India successfully tests smart anti-airfield weapon
New Delhi, Aug 19 : India has successfully test-fired indigenously designed and developed long-range precision-guided anti-airfield bomb that was dropped from an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft, the Defence Ministry said on Sunday.
The Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW) system was successfully tested at the Chandan firing range in Rajasthan. A total of three tests with different release conditions were conducted from August 16 to 18, a defence spokesperson said.
"The weapon system was integrated with live warhead and destroyed the targets with high precision. The telemetry and tracking systems captured all the mission events. All the mission objectives have been achieved."
The 120-kg class smart weapon is capable of destroying ground targets using precision navigation up to a range of 100 km. It is capable of destroying runways, bunkers, aircraft hangers and other reinforced structures.
The guided bomb is considered to be one of the world-class weapons systems, developed by state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in collaboration with the IAF and the Research Centre Imarat (RCI).
The bomb, which is said to have higher precision and much cheaper compared with missiles, can be carried on IAF's various aircraft like Jaguar and MiG.
The weapon has so far undergone eight developmental trials and performance of the system for different ranges under multiple launch conditions has been demonstrated.
Senior officials from DRDO, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and the IAF participated and witnessed the flight tests.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated the DRDO, IAF and HAL on the successful tests for further boosting the defence capabilities of the country.
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Trump confronts South African president over killing of white farmers
Washington, May 21 (AP): President Donald Trump used a White House meeting to confront South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, accusing his country of failing to address the killing of white farmers.
“People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety," said Trump, who at one point dimmed the lights in the Oval Office to play a video of a communist politician playing a controversial anti-apartheid song that includes lyrics about killing a farmer. "Their land is being confiscated and in many cases they're being killed."
Ramaphosa pushed back against Trump's accusation. The South African leader had sought to use the meeting to set the record straight and salvage his country's relationship with the United States. The bilateral relationship is at its lowest point since South Africa enforced its apartheid system of racial segregation, which ended in 1994.
“We are completely opposed to that,” Ramaphosa said of the behaviour alleged by Trump in their exchange.
Experts in South Africa say there is no evidence of whites being targeted, although farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in a country that suffers from a very high crime rate.
