Trump is not the first American president to propose such a defence system. Ronald Reagan proposed a space-centric Strategic Defense Initiative in 1983, but it never took off.
Scramjets are air-breathing engines capable of sustaining combustion at supersonic speeds without using moving parts. DRDO had in January conducted 120-second scramjet combustor test.
What makes the supersonic weapon deadly is its manoeuvrability & unpredictability. It can change course even mid-way, thus making its interception and early detection difficult.
Tehran has fired at least 180 missiles at Israel in response to latter’s strikes in Lebanon against Hezbollah. Israel has vowed retaliation, complicating security situation in West Asia.
Russia claims missile can reach eight times the speed of sound. If true, it would be the ‘fastest missile in the world’, could evade the advanced US Patriot air defence system.
The 55-year-old Alexander Shiplyuk, the director of the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, was arrested by the FSB.
Why should the US care? Because in the end, as its wrangle with Britain this week should have reminded them, America still needs bases, friendly ports, & overfly rights.
Multiple companies have invoked the principle of ‘force majeure’, which lets a party off the hook in case of unforeseen ‘acts of God’, to avoid penalties.
IRIS Lavan was in the region for the International Fleet Review held last month and ‘sought urgent docking in Kochi citing technical issues,’ it is learnt.
Trump has ushered in the age of humiliation. His method is to push around America’s friends rudely and publicly. He knows none of them can afford to fight back.
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