Latest news with #OperationSpider'sWeb
India.com
11 hours ago
- Politics
- India.com
Lightning like speed, power, destruction, White Swan wreaks havoc on enemies, it is called the 'emperor of the sky' due to..., developed by...
(Images: Wikimedia Commons) New Delhi: Russian President Vladimir Putin is yet to recover from the sense of defeat suffered by his military at the hands of Ukraine through Operation Spider's Web. That is why he is now deploying one killer weapon after another to protect his borders. A deadly supersonic bomber has now been added to Russia's weapons display, whose name makes even NATO countries sweat. Tu-160 bomber deployed at Anadyr airbase near Alaska, US Recently it was claimed that Russia has deployed its nuclear-capable Tu-160 supersonic bomber at Anadyr airbase near Alaska, far from the Ukrainian border. Ukrainian defense analysis website Defense Express claimed on June 4, based on satellite images of the European Space Agency, that Tu-160 has been seen at Anadyr airbase in Chukotka region. However, this has not been confirmed yet. Let us tell you that this bomber is called 'White Swan' in the Russian army, which in local parlance means destruction. White Swan unleashes destruction on enemy The Tu-160 is called 'White Swan' in Russia and 'Blackjack' in NATO. It is the world's heaviest and fastest supersonic bomber aircraft. It was built in the 1970s during the Soviet Union era. However, it has been updated for modern wars and is an important part of Russia's nuclear triad. Features of White Swan This bomber was designed in the 1970s in response to the American B-1 Lancer. Its length is 54 meters, while the wingspan goes up to 55.7 meters (at full extension). The engine of this bomber is 4 powerful NK-32 turbofans. Each one gives more than 25 tons of thrust. Its maximum speed is Mach 2.2 (2695 kmh) i.e. 2.2 times faster than sound. Its flying range is more than 12,300 km (without refueling). Its biggest feature is its variable geometry wings, which can change the angle according to the speed and distance of flight. It is a craft with heavy weapon capacity. It can be equipped with nuclear and conventional missiles. Ukraine on high alert The long range and heavy weapon capacity of the Tu-160 i.e. White Swan makes it perfect for Arctic patrols and operations near NATO borders. It is a symbol of Russia's military power. On Friday, 20 June 2025, Kiev's/Kyiv's air force claimed that Russia attacked with missiles and drones overnight using the Tu-160. In total, more than 400 drones, 6 ballistic missiles and 38 cruise missiles were fired. Operation Spider's Web angered Putin Ukraine's undercover Operation Spider's Web led to huge loss for Russian military. The FPV drones were smuggled into civilian trucks and transported to several airbases deep inside Russia and then carried out a surprise attack. The attack targeted Russia's Tu-95, Tu-22M3 and A-50 aircraft, which were valuable and scarce. The headquarter of this operation was located near a regional headquarter of Russia's domestic security agency FSB.
New York Post
2 days ago
- Business
- New York Post
New Senate bill fixes flaws in fed's system to block Chinese land purchases near military bases
Three years ago, the Chinese took advantage of a defect in US protocols to block land purchases near American military bases and almost acquired terrain near Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota. Now, Senate Banking Committee Republicans are championing a new bill titled the 'Protect Our Bases Act,' which is intended to patch up that protocol glitch to ensure the Chinese can't acquire land near sensitive US installations. 'The Chinese Communist Party's efforts to infiltrate and surveil all parts of the U.S national security apparatus requires vigilance from our national security agencies,' Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC), who is introducing the bill, told The Post. 'This legislation will enhance the review of foreign real estate transactions near critical national security installations, helping ensure CFIUS has the information it needs to protect our homeland and keep our nation safe.' It's being co-sponsored by Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Thom Tillis (R-NC), John Kennedy (R-La.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), and Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio). 3 Sen. Tim Scott warned about the threat that Chinese land purchases near US military bases pose to national security. Ron Sachs – CNP for NY Post 3 The attempted land purchase near Grand Forks Air Force Base in 2022 rattled US security experts. Bloomberg via Getty Images The bill comes weeks after Ukraine's Operation Spider's Web, in which Kyiv is said to have deployed some 117 drones in bases deep within Russian territory and detonated on dozens of aircraft, destroying at least 20 of them. That breakthrough military operation sent alarm bells to militaries around the world over the potential vulnerabilities that bases have to drone strikes. China is widely seen as the global leader in drone production. While the US has existing procedures intended to block Chinese land purchases near critical military outposts, a flaw in the system was nearly exploited in 2022. Back in 2022, Chinese company Fufeng Group, a company that produces sugars, fertilizers and more, attempted to acquire land near Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota. Typically, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is tasked with investigating foreign transactions in the US and making recommendations on which ones to block. However, at the time, CFIUS concluded that it couldn't review Fufeng Group's attempted purchase because the Department of Defense didn't list the base as a critical site for national security purposes. Ultimately, the City of Grand Forks blocked the purchase, but national security buffs believe it exposed a weakness in US protocols for blocking Chinese land purchases. 3 National security experts have long raised concerns about Chinese land purchases near US military bases. KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/AFP via Getty Images The Protect Our Bases Act seeks to address that by requiring agencies in CFIUS to annually update their data on military facilities that need to be designated as sensitive sites and submit annual reports to Congress about its real estate lists. The measure is also intended to make critical records more attainable for CFIUS to use for national security reviews.
India Today
4 days ago
- Politics
- India Today
Once allies, now archrivals: The fallout between Iran and Israel
Since the launch of Israel's military offensive on Iran, Operation Rising Lion, in the early hours of June 13 amid the former's concerns over Tehran's nuclear ambitions, the two countries have exchanged at least four waves of missile and drone strikes on each other. What might be a surprise to an onlooker is well recorded in history that the two nations, now locked in open conflict, were once close allies. Their alliance, forged in the decades before Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, was built on shared strategic interests, deep military cooperation, and strong economic present-day hostilities escalated dramatically with a coordinated Israeli strike reportedly modelled on Ukraine's June 1 Operation Spider's Web, Israel seemingly used camouflaged weapon platforms hidden in civilian vehicles in Iran, which it remotely activated to disable Iran's air defences to provide a clear path for Israeli air hit key infrastructure and defence sites in Iran, killing several top Iranian generals, and reportedly two senior nuclear scientists as well. In response, Iran launched ballistic missiles and drones at Tel Aviv and Haifa cities, some of which breached Israel's Iron Dome air defence, causing damage to civilian infrastructure along with dozens of civilian per a Reuters report, the expression "Rising Lion" is taken from verse 23:24 of the Book of Numbers in the Bible. The verse says, "Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain."advertisementNotably, this is also the first time that Israel has launched a full-scale offensive on Iran, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announcing in a speech soon after the attacks, 'This operation will continue for as many days as it takes"Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has also pledged a "bitter and painful" retaliation against behind the current warfare lies a forgotten chapter of being closer allies, when Tehran and Tel Aviv worked hand in hand across sectors, united by regional threats and geopolitical WERE NOT ALWAYS ADVERSARIESThough Israel and Iran have been adversaries since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, they were once close allies, sharing strong military and economic ties, united against a common fact, Iran was the second Muslim-majority country, after Turkey, to recognise Israel after it was formed in how did it begin?Following World War II and a wave of decolonialisation, in which colonies in Asia and Africa gained independence from European empires, the world powers had the Palestine question to the UN proposed the Partition Plan for the British Mandate of Palestine in 1947, Iran was among the 13 countries that voted against it. In 1949 again, Iran reiterated its stance and voted against Israel's entry into the UN as a practical geopolitical and strategic interests soon led to a covert relationship between Iran and Israel. Yet, in public, Iran declined to recognise Israel till back then, Iran housed the largest Jewish population in West RETURN OF THE SHAH: A MULTIFACETED ALLIANCEThe return of the Shah's rule in Iran, following an alleged CIA-engineered coup in 1953, marked a turning point in Iran-Israel Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iran and Israel forged a multifaceted Pahlavi regime viewed Israel as a natural ally, particularly because of common adversaries such as Egypt, then under Gamal Abdel Nasser, and the Iraqi Republic, then ruled by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath alliance saw economic, military, and intelligence cooperation between Iran and Israel. They also developed a close relationship over shared interests in keeping the Communist USSR out of West Asia, as both were backed by the capitalist Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion's concept of alliance of the periphery, a foreign policy strategy developed by Israel in the 1950s and 1960s, aimed at countering hostility from neighbouring Arab countries by building alliances with non-Arab states and minority groups on the periphery of West Asia, Iran found a friendly that time, the young Jewish state sourced 40% of its oil from Iran, trading in return weapons, technology, and agricultural from Iran was critical of Israel's industrial and military needs, as hostile Arab nations had put an oil embargo on the Jewish state. The Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline Company, established in 1968, was a key joint project that allowed Iranian oil to be transported to Israel, bypassing the Suez Canal under the return, Israel provided Iran with modern military equipment to fight its war against Iraq in the 1980s. The Iranians even imported advanced missile systems, M-40 antitank guns, Uzi submachine guns and aircraft engines from Israel. The Shah of Iran even admired Israel because of its military success against its came Project Flower, which was an Israeli-Iranian venture to jointly develop advanced missile the secret police of Pahlavi Iran, SAVAK, was created in 1957 with the assistance of the CIA and culturally, the Pahlavi dynasty promoted a narrative that stressed Iran's pre-Islamic past and its distinctiveness from Arab culture. This helped the Iranian regime to justify its affinity with DECLINE OF IRAN-ISRAEL RELATIONSThe Iranian Revolution of 1979, which pushed the Pahlavi dynasty out of power, leading to the establishment of an Islamic Republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, turned Iran's foreign policy and worldview upside down. However, in the initial years, Iran and Israel still continued with their Israel and Iran saw it in their interests to counter the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. Iraq was part of three of the four Arab wars against the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, Israel reportedly sold arms worth $500 million annually to Iran. To facilitate these deals, Israel even established Swiss bank accounts, Time magazine the 1980s, Iran had a divided military structure. The regular army, known as the Artesh, was a holdover from the Shah's era and was seen as more traditional and professional. Alongside it, the newly-established Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) emerged as a parallel force that was ideologically driven and directly loyal to Ayatollah Israeli brass in Jerusalem was hopeful that the arms supply would keep the regular Iranian military happy and topple the fledgling regime of the covert ties continued for some time even after the Iran-Iraq war, but got worse with now a theocratic state, saw Israel as an occupier of Palestinian land. Iran even labelled Israel as "Little Satan", while the US was called the "Great Satan".Shia Iran wanted to be the power centre of West Asia, and started challenging Saudi Arabia, the Mecca of Sunni Islam. It also saw both Israel and the US as interfering in regional new Iranian government severed all diplomatic ties with Israel, and the country began to support Palestinian and other anti-Israel movements was in this period that Iran started supporting Shia Lebanese elements, which later took the shape of ANIMOSITY POST-GULF WARThe end of the Gulf War in 1991 marked the start of open hostility between Iran and Israel. With the Soviet Union's collapse and the US emerging as the sole superpower, regional divisions deepened, placing Iran and Israel on opposing sides of nearly every major geopolitical nuclear programme, launched in the 1980s, became a flashpoint in the 1990s. It's also the main reason for the current backed by the US and Western allies, demanded Tehran abandon its ambitions, viewing them as a threat to global security. To them, Iran, under the radical leadership of first Ruhollah Khomeini and later Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was a growing rivalry soon spilt into covert operations, public threats, and proxy is important to note that throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Iran, as part of its anti-Israel strategy, waged proxy wars against Israel through non-state militant groups such as Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and the the years, Israel responded to these threats by carrying out targeted assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists and top military the decades, Israel has also conducted repeated military operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and numerous military targets in Syria, with the key objective of preventing Iran from re-establishing its strategic foothold in the the latest escalation being the first time that Israel has launched an indefinite military offensive against Iran with an official declaration by the prime minister, the situation in West Asia may blow up into a prolonged regional war between two former allies turned archrivals.
Edmonton Journal
7 days ago
- Politics
- Edmonton Journal
Lorne Gunter: Israel attack on Iran trades short-term instability for long-term security
Article content The intelligence, planning and execution are staggering. It puts me in mind of Ukraine's Operation Spider's Web on June 1. In that attack, over 100 Ukrainian drones smuggled into Russia over a year-and-a-half's time were launched without detection from the backs of transport trucks on five Russia air force bases, one as far as 4,000 kilometres from the Ukraine-Russia border, taking out at least 10 per cent of Russia's strategic bomber fleet. (Score two for the good guys.) Friday's Operation Rising Lion is also reminiscent of Israel's 1981 destruction of Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor. In that strike, jets from the Israeli Air Force flew low over the desert for hundreds of kilometres to a site near Baghdad. They suddenly popped up at the last minute so they could gain enough altitude to dive-bomb the reactor's hardened dome before Iraq (and several French technicians) could activate the nuclear facility. The attack set back Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons program, as it turned out, forever.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Military Expert Explains How Iran Could Respond To Israel Despite 'Significant' Setbacks
Retired Adm. James Stavridis on Friday estimated that Israel's attacks on Tehran will have a 'significant' impact on Iran, knocking 50% of its military capability, as he identified the main reason the country has yet to use one of the strongest tools at its disposal to respond. In an interview with 'CNN News Central,' Stavridis said Israel's strikes on Iran's nuclear and missile sites mirrored Ukraine's Operation Spider's Web, which saw Kyiv launch over 100 drones to attack air bases deep inside Russia earlier this month. 'This is Israel with deep penetration into a huge country. Iran is two and a half times the size of Texas,' Stavridis explained. The CNN military analyst predicted Israel's operation will have a major impact on Iran. 'As we are hearing, it's only the beginning. So I'd look for five to seven days,' he said. 'And that ... I think, will knock the Iranian military back 50% in its capability overall. That's quite significant.' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed the operation 'will continue for as many days as it takes,' while Iran has pledged to retaliate. Stavridis warned that despite the setbacks Tehran faces, it still has options to mount a major response, albeit 'asymmetrically.' 'Rather than launching jets to do a mirror of the strikes they're experiencing, they'll use different means,' he said. 'They still have thousands of ballistic missiles that can reach out and hit Israel. A launch of 500 of those simultaneously potentially could overwhelm Israeli defense facilities. They could use cyber. They could use terror attacks, targeted assassinations.' Iran could also close the Strait of Hormuz, a move that would send 'shivers up the back of the global economy,' according to Stavridis. 'They couldn't keep it closed for more than a month or two,' he added. 'But that's a huge spike in energy prices. Iran still has options here.' The move could disrupt the stream of global oil as over 20 million barrels of oil and petroleum liquids are transported per day through the strait, which connects the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. Iran has yet to resort to those options, including its ballistic missile capability, over fear of drawing the U.S. into the escalating tensions, Stavridis assessed. 'Yes, the Israelis can do a lot of damage to the broad military-industrial complex, but there are still many deeply buried, hardened targets, particularly their nuclear facilities, that can only be truly destroyed by the U.S.,' Stavridis added. President Donald Trump told Fox News' Bret Baier that Friday's attacks did not come as a surprise to the U.S., suggesting he had advance knowledge of Israel's plans. He later told CNN's Dana Bash he is on Israel's side, while urging Tehran to agree to a nuclear deal with the U.S. 'We of course support Israel, obviously and supported it like nobody has ever supported it,' Trump said. Trump Tells Iran To Do Deal Now After Israel Blasts Nuclear And Military Targets Israel Attacks Iran's Nuclear And Missile Sites And Kills Top Military Officials
