The Cold War bomber is going back into production
By Kyle Mizokami; Popular Mechanics:
The last bomber produced by the Soviet Union is going back into production, a quarter century after the last aircraft was built. The Tupolev Tu-160 bomber, known to NATO as the Blackjack, will return to serial production in 2021. The bomber will carry both conventional and nuclear long-range cruise missiles to strike distant targets.
Moscow made the Tu-160 strategic bomber in the 1970s as a response to the American B-1. The B-1 was the first bomber to incorporate variable geometry “swing wings” that could be swept backward for increased efficiency at supersonic speeds and swept forward for subsonic speeds. It was also the first stealthy bomber, the better to penetrate the Soviet Union’s air defenses.
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The Resurgence of Russian Intelligence
By Luis Rueda; OpsLens:
From France to Eastern Europe to the U.S. we are witnessing the return of a more aggressive, more capable old enemy — the Russian intelligence services. The SVR (Russian Foreign Intelligence), FSB (Domestic Intelligence and Security) and GRU (Military Intelligence) are at the forefront of Russian power projection and policy. Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former intelligence officer himself, is wielding his intelligence agencies as the premier tools of Russian policy and expansion. Much of this involves Russian Active Measures efforts to attain these policy objectives.
America was stunned when its combined 17 intelligence agencies announced that Russia had covertly intervened in the 2016 presidential campaign for the purpose of helping elect Donald Trump. This was part of a larger Active Measures campaign to install governments favorable to Russia in the West; governments that want to put an end to sanctions and want to pull out of NATO and the EU. These ongoing efforts are led by Russian intelligence organizations using computer hacks, propaganda, and other Active Measures tools.
Such activity is nothing new in Europe. For years Russia has launched a series of clandestine and overt efforts to exert influence and sway governments in support of Russian objectives throughout the continent. One example, the French presidential election, was hit by a series of hacks likely originating from Russia. The hacks targeted Emmanuel Macron and were most certainly designed to aid Marin Le Pen — Putin’s favorite for President of France. Fortunately the hack came too late and the French handled it with typical French sangfroid, minimizing the impact. We are likely to see similar efforts during the upcoming German election.
A senior French intelligence official said that the Russians now have more spies, and clandestine operations, in France than they did during the Cold War.
Western intelligence officials say Russian intelligence tactics run the gamut from cyber espionage, traditional human intelligence (HUMINT) operations all the way to regime change. Russia has been linked to a coup attempt in Montenegro (likely because the Balkan nation is trying to join NATO), involving an attempted assassination of the Prime Minister to replace him with a pro-Moscow stooge; in 2014 an Estonian intelligence officer was kidnapped by Russian security personnel from right inside Estonia and taken to Russia; a traditional spy case involving a Portuguese spy and stolen NATO documents; a bogus news story about a 13-year-old Russian-German girl in Germany reportedly raped by a Muslim immigrant designed to undermine the German government’s immigration policy, and thus the German government.
Estonia’s intelligence service’s annual report said the Baltic Sea region is a particular target for intelligence threats from Russia. According to the Estonians, Russia has taken interest in the country’s foreign and security policies, defense planning, and military capabilities, targeting these sectors for increased espionage activities.
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