Weekly Defense Updates- Minuteman 3 ICBM test,Taiwan F-16, US-Turkey Arms deal cancelled,Tejas on Indo-Pak Border, US will share space technical data with UK

 Weekly Defense Updates-  Minuteman 3 ICBM test,Taiwan F-16, US-Turkey Arms deal cancelled,Tejas on Indo-Pak Border, US will share space technical data with UK

Weekly Defense Updates are as follows-

1. USA successfully tests Minuteman 3 ICBM with three re entry vehicles.

The US air force has conducted test launch of minuteman 3 ICBM from Vandenberg air force base located in California. The test took place in early August 2020.

The inter continental ballistic missile was equipped with three unarmed re entry vehicles.

Image-Minuteman 3 ICBM shoots out of missile silo

Air Force Colonel Omar Colbert said that the test was initiated by the military personnel's onboard E 6 B mercury airborne command post.

E 6B mercury is considered as an back up option for launching these missiles in case any command and control centers on ground are taken out by an military operation by the adversaries in an event of war.

Image- E6B Mercury  (command post) 

Minuteman 3 is expected to have an operational range of 8,100 miles or 13,000 km. ICBM has 3 stage solid fuel rocket engines with pin point accuracy.

A multiple independently target able reentry vehicle (MIRV ) is a ballistic missile payload containing several warheads, capable of hitting different targets.

Image-multiple independently target able reentry vehicle (MIRV )

 MIRV allows a country to launch nuclear weapons towards multiple site and it drastically increases the lethality of the ICBMs.

Minuteman 3 was the true MIRV capable missile of its kind. It can carry 3 warheads and be targeted to 3 independent locations.

Minuteman 3 can carry W78 or W87 warheads. W 78 thermonuclear warhead can carry up to 335 to 350 kilotons of TNT. the W 87 is an improvement over W 78 and includes all modern features. W 87 can carry 475 kilotons of TNT.

Image-W87 Thermonuclear warhead

2. The US congress has now blocked the arms deal with turkey for the time period of 2 years

The relations between the two NATO allies have already been degrading since Turkey signed the deal with Russia for the S 400 air defense systems and was removed out of the F 35 joint strike fighter program.

 As of now there are no exact details of how many deals are withdrawn but two major deals are struck down. These deals include the modernization  and structural upgrades of the Turkish f-16 fleet, along with the export license of U S made engines that Turkey needs to complete a $1.5 billion sale of attack helicopters to Pakistan.

Image-Turkish T-129 attack helicopter

3. Taiwan will buy 66 american made F16 from Lockheed martin amidst the tension with China. 

The deal was approved formally last year by the US congress and the deal is expected to be worth around

 US $ 62 billion. F-16 is an very capable single engine all weather multirole fighter jet.  F-16 can be armed with wide range of missiles including air to air and air to ground missiles along with anti-ship missiles.

Taiwan is already operating the older versions of F16 in large numbers and is very well optimized with the fighter jet.

Taiwan has also successfully integrated the US made harpoon anti-ship missile on its F-16 fleet amidst the rising tension with china.

China is not happy with the deal and considers Taiwan as its own territory as per its One China policy.  

Image-F-16 Fighting falcon

 4. The U.S. Space Force will begin sharing valuable space situational awareness data with the United Kingdom as part of Operation Olympic Defender.

 On august 14th it was announced by the Washington that under the special agreement signed with UK's ministry of Defense ;  US  Space Force will share it’s Standardized Astrodynamics Algorithm Library or shortly called S A A L .

S A A L  is a collection of the Space Force’s understanding of orbital physics and algorithms that helps the service predict the trajectories of objects on orbit.

Sharing this important data with its allies will help US and its friendly countries to deter hostile actions in space, strengthen deterrence against hostile actors and address the growing issue of orbital debris. 

Operation Olympic Defender was officially taken over by U.S. Space Command in May and is located at the Combined Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

Image- US Space Force

5. India puts its home developed Tejas fighter jets along its western border

The standoff between India and China has been going on for quite some time now. And China is not showing any signs of complete withdrawal of its armed forces among the Line of Actual control.

India on the other hand has to deal with both hostile neighbors China and Pakistan. India has now stationed its 4.5 generation indigenous fighter in its forward bases along the border with Pakistan.

Tejas is single seat single engine multipurpose fighter jet with delta wing design and is a very capable fighter. It is the smallest fighter of its category with respect to size.

Tejas is capable of carrying out missions both in day and night conditions. Tejas can be equipped with any missiles be it western or Russian made thanks to its Indian made open source architecture.

As per the latest reports 18 Tejas fighters have been deployed alongside border with Pakistan.

Image-HAL Tejas