U.S. shoots down medium-range ballistic missile in Hawaii test
The U.S. military has shot down a medium range ballistic missile during a test off Hawaii.
The Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai Island launched the target missile late Aug. 29. Sailors aboard the destroyer USS John Paul Jones tracked the target with radar and then fired an interceptor missile to shoot it down.
The test comes amid ongoing North Korean ballistic missile tests. Earlier Aug. 29, North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan. It fell into the Pacific Ocean.
Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Sam Greaves says the Hawaii test gives Navy ships enhanced capability to defeat ballistic missiles in their last stage of flight.
He says the agency will continue to develop ballistic missile technologies to stay ahead of the threat as it evolves. AP
Russia poised to expand its arms sales abroad
A top Russian official says Moscow hopes to expand its share of the global arms market.
Dmitry Shugayev, head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, said Aug. 30 that foreign orders for Russian weapons to be delivered over coming years amount to almost $50 billion.
Russia’s arms sales last year totaled $15 billion, making it the world’s second-largest arms exporter after the United States. Sales this year are expected to be around that level.
Shugayev cited expert estimates saying Russia currently accounts for 27 percent of the global military aircraft market, about 30 percent of land weapons and some 20 percent of air defense systems sold worldwide.
Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said Russia’s campaign in Syria has allowed the military to test new weapons systems, helping attract new customers. AP
Mattis assembling panel to discuss transgender troops
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is assembling a panel of experts to discuss the matter of openly transgender individuals already serving in the U.S. military.
President Donald Trump on Aug. 25 directed the Pentagon to extend indefinitely a ban on transgender individuals joining the military, but he gave Mattis the authority to decide those already serving.
Mattis says in a statement released Tuesday that the Pentagon, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, will develop a plan that “will promote military readiness, lethality and unit cohesion.”
He says, “Panel members will bring mature experience, most notably in combat and deployed operations, and seasoned judgment to this task.”
The White House had said Friday that transgender people would be allowed to continue serving until Mattis had completed such an analysis. AP