DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Russia's military still has dangerous combat forces 'barely touched' by the Ukraine war, top US general in Europe warns
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-23 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But a top US general warns Moscow still has dangerous forces that haven't been affected by the war. AdvertisementRussia has suffered significant losses in Ukraine, but its military still has dangerous combat forces available that have barely been affected by the conflict, the top US general in Europe warned this week. Cavoli said during the Atlantic Council interview that while Russia's ground forces had suffered severe losses fighting in Ukraine, Moscow had taken notable strides to build them back up. "Now, there's some quality problems, and some of the equipment may not be the newest, but that again is localized to the ground forces," he said. "Russia has a plan to reconstitute that ground force and to deploy it, again, on the borders of NATO."

Persons: haven't, —, it's, Christopher Cavoli, Cavoli, Vladimir Putin, they've Organizations: Service, European Command, Atlantic Council, Cavoli, NATO, Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, AP Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Moscow, Europe, Russian, Baltic, China, Alaska

☆ Belarus reinforces military power on its Ukraine borders after drone interceptions
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-10 | by ( Mariya Knight | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Belarus sent military reinforcements to its border with Ukraine Saturday after it said several Ukrainian drones crossed its airspace and were intercepted by the country’s air defenses on Friday, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said in a statement. “We suspect these are attack drones,” Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said during a separate briefing Saturday. Air defense, rocket defense and aviation forces and assets have been built-up,” Khrenin said. On Saturday, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry summoned the Charge d’Affaires of Ukraine and “lodged a strong protest” in connection with the incident, the ministry said in a post on X. Ukraine has not publicly commented on Belarus’ accusations.

Persons: Viktor Khrenin, Alexander Lukashenko, ”, ” Lukashenko, Khrenin, Russia ” Lukashenko “, Iskander, ” Khrenin, “, BelTA Organizations: CNN, Ukraine, Belarusian, Belarusian Foreign Ministry, Foreign Ministry Locations: Belarus, Belarusian, Ukraine, Kursk, Russia, Gomel, Ukrainian, Minsk, Europe

☆ Chinese media claims it doesn't fear Taiwan's new weapons that can strike deep into China
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Read previewTaiwan's new long-range cruise missiles are slow and easy to shoot down, Chinese media reports — claims whose truth depends on many unknowns. In the game, Taiwan used its missiles against the Chinese invasion fleet in the Straits of Taiwan, rather than striking ports. Could Taiwan's long-range cruise missiles penetrate Chinese defenses? As the Ukraine war has shown, subsonic cruise missiles can be intercepted by anti-aircraft missiles such as the U.S. Patriot and Russia's S-300. AdvertisementEither way, the technical capabilities of Taiwan's cruise missiles may not be the biggest issue.

Persons: —, Feng, Tien, Yun Feng, Mark Cancian, Cancian, Russia's, Masao Dahlgren, Dahlgren Organizations: Service, Business, Ordnance Industry Science Technology, China Morning, Missile, Center for Strategic, International Studies, Abrams, Missiles, US, CSIS, U.S . Patriot Locations: Beijing, U.S, China, Taiwan, Washington ,, Straits, Ukraine

☆ The 'crown jewel' of the Chinese military appears to have a serious corruption problem, but the US can't afford to bet on its missiles all being defective
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-14 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Recent reports point to corruption and readiness problems in the Chinese military, the rocket force in particular. In the aftermath of the report, an ex-PLA official told Radio Free Asia problems like this have long been rampant in the Chinese military. The rocket force shakeups suggest that there are questions over who can be trusted. Xinhua/Cha Chunming via Getty ImagesConcerns about corruption and readiness stand in contrast with the modernization and strengthening of the Chinese military. Is the PLA, particularly the rocket force, the increasingly formidable force the Pentagon described in a military power report last October?

Persons: It's, —, Tom Shugart, Xi Jinping, that's, hotpot, hadn't, bigwig, Xi, Liu Dawei, Shugart, weren't, Lintao Zhang, Li Shangfu, Li Gang, ISW, there's, Andy Wong Organizations: Service, People's Liberation Army, US, Center, New, New American Security, Liberation Army, Getty Images, Bloomberg, PLA, Rocket Force, Radio Free, 14th China International Aviation, Aerospace Exhibition, Getty, Liberation Army Rocket, Business, United, Naval, Army, Air Force, Communist, of, Defense, Chinese Communist Party, Liberation Army's Army Infantry College, Li, Pentagon, U.S . Nimitz, US Army Locations: New American, Taiwan, Hefei, Anhui province, Radio Free Asia, Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, Xinhua, United States, Beijing, China, PLA, Gutian, Jiangxi Province, U.S, Tiananmen, Pamir, Kashgar, China's Xinjiang, Pacific

☆ Russia loads missile with nuclear-capable glide vehicle into launch silo
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MOSCOW, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Russia's rocket forces loaded an intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with the nuclear-capable "Avangard" hypersonic glide vehicle into a launch silo in southern Russia, according to a defence ministry TV channel broadcast on Thursday. President Vladimir Putin announced the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle in 2018, saying it was a response to U.S. development of a new generation of weapons and a U.S. missile defence system that it could penetrate. Russia installed its first Avangard-equipped missile in 2019 at the same Orenburg facility. But the United States, Russia and China are developing a range of new weapons systems, including hypersonic ones. Russia says the post-Cold War dominance of the United States is crumbling and that Washington has for years sown chaos across the planet while ignoring the interests of other powers.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden, Guy Faulconbridge, Olzhas, Gerry Doyle, Bernadette Baum Organizations: Zvezda, U.S, Washington, Thomson Locations: MOSCOW, Russia, U.S, Orenburg, Kazakhstan, United States, China, autocracies, Moscow, Almaty

☆ Ukraine launches criminal investigation into its own military after Russian strikes killed 19 soldiers at an open-air awards ceremony near the frontline
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Nineteen Ukrainian soldiers were killed after Russian strikes hit an awards ceremony near the front. Ukraine announced a criminal investigation into the military officers for organizing the event. Concerning the Russian strike on the warriors of the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade. In August, Ukraine said it launched a HIMARS attack on five Russian units gathered on a beach resulting in 200 casualties. Video of the strike appeared to show Russian soldiers stretching and standing in plain sight on the shore just moments before HIMARS munitions struck.

Persons: —, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, could've, Umerov, USA1Zcl0jd, Mark Cancian, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Володимир Зеленський Organizations: Service, Russian, Rocket Forces, Artillery, New York Times, 128th Mountain Assault Brigade, State Bureau of Investigation, Associated Press, Defense, US Marine Corps, Center for Strategic, Studies Locations: Ukraine, Zaporizhia, Russian, Russia

☆ Israel says it has confirmed 212 people held hostage in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Israeli tanks are positioned near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, October 22, 2023. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura Acquire Licensing RightsJERUSALEM, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Israel has confirmed that 212 people are being held hostage in Gaza, the military spokesperson said on Sunday, adding that Israeli strikes overnight killed dozens of Palestinian fighters, including the deputy chief of Hamas rocket forces. On the northern front, Israel has been attacking fighters trying to fire missiles in across the Lebanese border and struck a site in Lebanon from where a missile was fired at an Israeli aircraft, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a briefing. Writing by Dan WilliamsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Violeta Santos Moura, Daniel Hagari, Dan Williams Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Thomson Locations: Israel's, Gaza, Israel, Lebanese, Lebanon

☆ Putin filmed in China accompanied by officers with Russian nuclear briefcase
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MOSCOW, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Rare footage was shown on Wednesday of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing accompanied by officers carrying the so-called nuclear briefcase which can be used to order a nuclear strike. Putin, after a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, was filmed walking to another meeting surrounded by security and followed by two Russian naval officers in uniform each carrying a briefcase. Russia's nuclear briefcase is traditionally carried by a naval officer. The Russian defence minister, currently Sergei Shoigu, also has a nuclear briefcase. One of the nuclear briefcases used by former Russian President Boris Yeltsin is displayed in the Yeltsin Museum in Yekaterinburg.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Putin, Xi Jinping, Mount Cheget, RIA, satchel, RUPTLY, Sergei Shoigu, Valery Gerasimov, Boris Yeltsin, Guy Faulconbridge, Nick Macfie Organizations: Kremlin, U.S, White, Cuban Missile, Russian, Forum, REUTERS, Acquire, Comprehensive, Russia's Zvezda, Zvezda, Yeltsin, Soviet Union, Thomson Locations: MOSCOW, Beijing, Putin's, Ukraine, Moscow, Washington, China, United States, Yekaterinburg

☆ Son of Vladimir Putin's spokesman says he served with Wagner in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MOSCOW, April 23 (Reuters) - The son of Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said in an interview published on Saturday that he had served in Ukraine under an assumed name as an artilleryman in the Wagner mercenary force, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported. Nikolai Peskov, the 33-year-old son of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, told the privately-owned newspaper that he had served in Ukraine, a rare, public example of the son of a senior Russian official fighting in the war. "It was on my initiative," Peskov, whose father has served as Putin's spokesman since 2008, said in an interview. Wagner's founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said Dmitry Peskov had approached him and asked him to take his son on as an artilleryman. Peskov told him that he would not be going anywhere and would solve the situation at a different level, according to a recording of the call posted online.

☆ A new Pentagon map shows how China is beefing up what a top US general calls its 'dangerous position' in the South China Sea
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Benjamin Brimelow | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

China and several of its neighbors have claimed parts of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. The map also gives rough locations for seven Chinese outposts, including three airfields, and 63 other outposts in the Spratlys. China's outposts "are capable of supporting military operations" and "have supported non-combat aircraft," the Pentagon report says. Recent action by those forces around Taiwan, as well as ongoing Chinese activity in the South China Sea, have worried US commanders. The Spratly IslandsFilipino fishermen sail by a Chinese coast guard ship near Scarborough Shoal on February 5.

REUTERS/Tyrone SiuTAIPEI, March 13 (Reuters) - Taiwan's defence spending this year will focus on preparing weapons and equipment for a "total blockade" by China, including parts for F-16 fighters and replenishing weapons, the military said in a report. Xi also said that when it came to Taiwan, China must oppose pro-independence and secessionist activities and the interference of external forces. Taiwan's defence ministry said China has systematically increased the strength of its "joint combat readiness" actions around Taiwan. That is more than double the number from a year earlier and poses a "substantial threat" to Taiwan's defence, the ministry said. China has been "normalising" no-navigation zones around the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea and the Taiwan Strait, the ministry added.

The following are details of Russia's nuclear arsenal, how big it is and who commands it. NUCLEAR SUPERPOWERRussia, which inherited the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons, has the world's biggest store of nuclear warheads. Around 1,500 of those warheads are retired (but probably still intact), 2889 are in reserve and around 1588 are deployed strategic warheads. The United States has around 1644 deployed strategic nuclear warheads. The Russian president is the ultimate decision maker when it comes to using Russian nuclear weapons, both strategic and non-strategic, according to Russia's nuclear doctrine.

☆ Factbox: Russia's nuclear arsenal: how big and who controls it?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

What is Russia's nuclear arsenal, how big is it and who commands it? NUCLEAR SUPERPOWERRussia, which inherited the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons, has the world's biggest store of nuclear warheads. Around 1,500 of those warheads are retired (but probably still intact), 2889 are in reserve and around 1588 are deployed strategic warheads. The United States has around 1644 deployed strategic nuclear warheads. The Russian president is the ultimate decision maker when it comes to using Russian nuclear weapons, both strategic and non-strategic, according to Russia's nuclear doctrine.

☆ Xi’s ‘action men’ now lead China’s military. Here’s what that means for Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Brad Lendon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The rhetoric from both sides and Beijing’s recent maneuvers have stoked fears that an attempted Chinese military takeover of Taiwan could be next on the horizon. Besides that joint command experience, He possesses another key attribute sought in top PLA leadership – field experience in hostile situations. Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, said He was one of Xi’s “action men” on the military commission. Zhang served on the previous military commission and has been retained and promoted despite being past the unofficial retirement age of 68. There’s just too much work to be done with Xi’s military modernization to achieve good odds of success, they said.

Persons: Xi Jinping’s, Xi, –, Tsai Ing, ”, James Char, ” Char, Weidong, Nancy Pelosi, Rod Lee, Lee, Xi Jinping, ” Lee, Carl Schuster, Zhang Youxia, Zhang, Xi’s, Meia Nouwens, Joel Wuthnow, he’s, ” Wuthnow, Zhang’s, Li Shangfu, Wuthnow, There’s, “, Char Organizations: CNN, Central Military Commission, Communist Party’s National, People’s Liberation Army, PLA, Chinese Communist Party, China Program, Institute of Defense, Strategic Studies, Theater Command, Eastern Theater Command, US Air Force Air, China Aerospace Studies Institute, People’s Armed Police, Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Center, Chinese Military Affairs, US National Defense University, Party, US Air University Locations: China, Taiwan, Beijing, Taiwan Strait, Asia, Singapore, India

☆ Analysis: What is Russia's policy on tactical nuclear weapons?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

WHAT ARE TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS? Academics and arms control negotiators have spent years arguing about how to define tactical nuclear weapons (TNW). The clue is in the name: they are nuclear weapons used for specific tactical gains on the battlefield, rather than, say, destroying the biggest cities of the United States or Russia. The atomic bomb dropped by the United States on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945 was about 15 kilotons. The president is the ultimate decision maker when it comes to using Russian nuclear weapons, both strategic and non-strategic, according to Russia's nuclear doctrine.

☆ Analysis: Xi's new generals face tough military challenges post-congress
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Greg Torode | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Now come the tricky next steps for his Central Military Commission: implementing sweeping changes to its leadership, which commands China's two million-strong People's Liberation Army, potentially tightening Xi's grip over the military and its modernisation. Among those expected to step down are the body's vice chairmen, Generals Xu Qiliang and Zhang Youxia, both 72. Diplomatic challenges are also mounting, as China's military modernisation confronts the traditional U.S. strategic dominance in East Asia. Who is chosen could shed light on Xi's military priorities. "There is no shortage of senior military officers who internally parrot Xi's 'fight and win' mantra, but the conundrum for the PLA is the lack of operational experience," said Alexander Neill, a private military analyst.

Search resuls for: "Rocket Forces"

16 mentions found