First shipborne hypersonic weapon being retrofitted to USS Zumwalt, North Korea vows it will ‘invariably support’ Russia war in Ukraine, U.S. shoots down 7 Houthi drones, missiles.
1. The U.S. Navy is transforming a costly flub into a potent weapon with the first shipborne hypersonic weapon, which is being retrofitted aboard the first of its three stealthy destroyers. The USS Zumwalt is at a Mississippi shipyard where workers have installed missile tubes that replace twin turrets from a gun system that was never activated because it was too expensive. Once the system is complete, the Zumwalt will provide a platform for conducting fast, precision strikes from greater distances, adding to the usefulness of the warship. U.S. has had several types of hypersonic weapons in development for the past two decades, but recent tests by both Russia and China have added pressure to the U.S. military to hasten their production.
2. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed his country will “invariably support” Russia’s war in Ukraine as he met Russia's defense chief, the North’s state media reported Saturday. A Russia military delegation led by Defense Minister Andrei Belousov arrived in North Korea on Friday, amid growing international concern about the two countries’ expanding cooperation after North Korea sent thousands of troops to Russia last month. The official Korean Central News Agency said that Kim and Belousov reached “a satisfactory consensus” on boosting strategic partnership and defending each country’s sovereignty, security interests and international justice in the face of the rapidly-changing international security environments in a Friday meeting.
3. U.S. Navy destroyers shot down seven missiles and drones fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the warships and three American merchant vessels they were escorting through the Gulf of Aden. No damage or injuries were reported. U.S. Central Command said late Sunday that the destroyers USS Stockdale and USS O’Kane shot down and destroyed three anti-ship ballistic missiles, three drones and one anti-ship cruise missile. The merchant ships were not identified. The Houthis claimed the attack in a statement and said they had targeted the U.S. destroyers and “three supply ships belonging to the American army in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden.”
4. The Philippine military deployed a navy ship and air force planes to shadow a Russian submarine, which passed through the South China Sea off the country’s western coast last week, a security official said Monday. The Russian submarine identified itself in response to a Philippine navy two-way radio inquiry, saying it was en route home to Russia’s eastern city of Vladivostok after joining an exercise with the Malaysian navy, Jonathan Malaya, assistant director-general of the National Security Council, said.
5. Israeli jets Sunday launched an airstrike over a southern Lebanese border village, while troops shelled other border towns and villages still under Israeli control, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported. The attacks come days after a US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike in the village of Yaroun, nor did the Hezbollah militant group. Israel continues to call on displaced Lebanese not to return to dozens of southern villages in this current stage of the ceasefire. It also continues to impose a daily curfew for people moving across the Litani River between 5 pm and 7 am.
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