Iranian missile strikes tech park housing Microsoft office in southern Israel
First responders are searching buildings for people wounded after an Iranian missile struck close to a tech park in the Israeli city of Beer Sheva, according to Israel's emergency services agency Magen David Adom (MDA).
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Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
Pro-Palestinian activists say they damaged planes on a UK air force base
The activists left the base without being detained, Palestine Action said. The group said in a statement that 'despite publicly condemning the Israeli government, Britain continues to send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel US/Israeli fighter jets.' It called the U.K. 'an active participant in the Gaza genocide and war crimes across the Middle East.' Britain's Ministry of Defense confirmed the incident, saying: 'We strongly condemn this vandalism of Royal Air Force assets.' Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the vandalism 'disgraceful' in a post on X. Advertisement The government said two planes were being checked for damage, and that the vandalism had not stopped any planned aircraft movements or operations. 'A full security review is underway at Brize Norton,' Starmer's office said. 'We are reviewing security across the whole defense estate.' Planes from Brize Norton, 70 miles northwest of London, regularly fly to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, Britain's main air base for operations in the Middle East. The U.K. has sent more Typhoon fighter jets and Voyager tankers to Cyprus since the Israel-Iran war started a week ago for what Starmer called 'contingency support.' Advertisement Iran has threatened to attack US, French and British bases in the region if those countries help Israel fend off Iranian strikes. Thames Valley Police said in a statement that it had 'received a report of people gaining access to RAF Brize Norton and causing criminal damage.' Officers were working with staff at the base and the Ministry of Defense Police to arrest the perpetrators, the force said.
Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
Russian Shaheds Now Have Jet Engines, Armor, AI, And Armed Escorts
Russia's Shahed campaign against civilian targets is intensifying. Last night a wave of the drones struck Odessa, destroying a four-story residential building and damaging several others, including a 23-story apartment complex which caught fire forcing 600 people to evacuate. Ukrainian intelligence warns that Russian attacks may escalate from a few hundred Shaheds a night to a thousand. At the same time Russia is rapidly evolving both the technology and the tactics of its low-cost attack drones. Made under license from Iran, the Shahed-136 is a simple design with a two-cycle piston engine driving a propeller and making a noise like a lawnmower, and an airframe made of carbon fiber cloth and honeycomb so basic that a report from thinktank RUSI notes it 'can effectively be manufactured by any DIY handyman.' But a succession of modifications have made the Shahed more deadly. Earlier we saw a black 'stealth' coating and several new warheads including a thermobaric version for demolishing buildings and to maximize casualties, as well as jam-resistant navigation and other upgrades. Jet engine recovered from a downed Shahed Defense Express In a more significant modification some Shaheds are now appearing with turbojet engines. Iran showed off the Shahed-238, a jet-powered version of the Shahged-136 in 2023 it is not clear whether this is the same drone. In fact there is some confusion as the Iranians have also paraded a jet-powered version with the label Shahed-136 in September 2024, so there may be several different designs. Analyst Shahryar Pasandideh, who has studied this in detail, suggests there are at least three versions. While there had been rumors of jet powered Shaheds in Ukraine for some time, we have only recently had confirmation from wreckage recovered – like this report from Defence Express of June 11th. The jet powered Shaheds are very much faster– perhaps 300 mph against 120 mph – giving less warning time and making them much harder to shoot down. They streak across the sky with a loud whine very unlike the 'moped' sounds of the basic version; this video appears to be a jet-powered Shahed attack from June 18th. The turbojet version is likely to be significantly more expensive and difficult to make, so we may see a high/low mix of the two types to make are defence more complicated. Meanwhile there are other hardware upgrades too. According to one unconfirmed Ukrainian report from the commander of a Mobile Defense Unit tasked with shooting down Shaheds, some are now armored: 'Recently, the Russians began to protect the engine compartment of Shaheds with armor plates, and the fuel tanks were moved from the wings to the inside of the hull,' states the commander in a Telegram Post. 'Now it is not enough to shoot through the wing - you need to hit either the aileron or the engine.' In a third development, a downed Shahed was recently retrieved with a camera and machine vision system powered by a commercial AI processor. Again, such developments had been rumored but not confirmed until Ukrainian electronic warfare authority Serhii 'Flash' Beskrestnov posted details with images on his Telegram channel on June 18th. This system is likely to enable vision-based navigation. This would remove the reliance on satellite navigation, which has been something of an Achilles Heel. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, last month 36% of the incoming Shaheds were brought down by jamming their navigation. Getting a visual navigation system to work reliably is not a simple task – hence this recent technology challenge from the German government – but if the Russians have succeeded they can make their Shaheds jam-proof and the number getting through may rise significantly. At the same time, the Russians are changing attack drone tactics. As previously noted, having initially come in at low altitude to avoid radar – sometimes flying down river valleys – Shaheds now come in at high altitude to stay out of the reach of anti-aircraft guns until they reach their target. They then dive on their targets from altitude. This tactic now comes with a twist. According to Alexander Kovalenko writing in Odessa Journal, the Shaheds now pause midway during the descent: 'Now, they tend to descend to 1 km altitude, stabilize the airframe, and then initiate a dive,' says Kovalenko. 'This is because accuracy from 2.5 km significantly reduced, while at 1 km altitude the deviation is within acceptable limits for the Russians.' Unfortunately this does not make them easier to shoot down. 'This stabilization phase is short, but during it, mobile groups equipped with weapons such as DShK or Browning M2 [i.e. heavy machineguns] are unable to successfully engage the kamikaze drone,' says Kovalenko. Previously we have seen Shaheds mixed in with smaller decoy drones to distract defenders. And in some regions close to the border, the escorting drone may be a weapon. 'Often, the Shahed groups fly in pairs with the Lancets, which attack the air defence units when they are within range - primarily in the Sumy and Kharkiv directions,' notes the same post by an air defence commander quoted above. 'For the Lancet, this is a priority target." The Lancet loitering munition is a smaller attack drone. A camera in the nose enables the operator to locate and attack targets on the ground, typically tanks and artillery. The maximum range is perhaps 50 kilometers, so it can only support Shaheds in attacks in border regions, but their presence could make things considerably more dangerous for the mobile air defense units. It is easy to see how defence-suppression capability could evolve, especially now that FPV carrier drones are starting to see action. Russia has been using the Shahed for less than three years and has only been making them itself for about half that time. But, unlike legacy systems such as cruise and ballistic missiles, the drones have adapted rapidly to counter defensive measures. This mutation rate is perhaps the biggest lesson of the long-range drone war: the threat is constantly evolving Last month Ukraine downed 82% of incoming drones and is continuing to field innovative, low-cost protective systems including interceptor drones and AI-controlled gun turrets. But, as President Zelensky noted at the G7 summit, additional funding from allies to speed the development and production process could save a lot of lives. And not just in Ukraine; long-range drone attacks are likely to be a feature of any future war. Iran may cease to be a supplier of such technology. But Russia has taken over and Shaheds and their clones will proliferate. Meanwhile in Ukraine the Shahed attacks, and civilian deaths, continue.
Fox News
2 hours ago
- Fox News
Israel carries out strikes in Tehran as defense minister sends warning to Iranian proxy
incoming update… The Israel Defense Forces said it carried out a series of strikes overnight targeting dozens of targets were attacked, including military industrial sites for missile production. "The IDF completed a series of overnight strikes in the heart of Tehran: Dozens of targets were attacked, including military industrial sites for missile production and the Spand headquarters for research and development of the nuclear weapons project," the IDF wrote on X. More than 60 Israeli Air Force fighter jets attacked dozens of military targets in Iran with "precise intelligence guidance" from the Intelligence Branch using about 120 munitions, the IDF said. It said several missile manufacturing industrial sites in the Tehran area were attacked. Military industrial sites for the production of missile components and sites for the production of raw materials used for casting rocket engines were among the locations targeted, the IDF said. "As part of the attacks and as part of the IDF's activities to damage the Iranian regime's nuclear weapons project, the IDF attacked the Spand headquarters building in Tehran," the IDF wrote. The Spand headquarters, according to the IDF, is used to research and develop advanced technologies and weapons for Iran's military capabilities. "In addition, a site for the production of a component that is a necessary basis for the Iranian regime's nuclear weapons program was attacked," the IDF said. "During the night, the Air Force intercepted four unmanned aerial vehicles launched from Iran," it added. The Israeli Air Force said it struck three missile launchers ready to be launched toward Israel from Iran as well as a military commander who was working to launch the missiles. "The Air Force recently attacked three missile launchers ready to be launched from Iran into the territory of the State of Israel and a military commander who was working to launch them," the Air Force wrote on X. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah against joining in the conflict between Israel and Iran. "The Hezbollah Secretary-General is not learning a lesson from his predecessors and is threatening to act against Israel in accordance with the Iranian dictator's orders," Katz wrote on X. "I suggest to the Lebanese proxy to be careful and understand that Israel has lost patience with terrorists who threaten it," he continued. Katz added: "If there is terrorism, there will be no Hezbollah." Live Coverage begins here
