The U.S. Defense Department intends to ask Congress for hundreds of millions of dollars in grant funding to purchase additional Iron Dome rocket and short-range missile intercepting batteries.

Details of the planned funding package have not yet been determined, but U.S. and Israeli sources estimated that the request to Congress could exceed $500 million to cover production of up to 10 additional batteries.

Preliminary discussions were held in Washington last week between a senior Ministry of Defence representative and officials from the Office of the Secretary of Defense. An itemized Israeli request is expected to be presented to the Pentagon in the coming days, sources from both countries said.

“The Department of Defense has been in conversations with the Government of Israel about U.S. support for the acquisition of additional Iron Dome systems and intends to request an appropriate level of funding from Congress to support such acquisitions based on Israeli requirements and production capacity,” Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said in a March 27 email.

During the rocket attacks earlier this month, the Iron Dome system intercepted more than 80 percent of targeted rockets fired at southern Israel.

“The United States has previously provided $205 million in support of Israel’s Iron Dome short range rocket and mortar defense system,” Little said.

Israel has deployed three Iron Dome batteries and a fourth is in final stages of acceptance testing with the Israel Air Force’s Air Defense Command. The first two batteries were funded by Israel’s shekel-based defense budget while the $205 million appropriated by Congress last year were used to fund the third and fourth batteries as well as two additional batteries now being produced by an Israeli industrial team led by state-owned Rafael.

Israel’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, in a study last year, concluded that Israel required at least 13 Iron Dome batteries to protect populated areas from the growing rocket and short-range missile threat.

An Israeli industry source said Rafael has secured a letter of intent from Israel’s MoD for additional production pending clarification of funding pledges from Washington. He noted that Israel is capable of producing up to four batteries per year, which include a battle management system, launcher, interceptor missiles and a multimission radar by Elta Systems, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries.

Supporting Israel is a top priority of U.S. President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Little said.

In a March 27 statement, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak praised the Pentagon’s announced commitment for additional funding support for Iron Dome.

“The American decision is an additional manifestation of the deep defense ties between the United States and Israel. I praise the American government for its strengthened support for Israel’s defense.”

Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also hailed the Pentagon’s announced decision to request additional Iron Dome funding. Berman, a co-author of the Iron Dome Support Act submitted to Congress March 21, described the Israeli intercepting system as “a game-changer.”

In a March 27 statement, Berman noted the threats Israel faces from “incoming, indiscriminate terrorist rocket attacks” that are countered “by this cutting-edge system.” According to Berman, “Iron Dome is fundamentally shifting political, diplomatic and military realities on the ground, while saving lives of innocent Israelis.”

He added that the Pentagon’s statement of additional funding support “is a further step in the right direction.

The proposed Iron Dome Support Act authorizes Obama “to provide assistance, upon request by the Government of Israel, for the procurement, maintenance and sustainment of the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system for purposes of intercepting short-range missiles launched against Israel.”

“I am pleased that the President now acknowledges the need to increase funding to counter a deadly threat, and I look forward to working together to identify the additional resources necessary to help defend our Israeli friends,” Rep. Howard McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.

Source: Defense news

SEOUL — The South Korean military is poised to shoot down a North Korean rocket should it stray into South Korean territory during a launch planned for next month, a defense ministry official here in Seoul said March 26.

The response comes as Seoul’s intelligence authorities confirmed that the main body of a North Korean Unha-3 rocket was moved to a new missile site at Dongchang-ri in northwestern North Korea. Dongchang-ri, in North Pyeongan Province, is significantly larger than the one in Musudan-ri, North Hamgyeong Province, where North Korea test-fired the Taepodong-2 missile in 2009.

The launch angle will be the first to take a southern trajectory and marks the first time a rocket has been launched from this facility.

North Korea plans to fire the rocket to put a satellite into orbit between April 12 and 16 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of its founding leader Kim Il-sung.

However, the international community believes the rocket launch is a disguised test of a long-range ballistic missile that could deliver a nuclear warhead to targets in Alaska and Hawaii, as well as other Asia-Pacific nations, such as Australia and Indonesia.

“We’re preparing measures to track the missile’s trajectory and shoot it down if, by any chance, it deviates from the planned route and falls into our territory,” Col. Yoon Won-shik, vice spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, told reporters.

“North Korea’s move is a grave provocation and defiance against the international community,” Yoon said. “Through the rocket launch, we believe, the North is aimed at improving and developing its long-range ballistic missile to deliver nuclear warheads.”

According to South Korean Navy officials, two destroyers, including a 7,600-ton Sejong the Great-class Aegis destroyer, are to be deployed in the West Sea to monitor the missile launch.

If parts of the three-stage North Korean rocket stray from their trajectory and violate South Korea’s territory, the destroyers will fire SM-2 ship-to-air missiles to take them down, a Navy spokesman said.

“The Army will also be ready to fire PAC-2 missiles to intercept parts of the rocket if they fly too close to the South’s territory,” Yoon said. In 2007, South Korea purchased 48 secondhand PAC-2 missile systems from Germany as part of efforts to establish a low-tier air and missile defense system in coordination with ship-based SM-2 missiles and Israel’s Super Green Pine early warning radars.

The North Korean launch site has created new problems for South Korean efforts to intercept and monitor ballistic missiles and rockets. The angle from which the rocket will be launched will make it more difficult to intercept by seaborne ballistic-missile defense systems, said Bruce Bechtol, author of the book, “Defiant Failed State: The North Korean Threat to International Security.”

The new site at Dongchang-ri “can potentially be set up more quickly and denial/deception procedures implemented more effectively than the site at Musudan,” he said. “This impacts on warning time for U.S./[Republic of Korea] policy makers.”

Bechtol said the most important aspect of this launch will not be the southern trajectory, but “seeing if this missile can actually make it through all three stages successfully of the launch cycle.” If successful, this will mean that North Korea will finally have the capability to strike U.S. territory.

U.S. President Barack Obama has renewed his warning against North Korea’s provocations.

“There will be no rewards for provocations. Those days are over,” Obama said March 26 in Seoul. “To the leaders of Pyongyang, I say, this is the choice before you. This is the decision that you must make.”

Obama is attending the two-day Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul. Chinese President Hu Jintao and other world leaders are gathered in South Korea to discuss ways of improving nuclear security and to hold bilateral summit talks on the sidelines. North Korea and Iran are expected to dominate the nuclear agenda at the summit.

After a meeting between Obama and Hu, senior White House aide Ben Rhodes said the Chinese leader indicated to his U.S. counterpart that he took the North Korean nuclear standoff very seriously and was registering his concern with Pyongyang.

“The two leaders agreed to coordinate closely in responding to this potential provocation and registering our serious concern to the North Koreans and, if necessary, consider what steps need to be taken following a potential satellite launch,” Rhodes said.

Wendell Minnick reported from Taipei.

Italy will reduce its planned order of Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35 fighter jets and trim the size of the military as part of defense-spending cuts, Defense Minister Giampaolo Di Paola told the Italian Parliament on Feb 15.

Italy will purchase 90 F-35s rather than the originally planned 131, Di Paola said in Rome in testimony before a joint defense committee of both houses of Parliament today. The nation needs to cut the military’s size by about 30,000 soldiers and 10,000 civilians, he also said.

Di Paola said Italy “has already invested 2.5 billion euros” ($3.3 billion) in the F-35, parts of which are to be provided by Finmeccanica SpA, the nation’s biggest defense contractor. “We had committed to buying 131, now the review of the program leads us to believe that the goal of 90 aircraft can be pursued, a third less,” he said.

The announcement is another blow to Bethesda, Maryland- based Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the U.S. military’s costliest program. The U.S. Defense Department will cut $1.6 billion from the F-35 program, part of $18 billion in weapons cuts proposed in the budget that President Barack Obama sent to Congress on Feb. 13 for the year beginning Oct. 1.

Di Paola said that Italy would also cut tanks, helicopters and artillery. Two army brigades will be axed, he said.

Navy vessel numbers will also be cut, with patrol vessels dropping from 18 to 10 and submarines dropping from six to four.

Without giving further details, Di Paola said that Italy’s air defense fighter numbers would also drop.

Military bases will be reduced, and Italy’s military head count will drop from 183,000 to about 150,000. Civilian staff will be cut from 30,000 to 20,000. The personnel reductions, which have been mulled for a number of years, will take place over the course of a decade, Di Paola said. Personnel cuts will be made by limiting intake and farming out personnel to other state institutions.

At a press conference on Feb. 14, Di Paola said the personnel cuts would target Italy’s top-heavy officer class. “Fewer generals, fewer admirals, more operational readiness and technology,” he said.

(Defense Daily) Strengthening procurement and self-building by foreign designers, Vietnam is showing the efforts to narrow the gap in military power.

Gary Li is head of Marine & Aviation Forecasting, Exclusive Analysis, London. He has a review of the process of military modernization in Vietnam in recent times.

On Jan. 17, Vietnam unveiled its first homemade warship. Seemingly a heavily modified Russian Tarantul corvette, the new ship is equipped with anti-ship missiles and artillery systems.

Although unimpressive by modern warship standards, this unveiling reflects Vietnam's concerted efforts at developing its regional naval power to offset the growing capabilities of its larger neighbor, China.

Vietnam appears to be upping the ante in its disputes with China over the past few years in the South China Sea. As Vietnam's economy grows, it is faced with the same insatiable appetite for oil as China did during its own reforms. Some of its major offshore oilfields, such as the Bach Ho, are expected to run out in 2020, thus making the need to explore and drill in new basins all the more pressing.

However, China has proved that it is willing and able to disrupt these activities through the combined efforts of its Navy and its marine paramilitary forces. The former is well on the way to achieving its goal of having a blue-water Navy by 2050, with its first aircraft carrier already undertaking sea trials.

While much speculation and effort has focused on the growth of Chinese naval power over the past decade, little notice has been paid to Vietnam’s growing military ambitions. In 2009, it bought six Russian Kilo-class diesel attack submarines for about $3.2 billion, a considerable chunk of its defense budget and Russia's largest naval export contract.

In late 2011, the Dutch Schelde shipyard signed a contract to build four Sigma-class corvettes for Vietnam, with two being built in the country itself under Dutch supervision.

It is not only the Vietnamese Navy that is upgrading its fleet; the Vietnamese Marine Police (VMP) has purchased several offshore patrol vessels from the Dutch Damen group, including one that is more than 1,000 tons and can carry a helicopter, which will be the largest ship in the VMP. This would give the VMP considerable punch against increased numbers of 1,000-ton-plus vessels of the Chinese Marine Surveillance Agency in the South China Sea.

These are not purely turnkey imports. The inclusion of licensed production and the building of specialized maintenance facilities along with the vessels themselves are helping establish a nascent naval research and development infrastructure within Vietnam. And the timing helps Vietnam take advantage of China's inability to acquire foreign arms imports (either due to embargoes or fears of reverse-engineering, as in the case with Russia), as well as help form strategic alliances with China's old rival, India.

The latter stated in September that it will sell Vietnam the BrahMos cruise missile to augment Vietnam's coastal deterrence suites, which already include the Russian Bastion system. It is perhaps not a coincidence that India made this decision at a time when the Indian state oil company, ONGC, announced plans to jointly explore and develop Vietnam's claimant oil blocks in the South China Sea. India also is helping Vietnam train its crews for the new Kilo subs once they begin to arrive in 2014.

However, it is reasonable to wonder if Vietnam's efforts are all in vain. The Vietnamese Navy has never had as much prestige as the Army, with the latter being the main force that decided the bloody Vietnam War.

Still, that appears to be changing, as Vietnamese state propaganda is striving to increase the visibility of its marine forces, especially in the garrisons in the Spratly Islands.

This growth of a semimanufactured provenance of the Navy is aimed to prepare its people for the possibilities of future offshore conflicts. The funding for the Navy also has been drastically increased over the past few years.

Strategically, Vietnam actually has the advantage over China. Far from being the underdog that Vietnam likes to portray itself to the world, it actually possesses some of the largest and most numerous of the disputed Spratly Islands, while China has only half a dozen reef-sized forts and pillboxes. While the ever-expanding Chinese fleet seems larger and more advanced, it has to travel vast distances to reach the ends of its claimant zone.

Vietnam, on the other hand, is contesting an area that is right on its doorstep. Its fleet of missile-armed light corvettes and submarines can strike and retreat into their homeports at will, while a stricken Chinese fleet would more or less be lost.

Vietnam does not need to match China ship for ship, but rather take its doctrine of guerrilla warfare to the high seas. An asymmetrical strategy, combined with the forging of timely alliances with China's rivals, places Vietnam well for the coming conflict. Whether this turns out to be a hot war, however, is still likely to be decided at the conference tables. But one thing is certain, Vietnam is making sure it has all the best cards before sitting down to talk.

Israel and the United States have agreed to postpone a major military defense exercise scheduled for spring, Israeli public radio reported Sunday, amid rising regional tension over Iran’s nuclear program.

The air-defense drill, named "Austere Challenge 12," is expected to be the largest exercise between the two allies, who regularly hold joint military maneuvers.

The Pentagon said it was scheduled for the spring, but now would take place in the second half of 2012.

Israeli media reports originally said it was cancelled due to budgetary constraints. But some pundits speculated that the real reason was fear of creating further friction with Iran, which is showing signs of deepening isolation over its refusal to halt nuclear activity.

A U.S. official denied that tensions with Iran were a factor and an Israeli security source cited logistical problems. Both sources spoke on condition of anonymity.

"It's for a host of reasons, mainly logistical, but not the reason you cited (tensions with Iran)," the Israeli source said.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain John Kirby played down the delay, saying it was not uncommon for routine exercises to be postponed.

"There were a variety of factors at play in this case, but in general, leaders from both sides believe that optimum participation by all units is best achieved later in the year," Kirby said.

Israel sees the makings of a mortal threat in Iran's uranium enrichment and missile projects, and the Jewish state's leaders have not ruled out the use of military force to stop it.

Iran says its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have risen in recent weeks after U.S. President Barack Obama signed a bill on New Year's Eve that, if fully implemented, would make it impossible for most countries to pay for Iranian oil.

Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important oil shipping lane, if sanctions prevent it from exporting oil. The United States has said it will not tolerate such a move.

General Martin Dempsey, the top U.S. military officer, is due to travel to Tel Aviv for talks later this week in which Iran is certain to be one of the topics of discussion. It will be Dempsey's first trip there since becoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in September.

In a November 30 interview with Reuters, Dempsey said he did not know whether Israel would alert the United States ahead of time if it decided to take unilateral military action against Iran. He also acknowledged differences in perspective between the United States and Israel over the best way to handle Iran and its nuclear program.

Iraq Body Count (IBC) warned that, contrary to apparent trends in figures released by the Iraqi government, the level of violence has changed little from mid-2009, though attacks are markedly down from when the country was in the throes of sectarian war in 2006 and 2007.

In all, the non-governmental organisation said an estimated 162,000 people were killed in Iraq in the nearly nine years of conflict.

It said about 79 per cent of the fatalities were civilians, while the remainder included US soldiers, Iraqi security forces and insurgents.

"The violence peaked in late 2006 but was sustained at high levels until the second half of 2008 - nearly 90 per cent of the deaths occurred by 2009," IBC said in a statement.

But it warned that "there has now been no noticeable downward trend (in civilian deaths) since mid-2009."

"Recent trends indicate a persistent low-level conflict in Iraq that will continue to kill civilians at a similar rate for years to come.

"While these data indicate no improvement, time will tell whether the withdrawal of US forces will have an effect on casualty levels."

IBC said it had recorded more than 114,000 civilian deaths in Iraq since the invasion, and said the addition of figures from US military logs published by whistleblower website WikiLeaks, as well as officially recorded US and Iraqi security deaths and insurgent tolls, put the overall figure at 162,000.

The worst non-civilian group affected were the Iraqi police, with 9,019 reported deaths, and Baghdad was the most dangerous city in the country, with half of the recorded deaths, equating to 2.5 times the national average.

A total of 4,474 US soldiers died in Iraq as well.

US troops, who at their peak numbered nearly 170,000 on as many as 505 bases in Iraq, completed their withdrawal from the country on December 18.

The NGO's overall toll differed markedly from that published by the Iraqi government, which said on Sunday that 2,645 people were killed in violence in 2011, compared to IBC's toll of 4,059.

Iraqi government figures, unlike IBC data, indicate attacks decreased significantly last year from 2010, when 3,605 people were killed.

The UH-60M Black Hawk is currently the most advanced UH-60/S-70 model, whose variants are in service with the US Army and over 20 other countries around the world. To date, UH-60M customers include the USA, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, plus a request from Egypt. Unlike global competitors such as Russia’s Mi-8/17 series, however, the UH-60’s operational armament is generally limited to door guns. That may be about to change, thanks to a UAE initiative.

Colombia currently flies the armed S-70 “Arpia III”, and Sikorsky has worked on armed “AH-60” versions as an offering in some foreign competitions, but efforts to sell the concept in Australia and elsewhere were less successful. Nevertheless, Sikorsky executives see considerable potential for multi-role helicopters and conversion kits, in an era of global insurgencies, tight budgets, and limited helicopter numbers. Now, the UAE has become their launch customer. What is Sikorsky’s Battlehawk, and what are their plans?...

Will Dassault’s fighter become a fashionably late fighter platform that builds on its parent company’s past successes – or just “the late Rafale”? It all began as a 1985 break-away from the multinational consortium that went on to create EADS’ Eurofighter. The French needed a lighter aircraft that was suitable for carrier use, and were reportedly unwilling to cede design authority over the project. As is so often true of French defense procurement policy, the choice came down to one of paying additional costs for full independence and exact needs, or losing key industrial capabilities by partnering or buying abroad. France has generally opted for expensive but independent defense choices, and the Rafale was no exception.

Those costs, and associated delays triggered by the end of the Cold War and reduced funding, proved to be very costly indeed. Unlike previous French fighters, which relied on exports to lower their costs and keep production lines humming, the Rafale has yet to secure a single export contract – in part because initial versions were hampered by impaired capabilities in key roles. The Rafale may, at last, be ready to be what its vendors say: a true omnirole aircraft, ready for prime time on the global export stage. The question is whether that will come in time. Rivals like EADS’ Eurofighter, Russia’s Su-27/30 family, and the American “teen series” of F-15/16/18 variants are all well established. Meanwhile, Saab’s versatile and cheaper JAS-39 Gripen remains a stubborn foe in key export competitions, and the multinational F-35 juggernaut is bearing down on it.

Article Source: Defense Industry Daily

The Austrian Army will sell, scrap or recycle two-thirds of its armored vehicles by late 2013, allowing it to save up to 15 million euros yearly, Defence Minister Norbert Darabos announced Nov. 23.

"We are getting rid of cost-intensive equipment which represents an expensive burden for the army and which we no longer need," Darabos said.

The number of armored vehicles, which has already seen cuts over the past four years, will shrink to 389 by the end of 2013, from 1,147.

Several models, including more than 400 Saurers dating back to the 1960s, will be scrapped entirely, while others will be recycled as spare parts for other vehicles.

Further models, such as the more modern Leopard tanks, will be put up for sale. Several governments and firms have already expressed interest, the defense ministry said.

The sales should help bring in 19 million euros ($25.5 million), although 2 million euros will go toward destroying ammunition.

Additionally, the army will save up to 15 million euros per year in maintenance through the cuts, according to the ministry.

"We need more than ever to adapt our capabilities to realistic deployment scenarios," Darabos said.

Where Austria once stood with its back against the Iron Curtain, with the prospect of a conventional war with the Soviet bloc on its doorstep, now "we face cyber threats, terrorist threats: these are the challenges of the future," he said.

BEIJING - Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba asked China's Premier Wen Jiabao to agree to set up a "crisis management mechanism" aiming to avoid conflict over disputed waters, reports said Nov. 23.

China and Japan have often had strained relations, particularly over claims to East China Sea gas fields and disputed islands known as the Senkaku in Japanese and the Diaoyu in Chinese.

Gemba - on a one-day visit to Beijing - also called for the resumption of negotiations towards a treaty on a joint gas development project in the East China Sea, Kyodo News agency reported, quoting the Japanese foreign ministry.

His talks with Wen were also to lay the ground for a visit by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to China later this year.

In his meeting with Gemba, Wen said Japan and China should work together to boost development in East Asia, the official Xinhua news agency said.

"The just-concluded East Asia Summit has demonstrated a strong trend of forging solidarity, development and cooperation within the region," Wen said, referring to the weekend meeting on the Indonesian island of Bali.

Gamba later met his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi, who told him Beijing would "seriously consider" further easing restrictions on food imports from Japan imposed after an earthquake and tsunami triggered the country's nuclear crisis in March, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported. Gamba was then due to return to Tokyo.

The crisis management mechanism has been described by Japanese media as a regular dialogue scheme that will involve the two countries' foreign and defense ministries, fisheries and energy agencies, and coastguards.

Japan has long expressed concern over China's growing assertiveness and widening naval reach in the Pacific and over what it calls the "opaqueness" of Beijing's military budget.

A major crisis erupted between the two countries in September 2010 when Japan arrested a Chinese trawler captain near the disputed islands. China issued protests and scrapped meetings and cultural events in a diplomatic offensive that continued after Japan freed the captain, while nationalist sentiment sparked demonstrations in both countries.

Japan, meanwhile, has bitterly complained that China may have started drilling for gas in an offshore energy field in the disputed waters.

BEIJING - China on Sept. 22 strongly condemned a $5.85 billion U.S. deal to upgrade Taiwan's fleet of F-16 fighter jets, summoned the US ambassador and warned the move would undermine warming military relations.

China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, urged the United States to cancel the deal and said it had jeopardized recent improvements in military ties between the two world powers and affected relations with Taiwan.

But analysts said the deal, which stopped short of selling new planes to Taiwan, would probably not be as damaging as an earlier arms package that led to a break in China-U.S. military exchanges in 2010.

"The Chinese military expresses great indignation and strong condemnation," the defense ministry said in a strongly worded statement announcing it had called in the acting U.S. military attaché for talks.

"U.S. actions ... have caused serious damage to Sino-U.S. military relations and have seriously undermined the good momentum of the peaceful development of cross-strait relations," the statement said.

Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun urged Washington to "immediately cancel the wrong decision" and summoned U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke to protest against the deal, which was branded a "huge mistake" by China's top newspaper.

"If American politicians feel that the United States can ... irresponsibly and randomly damage China's core interests without paying the price, this is a major and huge mistake," said the People's Daily, considered the mouthpiece of China's Communist Party.

But Jean-Pierre Cabestan, political science professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, said Beijing had learned lessons from the 2010 break-off in military ties and was unlikely to react as strongly this time.

"They are going to react, to get angry, and the military may take measures to better counter these retrofitted F-16s, but they will not break military ties with the United States like they did before," he told AFP.

"They're (China) in a new phase - more flexible and accommodating, and with the Taiwanese electoral factor, it reduces their room for maneuver a lot, and it will force them not to overreact on this."

Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou of the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang party will seek re-election in January, and Cabestan said China would be keen not to cause any upsets ahead of the polls.

Russell Leigh Moses, a Beijing-based political analyst, said China's reaction was an exercise in "how to avoid slamming the door while shouting."

"I think that Beijing's outrage has multiple audiences, in particular those at home on the mainland and in Taiwan," he said. "There are ways in which they could have said hardly anything, but the consensus clearly was - we'll go into the default mode of being pretty upset and angry, but not like it was a year ago."

Taiwan first lodged a request to buy 66 F-16 C/D fighters - which have better radar and more powerful weapons systems than its F-16 A/Bs - in 2007 in response to China's growing military muscle.

The deal to upgrade the existing fleet includes equipment, parts, training and logistical support.

The Taiwan defense ministry said it was "another signal of the solid foundation for mutual trust and the close security cooperation between Taiwan and the United States."

Observers and media in Taiwan said that although the deal may mean little in any war with China, it represented a valuable sign of U.S. commitment to help the island's defense.

"This is a U.S. compromise to satisfy some of Taiwan's defense needs and maintain friendly ties with Taiwan without touching China's bottom-line by selling new jets," said Kenneth Wang, a military expert at Taiwan's Tamkang University.

Washington recognizes Beijing rather than Taipei but remains a leading arms supplier to the island of 23 million inhabitants, providing a source of continued U.S.-China tension.

However, relations between the U.S. and Chinese militaries have improved over the past year. In July, U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen became the first chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff since 2007 to visit China.

Ties between China and Taiwan have improved since Ma came to power in 2008, but Beijing has refused to renounce the use of force against the island, even though it has ruled itself for more than six decades since their split in 1949.

Source: Defense News

 German Gen. Erhard Drews on Sept. 9 took over the command over the NATO-led mission in Kosovo (KFOR), as the tense Serb-majority north remained the main challenge for the peacekeeping force.

Drews replaced fellow countryman Gen. Erhard Buhler at a ceremony in the KFOR headquarters in Pristina.
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KFOR should continue to be "a preventing force for all those extremists who by violence want to achieve political goals," Kosovo president Atifete Jahjaga said at the ceremony.

The handover came a day after a top NATO official warned that the situation in Kosovo's tense north remained the main challenge for the Alliance troops on the ground.

Tensions have been running high in Serb-dominated northern Kosovo since a trade row in July spilled over into violence at two flashpoint border posts with Serbia, when Pristina forcibly replaced ethnic Serb border guards attached to the Kosovo police with ethnic Albanian officers to enforce the trade ban with Serbia.

An ethnic Albanian police officer was killed and four injured in clashes that ensued as angry Kosovo Serbs reacted, forcing KFOR to step in.

NATO peacekeepers have maintained security in Kosovo since the end of 1998-1999 war between Belgrade-backed forces and ethnic Albanian pro-independence guerrillas.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in 2008 and has since been recognized by more then 80 countries. However, Serbia still considers it to be its southern province.

Source: Defense News

France's secretary general for national defense will deliver to the president by the end of this year an early draft of a planned update of the 2008 white paper on defense and national security, said Francis Delon, the senior civil servant who heads the office that will produce the work.

Delon announced the upcoming draft at the French military's annual two-day "summer defense university," hosted this year in Rennes by the Direction générale de l'armement.

An update of the defense review was always scheduled for 2012, intended to keep the document up-to-date. The white paper sets out the strategic overview and is used as a planning tool for drafting the multiyear military budget law.

The early draft will draw on four working groups.

The first will look at the big geostrategic picture, such as China's military modernization and the Arab Spring.

The second group will look at alliances, including NATO, European Union and the U.N., and the attitude of the BRIC group of emerging regional players - Brazil, India and China - toward international organizations.

A third group will look at "transverse" issues such as cybersecurity, terrorism and environmental issues.

The fourth group will consider economic and financial issues and their impact on national security. This is a new area that went uncovered in the 2008 report.

A rare look into Israel’s unmanned weapons capabilities was revealed on Tuesday with an announcement by Germany’s Rheinmetall that it had jointly developed with Israel a loitering weapons system based on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

The system, called WABEP, which in German stands for “Weapons system for standoff engagement of individual and point targets,” was developed by Rheinmetall together with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), a world leader in the development of UAVs and loitering weapons.

The combined, unmanned reconnaissance and attack system developed under a collaborative program between Germany and israel has recently passed an important milestone, demonstrating the integration of two unmanned aerial systems – the Rheinmetall Defense KZO aerial reconnaissance drone and IAI’s loitering weapon – the Harop. The highlight of the test was to demonstrate the WABEP ‘system of systems’ approach – the interoperability of two unmanned aerial systems as a combined reconnaissance and strike asset, slated to become the Bundeswehr’s next unmanned air vehicle system.

This milestone, contractor trials mandated by the German ministry of defense as a critical phase of the program, demonstrated the transfer of tactical data, target information and sensor imagery between the two ground control stations of the two systems. In addition, live video was transferred from the Harop, employing data relay installed on board the KZO and a manned Opale (DA-42) aircraft. As part of the test the ‘networked’ KZO recce drone was used to map an area of responsibility, detect and identify landmarks and infrastructure installations, stationary and moving targets.

Relevant target data was transmitted to the Harop segment using a dedicated battle management network designated WABEP. In line with future operational protocols, final authorization for engagement of the target followed a target verification procedure conducted at both the ground control stations. The demonstration concluded the current phase of the testing, a follow on phase is planned with participation of the German military.

The WABEP is a combination of Rheinmetall’s KZO drone and IAI’s Harop attack drone, which according to media reports, is already in operational use in India and Turkey.

The Harop was developed as a weapon to suppress enemy radar systems used together with surface-to-air missiles or other similar high-value targets.

The Harop can fly to a designated loitering position where it searches for electromagnetic signals from surface-to-air missile batteries and then dives in to destroy them.

Source: Defense-update

Libyan rebels surged into Tripoli Sunday in a final drive to oust Moamer Kadhafi, seizing swathes of the capital including the symbolic Green Square and arresting the strongman's son, Seif al-Islam.

The trappings of Moammar Gadhafi's regime crumbled Sunday as hundreds of euphoric Libyan rebels overran a major military base defending the capital, carted away truckloads of weapons and raced to the outskirts of Tripoli with virtually no resistance.

The rebels' surprising and speedy leap forward, after six months of largely deadlocked civil war, was packed into just a few dramatic hours. By nightfall, they had advanced more than 20 miles to the edge of Gadhafi's last major bastion of support.

Thousands of residents poured onto the streets to welcome the rebels, congregating at the site which they renamed Martyrs Square near the water front in the centre of Tripoli.

Some were hoarse, shouting: "We are coming for you, frizz-head," a mocking nickname for Gadhafi. In villages along the way that fell to the rebels one after another, mosque loudspeakers blared "Allahu Akbar," or "God is great."

"We are going to sacrifice our lives for freedom," said Nabil al-Ghowail, a 30-year-old dentist holding a rifle in the streets of Janzour, a suburb just six miles west of Tripoli. Heavy gunfire erupted nearby.

As town after town fell and Gadhafi forces melted away, the mood turned euphoric. Some shouted: "We are getting to Tripoli tonight." Others were shooting in the air, honking horns and yelling "Allahu Akbar."

Similar scenes of jubilation were witnessed in Benghazi, the rebels' bastion in the east, where delirious residents danced and proclaimed the end of the regime of the "tyrant" Kadhafi.

©AFP/Graphic Rebels enter Tripoli

While Kadhafi spoke to the nation three times on Sunday in audio recordings, his whereabouts were unknown.

But the 69-year-old strongman vowed not to surrender.

As the rebels boasted they would take full control of Tripoli during the night, Kadhafi issued his third message of the day, urging the people of Tripoli to "purge the capital."

Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told a press conference 1,300 people had been killed in the rebel assault on the capital, describing the fighting as a "real tragedy."

But there was no independent confirmation of casualties, nor any immediate indication of how much resistance may have been put up against the rebels.

Ibrahim insisted that Libya's regime "is still strong and thousands of volunteers and soldiers are ready to fight" although the reality on the ground seemed to belie his boasts.

The day's first breakthrough came when hundreds of rebels fought their way into a major symbol of the Gadhafi regime -- the base of the elite 32nd Brigade commanded by Gadhafi's son, Khamis. Fighters said they met with little resistance.

Hundreds of rebels cheered wildly and danced as they took over the compound filled with eucalyptus trees, raising their tricolor from the front gate and tearing down a large billboard of Gadhafi.

Inside, they cracked open wooden crates labeled "Libyan Armed Forces" and loaded their trucks with huge quantities of munitions. One of the rebels carried off a tube of grenades, while another carted off two mortars.

"This is the wealth of the Libyan people that he was using against us," said Ahmed al-Ajdal, 27, pointing to his haul. "Now we will use it against him and any other dictator who goes against the Libyan people."

In The Hague, the International Criminal Court confirmed that Kadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, for whom the ICC had issued arrest warrants for crimes against humanity, is in detention.

Profile: Kadhafi son now faces 'paying the price'

"I have received confidential information stating he has been arrested," Luis Moreno-Ocampo told AFP.

"We hope he can soon be in the Hague" to face justice, he said, adding that he planned to contact the "Libyan transitional government" later in the day.

Benghazi celebrates reports that the Libyan capital of Tripoli had fallen to rebels

©AFP / Gianluigi Guercia

Moreno-Ocampo said the ICC "is ready to help Libyans to deal with their difficult past" and ensure that "no crime remains unpunished".

Earlier, the chairman of Libya's rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil told Al-Jazeera television from Benghazi Seif was "being kept in a secure place under close guard until he is handed over to the judiciary."

Abdel Jalil did not say when or where he had been captured.

Describing their assault, rebel leaders said an advance party of fighters had arrived by sea in the capital early Sunday and joined sleeper cells of rebels to launch the final drive, codenamed "Mermaid."

Another rebel force advanced from the west, moving in a convoy of around 100 vehicles as onlookers fired celebratory gunfire into the air, an AFP correspondent said.

By afternoon they had overrun the eastern suburb of Tajura and boasted that they would seize control of the capital during the night.

It was still not clear how much of the capital the rebels had seized, but it appeared they had taken over the headquarters of the Libyana mobile telephone company, located in Tajura.

The ICC is hoping to take custody of Seif al-Islam for crimes against humanity

©AFP/File / Mahmud Turkia

Libyana clients received a message on their mobiles from the NTC "congratulating the Libyan people for the fall of Moamer Kadhafi."

Meanwhile, a rebel party seized an army barracks at a western entrance to Tripoli, raiding the stores of missiles and other ammunition.They also released dozens of prisoners held in Maya, 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of Tripoli.

A rebel spokesman said the insurgents were also tightening the noose around loyalist forces in the far west of Libya, near the Tunisian border.

Throughout the day Sunday, Kadhafi was adamant he would not relinquish power.

He vowed not to surrender and boasted he would "emerge victorious" in the battle for Tripoli.

"We will not, we will not abandon Tripoli to the occupants and their agents. I am with you in this battle," he said in an audio message broadcast in the afternoon.

"We do not surrender and, by God's grace, we will emerge victorious."

He called on his supporters to "march on Tajura in tens of thousands to purge the officials of the colonisers," in a reference to the NATO-backed rebels.

Earlier, he had aired a message urging supporters to "march by the millions" to liberate cities held by "traitors and rats."

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said early Monday Kadhafi's rule in Libya is "clearly crumbling."

"The sooner Kadhafi realises that he cannot win the battle against his own people, the better -- so that the Libyan people can be spared further bloodshed and suffering," he said in a statement.

U.S President Barack Obama issued a written statement calling on the rebels to respect human rights, show leadership, preserve the institutions of the Libyan state and move towards democracy.

"Tonight, the momentum against the Kadhafi regime has reached a tipping point. Tripoli is slipping from the grasp of a tyrant," Obama said from as took a vacation on the resort of Martha's Vineyard.

"The Kadhafi regime is showing signs of collapsing. The people of Libya are showing that the universal pursuit of dignity and freedom is far stronger than the iron fist of a dictator."

Obama said the surest way for bloodshed to end was simple: "Moamer Kadhafi and his regime need to recognise that their rule has come to an end."

"Kadhafi needs to acknowledge the reality that he no longer controls Libya. He needs to relinquish power once and for all."

Obama also noted that the United States has recognized NTC as Libya's legitimate governing authority and said it "should continue to demonstrate the leadership that is necessary to steer the country through a transition by respecting the rights of the people of Libya."

For his part, Jibril urged rebels to act with magnanimity.

"The world is watching us," he added. "Do not avenge yourselves."

He took particular pains to refer to those close to Kadhafi who might be captured.

"Prove that we are up the responsibility to protect them and their lives," he said.

He called on people to pull together "to achieve democracy and to build the new Libya, remembering all the people who give their lives in this war."

The Chinese aircraft carrier that began sea trials last week is by far the largest warship of any country in Asia and in certain realms could give China game-changing capabilities. However, the carrier cannot help China assert sovereignty over the South China Sea - its biggest maritime headache - and the ship could prove to be more of a diplomatic liability than a military asset.

At 300 meters long and displacing over 60,000 tons, the carrier is by far the largest warship of any navy in Asia. No other country in the region can operate fighter aircraft from a warship except Thailand, whose Chakri Narubet is less than a fifth the size. Once fully operational, the Chinese carrier should be able to sustain up to 40 Sukhoi 33-derived J-15 naval air-superiority fighters and up to 20 rotary aircraft, including Ka-28 anti-submarine helicopters.

On the surface, this capability would seem to decisively shift the balance of power in the South China Sea, where China has territorial disputes with Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. Currently, China claims its territorial waters skirt the Philippines' coast as far south as Brunei, on Borneo island, before looping north and hugging the Vietnamese coast back to southern China. This 80-year-old claim neatly encompasses the Spratly and Paracel island reefs, assumed to be rich in hydrocarbon resources by surrounding countries that have erected research installations on them.

With an operational carrier based at China's expanded naval facility at Sanya on Hainan Island, China could conceivably maintain local air superiority over any point in the disputed South China Sea - a precondition for decisive military or diplomatic efforts to enforce its maritime claim and force the withdrawal of rival commercial operations and installations from the islands.

This capability would also help China reduce other countries' enthusiasm for the frequent maritime spats that occur in these contested waters and the nationalist outpourings that follow. In the latest incident in mid-June, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman accused Vietnamese exploration vessels of conducting unlawful oil and gas surveys off the Spratly archipelago, harassing Chinese fishing vessels and "gravely violating China's sovereignty and maritime rights".

Despite Chinese defense officials claims that the new carrier is intended for scientific research and training, the ship clearly fulfills a strategic function. The official Xinhua news agency published a commentary shortly before the ship departed saying, "Building a strong navy that is commensurate with China's rising status is a necessary step, and an inevitable choice for the country to safeguard its increasingly globalized national interests."

However, even if it becomes operational, the carrier and its air groups will be hugely vulnerable and China is unlikely to risk using it in any confrontation with rivals in the South China Sea.

Without catapults or arrester wires, the carrier will not be able to operate any airborne early-warning aircraft needed to provide comprehensive radar coverage for fleets. This means the carrier will have limited area awareness, unable to see or respond to threats beyond the horizon of ship-based radar. Logistical constraints will also limit the time the carrier can spend at sea: the People's Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N) possesses only five seaworthy replenishment ships, none of them over 22,000 tons.

The biggest liability, however, will be inadequate protection. China has two Type 52C destroyers with active phased array radar that enables them to track multiple incoming missiles and aircraft - with four more under construction. But integrating that radar with China's domestically developed HHQ-9 anti-air missiles so they can shoot down supersonic sea-skimming missiles will prove exceptionally challenging. Nor can the carrier rely on sub-surface protection. Without very-low frequency radio communication systems, China's long range patrol submarines would struggle to operate tactically in defense of a carrier group.

Defensive postures

But even without these deficiencies, China's southern neighbors will likely ensure that the South China Sea becomes too dangerous for China to risk sending its prized carrier into contested waters.

In the first week of June, an article in Vietnam's state newspaper, Nhan Dan, carried pictures of the world's fastest anti-ship missile, the Indo-Russian BrahMos, in a clear statement of procurement intentions and its navy's readiness to respond to incidents of Chinese aggression within waters it claims as its exclusive economic zone. With a speed of Mach 2.8, the missile is four times as fast as a US-made Tomahawk missile and would present a lethal threat to any vessel within its 300-kilometer range. (Even with exceptional anti-missile capabilities, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) navies would keep well out of range of this threat.)

BrahMos procurement requires joint Indian and Russian approval, and Vietnam is rapidly improving its relations with both nations. During a high profile defense cooperation visit to New Delhi by Vietnam's navy chief at the end of June, the Vietnamese government gave permission for Indian navy ships to drop anchor at Nha Trang, which has been off-limits to foreign navies since 2003.

The offer followed an announcement on June 6 by Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh that part of the strategic Cam Ranh Bay would be made available for technical and logistical support of foreign military ships. To ensure that China properly understood the significance of that offer, the announcement was followed-up on August 14 with an unprecedented visit by senior Vietnamese government officials to the American carrier, USS George Washington, as it traversed the South China Sea.

On July 2, Vietnam also took a decisive step forward in its long-heralded defense procurement deal with Russia. According to the Russian VNA newswire, Oleg Azizov, representative of the Russian state defense export company Rosoboronexport, confirmed Vietnam has signed a contract to buy six Kilo-636 MV diesel electric submarines for delivery in 2014.

The 2,300 ton boats are optimized for shallow water operations and are exceptionally quiet running. Without leaving port, these submarines would provide a powerful deterrent to China against sending the carrier far into the South China Sea in a possible confrontation situation. Malaysia already has good submarine capabilities, with two recently commissioned French-designed Scorpene class boats.

Both Indonesia and the Philippines could also quickly develop powerful deterrent capabilities, and at relatively little cost by deploying anti-ship missiles to key outposts. Indonesia has already held discussions with India to acquire the BrahMos missile. The Philippines could either purchase US missiles off-the-shelf, or negotiate purchase of Taiwan's new ram-jet Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missile, unveiled with exquisite timing last week at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition against a mural backdrop of a burning carrier.

The fact that the South China Sea will be an exceptionally dangerous environment for the carrier will present the Chinese government with an acute dilemma. The carrier is hugely popular in China, where it has been touted as a symbol of the country's ascent to great-power status. Ardent online fans have already christened the vessel Shi-Lang, after the 17th century Taiwan-conquering admiral. And the government has invested vast political and financial capital in the project, both in terms of the propaganda value of the images and the cost of naval fighters and training establishments.

But the one nautical environment where Chinese opinion is most anxious for an assertion of naval authority - the South China Sea - is the one place that Chinese admirals will almost certainly never risk launching the carrier. With this knowledge, the countries on the South China Sea's littoral have every reason to welcome the carrier program. Indeed it may even strengthen their claims, knowing that they can taunt China to send it out. In any looming confrontation, the Chinese leadership will suddenly need to explain why its totemic flagship is useless for asserting power in the country's own self-claimed territorial waters or risk seeing it reduced, almost immediately, to a flaming wreck.

Phil Radford is a freelance writer and specialist on naval strategy based in Sydney.

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