Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts

Washington Covertly Contacts Anti-Pakistan Taliban

| Published Thursday, 1 December 2011



Following Islamabad’s refusal to attend the Bonn conference to be held in Germany on December 5th to protest against NATO attack, Washington is covertly trying to take anti-Pakistan Taliban on board, it was reliably learnt here on Wednesday.

Diplomatic sources revealed that senior US military officers met Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah, presently based in Afghanistan, after NATO’s unprovoked raid on Pak Army checkpoints that killed 24 officers and wounded many others.

The unprovoked NATO attack comes after General Kayani had clearly stated that Pakistan has no intention of launching an armed action in North Waziristan and there is no question of a compromise on national honour in developing relations with the US.

The US and NATO military command convinced Fazlullah and other anti-Pakistan elements, who were present in the meeting, to participate in peace talks with Pentagon and assured him full support for carrying out terror activities inside Pakistan , a source familiar with the development told this report on the condition of anonymity. The abrupt deployment of US forces near Pak-Afghan border has escalated tension in the region especially the militancy-plagued North Waziristan.

It is important to mention here that Pak Army has repeatedly asked ISAF to act against militants, like Fazlullah, but US has failed to respond positively.

When US have certain expectations from Pakistan, it should reciprocate in the same spirit, sources said, adding, the US is playing a double game in Afghanistan, blaming Pakistan for allegedly providing sanctuaries to Taliban while feeding anti-Pakistan Taliban with dollars and ammunition to undertake terrorist activities inside Pakistan.
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Pakistan Warned OF Dire Consequences --Ex-Obama National Security Adviser



The US has warned Pakistani leaders of dangerous consequences if there is another terror attack on India that originates from Pakistan, a former top adviser to President Barack Obama has said, asking Islamabad to give up the policy of supporting extremist elements.

Gen (retd) James Jones, who was the national security adviser to President Barack Obama from January 2009 to October 2010, said the message that they should give up the policy of supporting terrorist and extremist elements has been conveyed to Pakistani leaders several times by top US officials.

Jones stated this on the Charlie Rose show on the PBS news network in response to a question.

"I've said this in exactly those words, and I think my former colleagues at the NSC (National Security Council) and at the State Department have done the same thing -- is that you really don't understand, or we don't understand why you don't understand that you're playing Russian roulette here with your future because if there is another attack originating from Pakistan in India, you know, Prime Minister Singh isn't going to be able to (hold back)," he said.
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Chinese Military Not Out To Challenge US: PLA General Staff

| Published Thursday, 26 May 2011



A top Chinese general said Wednesday his country was ready to bolster military ties with the United States but warned that Washington's arms sales to Taiwan remained a stumbling block.

In a week-long visit to the United States, People's Liberation Army Chief of General Staff Chen Bingde struck a mostly conciliatory tone, saying his country had no plans to take on the US military in the Pacific.
"I can tell you China does not have the capability to challenge the United States," Chen told a joint news conference with his US counterpart, Admiral Mike Mullen.

In the first trip to the United States by a PLA chief of staff in seven years, US officials hoped the visit will help pave the way for better defense ties that have been repeatedly cut off by Beijing.
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F-35 Now Unaffordable Says US Defence Official

| Published Sunday, 22 May 2011



The cost of building the F-35 fighter jet, set to replace a large part of the US warplane fleet, is "unaffordable" in its current version and must be reviewed, the Pentagon's top acquisition official has said.

"Over the lifetime of this programme, the decade or so, the per-aircraft cost of the 2,443 aircraft we want has doubled in real terms," said Ashton Carter, the Under Secretary of defence for acquisition, technology and logistics.

"That's our forecast for how much the aircraft's going to cost.
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US Air Force Set To Flight-Test Hypersonic Missile, X-51 WaveRider

| Published Thursday, 17 March 2011




The US Air Force (USAF) is all set to flight-test a hypersonic missile, X-51 WaveRider, with tests scheduled to take place on 22 March 2011.

The 14ft-long X-51 Waverider will be launched from a B-52 bomber flying over the Pacific Ocean Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center Sea Range, and will be rocket-boosted to speeds up to Mach 6.

The flight test is the second of four test flights under the $246.5m Waverider programme, which began in December 2003.
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Chinese Military Buildup Could Push USA Out of Asia





Chinese government announced an increase of nearly 13 percent in its defense budget over the previous year. Officially, the defense budget stands at slightly more than $91 billion--a sum now second in the world only to what the United States spends on its military.

This is only the "official," declared budget. China's real expenditures for military affairs are far greater, with jets and ships it buys from Russia, its research and development programs, and its strategic weapons all "off the books."

Moreover, if one factors in the vast difference in what it costs to field and pay for the average member of the Chinese military versus those same costs for an American serviceman or woman, the "price-adjusted" Chinese military budget may approach $300 billion.

While this figure is at best an estimate and still clearly smaller than what the United States spends on defense, America's edge in spending does not necessarily translate into clear military pre-eminence in Asia.

The U.S. military has global tasks and responsibilities, while the vast majority of China's defense expenditures goes toward building up a capability in this one specific but vital region of the word.

So what has China gotten for its money after two decades of double-digit increases in military spending? The short answer is a change in the East Asian military balance.

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USA Confirms Plans For Missile Defense Base in Poland

| Published Saturday, 5 March 2011


U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has confirmed Washington's plans to deploy missile defenses and Air Force units in Poland.

"As was announced by our two presidents in December, we plan to establish a new permanent U.S. air detachment in Poland, build missile defenses in Poland, and as agreed at the NATO summit, develop a contingency plan in the region," Clinton told journalists ahead of talks with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski in Washington.

Wikileaks published U.S. cables in late 2010 showing that NATO was drawing up a plan on the protection of Estonia, Lithuania and Poland from external threats on a request from the United States and Germany.


 The Guardian reported that under the plan, reportedly approved by Clinton, the United States, Britain, Germany and Poland would deploy troops in the region in case of a military aggression against the Baltic States or Poland itself.

According to the British newspaper, NATO members approved the draft plan during the alliance's summit in Lisbon in November 2010.



In 2009, the United States decided to deploy several F-16 fighter jets and Hercules transport aircraft in Poland. Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich has said the United States was also planning to deploy Patriot missile defense systems in Poland at a base just 100 kilometers from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

"We have a full agenda that will concentrate on three essential areas: building our mutual security, expanding prosperity and promoting democracy," Clinton said on Thursday, adding "as we grow our military partnership, we continue to expand economic ties between the Polish and American people."

Moscow has long opposed the deployment of U.S. missile defenses near its borders, arguing they would be a security threat and could destroy the strategic balance of forces in Europe.

The United States scrapped earlier plans in September last year for an anti-ballistic-missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland. Moscow welcomed the move, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said later that Russia would drop plans to deploy Iskander-M tactical missiles in its Kaliningrad Region, which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania.

Russia and NATO agreed to cooperate on the so called Euro missile defense system at the Lisbon summit. NATO insists there should be two independent systems that exchange information, while Russia favors a joint system.

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US Doubts HAL's Capability For MRCA

| Published Friday, 18 February 2011

  


Washington has expressed serious doubts on the ability of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to handle projects like the MMRCA, dubbing it "untested and suspect". This drew a sharp response from a defence ministry official, who pointed out the defence PSU was already engaged in producing a frontline "air dominance" fighter like Sukhoi-30MKI with Russia's help.

As per the MMRCA contract, which India hopes to ink this year, 18 jets will be bought off-the-shelf from the foreign vendor finally selected, while the rest will be manufactured by HAL in India after transfer of technology.

Two American fighters, F/A-18 'Super Hornet' ( Boeing) and F-16 'Falcon' ( Lockheed Martin), are in the race to bag the project, which is the largest fighter deal going around the world at this time. The other jets, which have undergone the gruelling field trials by IAF, are the Swedish Gripen (Saab), French Rafale (Dassault), Russian MiG-35 (United Aircraft Corporation) and Eurofighter Typhoon (consortium of British, German, Spanish and Italian companies).

The Financial Times on Friday reported that US ambassador to India Timothy Roemer, in a confidential cable last year, had held India's aviation industry as "two to three decades behind the US and other western nations" despite some advances.


"The potential for HAL to successfully partner with US firms on a truly advanced aircraft remains untested and suspect," said Roemer, in the cable now leaked by WikiLeaks and "seen" by the British newspaper.

After a trip to HAL facilities in Bangalore in February 2010, Roemer also expressed surprise at the lack of automation and safety precautions at the HAL plant. US companies need to "approach partnerships carefully to understand the management and technological experience of Indian firms", he said.

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American Laser warship In Development

| Published Friday, 11 February 2011


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India Has No Plan To Join Or Buy The US-led Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Programme

| Published Monday, 7 February 2011

  

India has no plans as of now to either join the US-led joint strike fighter (JSF) programme or buy the F-35 `Lightning-II' fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) when it finally becomes operational.
"We cannot have two types of FGFA. We have already launched preliminary work for our FGFA after inking the $295 million preliminary design contract (PDC) with Russia last month,'' said a top defence ministry official on Friday.

This comes in the wake of comments made by a top Pentagon official, undersecretary of defence for acquisition, technology and logistics Ashton Carter, in Washington that the US was open to Indian participation in its JSF project.

Interestingly, the comments came during a function where an aggressive sales pitch was made for India to select either the American F/A-18 `Super Hornet' ( Boeing) or F-16 `Falcon' ( Lockheed Martin) over their European rivals in the ongoing IAF's medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) contest.

The other 4.5-generation fighters in the hotly-contested race to bag the $10.4 billion MMRCA project, under which 18 jets will be bought off-the-shelf and another 108 will be manufactured in India under transfer of technology, are Eurofighter Typhoon, Swedish Gripen (Saab), French Rafale (Dassault) and Russian MiG-35 (United Aircraft Corporation). 

The IAF force matrix for the coming years revolves around the 270 Sukhoi-30MKIs contracted from Russia for around $12 billion, the 126 MMRCA and 120 indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft, apart from upgraded MiG-29s and Mirage-2000s.

In the decades ahead, the advanced stealth FGFA to be developed with Russia will be the mainstay of India's combat fleet. "Our FGFA will be cheaper than the F-35. Moreover, the intellectual property rights of the FGFA will equally and jointly vest on both India and Russia, with full access to the source code and the like,'' said another senior official.

With a potent mix of super-manoeuvrability and supersonic cruising ability, the "swing-role'' FGFA will of course not come cheap. The cost of designing, infrastructure build-up, prototype development and flight testing has been pegged at around $11 billion, with India and Russia chipping in with $5.5 billion each.

Over and above this, each of the 250-300 FGFA India hopes to begin inducting from 2020 onwards will cost around $100 million each. In all, India will spend upwards of $35 billion over the next two decades in its biggest-ever defence project till now.

The Indian FGFA will primarily be based on the single-seater Sukhoi T-50, the prototype of which is already flying in Russia, but will include a twin-seater version and a more powerful engine with greater thrust.

"Its complete design will be frozen by the end of the 18-month PDC. Six to seven of its prototypes should be flying by 2017. After that, there will be 2,500 hours of flight-testing over 25 months before the series production begins in 2019,'' he said.

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India To Get 4 Additional Boeing P-8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance Aircraft

| Published Friday, 4 February 2011

  

The Indian Navy has decided To Buy 4 additional  Boeing P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft to boost its maritime patrol capabilities as well as counter piracy threats and to Counter the growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean.

In a deal expected to range between $1 billion to $1.5 billion, the new aircraft will be in addition to the eight the Navy had ordered in January 2009, for about $2.1 billion. The new contract price is also expected to include the cost of aero-structures and avionics.

“The Indian Navy has received the necessary government approvals and has decided to go ahead with the contractual processes to acquire four additional P-8I aircraft under the options clause,” Commander PVS Satish, public relations officer for the Indian Navy Said.

According to sources, Boeing has already submitted its draft offset contract to the defence ministry last week. “The government is considering exercising the option of adding four P-8I aircraft,” Dr Vivek Lall, vice-president, Boeing Defence, Space & Security told ET. The P-8I, which is based on the Boeing next-generation 737 commercial airplane, is a variant of the P-8A Poseidon that the defence vendor Boeing is developing for the US Navy. India is the first international customer for the P-8 platform.

The first of the eight P-8I aircraft, which were bought through the direct commercial sales route with Boeing, are expected to be delivered to India within 48 months of the original contract signing. The aircraft are of supreme strategic importance for India’s naval forces, with the country looking to enhance its role in the high seas.

Further, the global community has been clamouring for India to play a more dominant policing role against sea piracy in the Straits of Malacca, which is one of the busiest commercial and military sea-routes in the world, and along the East African coast.

Also, in the ongoing scramble for sea power in the world’s thirdlargest ocean, India has been desperate to stop what it perceives as a growing Chinese hegemony in the region. Separately, Boeing has also submitted a reply to the Navy’s Request for Information for six medium-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft as well.

However, ministry sources did not confirm whether any of the other global defence vendors had responded to the same.
Others expected to be in the running for the contract include Russia’s Ilyushin, France’s Dassault and EADS . Like most defence deals pursued in India, the acquisition of the MRMR aircraft has followed a long and tortuous route. With the original global Request for Procurement issued in 2008, before the Mumbai attacks, the same was later scrapped by the defence ministry on certain technical grounds.

The current RFI also specifies the aircraft should be able to carry out electronic intelligence gathering and counter-measures, besides maritime patrol and search and rescue within an operational envelope of 350 nautical miles or almost 650 kilometres, as well as a patrol endurance of at least three and a half hours.

There are additional requirements that the aircraft be capable of carrying at least two anti-ship missiles and a jamming pod. As with the P-8I, the navy has specified in the RFI that certain pieces of equipment must be indigenous, like Identification Friend or Foe Interrogator with Secure Mode, MSS Terminal, BFE, Datalink and Speech Secrecy Equipment and vendors must indicate their commitment to integrate this equipment into the aircraft.

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US Air Force To Spend $16 Billion On Upgrades For F-22 Raptor

| Published Wednesday, 2 February 2011



The US Air Force could spend up to $16 billion over the next several years on further upgrades for the Lockheed Martin F-22.
It could also award some of the business to the manufacturer's competitors.


The dollar value was disclosed in a 26 January acquisition notice calling for bidders to compete for the follow-on Raptor enhancement, development and integration (FREDI) contract.

Lockheed was awarded the original multi-year REDI deal in 2004, but now the USAF is inviting its competitors to bid for the work too.

he last of 187 F-22s will be delivered to the USAF in early 2012, but the service plans to spend about $500 million annually for the next several years on planned upgrades. It is upgrading the F-22's radar and computer, adding more capable missiles and making the stealth aircraft easier to maintain.

At the same time, the USAF also plans to transition the F-22's sustainment programme "to a more organic support concept", the acquisition notice says.
Lockheed has been managing the F-22's maintenance system under a performance-based logistics (PBL) deal, which is designed to generate cost savings over time but locks the government into a long-term support deal.

But the USAF and other government agencies have decided to scale back the use of such PBL contracts. Instead, more maintenance work is being assigned in government depots, while other upgrade and sustainment tasks are split among several contractors.

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India Is Now Major Market for U.S. Defence Products

| Published Tuesday, 1 February 2011

  

The United States has finally decided to treat India, the world’s largest democracy, as an equal when it comes to defense trade. In a continuation of its efforts to forge closer ties with the subcontinent, the Obama Administration has ended the misguided efforts of both Democratic and Republican administrations to punish India for its decision to acquire a nuclear weapon. This decision recognizes the reality that such weapons in the hands of democratic states poses no threat to the United States. It also is an acknowledgement of India’s growing importance to a stable international system.
India will now be invited to participate in all the major international arms and technology control groups. The administration’s decision also will end sanctions against prominent Indian science and technology entities such as the Indian Space Research Organization, and the Defense Research and Development Organization will now allow U.S. corporations and laboratories to collaborate with them.

It is a fact little known in this country that Indian universities conduct world-class collaborative efforts with U.S. defense research organizations such as the Naval Research Laboratory.

This step took place against a background of increasing U.S. competition for arms sales to India. Once exclusively an acquirer of European and Russian military technology, India is now a potential major market for U.S. defense goods. Recently, India agreed to purchase 10 C-17 jet transports for more than $4 billion and eight P-8 Poseidon ASW aircraft for $2.1 billion. Currently, Boeing and Lockheed Martin are both entrants in the $10 billion competition to provide India with 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft. The U.S. competitors against aircraft from Europe and Russia are the F-16IN Super Viper and the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

In a potentially significant move, Under Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter declared this week that the United States would be open to India participating in the F-35 program. Which would be better for New Delhi: taking the chance that Russia’s decrepit aerospace industry will be able to design and build a passable fifth-generation fighter or acquiring the second fifth-generation fighter from a country that has nearly twenty years experience building stealth aircraft?
There are a number of other areas where U.S. defense systems could make inroads into the Indian market. As a rising naval power, India may be interested in acquiring a variant of the Littoral Combat Ship. Facing serious terrorist and insurgent threats in various parts of the country, the Indian Army could benefit from acquiring U.S. systems such as the Stryker wheeled combat vehicle or the M-ATV.

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IAF To Induct first C-130 J Hercules Transport Aircraft

| Published Saturday, 29 January 2011

  

Indian Air Force will formally induct its first C-130 J Hercules Transport aircraft on February 5.


The aircraft is likely to arrive in the country by the end of this month and would be formally inducted into the IAF at a ceremony at its home base Hindan air base near here on February 5, IAF officials said here.

The first of the six aircraft procured by India under USD 970 million deal was handed over to IAF in mid-December.

The aircraft is expected to enhance IAF''s special missions capability along with transporting men and material.

India had purchased the aircraft under the US government''s Foreign Military Sales route that includes an offset clause under which the firm will invest 30 per cent of the deal amount back in Indian defence industry.

The aircraft will be based at Hindan in Ghaziabad just outside the capital, where the infrastructure for its deployment has been completed.

The aircraft would also be pressed into service for transporting special forces from the capital to other placesin the country in case need arises.

The US government had offered a unique C-130J configuration modified for special mission roles and these will be the first uniquely configured aircraft in the IAF fleet for its special operations.

The aircraft will be able to perform precision low-levelflying, air drops, and landing in blackout conditions. Special features are included to ensure aircraft survivability in hostile air defence environment.

India is also planning to place orders for six more similar aircraft and likely to send a Letter of Request to the US Government in this regard in near future.

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India Not Keen To Join F-35 Fighter Jet Program

   

India has no plans as of now to either join the US-led joint strike fighter (JSF) programme or buy the F-35 `Lightning-II' fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) when it finally becomes operational.

"We cannot have two types of FGFA. We have already launched preliminary work for our FGFA after inking the $295 million preliminary design contract (PDC) with Russia last month,'' said a top defence ministry official on Friday.

This comes in the wake of comments made by a top Pentagon official, undersecretary of defence for acquisition, technology and logistics Ashton Carter, in Washington that the US was open to Indian participation in its JSF project.

Interestingly, the comments came during a function where an aggressive sales pitch was made for India to select either the American F/A-18 `Super Hornet' ( Boeing) or F-16 `Falcon' ( Lockheed Martin) over their European rivals in the ongoing IAF's medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) contest.

The other 4.5-generation fighters in the hotly-contested race to bag the $10.4 billion MMRCA project, under which 18 jets will be bought off-the-shelf and another 108 will be manufactured in India under transfer of technology, are Eurofighter Typhoon, Swedish Gripen (Saab), French Rafale (Dassault) and Russian MiG-35 (United Aircraft Corporation).

The IAF force matrix for the coming years revolves around the 270 Sukhoi-30MKIs contracted from Russia for around $12 billion, the 126 MMRCA and 120 indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft, apart from upgraded MiG-29s and Mirage-2000s.

In the decades ahead, the advanced stealth FGFA to be developed with Russia will be the mainstay of India's combat fleet. "Our FGFA will be cheaper than the F-35. Moreover, the intellectual property rights of the FGFA will equally and jointly vest on both India and Russia, with full access to the source code and the like,'' said another senior official.

With a potent mix of super-manoeuvrability and supersonic cruising ability, the "swing-role'' FGFA will of course not come cheap. The cost of designing, infrastructure build-up, prototype development and flight testing has been pegged at around $11 billion, with India and Russia chipping in with $5.5 billion each.

Over and above this, each of the 250-300 FGFA India hopes to begin inducting from 2020 onwards will cost around $100 million each. In all, India will spend upwards of $35 billion over the next two decades in its biggest-ever defence project till now.

The Indian FGFA will primarily be based on the single-seater Sukhoi T-50, the prototype of which is already flying in Russia, but will include a twin-seater version and a more powerful engine with greater thrust.

"Its complete design will be frozen by the end of the 18-month PDC. Six to seven of its prototypes should be flying by 2017. After that, there will be 2,500 hours of flight-testing over 25 months before the series production begins in 2019,'' he said.

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B-2 Engineer Convicted of Selling Military Secrets To China

| Published Sunday, 23 January 2011



A former B-2 stealth bomber engineer convicted of selling military secrets to China is due to be sentenced in federal court on Monday.

Noshir Gowadia, 66, faces up to life in prison for his conviction on 14 counts, including conspiracy, communicating national defence information to aid a foreign nation, and violating the arms export control act.

Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway is due to issue her sentence after listening to arguments from the prosecution and defence. Gowadia, who has been in custody without bail since his 2005 arrest, is also expected to have an opportunity to make a statement.

A federal jury in August found Gowadia guilty after deliberating for six days. They had heard 39 days of evidence over nearly four months. The jury acquitted him on three counts.

Prosecutors said Gowadia helped China design a stealth cruise missile to get money to pay the $15,000-a-month mortgage on his multimillion dollar home overlooking the ocean in Haiku on Maui. They said he pocketed at least $110,000 from the sale of military secrets.

They said Gowadia showed his Chinese contacts how his stealth cruise missile design would be effective against U.S. air-to-air missiles.

Gowadia's defence attorneys said it's true the engineer gave China the design for a stealth cruise missile exhaust nozzle but he based his work on unclassified, publicly available information. Gowadia's son has said his father plans to appeal.

The sentencing comes just weeks after China conducted a flight test of its new J-20 stealth fighter during a visit to Beijing by U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

The Jan. 11 flight was held at an airfield in Chengdu, where prosecutors say Gowadia delivered an oral presentation on classified stealth technology in 2003.

The city is home to the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute and is a centre for Chinese fighter aircraft and cruise missile reseach and development.

Gowadia helped design the propulsion system for the B-2 bomber when he worked at Northrop Corp., now known as Northrop Grumman Corp., between 1968 and 1986.

Born in India, he moved to the U.S. for postgraduate work in the 1960s and became a U.S. citizen about a decade later. He retired from Northrop for health reasons in 1986, two years before the B-2 made its public debut.

Gowadia moved to Maui in 1999 from the U.S. mainland where he had been doing consulting work after retiring from Northrop.

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Chinese Stealth fighter May Used US F-117 NightHawk Technology

  

A Chinese stealth fighter jet that could pose a significant threat to American air superiority may borrow from US technology, it has been claimed.

Balkan military officials and other experts said China may have gleaned knowledge from a US F-117 Nighthawk that was shot down over Serbia in 1999.

"At the time, our intelligence reports told of Chinese agents crisscrossing the region where the F-117 disintegrated, buying up parts of the plane from local farmers," said Admiral Davor Domazet-Loso, Croatia's military chief of staff during the Kosovo war. "We believe the Chinese used those materials to gain an insight into secret stealth technologies ... and to reverse-engineer them."

The Nighthawk was downed by a Serbian anti-aircraft missile during a bombing raid on 27 March 1999. It was the first time one of the fighters had been hit, and the Pentagon blamed clever tactics and sheer luck. The pilot ejected and was rescued.

A senior Serbian military official confirmed that pieces of the wreckage were removed by souvenir collectors, and that some ended up "in the hands of foreign military attaches". Efforts to get comment from China's defence ministry and the Pentagon were unsuccessful.

Parts of the F-117 wreckage, including its left wing, cockpit canopy, ejection seat, pilot's helmet and radio, are exhibited at Belgrade's aviation museum. Zoran Milicevic, deputy director of the museum, said: "I don't know what happened to the rest of the plane. A lot of delegations visited us in the past, including the Chinese, Russians and Americans ... but no one showed any interest in taking any part of the jet."

Zoran Kusovac, a Rome-based military consultant, said the regime of the former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic routinely shared captured western equipment with its Chinese and Russian allies. "The destroyed F-117 topped that wish-list for both the Russians and Chinese," Kusovac said.

China's multi-role stealth fighter – known as the Chengdu J-20 – made its inaugural flight on 11 January, revealing dramatic progress in the country's efforts to develop cutting-edge military technologies. It is at least eight or nine years from entering service.

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Problems Persist With F-35 Tuekey To Produce Fighter Its Own Fighter Jets




Turkey is seriously reconsidering the myriad agreements it has signed with the US, as well as its participation in an international consortium for the procurement of new generation fighter jets, due to rising costs and persisting problems originating from the American side.


Turkey is now seeking new ways to sidestep difficulties in the procurement of F-16 fighter planes, which it has been jointly producing with the US since 1987, due to the delayed delivery by the US authorities of some of the plane’s parts and accessories. There have been serious doubts as to whether Turkey’s plan to purchase 100 F-35 fighter planes would ever materialize, as the country is thinking about withdrawing from the consortium following the hike in costs that resulted from other countries leaving from the consortium.

With 240 F-16s, Turkey has the third largest fleet of these fighter jets after the US and Israel. Turkey chose the F-16 to use in its air force in the early 1980s, and Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAİ) was established soon after the decision. Between 1987 and 1995, TAİ assembled 152 planes in the first phase of the F-16 project. The second phase took place between 1995 and 1999, and 80 planes were assembled. Turkey received its first overseas order for F-16 planes in 1993 from the Egyptian air force and assembled 46 planes for them.

Recently TAI upgraded the first of 17 planes for Jordan’s air force within the context of a modernization program. Several Turkey-made planes have also been dispatched to Pakistan.

In total TAİ has assembled 278 F-16s since it first began operations in 1987. During production, 29 planes were produced with no mistakes and three of them were considered “perfect.” Considering that only nine F-16 planes are produced as perfect out of 4,000 fighter jets in the world, Turkey’s success is conspicuous.

Turkey suspended production of the F-16 in 2000, but these fighter jets still remain the backbone of the Turkish armed forces.

Strained ties delayed delivery of plane accessories

As the agreement between the US and Turkey expired in 2000, Turkey has continued to work with Israel in modernizing the F-16s. Turkey has attempted to compensate for several mistakes that occurred while working with the US through several deals with Israel. The fundamental problem was that the US did not hand the F-16s directly to the Turkish Air Forces and it required TAİ-made planes be tested in the US before the eventual delivery to the Turkish Air Forces.

The US had also refused to provide source codes for the software of F-16s to Turkey since the inception of the joint production. Tensions in the relations between the US and Turkey have recently spawned a series of crises in this particular sphere, a possibility which Turkey has overlooked for years.

A senior official at the Turkish Undersecretariat for the Defense Industry (SSM) confided in Today’s Zaman that the US is not willing to provide vital parts of the F-16 planes to Turkey in contrast to agreements the two countries have signed in the past few years.

The same senior official said the US delayed the fulfillment its duties specified in the agreements it signed with Turkey between 1987 and 1995 and that this has caused serious problems in modernization of F-16s.

The official lamented that Turkey is experiencing very serious problems in obtaining parts and accessories for the planes as ties with Israel collapsed, and that he finds it noteworthy to stress that the US administration has made congressional approval a precondition of selling any sort of weaponry and military equipment.

Last October the US expressed concerns that Turkey was using US-made F-16s in the Turkey-China aerial exercises, which took place in the Central Anatolian town of Konya, but Turkey reassured the US administration that no US-made jets were used in the joint drill.

Turkey decided to modernize 165 F-16 planes on Dec. 11, 2009 and several Israeli firms were competing to win the tender, along with Turkey’s TUSAŞ and HAVELSAN. All projects between Turkey and Israel in the areas of military training and cooperation were frozen in mid-June after the lethal May 31 Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara, which was carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, leaving left nine civilians dead. The two countries were set to realize a $757 million plane and tank modernization project but this project was also shelved. The Turkish government decided to give the modernization tender to Turkish firms after Turkish-Israeli ties became strained.

A $240 million modernization project was given to Turkish companies, but 30 percent of the plane’s parts will be provided by the US military behemoth Lockheed Martin.

Turkey is also considering its participation in the world’s largest military consortium that is planning to produce 3,000 F-35 fighter jets. Turkey is the ninth country to take part in the production process of the F-35 warplane project. The other countries are the US, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Denmark, Canada and Norway. Turkey is expected to purchase 100 F-35 jets in the next 15 to 20 years. Rising costs pushed several countries to withdraw from the $280 billion project, and the same senior official said Turkey might also consider withdrawing.

The Defense Industry Executive Committee (SSİK), under the aegis of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will make its final decision in April. The SSİK is seeking ways to jointly produce some parts of F-35 fighter planes with the American General Electric Co. and the Rolls-Royce Group in Turkey.

Turkey is also deliberating the exchange of its F-16s for F-35s within a reasonable time period. Turkey is expected to pay nearly $11 billion for 100 F-35 fighter jets. Citing rising costs in production, the consortium is asking Turkey for an additional $4 billion for the F-35s, but Turkey is reluctant to pay this amount. As some countries have withdrawn from the project, Turkey will reportedly have to pay up to $25 billion for the project.
Turkey is planning joint warplane production with Gulf countries

Turkey has made a radical shift recently, deciding to produce its first fleet of national fighter jets following crises in F-16 and F-35 projects with the US and Israel.

Turkish authorities decided during a Defense Industry Executive Committee (SSİK) meeting last December to begin production on the first Turkish fighter jets in 2020 in order to meet the needs of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). TUSAŞ Engine Industries Inc. (TEİ) and TAİ will be the leading companies that will undertake production of these fighter jets, planning to design and produce plane engines by 2015.

Israel claimed that Turkey will fail to produce these jets as no country in the world would dare to build its own planes without participating in a consortium due to the high costs.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Adana deputy Kürşat Atılgan told Today’s Zaman that no country could produce a fighter jet by itself and for lucrative production, there needs to be at least 400 jets produced. Considering this fact, Turkey had been secretly trying to build a consortium with neighboring and friendly countries. In last month’s SSİK meeting, Gönül also talked about the possibility of joint production of fighter jets with South Korean companies. This issue was raised during Erdoğan’s recent visit to Gulf countries. Turkey thinks it will be easier to produce its own fighter jets with five countries involved in the region.

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F-35 Stealth Fighter Jet The Most Expensive Weapons Program Ever

| Published Saturday, 15 January 2011

The F-35 fighter jet, set to replace a large part of the US warplane fleet, has become the most expensive weapons program ever, drawing increased scrutiny at a time of tight public finances.

Following a series of cost overruns and delays, the program is now expected to cost a whopping 382 billion dollars, for 2,443 aircraft.
The so-called 5th generation fighter was built with features designed to help avoid enemy radar and ensure American supremacy in the skies for decades.

But there is now the potential for competition from China, which this week unveiled its first radar-evading combat aircraft and fueled a sense of a military rivalry between the two powers.

At home, the Lockheed Martin F-35 is getting increased criticism even from some at the Pentagon.

Defense officials say the original cost estimates have now doubled to make each plane's price tag reach some 92 million dollars.
At the same time, the contract awarded in 2001 had been planned to last 10 years, but has been extended to 2016 because of testing and design issues.




Lockheed Martin, which is working with Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems, is developing three versions of the aircraft, which are being designed for ground attack as well as reconnaissance missions.
The F-35A is designed to replace the F-16 and A-10 of the US Air Force, while the F-35C is designed for deployment on aircraft carriers to supplant to F-18, and the F-35B would have a vertical takeoff capacity and replace Harrier aircraft.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has warned the cost overruns cannot continue and expressed particular concern over the short take-off and vertical landing variant.

"The culture of endless money that has taken hold must be replaced by a culture of restraint," he said recently.

For the short-takeoff version, Gates has ordered "the equivalent of a two-year probation," adding that "if we cannot fix this variant during this time frame and get it back on track in terms of performance, cost and schedule, then I believe it should be canceled."

As part of a cost-saving drive, the Pentagon chief has decided to delay the purchase of 124 of the 449 units of this version until 2016.
Another bone of contention is a second engine being developed for the fighter by General Electric and Rolls Royce in case the Pratt & Whitney engine is not up to par. Gates contends this second engine is "unneeded."

Private analysts say the whole F-35 program is becoming a money pit.
"The incredibly unfortunate phrase 'too big to fail' applies to this aircraft more than any other defense program," said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace industry analyst with the Teal Group.

"It's difficult to think of a civil or military program in the past decade that hasn't experienced similar delays and cost overruns."

Still, it may be hard to make many changes to the F-35 program because Britain and seven other countries have been closely involved in its development.

The United States is covering 90 percent of the cost of the development but has participation from Britain, Italy, Turkey, the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Australia. 

Other nations, including Israel and Singapore, have signed contracts to buy the plane.

"The US wants a globalized JSF program for a combination of strategic and economic reasons," said Aboulafia.

"It greatly simplifies logistics, training and doctrine for coalition warfighting. Dominating the military aerospace export business is certainly a strong draw, too. It's as much an industrial policy as a fighter."

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US Concern Over Chinese Latest Hi-Tech Weapons

 
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Saturday voiced concern over China's latest hi-tech weaponry and called for an improvement in uneasy military relations with Beijing to help defuse tensions.

Speaking to reporters en route to Beijing for three days of talks, Gates said the Chinese appeared to have made more progress in building their first stealth fighter jet than previously thought, and that an anti-ship missile posed a potential threat to the US military.

"They clearly have the potential to put some of our capabilities at risk. And we have to pay attention to them, we have to respond appropriately with our own programmes," Gates said.
But he said the advances in weaponry underlined the importance of building a dialogue with the Chinese military, and added he hoped his visit starting Sunday would lay the ground for deeper defence ties with Asia's rising power.

"My hope is that, through the strategic dialogue that I'm talking about, that maybe the need for some of these capabilities is reduced," Gates said.
With Chinese President Hu Jintao due in Washington for a pivotal state visit on January 19, both sides are anxious to show progress in defence ties, which China has repeatedly suspended over US arms sales to Taiwan.

"It's pretty clear the Chinese wanted me to come before President Hu visits Washington," Gates said.

"My own view is a positive constructive, comprehensive relationship between the United States and China is not just in the mutual interests of the two countries, it's in the interest of everybody in the region and I would say across the globe."

Days before the US defence chief's highly symbolic trip, photographs appeared showing a prototype of China's first stealth fighter, the J-20, at an airfield in the southwest.

"We knew they were working on a stealth aircraft," Gates said when asked about the warplane.


"What we've seen is they may be somewhat further along in the development of that aircraft than our intelligence had predicted," he said.
But he added "there is some question about just how stealthy" the new fighter really is.

Gates also said he had been concerned about China's pursuit of "anti-ship, cruise and ballistic missiles ever since I took this job" four years ago.

He also said the development of China's anti-ship missile was at an advanced stage but it was unclear whether the weapon was fully operational.

Due to the potential threat posed by Chinese missiles and other hardware, Gates said his proposed defence budget unveiled on Thursday placed a priority on technology designed to counter "anti-access" weapons.

The proposed Pentagon budget for 2012 calls for funding for a new long-range nuclear bomber, electronic jamming devices for the Navy, improvements to radar for F-15 fighters, a satellite launch vehicle and an unmanned naval "strike-and-surveillance aircraft".

Although China may be years away from fielding fully-capable anti-ship missiles or warplanes, analysts say that it is gaining ground and that the country's military leaders are displaying an increasingly assertive stance.
Aware of the Asian power's growing economic and military might, the United States for years has appealed to China to back a more "durable" dialogue -- similar to US-Soviet exchanges during the Cold War -- to avoid miscalculations.

But China has instead opted to break ties in order to register its displeasure with Washington, particularly over billions of dollars in weapons deals to Taiwan.

Gates, who last visited China in 2007, has yet to persuade the Chinese to embrace a permanent military dialogue and acknowledged that top leaders would likely raise the issue of weapons sales to Taiwan during the trip.
The Pentagon chief is due to meet Hu and his Chinese counterpart, General Liang Guanglie, as well as visit the army's Second Artillery Corps headquarters outside of Beijing, which is China's nuclear command center.

The talks were also expected to cover recent tensions on the Korean peninsula, including China's role in helping to ease a recent crisis that began after Pyongyang shelled a South Korean island.

"We recognize that China played a constructive role in lessening tensions on the peninsula in the latter part of last year," Gates said.

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