DTN News - GERMAN DEFENSE NEWS: German Soldiers Bundeswehr Carry Torches During Farewell Ceremony For Former German President In Berlin

Defense News: DTN News - GERMAN DEFENSE NEWS: German Soldiers Bundeswehr Carry Torches During Farewell Ceremony For Former German President In Berlin
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith 
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 9, 2012:  Soldiers of the German armed forces Bundeswehr carry torches during a farewell ceremony for the former German President on March 8, 2012 at Bellevue Palace in Berlin. 

Germany's former president Christian Wulff was honoured at the torchlit military ceremony after leaving office early under the cloud of a political favours probe. 

Nearly three weeks after resigning, Wulff, 52, was officially waved off from the largely ceremonial job at a nationally televised evening 'Ceremonial Tattoo' (Grosser Zapfenstreich) in the garden of the president's sumptuous Bellevue Palace. 

Wulff, for less than two years Germany's youngest head of state, became embroiled in a quick-fire series of scandals played out in the media, culminating in prosecutors asking parliament to lift his immunity.

 
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DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: Chinese Military Personnel Arrive For National People's Congress At Great Hall Of The People In Beijing

Defense News: DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: Chinese Military Personnel Arrive For National People's Congress At Great Hall Of The People In Beijing
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith 
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 9, 2012: Senior Chinese military personnel arrive for the second plenary session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Friday, March 9, 2012. 

China's government vowed Friday that it will not deviate from its socialist path, defending anew its authoritarian system and saying Western capitalist political systems are not suitable for China.


 
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DTN News - PHILIPPINE DEFENSE NEWS: Philippine Military Received Four Sokol Combat Utility Helicopters From Poland

Defense News: DTN News - PHILIPPINE DEFENSE NEWS: Philippine Military Received Four Sokol Combat Utility Helicopters From Poland
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith 
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 9, 2012:  A brand new Polish multi-role Sokol Combat Utility helicopter prepares to take off with some members of the media following turnover ceremony to the Philippine Air Force at Clark Air Base, Pampanga province, 100 kilometers (63 miles) north of Manila, Philippines Friday March 9, 2012. 

The Philippine military received on Friday four of eight Polish multi-role helicopters worth about $66 million as part of a modernization program for one of Asia's most poorly-equipped armed forces.


 
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DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: U.S-Afghan Military Joint "Route Clearing Patrol" In Nangarhar Province, Eastern Afghanistan

Defense News: DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: U.S-Afghan Military Joint "Route Clearing Patrol" In Nangarhar Province, Eastern Afghanistan
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith 
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 9, 2012:  The United States and Afghanistan are expected to sign a deal on the transfer of U.S.-run detention centres to Afghan authorities on Friday, two Afghan officials said, improving the prospects of a strategic partnership allowing long-term U.S. involvement in the country.

A convoy of joint U.S-Afghan military that conducted a two-day "Route Clearing Patrol", finding and removing roadside bombs on roads, return to Forward Operating Base Connolly overlooking snowcapped mountains in Nangarhar province, eastern Afghanistan March 9, 2012.

The Foreign Ministry later said Afghan Defence Minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak and Gen. John Allen, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, would sign an MOU.

The Strategic Partnership Agreement, which Washington and Kabul have been discussing for over a year, will be the framework for U.S. involvement in Afghanistan beyond 2014, when the last foreign combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan.

Afghanistan wants the United States and NATO to agree to stop carrying out night raids on Afghan homes as a precondition for signing an agreement with Washington and a timeline to assume control over detention centres.

The Obama administration has been hoping it can conclude an agreement before a meeting of NATO leaders in Chicago in May.

While the document would not nail down details, it is expected to contain an agreement in principle to some sort of long-term U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.

A failure to broker a deal might strain U.S.-Afghan relations and increase the chances of prolonged instability in Afghanistan.

The latest round of talks has been complicated by tensions over the burning of copies of the Muslim holy book at a NATO base, which triggered violent protests and prompted some Afghan security forces to turn their weapons on American soldiers


 
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DTN News - IRAQ DEFENSE NEWS: Iraq Interested In Czech L-159 Fighter Planes Says Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas

Defense News: DTN News - IRAQ DEFENSE NEWS: Iraq Interested In Czech L-159 Fighter Planes Says Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources  Prague Daily Monitor
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 8, 2012: Iraq military continues to be interested in the purchase of Czech-made L-159 subsonic fighter planes, Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas said after a cabinet meeting today.

Necas said aircraft makers from other countries are of course competing for the contract on the delivery of fighter planes for Iraq, too.

Czech Aero Vodochody company has been negotiating about the deal in Iraq for some time. The L-159's rivals are British Hawk and a supersonic plane offered by Korea in cooperation with the U.S. producer Lockheed Martin.

Czech Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra reported on the latest development of the negotiations with Iraq representatives at the cabinet meeting today.

The next negotiating round is to take place in Bagdad within two weeks, Vondra said.

Iraqi Defence Minister Saadoun Dulaimi assured Vondra during his visit to Prague in January that Iraq keeps being interested in the L-159s.

According to available information, Iraq is first of all interested in new planes made by Aero Vodochody. The Czech Republic would like to sell also the already produced but mothballed planes, however.

Czech representatives point out that these planes may be available practically immediately, unlike new aircraft whose production may take a few years.

The sale of new Czech aircraft to Iraq might be the beginning of long-term cooperation in military aviation between the two countries.

Iraq allegedly plans to buy up to 24 new aircraft.

Czech military pilots currently use 24 L-159s, while 36 of these planes are mothballed. The maintenance of the redundant planes costs about 30 million crowns a year.

Five of the redundant planes were swapped for one CASA C-295 transport aircraft and several of them were used for spare parts or turned into two-seat aircraft. The military is considering further remaking of the unused one-seat L-159s into two-seat test aircraft, media wrote.

 
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DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: U.S. DoD Awarded Contract To Northrop Grumman For Radar System On Global Hawk

Defense News: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: U.S. DoD Awarded Contract To Northrop Grumman For Radar System On Global Hawk 
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources U.S. DoD issued No. 159-12 March 7, 2012 - DTN News
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada – March 9, 2012: Northrop Grumman Corp., Aerospace Systems, El Segundo, Calif., is being awarded a $24,484,465 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Multi Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program radar system development and demonstration alignment with the Global Hawk Block 40 program schedule.  

The location of the performance is El Segundo, Calif. Work is expected to be completed on Aug. 31, 2013.  Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., is the contracting activity (F19628-00-C-0100 P00213).

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources U.S. DoD issued No. 159-12 March 7, 2012 - DTN News
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DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Asia's Military Spending Likely To Overtake Europe This Year

Defense News: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Asia's Military Spending Likely To Overtake Europe This Year
*Asia, led by China, is becoming increasingly militarised as a result of rapid economic growth and strategic uncertainty
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Richard Norton-Taylor ~ guardian.co.uk
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 8, 2012: Military spending by Asian countries, led by China, is rising fast and for the first time is likely this year to outstrip Europe, where governments are cutting their defence budgets, according to a leading London-based thinktank.

"While the west reduces its spending on defence, Asia is becoming increasingly militarised as a result of rapid economic growth and strategic uncertainty," John Chipman, director general of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said at the launch of its latest annual Military Balance survey.

Asian countries increased their defence budget by more than 3% in real terms last year, the IISS said. China increased its share of total military expenditure on weapons in the region to more than 30%. Official Chinese military spending totalled nearly $90bn last year, more than two-and-a-half times the 2001 level.

Western analysts point to China's plans for naval "force projection" to defend its growing economic interests in Africa and elsewhere, and secure maritime lanes of communication.

Most attention has focused on China's first aircraft carrier, the former Soviet ship the Varyag, and its new J-20 combat aircraft. "But China's technological advances are more modest than some alarmist hypotheses of its military development have suggested", Chipman said. "They represent nascent rather than actual capability. China, for example, does not yet have the capability to operate fixed-wing aircraft from a carrier."

More immediately significant is China's development of anti-satellite capacities, anti-ship ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and cyber-warfare capabilities. "Managing tensions in the South China Sea will be an increasing challenge," said the IISS report.

Defence analysts also pointed to potential tensions between the US and China being aggravated by Beijing refusing to agree to confidence-building measures along the lines of those between the US and the Soviet Union during the cold war. "China does not want to give a seatbelt to the US," one defence analyst said.

Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are all investing in improving air and naval capacities, as are India, Japan and South Korea. India, for instance, plans to boost maritime capacities with submarines and aircraft carriers, said the IISS.

In Europe, defence budgets remain under pressure and cuts to equipment programmes continue. Between 2008 and 2010 there were reductions in defence spending in at least 16 European Nato member states. In a significant proportion of these, cuts in real terms exceeded 10%.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Richard Norton-Taylor ~ guardian.co.uk
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