Wednesday, October 13, 2010

DTN News: Lockheed Martin Receives $106 Million Contract For Next-Generation ICBM Reentry Field Support Equipment

Defense News: DTN News: Lockheed Martin Receives $106 Million Contract For Next-Generation ICBM Reentry Field Support Equipment
DTN News: Lockheed Martin Receives $106 Million Contract For Next-Generation ICBM Reentry Field Support Equipment
Source: DTN News / Lockheed Martin
(NSI News Source Info) KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., - October 13, 2010: Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) announced today that it has received a $106 million engineering, manufacturing and development contract from Northrop Grumman Corporation to develop the next-generation Reentry Field Support Equipment (RFSE) for the U.S. Air Force’s Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) system.

Under the 58-month contract awarded in July, Lockheed Martin will design, develop, test and deliver two sets of RFSE. Production of an additional 10 RFSE sets for deployment to all operational Air Force Minuteman III wings will be performed under a follow-on contract. The RFSE will replace the aging Minuteman III Reentry System Test Set (RSTS). Lockheed Martin will continue to sustain the RSTS, for which it is the original equipment manufacturer, until deployment of the replacement RFSE.

“This contract represents an important modernization effort for the Air Force’s Minuteman III reentry systems,” said Les Lyon, director of Air Force Reentry Programs, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. “Lockheed Martin is committed to providing the Air Force with the highest quality hardware and systems engineering in support of the operational ICBM force.”

The RFSE, which represents a substantial enhancement to the Minuteman III sustainment effort, will be used to support testing and maintenance of all Minuteman III reentry systems – both the Mk12A and Mk21 configurations.

The RFSE in conjunction with the recently deployed Safety Enhanced Reentry Vehicle (SERV) support equipment will provide a full suite of new support equipment for the Air Force’s Minuteman III reentry systems. Lockheed Martin completed deliveries of all SERV ground support equipment in April and is continuing to deliver SERV flight hardware. The SERV program enables each Minuteman III missile to carry one, two or three Mk12A reentry vehicles or a single Mk21 reentry vehicle from the decommissioned Peacekeeper ICBM force, ensuring continued reliability and effectiveness.

Lockheed Martin is a principal teammate to Northrop Grumman, the ICBM prime integration contractor for the U.S. Air Force. Lockheed Martin has been the principal designer, manufacturer and sustainer of the Minuteman reentry systems since the 1960s.

Lockheed Martin leads the industry in performance and domain expertise in strategic missile and missile defense systems. Lockheed Martin designs and produces ballistic missiles, interceptors, target missiles and reentry systems with unmatched reliability. Lockheed Martin’s focus on operational excellence yields affordable high-quality systems and services.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 136,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation’s 2009 sales from continuing operations were $44.5 billion.

DTN News: Israeli Ministry Of Defense Selects Lockheed Martin F-35 For Its Next-Generation Fighter

Defense News: DTN News: Israeli Ministry Of Defense Selects Lockheed Martin F-35 For Its Next-Generation Fighter
Source: DTN News / Lockheed Martin
(NSI News Source Info) FORT WORTH, Texas, - October 13, 2010: Following the Israeli Government decision to select the Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] F-35 Lightning II as the Israel Air Force’s next-generation fighter aircraft, Israeli Ministry of Defense Director General
(Maj. Gen. Ret.) Udi Shani signed the Letter of Offer and Acceptance for the procurement of the F-35 aircraft earlier today in New York. Israel will be the first country to receive the F-35 through the United States government’s Foreign Military Sales process.

“We’re very pleased with the Government of Israel’s decision to move forward with the U.S. government’s Letter of Offer and Acceptance for the F-35,” said Tom Burbage, Lockheed Martin executive vice president and general manager of F-35 Program Integration. “This is another step in the longstanding relationship between Lockheed Martin and the nation of Israel. The Lightning II will strengthen Israel’s national security posture both militarily and industrially.”

The F-35 Lightning II is a 5th generation fighter, combining advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, fully fused sensor information, network-enabled operations, advanced sustainment, and lower operational and support costs.

Lockheed Martin is developing the F-35 with its principal industrial partners, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. Two separate, interchangeable F-35 engines are under development: the Pratt & Whitney F135 and the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team F136.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 136,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation’s 2009 sales from continuing operations were $44.5 billion.

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DTN News: Afghan War Enters Its 10th Year With Key Players Hedging Their Bets, Uncertain Over US Plans

Defense News: DTN News: Afghan War Enters Its 10th Year With Key Players Hedging Their Bets, Uncertain Over US Plans
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources including reported by Deb Riechmann (AP)
(NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanistan - October 13, 2010: It's make-or-break time in Afghanistan.

The war enters its 10th year Thursday, and this is no ordinary anniversary.

With extra American troops now in place, this is the critical juncture to deter

mine if President Barack Obama's revised war stategy will work and reverse Taliban momentum.

Key players are hedging their bets, uncertain whether the Obama admini

stration is prepared to stay for the long haul, move quickly to exit an increasingly unpopular conflict, or something in between.

Fearing that his Western allies may in the end abandon him, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has started to prepare his nation for a withdrawal of international forces by shoring up relations with neighboring Pakistan and reaching out to insurgents interested in reconciliation.

Pakistan, America's nominal ally, says it's fighting insurgents. But it still tolerates al-Qaida and Afghan Taliban militants hiding out on its soil — out of reach of U.S.-led NATO ground forces.

Public support for the war is slipping in the United States and Western Europe. Already, the Netherlands has pulled out its troops, the first NATO country to do so. The Canadians leave next.

Patience is running out here as well. Afghans are tired of the violence, increasingly resentful of foreign forces. Many wonder why their quality of life has not markedly improved when their nation has been awash in billions of dollars of foreign aid.

"NATO is here and they say they are fighting terrorism, and this is the 10th year and there is no result yet," Karzai said in an emotional speech last week. "Our sons cannot go to school because of bombs and suicide attacks."

All this is very different from the near universal international support the Bush administration enjoyed when it launched attacks on Oct. 7, 2001. The war was aimed at toppling the Taliban from power because they harbored Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders responsible for the stunning strikes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon less than a month earlier.

The hardline Islamic regime, which repressed women, banned music and held public executions for disloyal actions, collapsed within two months.

But looking back at the first years of the war, the effort was underfunded from the start. When the Bush administration's attention shifted to Iraq in 2003, the Taliban began to regroup. After several years of relative calm and safety, the situation in Afghanistan began to deteriorate around 2006. The Taliban have steadily gained strength since then. And bin Laden remains alive.

Obama ramped up the war this year, sending tens of thousands more troops. Casualties are running at their highest levels since 2001, when the Taliban were overthrown without a single American combat death. The U.S. death toll in July was 66, setting a monthly record; to date, about 2,000 NATO troops have died in the conflict, including more than 1,220 American service men and women.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in June that the U.S. and its NATO partners have to show progress before the end of this year or face a decline in public support for the war.

There's plenty of frustration at the White House and in the U.S. Congress too. In August, when Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, visited Kabul, he bluntly stated that if the Karzai government didn't clean up corruption, it was going to be hard "to look American families in the eye and say, `Hey that's something worth dying for.'"

On the battlefield, NATO's top commander, Gen. David Petraeus, is banking on his plan to protect heavily populated areas, rout the Taliban from their strongholds and rush in better governance and development aid to win the Afghans' loyalty away from the Taliban.

In February, NATO launched an offensive in Helmand province, the largest military operation in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion. Nearly eight months after U.S. forces mounted a high-profile assault that ended Taliban control of the rural town of Marjah, U.S. Marines there are still clearing it. There are signs that governance is improving, though troops still face daily gunbattles and an entrenched insurgency that shows no signs of easing soon.

Afghan and international forces now are ramping up security in neighboring Kandahar province where the Taliban insurgency was born. Fighting in and around the nation's largest city in the south has been intense as coalition forces push into areas long held by insurgents. Failure in Kandahar would be a major setback for the NATO force.

"We're still fighting the fight," U.S. Army Capt. Nick Stout, a company commander with the 101st Airborne Division's 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, said in Senjeray, capital of Zhari district northeast of Kandahar city.

"It kind of begs the question: What is it? What's the answer?" he said at a joint U.S.-Afghan outpost near Kandahar.

"America alone is not the answer to stopping" the insurgency, said the 27-year-old Stout, who wasn't old enough to order a drink in his home of Lake Orion, Mich., when the war began.

Commanders like Stout believe the war will be won only if Afghan civilians start supporting the troops. And, they say, the only way that will happen is if the forces can provide enough security to allow people to break free of the fear and intimidation of Taliban threats. In some places, residents don't even want to be seen talking to U.S. forces for fear of Taliban reprisals.

Ready to refute pundits who say the war is lost, U.S. Adm. James Stavridis, the supreme NATO commander in Europe, has compiled a list of nearly 50 examples that the coalition is making progress. He shared them in a five-page letter Oct. 1 to defense chiefs in NATO nations.

In a 90-day period ending in early September, he wrote, Special Operations Forces conducted 3,302 operations, resulting in 251 enemy leaders killed or captured; ammonium nitrate, a key ingredient in homemade bombs, is being seized in record amounts around the country; schools and the district police station have reopened in Marjah and insurgents there are suffering from low morale and shortages in food and weapons; and the Afghan security forces will expand to 260,000 by the end of the year — 5,000 higher than the target.

"Afghanistan remains a tough fight, but at least three-quarters of the country — starting with bustling Kabul, extending into most of the north and west and including parts of the east — is either in reasonably promising shape or improving," said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank who just returned from a trip to Afghanistan. "We should remain hopeful for now. The current strategy could well produce significant and convincing progress within a few months."

Karzai still backs coalition efforts but has also used back channels to reach out to Taliban leaders who seem amenable to finding a political resolution to the war. Karzai appointed nearly 70 people last week to a High Peace Council, which will guide efforts to reach out to insurgents.

Pakistan also wants to maintain relations with some factions of the Taliban, which it believes will be a powerful player in Afghanistan when the Americans go home.

And there's strong suspicion in the region that U.S. troops will go home sooner rather than later — largely because of Obama's decision to set July 2011 as his goal for starting a drawdown of U.S. forces.

Obama and Petraeus have repeatedly claimed that the U.S. is not planning a mass exodus in July 2011. Petraeus says all the extra U.S. troops and civilians needed to reverse the Taliban's momentum have just arrived — and only now can Obama's revised war strategy begin to work.

But as the war drags on, the U.S. has lowered its sites and goals. Fewer people these days are talking about establishing Western-style democracy in Afghanistan. Instead, the focus is on finding some way to force out al-Qaida — even if that involves a deal with Taliban members.

Stephen Biddle at the Council on Foreign Relations says the Obama administration must clarify what the end game will look like.

"Without clear limits on acceptable outcomes, the U.S. and NATO military campaign will be rudderless, as will any negotiation strategy for a settlement with the Taliban," Biddle said.

He predicts success in Afghanistan will mean "arriving at an intermediate end state — somewhere between ideal and intolerable."

Hovering like a shadow over the discussion is Afghanistan's bloody history.

The Soviet Union invaded and occupied Afghanistan in 1979 but was forced to withdraw nine years later by anti-communist mujahedeen forces, who were supplied and trained by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and others. These U.S.-backed rebels took power in 1992 when the pro-Moscow government collapsed.

They quickly turned their guns on each other and a violent civil war ensued. The Taliban took advantage of the power vacuum and within two years had seized Kabul.

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News, contact: dtnnews@ymail.com
Disclaimer statement
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied herein, DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. Unless otherwise indicated, opinions expressed herein are those of the author of the page and do not necessarily represent the corporate views of DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News.

DTN News: Russia's Sukhoi Begins Su-33 Flanker-D Trials

Defense News: DTN News: Russia's Sukhoi Begins Su-33 Flanker-D Trials
Source: DTN News / Ria Novosti
(NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW, Russia - October 13, 2010: Russia's Sukhoi aircraft holding revealed on Tuesday it has begun ground and flight trials of the modernized fourth generation Su-33 naval fighter.
The Su-33 Flanker-D is a carrier-based warplane, originally known as the Su-27K Flanker, which first rolled off the production line in the late 1980s.
Modernization works and trials are being carried out in the Russian Far Eastern city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, a statement from Sukhoi said

DTN News: Washington Pins Hopes On India Fighter Deal

Defense News: DTN News: Washington Pins Hopes On India Fighter Deal
DTN News: Washington Pins Hopes On India Fighter Deal
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources including By Edward Luce in Washington and James Lamont in New Delhi - FT.com
(NSI News Source Info) HONG KONG - October 13, 2010: The US administration is stepping up pressure on India to buy US military hardware five weeks ahead of Barack Obama’s first state visit to India.

Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, and Robert Gates, the defence secretary, have pressed AK Antony, the Indian defence minister who is on a two-day visit to Washington, to opt for US bids to supply more than 100 multi-combat fighter aircraft to India. The project – worth up to $11bn – is the world’s largest pending military hardware deal.

“We think we have the finest military hardware in the world, and if India is upgrading its defence capabilities, they should buy American,” PJ Crowley, a state department spokesman, said following Mr Antony’s meeting with Mrs Clinton. “Our understanding is that some of those decisions are coming up fairly soon.”Lockheed Martin and Boeing are among six foreign companies that India is evaluating, and winning the work would create or save thousands of US jobs.

The selection of one of the US fighter jet bids would help cement a growing alignment of two of the world’s largest democracies, a political bond that Mr Obama will stress heavily on his visit.

US officials say privately it would also take the sting out of the recent Indian nuclear liability law, which would make suppliers, as well as operators, liable for any accidents at Indian civil nuclear plants.

One of the main selling points of the controversial 2008 US-India civil nuclear agreement, concluded by George W. Bush’s administration but upheld by Mr Obama, was that it would create a huge flow of business for US companies in India’s planned civil nuclear expansion. The deal gave India access to civil nuclear technology and material without requiring it to renounce its nuclear weapons or join the non-proliferation treaty. But the passage last month of India’s nuclear liability law, which US companies describe as draconian, has put paid to such hopes.

Washington’s hopes of achieving a big commercial “deliverable” from next month’s presidential visit are now pinned on the fighter jet deal. There is also hope that India might conclude a deal to buy 10 C-17 transport aircraft from Boeing in time for the state visit as part of a package worth as much as $3.5bn.

Indian defence analysts say the world’s largest democracy faces a choice of turning more to the US for sophisticated defence equipment or maintaining supplies from Russia, its traditional defence partner, whose maintenance and spare-parts support has weakened since the collapse of the Soviet Union. New C-17s would replace an ageing fleet of Russian Ilyushins. Likewise, any new fighters would replace Sukhoi and Mig jets.

New Delhi, however, wants the US to ease technology controls on its defence exports to give it access to more advanced technology. It also seeks assurances from Washington that US military support for arch-rival Pakistan in the fight against Islamist militants cannot be used against India.

“There is a great deal of focus in Washington on achieving commercial results to announce during the Obama visit,” said Tezi Schaffer, a south Asia expert at the Center for International Strategic Studies in Washington. “But the more important aspect to the trip may be in the quieter conversations about strengthening the India-US strategic relationship.”

US officials have been struggling to come up with initiatives that would cement ties with India in the knowledge that nothing could emulate the drama of the Bush administration’s nuclear agreement, which brought India’s nuclear programme out of international isolation. US officials are also aware of lingering Indian sensitivities about the Obama administration’s initial overtures to China at a time of growing friction between Delhi and Beijing.

Mr Antony, the latest of many senior Indian officials to visit Washington, reiterated demands for the US to drop Indian companies from its “entity list” requiring approval to import US technology.

The US could also back India’s aspirations to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council. However, there are divisions within the administration on how far Washington should go.

“There is a camp within the administration, particularly at the state department, that understands India’s huge geostrategic importance to America, and there is a camp that is much more sceptical and wants first to see the pay-off to the nuclear deal,” said a senior India lobbyist.

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News, contact: dtnnews@ymail.com
Disclaimer statement
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied herein, DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. Unless otherwise indicated, opinions expressed herein are those of the author of the page and do not necessarily represent the corporate views of DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News.

DTN News: Defense News / Latest Press Releases Dated October 13, 2010

Defense News:
DTN News: Defense News / Latest Press Releases Dated October 13, 2010
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources
(NSI News Source Info) KOTTAKKAL, Kerala, India - October 13, 2010: Comprehensive daily news related to Defense News / Latest Press Releases for the world of TODAY.*Comprehensive daily news related to Defense News / Latest Press Releases for the world of TODAY

*Sources - Defense News, Defense-Aerospace.com

Europe »

Italian Navy AW-101s Start Afghanistan Mission

BY TOM KINGTON

ROME - Three Italian Navy AW-101 helicopters will arrive in Afghanistan by Oct. 13 to start a 12 month tour, the Navy said Oct. 11. ... full story
11 Oct 18:27 EDT (22:27 GMT)

Australia Certifies A330-based Tanker Aircraft

BY JOHN REED

EADS officials confirmed Oct. 7 that the company's Airbus A330-based refueling aircraft built for the Royal Australian Air Force has been certified by the Australian government to operate as a military tanker. ... full story
7 Oct 17:15 EDT (21:15 GMT)

Meteor Integration To Improve Gripen Export Value

BY GERARD O'DWYER

HELSINKI - Sweden's strategy to add export value to the JAS 39 Gripen-NG continues, following the signing of a production contract with Britain's Ministry of Defense covering the integration of the active radar-guided Beyond Visual Range Meteor missile into the Swedish combat aircraft. ... full story
7 Oct 13:05 EDT (17:05 GMT)

Americas »

Australia Certifies A330-based Tanker Aircraft

BY JOHN REED

EADS officials confirmed Oct. 7 that the company's Airbus A330-based refueling aircraft built for the Royal Australian Air Force has been certified by the Australian government to operate as a military tanker. ... full story
7 Oct 17:15 EDT (21:15 GMT)

GAO Denies U.S. Aerospace-Antonov KC-X Protest

BY JOHN T. BENNETT

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has denied a protest filed by U.S. Aerospace and its Ukrainian KC-X tanker partner alleging the U.S. Air Force did not give them a fair shake. ... full story
6 Oct 17:20 EDT (21:20 GMT)

Germany Requests Anti-Missile Gear For VIP Planes

BY ALBRECHT MULLER

BONN - Germany wants to equip the aircraft that fly top government officials with anti-missile systems. ... full story
6 Oct 16:23 EDT (20:23 GMT)

Asia & Pacific Rim »

Italian Navy AW-101s Start Afghanistan Mission

BY TOM KINGTON

ROME - Three Italian Navy AW-101 helicopters will arrive in Afghanistan by Oct. 13 to start a 12 month tour, the Navy said Oct. 11. ... full story
11 Oct 18:27 EDT (22:27 GMT)

Australia Certifies A330-based Tanker Aircraft

BY JOHN REED

EADS officials confirmed Oct. 7 that the company's Airbus A330-based refueling aircraft built for the Royal Australian Air Force has been certified by the Australian government to operate as a military tanker. ... full story
7 Oct 17:15 EDT (21:15 GMT)

Half Of Indian Air Force Equipment Called Obsolete

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

NEW DELHI - Half of the weapons and equipment used by the Indian Air Force are obsolete and need urgent replacement, a top Indian defense official has said. ... full story
5 Oct 12:53 EDT (16:53 GMT)

Middle East & Africa »

Israel Signs for First JSF Squadron

BY BARBARA OPALL-ROME

Tel Aviv - After nearly eight years of politically charged evaluation and negotiation, followed by acrimonious cost-benefit deliberations within the Israeli Cabinet, it is now official: The Israel Air Force will become the first non-partner nation to fly the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. ... full story
8 Oct 18:24 EDT (22:24 GMT)

Russia To Reimburse Iran Over Missile Deal

BY ANNA SMOLCHENKO, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

NICOSIA - Russia is reimbursing Iran for its down payments on a deal for advanced S-300 ground-to-air missiles, which Moscow halted in the face of tough new U.N. sanctions, Russian Technologies chief Sergei Chemezov told reporters on Oct. 7. ... full story
7 Oct 08:15 EDT (12:15 GMT)

DoD: Pakistan, U.S. Discuss NATO Strike

BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon on Sept. 28 said recent cross-border strikes by NATO helicopters in Pakistan were marked by "communication breakdowns," as allied officers were not able to contact their Pakistani counterparts about the operation until afterward. ... full story


Europe »

Russia To Import 'Outdated' Arms: Minister

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

MOSCOW - Russia will import arms rather than buy outdated Russian models, the defense minister said Oct. 4, slamming the failure of the domestic defense industry to meet modern standards. ... full story
4 Oct 11:24 EDT (15:24 GMT)

German Conservative Parties Agree To End Conscription

BY ALBRECHT MÜLLER

BERLIN - The executive committees of Germany's Christian Democratic Party (CDU) and Christian Social Party (CSU) agreed to allow the end of military conscription. ... full story
29 Sep 16:22 EDT (20:22 GMT)

MEADS Program Officials Claim Lower Long-Term Costs

BY KATE BRANNEN

In making its case for the tri-national Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), Lockheed Martin announced Sept. 22 that over the lifetime of the program, MEADS would be more affordable than already fielded air and missile defense systems. ... full story
22 Sep 16:50 EDT (20:50 GMT)

Americas »

Pakistani Taliban Destroys Some 40 NATO Vehicles

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - More than 40 NATO vehicles were destroyed in two separate Taliban attacks in Pakistan on Oct. 6 as the militants stepped up their efforts to disrupt supply routes into Afghanistan. ... full story
6 Oct 14:36 EDT (18:36 GMT)

U.S. Army to Set Out Tiered Requirements for GCV

BY KATE BRANNEN

The U.S. Army will set out its revised requirements for the Ground Combat Vehicle in three tiers, service officials told industry officials last week. ... full story
5 Oct 17:56 EDT (21:56 GMT)

U.S. Army Recommends SLAMRAAM Termination

BY KATE BRANNEN

The U.S. Army is recommending the Pentagon terminate the Surface-Launched Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (SLAMRAAM) program, according to a letter from the National Guard Association of the United States. ... full story
5 Oct 15:37 EDT (19:37 GMT)

Asia & Pacific Rim »

Pakistani Taliban Destroys Some 40 NATO Vehicles

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - More than 40 NATO vehicles were destroyed in two separate Taliban attacks in Pakistan on Oct. 6 as the militants stepped up their efforts to disrupt supply routes into Afghanistan. ... full story
6 Oct 14:36 EDT (18:36 GMT)

Half Of Indian Air Force Equipment Called Obsolete

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

NEW DELHI - Half of the weapons and equipment used by the Indian Air Force are obsolete and need urgent replacement, a top Indian defense official has said. ... full story
5 Oct 12:53 EDT (16:53 GMT)

U.S., Indian Minister Meet; Defense Deals Pending

BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

WASHINGTON - U.S. and Indian defense chiefs met Sept. 28 amid efforts by Washington to step up arms sales to New Delhi and ease restrictions on hi-tech weaponry. ... full story
28 Sep 17:26 EDT (21:26 GMT)

Middle East & Africa »

British Forces Hand Over Flashpoint Afghan District To U.S.

BY DANNY KEMP, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

LONDON - British troops transferred responsibility for security in the Sangin district of southern Afghanistan to U.S. forces Sept. 20, leaving an area where Britain suffered its worst losses since the invasion. ... full story
20 Sep 10:55 EDT (14:55 GMT)

Iraq To Spend $13B On U.S. Arms, Equipment

BY JIM MICHAELS, USA TODAY

BAGHDAD - Iraq is preparing to buy as much as $13 billion in American arms and military equipment, a huge order of tanks, ships and hardware that U.S. officials say shows Iraqi-U.S. military ties will be tight for years to come. ... full story
1 Sep 05:55 EDT (09:55 GMT)

U.S. Combat Brigades Stay in Iraq Under Different Name

BY KATE BRANNEN

As the final convoy of the Army's 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Lewis, Wash., entered Kuwait early Aug. 19, a different Stryker brigade remained in Iraq. ... full story
19 Aug 14:14 EDT (18:14 GMT)