18 Jan 12. An early-warning radar station, part of the Nato anti-missile radar system deployed in the Anatolian province of Turkey, has been activated to begin surveillance operations, a Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman has revealed. A small number of US troops were deployed to run the US-developed AN/TPY-2 (X-band) radar system at the Kurecik military base in Malatya in December 2011. The base commander will be a high-ranking Turkish Army official from the Nato headquarters in Germany, as per an agreement reached between the parties. The AN/TPY-2 is a high-resolution, X-band class, phased array radar designed to provide early warning of ballistic missile threats coming from outside Europe. The early-warning radar, designed to intercept medium-range missiles at very high altitudes, has been deployed to protect Israel against potential attacks, Turkish People’s Republican Party leader Kemal Kilichoglu said.
Members of the US-led Nato European anti-missile defence (AMD) shield that agreed to deploy parts of the system include Portugal, Poland, Romania and Spain. Turkey’s decision to deploy the radar, though strongly opposed by Iran, was reiterated by the Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who said that it was “a purely defensive system against any ballistic threat”. Russia has long opposed the deployment of a missile shield, claiming that it will denude its own strike capabilities, and has sought legally binding guarantees from the US and Nato that the AMD will not target Russian strategic nuclear assets. However, Nato refused to sign a written guarantee insisting that the anti-missile shield is intended to prevent potential Iranian missile threats and does not target Russia. Russia has also warned that failure to reach an agreement on the missile shield will lead to the deployment of advanced offensive weapon systems to counter any future US missile deployments in Europe. The US hopes to reach a deal with Russia for the deployment of the ballistic missile shield in Europe by the end of 2012. (Source: airforcetechnology.com)
17 Jan 12. Burris, the unequivocal expert in ballistic laser scopes with automated trajectory compensation, introduces the new Eliminator III. This next-generation laser scope provides expert shooters with a level of sophistication only imaginable before now. The Eliminator III features a sleek, new design that is similar to traditional riflescopes yet still incorporates state of the art electronics. Other improvements include new ergonomic activation buttons and parallax adjustment from 50 yards to infinity. The current Eliminator’s split-second, automatic trajectory compensation technology has provided shooters with the invaluable ability to place ethical shots on target within seconds, which dramatically extends a shooter’s confidence and ability in the field. Now, the new Eliminator III with its X96 reticle technology provides even more accuracy, more range and a method of windage compensation. All of these elements have been perfected and are available at the push of a button at any magnification. To achieve even greater accuracy at ranges from 750 to 1,200 yards, the Eliminator III features enhanced the ballistic programming. With the Eliminator III, the shooter enters not only the amount of drop at 750 yards for bullet and load he is shooting, but the ballistic coefficient (BC) for the chosen bullet, as well. The scope can be programmed for more than 1,500 commercially available loads. An essential element in the Eliminator III is the new X96 reticle, which provides a convenient and accurate method to compensate for wind. Wind compensation is NOT fully automated within the scope; the digital readout displays a 10 MPH Wind Value for the shooter’s specific cartridge at the ranged as a “Dot Value.” The X96 reticle features several dots on each side of the vertical post. These Dots serve as references to the shooter to precisely hold into the wind. The shooter still needs to estimate the cro