balloon off the ocean floor near South Carolina.
It’s unclear how big the balloon was but officials said it was “significant” in size and that crews were able to get “the electronics they were looking for.”
Key sensors “presumably used for intelligence gathering” were recovered, according to Reuters.
US Fighter Jets Shoot Down Spy Balloon With a Single Missile
The US military used fighter jets from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia to take down the suspected Chinese spy balloon at 2:39 p.m. ET on Saturday, according to a senior US military official. A single missile was used, the official said….
President Joe Biden said the mission to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the East Coast Saturday was successful, and that he had ordered the Pentagon to knock the aircraft out of the sky as soon as it was safe to do so. “On Wednesday when I was briefed on the balloon, I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down — on Wednesday — as soon as possible,” the president told reporters in Hagerstown, Maryland. “They decided, without doing damage to anyone on the ground, they decided that the best time to do that was as it got over water … within a 12-mile limit. They successfully took it down and I want to compliment our aviators who did it,” the president added.
Asked if that was a recommendation from his national security team, Biden reiterated: “I told them to shoot it down. They said to me, ‘Let’s wait for the safest place to do it….'”
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the balloon was being used by the Chinese government “to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Putin threatened to kill me with a missile before Russia invaded Ukraine, says Johnson
Ukraine: Boris Johnson says Putin threatened him with missile strike
Vladimir Putin threatened he could kill me with a missile attack, reveals Boris Johnson in hard-hitting new BBC series
VLADIMIR Putin made a chilling threat to Boris Johnson that he could kill him in a missile attack, the former PM reveals today.
Mad Vlad’s menacing phone call came a day after Boris visited Kyiv last February amid fears of a Russian invasion.
Vladimir Putin threatened he could kill me with a missile attack, reveals Boris Johnson[/caption]
Mad Vlad’s menacing threat came a day after Boris visited Kyiv just before the invasion[/caption]
Mr Johnson makes the shock claim in a BBC series starting tonight.
Mr Johnson tried to use his trip to warn the Kremlin an assault would be disastrous.
Paranoid Putin feared Nato encroachment on his borders.
Moscow was told there would be tough sanctions if Putin invaded and “more Nato, not less” in the region — which triggered Mad Vlad’s threat.
And last night ex-Armed Forces minister Mark Francois said: “The very idea that the Russian President could have personally threatened the life of a British Prime Minister is extraordinary.”
Mr Johnson describes the menacing phone call in three-part series Putin vs the West on BBC2 and BBC iPlayer from 9pm tonight.
He recalls: “I got Putin on the blower again. He said, ‘Boris, you say that Ukraine is not going to join Nato any time soon. What is ‘Any time soon?’.
“And I said, ‘Well, it’s not going to join Nato for the foreseeable future. You know that perfectly well.
“He sort of threatened me at one point and said, ‘Boris, I don’t want to hurt you, but with a missile, it would only take a minute’, or something like that.
“I think from the very relaxed tone that he was taking, the sort of air of detachment that he seemed to have, he was just playing along with my attempts to get him to negotiate.
“And this is a very long call and a most extraordinary call. He was being very, very familiar.
“I said to him, ‘Look, if you do this, it will be an utter catastrophe. It will mean a massive package of Western sanctions. It will mean we continue to intensify our support for Ukraine’.”
General Sir Richard Barrons, former commander of Joint Forces Command, said Putin’s threats were hollow because he did not have enough missiles to spare.
He said: “More likely than not Mr Putin was indulging in a degree of malevolent levity.
“He will need all the missiles he can get to delay Ukraine throwing Russia out of its country.”
Putin backfire
Mr Francois said Putin’s aggression clearly backfired, “as Boris rapidly rallied the Europeans against the Russian invasion and has been one of Zelensky’s staunchest supporters ever since”.
And ex-Army officer Col Richard Kemp said: “Putin has always tried to intimidate foreign leaders or put them on the spot by making personal remarks and saying things they wouldn’t expect in normal international diplomacy, whether face to face or by phone.
“It is his way of testing them, throwing them off balance and gaining the upper hand.”
Former defence minister John Spellar said: “This shows the true nature of Putin’s barbaric regime. It shows we must be continually vigilant over the Russian state.”
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace tells the documentary how he was dispatched to Moscow following the threat to Boris for a last-ditch attempt to avoid war.
Before the meeting the translator was forbidden from helping the UK delegation due to a positive Covid test — despite receiving a negative reading on the plane.
Mr Wallace tells how the Russians kept saying the Ukrainians “won’t fight” but instead “will welcome them” into the country.
He says: “I remember saying to Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu ‘they will fight’ and he said, ‘My mother is Ukrainian, they won’t!’
“He also said he had no intention of invading. That would be ‘Vran’e’ in the Russian language.
“Vran’e I think is sort of a demonstration of bullying or strength: I’m going to lie to you. You know I’m lying. I know you know I’m lying and I’m still going to lie to you.
“He knew I knew and I knew he knew. But I think it was about saying: I’m powerful. It was the fairly chilling but direct lie of what they were not going to do that I think, to me, confirmed they were going to do it.”
Mr Johnson tried to use his trip to warn Putin an assault on Ukraine would be disastrous[/caption]
Ben Wallace tells the documentary how he was dispatched to Moscow following the threat to Boris for a last-ditch attempt to avoid war[/caption]
Within three weeks, on February 24, Putin gave the go-ahead for his invasion.
The UK committed £2.3billion to Ukraine last year, and aims to match that over the next year.
Ministers have also provided anti-tank missiles and air defence systems and three M270 long-range multiple launch rocket systems.
Mr Johnson was ousted from No 10 in September.
Current PM Rishi Sunak has also given permission to send a squadron of Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine to help thwart an expected spring offensive by Russia.
The US and Germany recently pledged M1 Abrams and Leopard 2 tanks in a major step-up of Western support to combat Vlad’s forces.
TANK YOU, UK
By Jerome Starkey
UKRAINIAN soldiers have landed in the UK to learn how to use British Challenger 2 tanks against their Russian invaders.
The Ministry of Defence shared pics of the arrivals exiting an RAF plane yesterday. The troops will begin training today, the Government said. They include tank operators and crew who will maintain them.
Fourteen tanks are due to arrive in Ukraine by the end of March.
ARMY ‘HORROR’
By Will Stewart
RUSSIA’S top brass are horrified at Vladimir Putin’s demand for a new offensive on multiple fronts in Ukraine, it is claimed.
They fear yet more slaughter as a study suggests they have lost more than 175,000 troops. Analyst Valery Solovey, former professor at Moscow’s Institute of International Relations, said: “The Army General Staff is terrified.
“I am not exaggerating. They are horrified.”