French Russian Mistral Deal

No Plans to Suspend Mistral Deal over Syria – France

Mistral

France will not use a $1.2 billion contract to build Mistral class amphibious assault ships for the Russian Navy to put pressure on Moscow over the Syrian issue, the country’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
The West is pushing for President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster, while Russia and China are trying to prevent outside interference in Syria, saying the Assad regime and the opposition are both to blame for the bloodshed. Russia and China have blocked three UN resolutions on Syria.

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No End To Syrian Civil War

Free Syrian Army claims downed fighter jet in Idlib

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) claimed Thursday that it had downed a Syrian military fighter jet in the northwestern province of Idlib.

In the video, which was exclusively obtained by Al Arabiya, a crowd of Syrian rebels shout “Allah Akbar” -- “God is great” -- as the airplane falls from the sky, billowing smoke.

Two pilots can be seen in the video, descending in parachutes after ejecting from the jet.
 

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Iranian Supreme Leader Oppose Nuclear Bomb

Iran’s Khamenei Rules Out Nuclear Bomb

 

Iran's Supreme Leader says his country will never develop an atomic bomb, but will not abandon its controversial nuclear program.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told leaders of developing nations Thursday at the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran that Iran will “not give up its national right to peaceful nuclear energy.”
The supreme leader's speech also took aim at the U.N. Security Council, describing it as illogical, unjust and a defunct relic of the past that the United States uses “to impose their bullying manner on the world.”
Visiting United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also addressed the summit, urging Iran to comply with U.N. resolutions demanding it curb its nuclear activities. Mr. Ban warned that heightened international rhetoric over the issue risked degenerating into “war.”

 

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Another Bloody Day For Foreign Troops In Afghanistan

Five Australian troops die on worst day in Afghanistan

An Afghan army soldier shot dead three Australians and wounded two more at a patrol base in southern Afghanistan.

Hours later, two Australian soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in Helmand province.

Julia Gillard, prime minister, said that in the wake of the deaths she would cut short a trip to the Cook Islands for a forum of Pacific nation leaders.

"In a war of so many losses, this is our single worst day in Afghanistan," she said.

"Indeed, I believe this is the most losses in combat since the days of the Vietnam War and the Battle of Long Tan. This is news so truly shocking that it's going to feel for many Australians like a physical blow."

 

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Chines UAV Ambition

China to build 11 unmanned aerial vehicles bases

 

According to the State Oceanic Administration, 11 unmanned aerial vehicle bases will be built in 11 coastal provinces and regions to monitor the country's vast water areas, Legal Daily reported on Aug 27.
Unmanned aerial vehicles can fly in set routes, recording and sending back timely remote sensing data, improving China's capacity in water monitoring, said Yu Qingsong, director of the water management department of the State Oceanic Administration.
Each base will have at least one unmanned aerial vehicle, according to the administration.

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Australia urges China to respect its rights on US troops

China must respect Australia's sovereign right to have United States Marines deployed in its north as Washington enhances its presence in the Pacific, Foreign Minister Bob Carr said Wednesday.
Australia last year agreed to host up to 2,500 US Marines in the Northern Territory, a significant strategic shift by Washington which irritated China.
Carr told the Australian Financial Review the decision was not aimed at China.
"Just as Australia has taken a balanced view of China's rapid military modernisation, China should recognise Australia's sovereign right to reframe its alliance with the US as part of its own defence policy," he said.


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US wants details on Israel's 'Iron Dome' anti-missile system

The U.S. military has furnished millions of dollars to Israel to build and deploy an anti-missile artillery system known as Iron Dome, but oddly enough the United States knows little about how the system works even though it is in desperate need of just such a system to defend forward deployed troops on military bases or outposts exposed to rocket attack, reports Wired's Danger Room blog.
Israel developed Iron Dome, which the country says has an 80 percent success rate, completely on its own, the story said. For whatever reason, the United States doesn't know the specifics of Iron Dome, as it does with U.S.-Israeli anti-missile partnerships.


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Cost of Israeli Iran attack: $41.4 billion

The Business Data Israel Ltd. research company estimates that an Israeli attack on Iran would cost Israel $41.4 billion.
The BDI estimate includes the direct and indirect financial damage to the Israeli economy from an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
BDI costs the immediate cost to the Israeli economy from such an attack at $11.66 billion, plus $5.95 billion annually in lost gross domestic product for five years in the wake of the attack because of the collapse of businesses.


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No plans to build F-35 EW variant

The Marine Corps has no plans to pursue an Electronic Warfare variant of the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, said Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos at a Pentagon roundtable Thursday.
Amos said the AN/APG-81 Active Electronically Scanned Array radar installed on the F-35 already sets the fifth generation fighter apart as an electronic warfare platform.
“The airplane itself … with the AESA radar and sensors and information sharing capability is a pretty significant EW platform right now,” said Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos at a roundtable meeting with reporters in the Pentagon Aug. 23.
Aviation analysts have questioned why the Air Force and Navy have not focused more heavily on modernizing their electronic warfare capabilities. The Navy has started to phase out the EA-6B Prowler with the addition of the FA-18 Growler as the military’s pre-eminent electronic warfare platform to take suppression of enemy air defense (SEAD) missions.

Read more: http://defensetech.org/2012/08/24/no-plans-to-build-f-35-ew-variant/#ixzz24Zrbze7l
Defense.org 

India's first Embarer AWAC headed home

disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

India has taken delivery of the first of three Embraer 145 airborne early warning and control aircraft from Embraer Defense and Security in Brazil.
The aircraft, handed over at Embraer's headquarters at Sao Jose dos Campos airport, completed ground and flight tests and met operational targets set by both Embraer and India's Defense Research and Development Organization, a report by Daily News and Analysis said.
The aircraft, which has an in-flight refueling capability, will be flown to Bangalore to the DRDO's Center for Airborne Systems where it will have DRDO-developed mission systems installed.


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Iraqi Air Force to receive initial batch of F-16 jets in 2014

The Iraqi Air Force (IQAF) will take delivery of its initial batch of F-16 C/D Block 52 Fighting Falcon multi-role fighter jets in the next two years, US officials have revealed.
Speaking on the eve of US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff general Martin Dempsey's visit to Baghdad, officials told Agence France Presse that the first batch of F-16's are scheduled for delivery in September 2014.
Iraq is set to receive 18 two-seat aircraft, including 12 C and six D models, along with engines and support equipment from Lockheed Martin, as part of a $199m contract awarded by the US Department of Defense (DoD) in July 2012.
The US agreed last year to sell a total of 36 F-16 fighters to Iraq under two separate $4.2bn and $2.3bn foreign military sale (FMS) deals, which were announced in September 2010 and December 2011.


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Lebanese city’s Syrian war spillover intensifies

The shooting of Sheikh Khalid Al Baradei, who led a small militia, shattered the ceasefire between two neighbourhoods in Tripoli, where the conflict in Syria has reignited old tensions.

Two men were killed as the violence worsened between fighters from the Sunni Bab Al Tabbaneh neighbourhood and those from the hilltop, Alawite community of Jabal Mohsen.
That took the death toll over the past five days to 16.
Najib Mikati, the Lebanese prime minister, said yesterday that he had authorised the army "to bring the situation under control, to prohibit any armed presence and to arrest those implicated".
But militias in Bab Al Tabbaneh continued to stroll down Syria Street with their weapons in full view of Lebanese soldiers.

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China, US to begin new arms race

According to the Jane's Defense Weekly, the DF-41 was test-launched from the Wuzhai Missile Test Center in the central Chinese province of Shanxi a month ago.

China intends to significantly increase its missile potential. According to the influential Jane's Defence Weekly, China has successfully test-fired the Dongfeng-41 (DF-41) intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching any spot on US territory. Beijing denied the information, but admitted that it is developing a new-generation ICB capable of destroying targets all across the world.
Beijing seems to start placing its stake on an alternative cooperation with the United States, China's main economic partner. It's clear the two countries' trade and economic ties will dominate for years to come. At the same time, instability in various parts of the world and the US' ever-increasing ambitions prompt China to consider taking a spate of the military containment-related steps.


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Air Force presses surveillance satellite into full service

The Air Force said Aug. 20 that it would begin operational use of a new Boeing surveillance satellite designed to track debris and other satellites in space, reports Aviation Week. 
Air Force Space Command said the Space Based Surveillance Satellite system, which has been in orbit for two years, had achieved its initial level of capability and was ready to support U.S. military requirements after resolution of an unexpected electronics problem, the story said.


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Osprey Aeromechanics and Pilot Error

Bryant Jordan at our sister blog DoD Buzz wrote about the Headquarters Marine Corps’ explanantion behind what happened last April when an MV-22 crashed during an exercise in Morocco that killed two crewmembers.  Here’s an excerpt from Bryant’s post:

The accident occurred as the Osprey was taking off, turning to avoid a busy landing field even as it was rotating its proprotors to transition from helicopter mode to fixed wing.
As it did that, the center of gravity moved forward – pointing the Osprey’s nose down – and a strong tailwind pushed the plane forward and downward. The co-pilot, he said, failed to adjust the nacelles during the turn to overcome the effects of the nose-down altitude.

Read more: http://defensetech.org/2012/08/21/osprey-aeromechanics-and-pilot-error/#ixzz24ZoHDWhD
Defense.org

Inside Free Syrian Army's Headquarters in Turkey

Turkish soldiers in a military vehicle patrol on the Turkish-Syrian border in the town of Reyhanli in Hatay province, where defectors from the Syrian army and their families often stay. (photo by REUTERS/Osman Orsal)

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By: Lale Kemal posted on Wednesday, Aug 22, 2012

Even though Turkey continues to deny reports that it has been setting up bases for the Syrian opposition — for example in Adana — it is no longer a secret that it is providing military support to the Syrian opposition.

About this Article

Summary: The Reyhanli refugee camp, close to Turkey’s border with Syria, might just be the most significant military outpost in the entire Syria conflict. Lale Kemal reports on the camp’s hosting of the Free Syrian Army and the internal disputes among officers and generals at risk of derailing the military assault on Assad. Publisher: Taraf (Turkey) Original Title: FSA Sets up Higher Military Council at Reyhanli Camp Author: Lale Kemal Published on: Tuesday, Aug 21, 2012 Translated On: Wednesday, Aug 22, 2012 Translator: Ceren Kenar Categories : Syria   Turkey

One of the centers in Turkey used as a military base for the Syrian opposition is the Reyhanli “military” refugee camp, located in Hatay province. This camp is exclusively reserved for Syrian officers, among them generals and colonels, and their families who have defected to Turkey. This camp, which hosts around 1,000 Syrians, is tightly guarded by Turkish security forces. Even foreign diplomats who want to meet the camp residents are not allowed to enter. However, it is possible to meet Syrian officers outside the camp and get information regarding the latest developments in Syria and the incidents taking place within this camp.
The camp is used by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) as a training center. The FSA’s website states its headquarters is located in Reyhanli and provides a list of the top commanders within the organization. Riad al-Assaad, since he was the first officer to defect to Turkey, is the top commander of the FSA. However, unrest has been palpable since the arrival of several defecting Syrian generals who don't like to be under the [lower-ranking] colonels running the camp.


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Indonesia requests AGM-65K2 maverick missiles from US

The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has notified Congress of a potential foreign military sale (FMS) of AGM-65K2 Maverick all-up-round missiles and associated equipment to Indonesia.
Under the estimated $25m FMS sale, Indonesia has requested the supply of a total of 18 AGM-65K2 maverick all-up-round missiles, 36 TGM-65K2 captive air training missiles and three TGM-65D maintenance training missiles.
The proposed package will also include spare and repair parts, support equipment, tool and test equipment, personnel training and training equipment, publications and technical data and other related elements of programme and logistical support services.
The missiles will be used by the Indonesian Air Force (IAF) to train its F-16A/B Block 15 Fighting Falcon fighter pilots in basic air-to-ground weapons employment, and will also support the air force's current fleet of 10 F-16s and additional 24 jets, being provided by the US as excess defence articles (EDA).


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Iran to unveil Syria proposal at Nam summit

Tehran: Iran will submit a proposal for ending the conflict in its close ally Syria to a Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran next week, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in comments published yesterday.

Iran “has a proposal regarding Syria which it will discuss with countries taking part in the NAM summit,” the Fars and Mehr news agencies quoted Salehi as saying in comments to state television.


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Russian Borei class Yury Dolgorukiy Ballistic missile submarine

2K22M Tunguska-M1

Launch of Navy's indigenous aircraft carrier by 2013: Antony

NEW DELHI (PTI): Admitting delay in construction of Indian Navy's indigenous aircraft carrier, the government on Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that the launch of the ship is now expected to take place next year.

In a written reply to the House, Defence Minister A K Antony said, "The complexity of the project and this being the first ship of its kind being built in India, has led to timelines being extended."


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Australia To Buy Growler Technology From U.S.

CANBERRA — The Australian government will give the green light for conversion of up to 12 of its Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets to EA-18G Growler Electronic Attack aircraft.
Defense Minister Stephen Smith and Minister for Defense Materiel Jason Clare made the joint announcement in Canberra on Aug. 23, revealing that a number of kits will be acquired via a Foreign Military Sales agreement with the U.S. government.
Total cost for the project is 1.5 billion Australian dollars, which includes conversion kits, support equipment, spares and training.
Twelve of Australia’s 24 Super Hornets were pre-wired for possible conversion to Growler, which added $35 million to the initial acquisition cost.

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Russian subs, dubious dangers

The national news media has largely ignored a story that has gotten a lot of attention among conservatives -- that a Russian attack submarine surreptitiously spent a month in the Gulf of Mexico. This is taken by some to prove that Vladimir Putin is a dangerous enemy and confirm Mitt Romney's view of Russia as our "number one geopolitical foe." But let's be serious.
In the first place, the story may be inaccurate. UPI reports, "Military experts in Russia and Europe told the Moscow Times they doubted the sub could have spent so much time under the nose of the U.S. Navy because the Akula is not a particularly quiet piece of machinery." 


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Russia to Build New Space Plant

Sergei Shoigu. Photo courtesy RIA Novosti.

A space satellite manufacturing plant will be built in the town of Shchyolkovo, just outside the Russian capital, Moscow Region Governor Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday.
"It will be a new production facility," he said, adding that a research hub will also be created there.
The plant will build about six communication and observation satellites a year, Shoigu said.


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Radar-Detector Customers Get Personal Valet

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If you don’t already know about Escort Live, you probably should.
The app links up with an Escort radar detector via Bluetooth, and when your detector catches a signal bandwidth that might be a police speed gun or red light camera, it sends the data into the software’s global database. It works like Trapster or Waze by sharing speed-trap sites and plotting trouble spots on its integrated map. Should you hit a false alarm, the software lets you store the signal, so on your morning commute you’re not dealing with constant beeps triggered by the convenience store’s automatic door sensor. The price comes to $50 annually, plus $100 for the Bluetooth-enabled SmartCord.
The latest addition to Escort Live’s features list is access to MyAssist’s services, which means access to a live concierge who will set up hotel reservations, get you sports tickets, call a tow truck, find a translator, or send an ambulance. The service can be found in integrated Ford models with communications and entertainment setups. Customers who buy an Escort radar detector and Escort Live receive membership to MyAssist for free. Users launch the MyAssist app and it direct-dials to a service rep.


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Russian plant to manufacture helicopters for China

MOSCOW (BNS): A Russian plant will build Mi-171E multirole helicopters for China under a recent contract signed between the two countries, according to a media report.

The Russian Helicopters' Ulan Ude plant will manufacture the military transport choppers for China, Ria Novosti news agency reported on Tuesday quoting a top defence industry official.

"One of the largest helicopter export contracts on the delivery of Mi-171E helicopters to China will be carried out by the Ulan Ude aircraft plant," the source said.


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Dempsey: US 'Frustrated' By Delay In Program To Equip Iraqi Forces

(RTTNews) - The visiting Pentagon chief has said that the United States is frustrated by delays in the foreign military sales program to equip the Iraqi security forces.
Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin E. Dempsey on Tuesday met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Iraqi counterpart Gen. Zebari Babakir and discussed about the United States' efforts to equip and train Iraqi security forces via the Office of Security Cooperation Iraq.
More than 225 U.S. troops, seven Defense Department civilians, 530 security assistance team members and more than 4,000 contracted personnel are currently in the office at the Iraqi government's invitation.
Dempsey told reporters in Baghdad that "all sides - including the U.S. Army chief of the office at the American Embassy, Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen - are frustrated by delays in some aspects of the foreign military sales program."


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Israel may lease up to eight V-22s

Faced with insufficient resources to fund the purchase of Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotors, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) are instead considering leasing six to eight of the aircraft for the Israeli air force.
Last year the service identified an operational requirement for the V-22, following an evaluation of the type at US Marine Corps facilities in the USA. The IAF had hoped to buy "a number" of tiltrotors for "special operations".


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From Bug Drones to Disease Assassins, Super Weapons Rule US War Game

Sailors train for chemical and biological warfare. Photo: U.S. Navy

CARLISLE, Pennsylvania — A rogue state is on the verge of developing a deadly biological weapon against which the rest of the world has no defense. Through its connections to extremist groups and smugglers, the regime could be planning to launch bio attacks on U.S. allies and interests.
With tensions mounting, a cabal of American military officers, intelligence agents, scientists, industry officials and theoreticians gather at a secure facility within the Defense Department’s oldest base. Their mission: to plot America’s response to the bio-weapon threat. The ideas — some good, some bad, a few downright horrifying — flow freely.
A quiet man wearing a dark suit stands and the room grows silent. In clinical terms he describes a new technology, previously unknown to most of the cabal, that could disrupt the rogue state’s bio-terror scheme — but at a cost. If the Pentagon unleashes this weapon now, it will forever alter the strategic landscape, with unpredictable results. The new system, the man says, is a “game changer.” Like the atom bomb.

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Asia’s imports of Iran crude to regain levels prior to EU ban

Men fish last month near an oil refinery in Kawasaki, near Tokyo. Japan is among the Asian countries that have worked around the EU embargo on Iranian crude oil, suggesting imports will at least stay at the same levels for the rest of the year. (Reuters)

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By Reuters
Singapore

Asia’s crude imports from Iran are set to recover in September to levels reached before a July 1 insurance ban by the European Union plunged trade with the Islamic Republic into uncertainty not seen in decades.

Top Asian buyers -- China, India, Japan and South Korea together take more than half of Iran’s crude oil exports -- have worked around the European Union embargo, suggesting imports will stay at least around these levels for the rest of the year.

Refiners want to continue using the Iranian crude many of their plants are configured to process, as changes will need lengthy testing of new grades or cause an alteration in output.

“Iran was part of the staple diet,” said Sushant Gupta of energy consultancy firm Wood Mackenzie.

“The refiners would want to keep their crude slate intact if they can as long as the economics works. We do see a recovery in Iranian crude imports into Asia in the fourth quarter.”


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Iran builds largest air defence base in Abadeh

Iranian air defence war game. Photo: FARS News Agency.

TEHRAN (BNS): Iran has started construction of its largest air defence base in the southern Iranian city of Abadeh.

Iran's Air Defence Force has allocated a credit of around $ 24.5 million to the project which is set to be built in an area of 200 hectares, a Press TV report said.

Iran also unveiled its fourth-generation Fateh 110 short-range missile at a ceremony held on Tuesday to mark the commencement of the construction project.

Media reports quoting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran's military upgrades were purely for defensive purposes and should not be taken as a threat.


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China buys Russian military helicopters for $1.3bln

Russian Mi-171E helicopter / Image from wikimedia.org

TAGS: Russia, India, China, USA, Trade

China has bought Russian Mi-171E helicopters and other military equipment worth $1.3 billion over the last six months, with more purchases to follow.
­The equipment was sold by Rosoboronexport, Russia’s state arms exporter. In the coming years the Chinese army plans to buy more Mi-171E helicopters and engines for SU-27/30 fighter planes from Russia, writes Vedomosti Newspaper.
In July China and Russia signed a $600mln deal for 55 Mi-171 helicopters to be delivered by 2014, according to Vyacheslav Dzirkalen, head of Russia’s Federal service for military and technical cooperation
In February China bought 140 AL-31 engines for the SU 27/30 fighter jets, and for its domestically designed fighter planes, worth $700 million.
Russian military exports in 2013 amounted to $13 billion, with 15 percent being exports to China.


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One of These Trucks Will Be the Army’s New $14B Ride

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The U.S. Army just took a big step closer to getting a brand-new, high-tech ride. Yesterday the Army announced the three companies that will continue to develop the new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, a sort of blend between today's workhorse Humvee and the bomb-resistant MRAP trucks that have saved so many lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. Lockheed Martin, AM General and Oshkosh Defense each received around $30 million to refine their JLTV prototypes ahead of a final selection 27 months from now.
At stake in the seven-year-old competition: up to 50,000 trucks for the Army and another 5,000 for the Marines, at a cost of $250,000 apiece. The nearly $14 billion program is one of the few big, near-term prizes in Pentagon budgets squeezed by war costs and the economic downturn.

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North Korean jamming of GPS shows system’s weakness Read more: North Korean jamming of GPS shows system's weakness - Washington Times

U.S. and South Korean military commanders will be on the lookout for North Korean efforts to jam GPS signals as they take part in exercises on the divided peninsula this week and next.
North Korea repeatedly has jammed GPS signals in South Korea, which has “very serious implications” because U.S. and South Korean military system rely on the navigation system, said Bruce Bennett, a North Korea scholar for the California think tank Rand Corp.
The jamming also underscores the vulnerability of a satellite-based tool on which civilian systems from car navigation to air traffic control rely upon.
North Koreans have used Russian-made, truck-mounted jamming gear near the border to disrupt low-power GPS signals in large swaths of South Korea. By broadcasting powerful radio signals on the same frequencies as the satellites, the jammers drown out the GPS signals.

Read more: North Korean jamming of GPS shows system's weakness - Washington Times 

DARPA awards contract for unmanned sub-hunter

An artist's concept of the anti-submarine warfare continuous trail unmanned vessel (ACTUV). A DARPA photo

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA (BNS): US defence research agency DARPA has awarded a contract to Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to develop an unmanned vessel that will track and quell the threat of a quiet diesel-electric submarine cruising near national waters.

The contract, worth $58.4 million, was awarded to SAIC on August 14 for the second, third and fourth phases of the anti-submarine warfare continuous trail unmanned vessel (ACTUV) programme, DARPA said.

The ACTUV programme envisions the design, construction and demonstration of an unmanned vessel that can track enemy's diesel electric submarines for months at a time spanning thousands of kilometers of ocean with minimal human input.

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U.S. SEAL who wrote bin Laden raid book identified

Matt Bissonnette, a Navy SEAL Team member, has written an account on the operation that killed former al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. (Photo Courtesy of Heavy.com)

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By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON

The U.S. Navy commando who wrote an account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden under a pseudonym was identified Thursday as Matt Bissonnette, who retired from the Navy last summer.

Bissonnette was first identified by Fox News. One current and one former U.S. military official confirmed the name, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss military personnel matters.

The book, “No Easy Day,” is scheduled to be released Sept. 11, with the author listed under the pseudonym of Mark Owen. Penguin Group (USA)’s Dutton imprint, the publisher, asked news organizations Thursday to withhold his identity.


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U.S.: Missile defense for N. Korea, not China

WASHINGTON — The United States is in discussions with close ally Japan about expanding a missile defense system in Asia, the top U.S. general said Thursday.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was commenting on a Wall Street Journal report that the U.S. is discussing positioning an early warning radar in southern Japan, supplementing one already in place in the country’s north, to contain threats from North Korea and to counter China’s military.
The State Department, however, said the missile defense system is not directed against China.
Dempsey said no decisions have been reached on expanding the radar.
“But it’s certainly a topic of conversation because missile defense is important to both of our nations,” Dempsey told reporters at the start of a meeting with his visiting Japanese counterpart, Gen. Shigeru Iwasaki, at the Pentagon.


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LCA Tejas to be put to test at Pokhran in Feb 2013

Tejas Light Combat Aircraft. A file photo.

JODHPUR (PTI): The much-awaited indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft Tejas will now be put to test in the forthcoming air exercise "Iron Feast", to be held in February next year in Pokhran of Jaisalmer.

The Tejas will display its capabilities in the exercise, where its lethality, endurance and precision will be tested, Air Marshal Anjan Kumar Gogoi, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South-Western Air command, said at a press conference here.


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China unveils ambitious space study projects

The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft, which launched from Gansu province earlier this year. (Photo/Xinhua)

China will launch several space projects, including a hard x-ray telescope for black hole studies, between 2014 and 2016, according to a senior Chinese astronomer.
Su Dingqiang, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and former president of the Chinese Astronomical Society, revealed some details regarding the hard x-ray modulation telescope (HXMT), China's first space telescope, on Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the International Astronomical Union's 28th General Assembly.
The hard x-ray band is a key waveband for high-energy astrophysics studies. Hard x-rays originate mostly from regions close to black holes and have high penetrative power, making them important tools for studying physical processes in extreme conditions, such as high matter density and high energy density.
Su said China will develop another satellite, the dark matter particle explorer, to help detect high-energy electrons and gamma rays, as well as a telescope to study the solar magnetic field and a Sino-French joint mission to study gamma ray bursts.


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US should stop military build-up in Asia Pacific

BEIJING - Senior military officials of the United States and Japan confirmed on Thursday that the two countries were discussing the option of adding another X-band early-warning radar at the island nation's northern Shariki base to contain missile threats.
Though the US State Department promptly denied that the missile defense hardware is targeted against China, yet considering the US' persistently deliberate exaggeration of "China's military threat," the denial is at best a poor lie.
With intensive joint military drills and insidious arms deployment, the US moves to expand military presence in the Asia-Pacific are detrimental to regional peace and stability.
Right at the moment, when Tokyo is wrestling with Beijing over China's Diaoyu Islands and a number of other territorial disputes in the Asia-Pacific are still boiling, Washington's military build-up in the area would further fuel the already flaring antagonism.


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Attacking Iran now is perilously premature, former head of Israel’s atomic agency warns

Brig. Gen. (ret) Uzi Eilam, born Uzi Trachtenberg on Kibbutz Tel Yosef in 1934, is not trigger shy.

He fought in five wars. In 1955, in Operation Black Arrow, a bloody and audacious retaliatory raid carried out on Egyptian soil, he won the IDF’s Medal of Courage – storming an Egyptian army base at the head of a four-person squad, detonating the base’s HQ and, after a harrowing retreat under fire, returning to the scene alone — despite having been shot in the arm — to carry on his back the near lifeless body of a fellow officer.

He fought his way into the Old City of Jerusalem with the 55^th Paratroop Brigade in 1967 and served as the Director General of Israel Atomic Energy Commission from 1976-1985.

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U.S. military buildup in Asia includes expanded missile defense capabilities

The United States is planning to “expand its missile defenses in Asia, in response to threats from North Korea and aggressive moves by China”, according to the Voice of America.
The buildup could include a new radar in southern Japan and possibly another one in Southeast Asia. The “X-band radars” would be linked to missile defense ships and land-based interceptors” (see article: US To Expand Missile Defense In Asia http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2012/08/23/us-to-expand-missile-defense-in-asia/ ).
X-band radars in this case would be forward deployed in Japan.
That may include the FBX-T system.


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Ex-envoy: Pakistan must account for bin Laden

The Pakistani government must explain how Osama bin Laden was able to hide in Abbottabad for years and reveal who in Pakistan helped him, Pakistan's former Ambassador to Washington Husain Haqqani said Wednesday.
"It's Pakistan's responsibility to the world to say who did it," Haqqani told an audience at the Center for the National Interest, formerly known as the Nixon Center.  "It doesn't have to be the government, it doesn't have to be the military, but whoever it is, we have to come clean on that, because that is the only way we will assure the rest of the world that Pakistan's government and Pakistan's state has its hands clean on this whole thing."

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Britain and France Join the U.S. in Warning Syria About Military Action

Britain and France raised the possibility of military intervention in the Syria conflict on Thursday, with the British prime minister joining President Obama in warning that he would not tolerate the transport or deployment of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile, and France’s defense minister saying that a partial no-fly zone should be considered.

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James Lawler Duggan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A man showed marks of torture on his back after being released from detention by regime forces in Aleppo on Thursday.

The British and French statements reinforced a sense that the window for diplomatic efforts to halt the 18-month-old conflict might have closed, as new crackdowns by the Syrian military were reported in the Damascus suburbs.

Concern was also growing over the safety of journalists who have entered Syria without official permission to report on the conflict. A veteran Japanese war correspondent was killed on Monday in the embattled northern city of Aleppo, and an American freelance journalist who has been roving Syria with insurgents since May has been missing for more than a week. 

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Massage From Admin

Hi Friends,

I would like to thanks all of you who visits this blog. I am on exam leave so i wont be able to regularly updated blog from 09th Aug 2912 Till 23rd Aug 2012. I will try to updated if i get time. Sorry for inconvenience cause. 

Hope you will continue to visit this blog. I will be reachable on my email id's lalitghag@gmail.com,lalitghag@yahoo.co.in

Regard,

Lalit Ghag

X-47B Drone Gets Upgrade

The U.S. Navy has quietly added a capability to its future carrier-launched unmanned warplane that has the potential to tilt the Pacific balance of power. On November 2, the Navy announced it would add equipment and software for aerial refueling to one of its two in-development X-47B armed drones built by Northrop Grumman.
The change could extend, by thousands of miles, the useful striking range of the Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, starting in around seven years’ time. That could put them beyond the effective range of the fast attack vessels, diesel-powered submarines and anti-ship ballistic missiles that China is developing in order to create a defensive perimeter around the Western Pacific.


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Iran’s Big Crisis: The Price of Chicken

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran has a lot on his mind these days. Especially chicken.
The rising price of this food staple is the cause of such anxiety among Iranian officials that last month, Iran’s police chief, Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam, urged the country’s TV stations not to broadcast images of people eating the birds. He was worried it could lead to social unrest.
Khamenei is Iran’s most powerful man, but he knows the chicken crisis is one he must address. He needs to find a solution to it and, like any politician, someone to blame.
None of the options available to Khamenei is attractive, a situation that’s increasingly the case in other areas, too. His country is being pushed ever further into international isolation and economic hardship by its insistence on pursuing a nuclear-fuel program that the rest of the world believes is designed to produce weapons, despite Iran’s protestations to the contrary.
The supreme leader could, for example, blame the price of chicken -- which has tripled since last year -- on sanctions that the U.S. and the European Union imposed to deter Iran from continuing its nuclear-fuel plan. Yet that would mean admitting to both the West and ordinary Iranians that sanctions are having a big impact, something the regime is desperately trying to avoid. Iranian officials have instructed the news media not to discuss the effect that sanctions are having on the economy.


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USS IOWA

F 16

IAF Drone Drops Sejeal Sweets Over Gaza 9 - 12/3/12 سجیل מזל"ט לנמלט

NASA's New Mars Rover Sends Higher-Resolution Image

 

This is one of the first images taken by NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars the evening of Aug. 5 PDT (morning of Aug. 6 EDT). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
› Full image and caption PASADENA, Calif. - About two hours after landing on Mars and beaming back its first image, NASA's Curiosity rover transmitted a higher-resolution image of its new Martian home, Gale Crater. Mission Control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., received the image, taken by one of the vehicle's lower-fidelity, black-and-white Hazard Avoidance Cameras - or Hazcams.
The black-and-white, 512 by 512 pixel image, taken by Curiosity's rear-left Hazcam, can be found at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/msl5.html.
"Curiosity's landing site is beginning to come into focus," said John Grotzinger, project manager of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "In the image, we are looking to the northwest. What you see on the horizon is the rim of Gale Crater. In the foreground, you can see a gravel field. The question is, where does this gravel come from? It is the first of what will be many scientific questions to come from our new home on Mars."
While the image is twice as big in pixel size as the first images beamed down from the rover, they are only half the size of full-resolution Hazcam images. During future mission operations, these images will be used by the mission's navigators and rover drivers to help plan the vehicle's next drive. Other cameras aboard Curiosity, with color capability and much higher resolution, are expected to be sent back to Earth over the next several days.

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Iran: Retired Revolutionary Guards Among Kidnapped in Syria

Iran's Foreign Minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, says some of the 48 Iranians kidnapped by Syrian rebels are retired members of the Revolutionary Guards and the army and were in Damascus on a religious pilgrimage.

The rebel Free Syrian Army describes those kidnapped Saturday as Revolutionary Guards on a "reconnaissance mission." But Iran's ISNA news agency quoted Salehi Wednesday, as denying that the Iranians have any current military connection.

Salehi's comments were published after he visited Turkey Tuesday to ask for help in securing the hostages' release.

Iranian officials have reached out to both Turkey and Qatar for help in freeing those kidnapped. Both nations support the Syrian opposition, while Iran backs the Syrian government.


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Reports: U.S. Airs Details on Potential Iran Airstrike

Two Israeli news publications have reported receiving details from the Obama administration on blueprints for a potential aerial campaign against atomic installations in Iran, the London Times reported on Monday (see GSN, Aug. 3).
The alleged battle map's circulation to Maariv and Yediot Aharonot apparently followed the conclusion of U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's trip to Israel last week, according to the Times.
Washington and Tel Aviv both suspect Iranian nuclear activities are geared toward development of a weapon capability; Tehran insists its atomic ambitions are strictly peaceful. The Obama administration has said it is ready to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions through military force should a strategy of intensified sanctions and diplomatic engagement fail to resolve the longstanding impasse, but Israeli officials have voiced concern that delaying action would give Tehran time to render key atomic assets less vulnerable to attack by transferring them to better protected sites (see GSN, March 20).


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The Long View: The Taliban Express

The Long War Journal is pleased to introduce The Long View, a monthly cartoon that tackles the issues of the war. The Long View is illustrated by Chris Muir.
This month's cartoon looks at the contentious issue of NATO supplies flowing through Pakistan to Afghanistan. The supply lines were shut down for seven months after US and Pakistani troops clashed on the border; then they reopened last month after a US apology, were shut down again due to security reasons, and then again reopened. Weeks later, supplies have just begun to trickle through to NATO troops in Afghanistan, after further delays blamed on Pakistani bureaucracy and lack of security. Meanwhile the Taliban and allied terror groups move across the border to fight NATO forces with ease.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2012/08/the_long_view_the_taliban_expr.php#ixzz22yQkrrZH

China second only to US in app downloads

An iPhone. (File photo/CFP)

Chinese people download apps like crazy, according to the latest reports. China is second to only the US in the amount of apps it downloads.
Free apps are much more common than pay apps in China. The average amount Chinese smartphone users pay for an app is US$0.13, less than the US$0.19 average global cost, and half the average in Vietnam, according to China Times, our Chinese-language sister newspaper.
Stenvall Skoeld, a market research firm, recently released a survey showing that Chinese users downloaded 18% of the world's apps in the second quarter of the year, yet their spending on apps only accounted for 3% for the total. The US downloaded 28% of apps but made up 42% of the spending on apps — the most in the world on both fronts — reports web portal Sina Science and Technology Net.


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Turkey issues "frank, friendly" warning to Iran

Aug 8 (Reuters) - Turkey warned Iran "in a frank and friendly manner" against blaming Ankara for violence in Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Wednesday, a day after holding talks with his Iranian counterpart.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi flew to neighbouring Turkey on Tuesday seeking to mend a relationship sorely strained by the Syrian uprising and to secure Turkish help for 48 Iranians kidnapped in Syria on Saturday.
Turkey was incensed by comments this week by Iran's top general Hassan Firouzabadi, in which he blamed Turkey for the bloodshed in Syria and accused Ankara, alongside Saudi Arabia and Qatar, of helping the "war-raging goals of America."
"Such statements have the potential to harm Iran as well," Davutoglu told reporters at Ankara airport before departing on a visit to Myanmar.
Although the comments were not made by Iran's leaders, they were made by individuals holding official posts, he said.

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Syrian rebels feel abandoned, betrayed by U.S.

AL-BAB, Syria — As the Arab world’s bloodiest revolt continues to maim, kill and ravage lives on an ever-escalating scale, anti-American sentiments are hardening among those struggling to overthrow President Bashar al-
Assad, in ways that could have profound consequences for the country and the region in a post-Assad era.
America, once regarded by the Syrian opposition as a natural friend in its struggle for greater freedoms against a regime long at odds with the West, increasingly is being viewed with suspicion and resentment for its failure to offer little more than verbal encouragement to the revolutionaries.



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Russian General Denies Being Killed in Syria

A military general called a news conference at the Defense Ministry on Wednesday to deny a claim by a Syrian rebel group that he had been killed in clashes outside Damascus.
Major-General Vladimir Kuzheyev worked for some time as an adviser to Syria's Defense Ministry on military schools, but he moved to Moscow after being transferred to the military reserves, Interfax reported.
"I am grateful to the media for their great interest in poor little me. As a human being, it was very unpleasant for me to hear about my supposed death in Syria," Kuzheyev told reporters, adding that his phone has been ringing nonstop with calls from worried family and friends.
"I want to confirm that I am alive and well, I am in good health and live in Moscow," he said.
He said the claim of his death was a provocation against Russia and him personally.
Syrian rebels calling themselves the "Hawks Special Operations Battalion, a division of the Military Leadership of Damascus City and Province" told Al-Arabiya television, Reuters and other news organizations that they had killed a Russian general. The news outlets identified the general as Vladimir Petrovich Kochyev or Vladimir Petrovich Kodzhiyev.

Read more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russian-general-denies-being-killed-in-syria/466290.html#ixzz22yPUI0Rr
The Moscow Times

Israel said to be readying October attacks on Iranian nuclear sites

Sec. of Defense Leon Panetta, Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak / AP

BY: Bill Gertz
August 7, 2012 5:00 am
U.S. intelligence analysts watching for indicators of Israeli military action recently reported that there are signs the Jewish state plans an attack against Iran in October.
The Obama administration, meanwhile, is preparing to provide logistical support for a military strike but is pressing Israel to delay any action until the administration’s policy of sanctions have had more time to work, and that any attack would be put off until after the November presidential election.
U.S. opposition to any pre-election strike was discussed during the recent visit to Israel by White House National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon and a later visit by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, according to U.S. officials.


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US kills AQAP bombmaker, 9 fighters in pair of strikes in Yemen

The US launched two drone strikes against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen today, killing a senior bombmaker and nine other fighters. The US has now conducted three strikes in Yemen in the past four days. Meanwhile, jihadists named one of the AQAP fighters killed in Saturday's drone strike.
In the first strike, the unmanned Predators or Reapers fired several missiles at two vehicles traveling in the town of Rawdah in Baydah province, The Associated Press reported. Yemeni officials said that Abdullah Awad al Masri, a wanted bombmaker who is also known as Abou Osama al Maribi, was killed in the strike. It is unclear if he is a Yemeni, however, as his surname, al Masri, indicates he is an Egyptian.
Two Egyptians, a Tunisian, a Saudi, and a Bahraini were among the seven AQAP fighters killed in the strike. Their identities have not been disclosed.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/08/us_kills_aqap_bombma.php#ixzz22yP1EeQh

Analysis: Iran's spies are losing the shadow war with US and Israel

A suicide bombing against Israeli tourists in Bulgaria was a rare "success" for Iran's operatives. Photo: REUTERS

By The Daily Beast, Christopher Dickey

9:51PM BST 07 Aug 2012

The powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, its infamous expeditionary unit, the Quds Force, and the network of Hezbollah operatives it supports around the world are starting to look like the proverbial gang that couldn’t shoot straight. They’re still dangerous, to be sure, but a series of recent incidents widely attributed to these groups suggest that as spies, assassins and terrorists, they just aren’t what they used to be. And Tehran is getting worried.

According to sources in the Iranian capital, concerns about IRGC inadequacies are fueling the bitter infighting among Iran’s elites at a critical time: the war in Syria threatens to bring down Iran’s most vital Arab ally, the confrontation with Israel and the West over Iran’s nuclear program has provoked devastating sanctions, and a military attack on Iran by Israel still looms as a distinct possibility. This is a bad moment for the Iranians to discover their fearsome covert operatives are essentially incompetent.

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