International Business Times: Russia will begin the first shipment of the S-300 air defense missile system to Iran in the coming days, Interfax news agency quoted a senior Russian diplomat as saying Tuesday. “I don’t know if this will happen today, but they (S-300 missiles) will be loaded (for shipment to Iran),” the agency quoted… read more
Reuters: Recent satellite images have shown “suspicious” activity at North Korea’s main nuclear site at Yongbyon, which could mean reprocessing is under way to produce more plutonium for atomic bombs, a report published by a U.S. research institute said on Monday. The report on the 38 North website said that in the past five weeks,… read more
United Press International: SEOUL, April 1 (UPI) — North Korea could accelerate nuclear warhead miniaturization, a South Korean analyst said Friday. Lee Chun-geun, a senior fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, a government think tank, said the North’s missiles could lead to shortening the amount of time required for miniaturization, Yonhap news… read more
Radio Free Europe: WASHINGTON — The U.S. government said that Russia has increased the number of strategic warheads deployed on ballistic missiles, despite a 5-year-old treaty that mandates cuts to both countries’ nuclear arsenals. The numbers by the U.S. State Department’s arms control and treaty verification bureau, which were released late on April 1, were likely to… read more
Reuters: North Korea will pursue its nuclear and ballistic missile program in defiance of the United States and its allies, a top Pyongyang envoy said on Friday, adding that a state of “semi-war” now existed on the divided Korean peninsula. So Se Pyong, North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, denounced the huge… read more
The National Interest: Despite Moscow’s partial withdrawal from Syria, additional Russian forces have appeared in theatre. One unconfirmed report suggests that Russia has deployed the Iskander short-range ballistic missile to the region—a potentially worrying development if true. The weapon would allow Russian forces to strike deep into Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel with virtual impunity—though… read more
Associated Press: North Korea fired a short-range missile into the sea and tried to jam GPS navigation signals in South Korea on Friday, Seoul officials said, hours after U.S., South Korean and Japanese leaders pledged to work closer together to prevent North Korea from advancing its nuclear and missile programs. Officials said the attempt to… read more
Financial Times: A new generation of Chinese intercontinental ballistic missiles may come into service as early as this year and will herald a period of rapid nuclear build-up by China, according to experts. With a 14,500km estimated range, the DF-41 is the first Chinese missile capable of carrying multiple warheads that can strike any part… read more
The Washington Free Beacon: North Korea has developed a new long-range mobile intercontinental ballistic missile that the Pentagon says moves the country’s leader Kim Jong Un closer to the goal of building missiles capable of striking the U.S. mainland with nuclear warheads. The new missile is called the KN-14 by the Pentagon and is a… read more
IHS Jane’s 360: North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme, based on the simultaneous development of a weaponisable nuclear device and ballistic missile delivery systems, appears to have advanced incrementally in early 2016. Following Pyongyang’s claimed – although widely disputed – test of a ‘H-bomb’ (thermonuclear) device at its Punggye-ri complex on 6 January, and the launch… read more