Russia: Exercises, Nano-Weapons, I SWARM, + Drill updates

"Stability-2008" Russia

Russia to conduct strategic military exercises in 2008 http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071120/88834914.html

MOSCOW, November 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Armed Forces will hold a series of command-and-post exercises under a common strategic concept in 2008, the defense minister said Tuesday.
The Stability-2008 exercises will be held for two months in various regions of Russia with the goal of practicing strategic deployment of the Armed Forces, including the nuclear "triad," to counter potential threats near the Russian borders.
"The maneuvers will include a number of theater-level, tactical and command-and-post exercises, under a common strategic concept," Anatoly Serdyukov said at a Defense Ministry meeting, attended by President Vladimir Putin.
Addressing senior military staff at the meeting, Putin reiterated the need to continue the development of Russia's Strategic Nuclear Forces and said they should be able to respond promptly and effectively to any aggression.
"One of the most important tasks today is to enhance the combat readiness of the Strategic Nuclear Forces. They should be in

Europe researches millimeter-scale swarming robots
http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/rss/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=203103094&cid=RSSfeed_eetimes_semiRSS

NETANYA, Israel — A European research project codenamed I-SWARM is developing millimeter-scale robots for various applications, mostly for dangerous activities. The project is coordinated by Joerg Seyfried at the University of Karlsruhe in Germany. These robots operate using solar power and can communicate with each other. The I-SWARM project is working towards the development of an artificial ant and brings together expertise in micro-robotics, in distributed and adaptive systems as well as in self-organizing biological swarm systems. The project is set to produce technological advances to allow the production of swarms of up to 1000 microrobots. These client robots will all be equipped with limited, pre-rational on-board intelligence. The heterogeneous robots will differ in the type of sensors, manipulators and computational power. Such a robot swarm is expected to perform a variety of applications, including micro assembly, biological, medical or cleaning tasks

Russia To Design Nanotechnology Weapons – Commander http://www.merid.org/NDN/more.php?id=1213

The chief of the Russian Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Defence Troops has said that nanotechnology-based weapons for combating radiation, chemical, and biological terrorism will be developed in Russia within fifteen years. According to the article, he indicated his prediction that the country’s Programme of Coordination of Work in the Field of Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials “will allow developing advanced arms and means of radiation, chemical and biological defence at a new qualitative level.” The article says that such defense technologies include “unique remote reconnaissance complexes, automated systems for the collection and processing of data about the radiation, chemical and biological situation integrated in an automated system of control of the troops will join the armed forces in a nearest prospect.” The article can be viewed online at the link below

San José Firefighters Take Part in Bioterrorism Drill (update)
The drill simulated a mock terrorist attack on a music festival




http://cms.firehouse.com/web/online/PhotoStories/San-Jos--Firefighters-Take-Part-in-Bioterrorism-Drill/45$57173

First responders from multiple agencies, including the San José Fire Department, descended upon San José's Municipal Stadium for the Golden Guardian 2007 bioterrorism drill held on Wednesday, Nov. 14.
The scenario required interagency cooperation to contend with a mock terrorist attack on a music festival using airborne pneumonic plague.
San José Fire units, directed by Deputy Incident Commander Kevin Conant, initiated a full-scale response using the National Incident Management System (NIMS) to manage all aspects of the drill.
Firefighters from San José Stations 1 and 29 worked with firefighters from Santa Clara County, Mountain View, Gilroy, CAL FIRE, and medical personnel from American Medical Response, Silicon Valley Ambulance, and the Santa Clara County EMS Agency

Conerns persist over Chinese anti-satellite test: US military
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=071120171847.ztwhdd8q&show_article=1