The almost zodiac-like craft has been an ongoing project over recent years, and contains a fully automated system which the Navy calls a "Precision Engagement Module" which uses an Mk-49 mounting with a dual missile launcher manufactured by Rafael.
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The episode with Yemen whose government had initially denied any knowledge of the North Korean missile shipment offers an even more alarming prospect: What if the rogue state enabled terrorists to get their hands on a missile and its launcher?
The episode with Yemen -- whose government had initially denied any knowledge of the North Korean missile shipment -- offers an even more alarming prospect: What if the rogue state enabled terrorists to get their hands on a missile and its launcher?
Pentagon officials cited recent developments in North Korea a long-range missile test, a nuclear test and demonstration of a mobile launcher that suggested the country's missile technology is advancing faster than earlier predicted.
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When the control computer has decided the best time to launch, it tells a launcher to fire a missile or missiles - typically two might be fired at a target in rapid succession because one alone does not guarantee a hit.
Cryosat carries the "2" designation because it is actually a rebuild of a mission that was destroyed in 2005 when its then launcher (also a converted missile) failed just minutes into its flight.
Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said the missile in Aleppo province was launched from inside Syria, but the launcher came from another country.
Nikolay Solovtsov, commander of the Strategic Missile Troops, was recently quoted by Moscow Interfax-AVN Online as saying that "not a single Russian launcher" with "remaining service life" will be withdrawn under a new agreement.
Is it possible, therefore, that one could be transporting a Scud-type missile -- loaded, not in its hold under sacks of concrete, but onto a transporter-erector-launcher -- and remain undetected as it moved within range of one of America's many littoral population centers?
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