DTN News - ISRAEL DEFENSE NEWS: IDF Launches Surprise Live-Fire Drill In Golan

Defense News: DTN News - ISRAEL DEFENSE NEWS: IDF Launches Surprise Live-Fire Drill In Golan 
*Exercise in Golan Heights aims to test army readiness and fitness in North and Central Commands, Artillery Corps

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Yaakov Lappin - Jerusalem Post

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 19, 2012: The IDF launched a surprise drill early Wednesday morning on the Golan Heights.

Units were scrambled to the North without warning following an order was given by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz.

The exercise is aimed at testing the fitness and readiness of several IDF units, with the Artillery Corps taking up center stage.

The Air Force has joined units from the IDF's Northern and Central Commands to take part in the drill. Other military forces are also taking part.

The exercise will end with a live fire exercise on Wednesday afternoon.

"This drill is part of a routine program of checks and surprise exercises held throughout the year by the IDF Comptroller. It is being held under the command of Brig.-Gen. Roee Riptin, who is the chief artillery officer," the IDF Spokesman's Unit said.

Sources in the IDF said the drill was planned ahead of time, and that it should not be seen as a sign of a change in the level of alert.

It comes on the heels of a major Golani Brigade infantry and Armored Corps drill, which was was jointly held in the Golan Heights over recent weeks.


Related News from Haaretz

*IDF Launches Surprise Live-Fire Drill In Golan Heights

The drill, to include Northern Command, Central Command, and Air Force troops, is meant to test the IDF’s readiness for an ‘emergency situation.

The Israel Defense Forces General Staff launched a comprehensive surprise drill on Wednesday, which will include the airlifting of forces to the Golan Heights and a live fire exercise, set to take place later in the evening.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz notified the units involved in the drill overnight, as the drill is meant to test the level of preparation of various units, including the Northern Command, Central Command, Air Force, and others.

The units involved specialize in offensive firepower, and for this reason they were chosen to participate in the drill, meant to test their readiness for an emergency situation.

The drill itself is expected to end in the evening, and is being overseen by the IDF’s Chief Artillery Officer, Brig. Gen. Roei Riftin, and is part of IDF efforts to examine the quality of operations, led by the IDF comptroller.

The drill was planned ahead of time and does not suggest the IDF has raised its level of preparation. However, such a test of the IDF’s ability to move a large number of forces from the Central Command to the Golan Heights, by way of helicopters, and to hold a comprehensive live-fire drill, examines the IDF’s ability to launch a serious military operation or even go to war.

A similar surprise drill was held on Yom Kippur Eve last year, involving two IDF divisions, which focused on testing the level of preparation for reserve units for emergency call-ups. Last year’s drill involved the emergency call-up of two reserve combat companies from the Central Command. Then, an IDF official said that holding the drill right before Yom Kippur was “more than a coincidence.”

Last week, the IDF began work on reinforcing the fence on the Israel-Syria border in the Golan Heights. Plans drafted by the IDF Northern Command call for placing dozens of new information-gathering sensors along the fence, electrifying parts of it so that it will warn of intruders, and laying mines along parts of the border.

Over the years, severe weather in the Golan Heights has battered the fence to the point where in certain places, it barely exists.

The Northern Command's main concern is the possibility that terrorists will try to launch a cross-border attack on IDF soldiers or on Israeli communities in the Golan. The army's assumption is that the deteriorating situation in Syria is liable to lead to an increase in terrorist activity near the border. Army sources said the volume of attempts to penetrate the border has already increased.


*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Yaakov Lappin - Jerusalem Post
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DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Female Car Bomber Kills 12 In Kabul

Defense News: DTN News - AFGHAN WAR NEWS: Female Car Bomber Kills 12 In Kabul
*Revenge for an anti-Islam film made in America

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources by Sardar Ahmad  Agence-France Presse
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 18, 2012: A female suicide car bomber attacked a van in Kabul Tuesday, killing 12 people, including eight South Africans, in an assault insurgents said was in revenge for an anti-Islam film made in America.

The bombing on a highway leading to Kabul international airport was the second suicide attack in the heavily fortified city in 10 days, reviving questions about stability as NATO accelerates a troop withdrawal and hands over to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.

It came as officers revealed that Western troops are scaling back joint operations with Afghans after 51 NATO soldiers were shot dead this year by their local colleagues, a setback for the war strategy that focuses on training Afghans to take over.

An AFP photographer saw at least six bodies lying among the wreckage of a gutted minivan, and another vehicle destroyed by flames still burning in the middle of the highway, with debris flung all around.

"At around 6:45 am (0215 GMT) a suicide bomber using a sedan blew himself up along the airport road in District 15. As a result, nine workers of a foreign company and three Afghan civilians are dead, and two police are wounded," police said in a statement.

An Afghan and a Western security official said nine foreigners were killed. The South African foreign ministry said eight of its citizens were among the dead.

"The foreigners were from a private company working at the airport," the Afghan official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A spokesman for NATO's US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it had no reports that its personnel were among the casualties.

Afghanistan's second largest insurgent group, Hezb-i-Islami, claimed responsibility, saying it was carried out by a woman to avenge the "Innocence of Muslims" film, which has sparked a weekof furious anti-US riots across Asia, North Africa and the Middle East.

"The bombing was carried out by a woman named Fatima. The bombing was in retaliation for the insult to our Prophet," spokesman Zubair Sidiqi in a telephone call to AFP from an undisclosed location.

It is extremely rare for the faction to claim a suicide attack in Afghanistan. It is also rare for women, few of whom drive in Afghanistan, to carry out suicide attacks.

A police investigator said he believed the bomber was female, after finding parts of a woman's leg.

On Monday, protests turned violent for the first time in Afghanistan over the low-budget trailer for the film, which is believed to have been produced by extremist Christians, as hundreds hurled stones at a US military base and clashed with police.

In the northern city of Kunduz, several hundred university students threw stones at police and set fire to photographs of US President Barack Obama in a fresh protest on Tuesday.

Under new orders, most joint patrols and advisory work with Afghan troops -- the cornerstone of NATO departure plans -- will have to be approved by a regional commander.

Cooperation with smaller units will have to be "evaluated on a case-by-case basis and approved by RC (regional) commanders", ISAF said in a statement.

NATO, which is helping the Afghan government fight a Taliban-led insurgency now in its 11th year, is gradually withdrawing its 112,600 remaining troops.

But as so-called insider attacks have grown, US commanders have gradually acknowledged the assaults pose a serious threat to the war effort and have struggled to stem the problem.

The commander of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, General John Allen, "has directed all operational commanders to review force protection and tactical activities in the light of the current circumstances", a US military officer in Washington said in an email.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaking at a news conference in Beijing, said the attacks were worrisome but that he believed Allen had taken the right approach to counter the problem.

But he insisted the insider assaults would not delay or derail plans to complete a drawdown of troops by the end of 2014 as planned.

The decision came after six ISAF soldiers were shot dead by suspected Afghan police and after the Taliban destroyed six US fighter jets in an unprecedented assault on a major base in the south this weekend.

It was unclear how the new rules for joint patrols might affect the plan to pull out the bulk of NATO combat forces, as some Afghan units are considered ill-prepared to begin operating independently.

Afghanistan police and officials investigate the site of a suicide attack in Kabul on September 18, 2012. A suicide bomber blew himself up alongside a minivan carrying foreigners on a major highway leading to the international airport in the Afghan capital, police said, killing at least 12 people, including nine foreigners.

Map locating Kabul where at least 12 people were killed in a suicide attack on Tuesday

Supporters of Lebanon's Hezbollah group hold signs during a rally in Beirut to denounce a film mocking Islam on September 17, 2012. An eruption of Muslim anger over a trailer of the American-made film that appeared on the Internet has spread across the world, taking hold in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, the West Bank, the Philippines and Yemen.

A Pakistani activist from Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba, a student wing of the hard line Sunni party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), throws a tear gas shell towards the police near the US consulate during a protest against an anti-Islam movie in Karachi.

Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah addresses thousands of supporters who took to the streets of southern Beirut to denounce a film mocking Islam on September 17, 2012. Nasrallah, who made a rare public appearance, has called for a week of protests across the country over the low-budget, US-made film, describing it as the "worst attack ever on Islam."

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources by Sardar Ahmad  Agence-France Presse 
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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China Builds Its Own Military-Industrial Complex

Defense News: DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China Builds Its Own Military-Industrial Complex

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 17, 2012:  When China turned to Russia for supplies of advanced weapons through the 1990s, it kick-started Beijing's military build-up with an immediate boost in firepower.

It also demonstrated the failure of its domestic defense sector which was still turning out obsolete 1950s vintage equipment for the People's Liberation Army from a sprawling network of state-owned arms makers.

Now, after more than two decades of soaring military spending, this once backward industry has been transformed -- China is creating its own military-industrial complex, with the private sector taking a leading role.

With Tiananmen-era bans on Western military sales to China still in place, an innovative and efficient domestic arms industry is crucial for Beijing as it assembles a modern military force capable of enforcing claims over Taiwan and disputed maritime territories.

China has locked horns recently with its Southeast Asian neighbors over conflicting claims to strings of islets in the South China Sea. Tensions have also flared with Japan over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, even as the United States executes a strategic military pivot towards the Pacific.

Well funded defense groups have rapidly absorbed the technology and expertise needed to build complex weapons, freeing China from its former heavy reliance on Russian and other foreign equipment, Chinese and Western experts say.

"A country's defense sector should reflect the strength of the country's economy," says Wu Da, a portfolio manager at Beijing-based Changsheng Fund Management Co Ltd which invests in listed Chinese defense stocks.

But, he adds, the sector is so shrouded in secrecy it's been hard to assess how viable it is.

"Some of the Chinese defense groups are already quite strong after so much military spending in recent years but you don't know exactly how well they are doing financially or technologically because China does not want others to know."

That could start to change.

INJECTING ASSETS

Beijing is enlisting the private sector to accelerate the rise of its best defense contractors, issuing new guidelines in July aimed at encouraging private investment in a sector traditionally sheltered from competition and public scrutiny.

Listed subsidiaries of top Chinese military contractors now intend to buy at least 20 billion yuan ($3.15 billion) in assets from their state-owned parents in the second half, according to their recent filings with the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.

This would double the value of military related assets injected into these listed companies since 2007 with more in the pipeline, as Beijing presses ahead with an ambitious program to privatize most of a vast arms industry employing more than a million workers at more than 1,000 state-owned enterprises.

The long term goal is to transform some of the leading contractors, such as China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) and China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation into homegrown versions of American giants Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman or Britain's BAE Systems.

AVIC, which is aiming to quadruple its sales to one trillion yuan ($157.7 billion) by 2020 from 250 billion yuan in 2011, plans to inject 80 percent of its main businesses into some of its listed companies by the end of next year.

Beijing has made repeated calls to speed up listings of all but the most sensitive military businesses. The authorities have also promised to allow public bidding for unclassified and minor defense contracts in a sector that is likely to enjoy strong growth if China continues its sustained military build-up.

China's top 10 defense groups with estimated combined assets of 2 trillion yuan ($315 billion) have listed more than 70 subsidiaries, including over 40 with defense-related businesses. About 25 per cent of the assets of the top 10 are now held in the listed companies, according to market analysts.

Some of these stocks have been strong performers. Sustained military outlays and the expectation of asset injections have insulated them from the country's current economic slowdown. They also tend to spike in price at times of increased tension between China and its neighbors over disputed territory.

The plan to buy more of their parent's military related assets would allow these listed companies to raise extra funds for research and development, the companies say.

AVIC subsidiary Hafei Aviation Industry Co Ltd plans to issue shares this year to buy 3.3 billion yuan ($520.5 million) in assets from its parent, including helicopter manufacturing companies.

"AVIC's injection of (its) helicopter business into the listed company will be a key experiment of China's strategic upgrade and transformation of its domestic defense and science industry," Hafei said in a July prospectus.

FALLING MILITARY IMPORTS

The growth of the domestic arms industry has allowed China to steadily reduce military imports. International arms transfer figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) show China's defense imports fell 58 per cent between 2007 and 2011.

In this period, China slipped to fourth place in the ranks of global arms buyers after holding top position in the five years to 2006.

"The PLA has clearly turned away from acquiring foreign developed platforms," says Scott Harold, a China analyst for the Santa Monica, California-based Rand Corporation.

After double digit, annual increases in outlays over most of the last 20 years, China's military spending is now second only to the United States.

In March, Beijing announced its defense budget for this year would increase 11.2 per cent to $106 billion but some foreign analysts believe this understates the country's overall military budget.

In its annual report on the Chinese military, the Pentagon in May estimated Beijing's total 2012 spending would be between $120 billion and $180 billion. Washington will spend $614 billion on its military this year.

Private data analyst, IHS Jane's Defense Budgets, forecasts that Beijing's annual outlays will reach almost $240 billion by 2015, more than the combined budgets of all nations in the Asia Pacific region and four times Japan's military spending.

About 30 per cent of China's military budget goes to weapons and equipment, according to Beijing's most recent defense White Paper published last year.

CASH OVERCOMES INEFFICIENCIES

Military experts say that alongside reorganization and streamlining launched in the late 1990s, this avalanche of cash has sharply improved the output from key sectors of the Chinese defense industry despite the inefficiencies of many big state-owned companies, widespread corruption and a lack of official or public oversight.

"There is just something about money, and the more of it the better," says Rand Corp's Harold.

Russian weapons, including Su-27 fighters, Kilo-class submarines and Sovremenny-class cruisers, remain some of the PLA's most potent hardware.

However, some Chinese-made equipment is now thought to be comparable to their Russian or Western counterparts, military experts say, although they acknowledge that accurate information about the performance of PLA weapons remains scarce.

Over the last decade, China has launched two classes of locally designed and built conventional submarines that are now the mainstays of the PLA's underwater fleet.

It has also built versions of the Su-27 combat aircraft and begun mass production of its J-10 fighter that some experts rank with the U.S.-made F-16 in performance. China reportedly has developed its first stealth fighter, the J-20, but details of its capabilities remain unclear.

Chinese factories also appear to have made rapid progress in developing a range of advanced missiles. These include up to 1,000 ballistic and cruise missiles deployed against Taiwan and new mobile launchers for the PLA's nuclear weapons.

Even in more basic equipment, China's arms industry appears to have made significant improvements. In little over a decade, shabby uniforms and poor quality footwear have been replaced with smart, comfortable looking camouflage uniforms, lightweight helmets and solid combat boots.

Ground troops carry new assault rifles and small arms, while modern tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery have been introduced to replace equipment derived from Soviet designs of the 1950s.

Arms trade experts conclude that China's factories are now capable of satisfying most of the PLA's needs - and that of other nations as well.

In the 10 years to 2011, China's foreign military sales increased 95 per cent, making it the sixth largest arms supplier behind the UK, SIPRI figures show. Sales of jet fighters, warships and tanks to political ally Pakistan, however, account for much of this increase.

TECHNOLOGY WEAKNESS

Despite clear progress, some glaring weaknesses remain in Chinese defense technology, military experts say.

The PLA still appears reliant on imports of high performance jet engines from Russia for its most advanced fighters despite decades of research and development aimed at developing local power plants.

It also depends on dual-use, imported engine technology from Europe for its warships, submarines and armored vehicles.

Domestic aerospace companies have so far been unable to build big military transport aircraft that are important for military mobility in a country as big as China. These companies also remain heavily dependent on European, U.S. and Russian designs and technology for locally built helicopters.

Beijing is pinning its hopes on competitive market forces to help close these gaps as it continues its military spending spree.

That means more business for listed arms makers such as China Shipbuilding Industry Ltd which raised 8 billion yuan ($1.26 billion) in May from a convertible bond issue to buy military assets from its parent, the giant China Shipbuilding Industry Corp.

"With the construction of our country's navy steadily pushed forward, we expect our company's income from defense business to keep increasing," the company said in a May stock exchange statement.

(Editing by Bill Tarrant)

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters
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DTN News - CHINA NEWS: Chinese River Turns Red, And Nobody Is Quite Sure Why

Defense News: DTN News - CHINA NEWS: Chinese River Turns Red, And Nobody Is Quite Sure Why
*A stretch of China's Yangtze River has mysteriously turned red around the city of Chongquin. Officials are investigating the river's transformation, as nobody is quite sure what caused it. The river began turning the color of a nice marinara sauce on Thursday

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith - DTN News
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 8, 2012: The Yangtze River, the third longest river in the world traditionally known as the "golden watercourse," 
mysteriously blushed for the first time on Sept. 6. Residents in the surrounding area near the city of Chongqing, where the Yangtze connects to the Jialin River, literally stopped in their tracks when they noticed their once golden river had turned a shocking shade of red.

For photos of the once golden Yangtze River, check out the pictures in the photo gallery above. For photos of what the newly-red Yangtze looks like, take a look at these photos here.

Nobody is quite sure what caused the color change, but residents carefully crept down to the riverbanks on Thursday and Friday to save some of the red river water in bottles, likely for posterity's sake. When they lifted their bottles from their water, Chinese citizens were surprised to find the water was completely opaque and had a similar orange-red appearance as tomato juice.

Even though the water doesn't look too safe, the new beet-red color of the river didn't stop people from going about their business. According to the Daily Mail, workers who rely on the Yangtze as their main source of income, including fishermen, continued about their daily work as if nothing were unusual. Officials are investigating the river's transformation, as nobody is quite sure what caused it. 

The Yangtze River, Wikipedia explains, is key to the vitality of both China's economy and culture:

"The prosperous Yangtze River Delta generates as much as 20% of the PRC's GDP. The Yangtze River flows through a wide array of ecosystems and is itself habitat to several endemic and endangered species including the Chinese alligator and the Yangtze sturgeon. For thousands of years, people have used the river for water, irrigation, sanitation, transportation, industry, boundary-marking and war. The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River is the largest hydro-electric power station in the world."

Yangtze River Turns Red: How Did It Happen?

As officials investigate the Yangtze, early predictions from scientists say the red reaction was likely a result of pollution.

Emily Stanley, a limnologist (study of freshwater science) at the University of Wisconsin, said it's possible microorganisms could have caused the change in the river.

"When water turns red, the thing a lot of people think of first is red tide," Stanley told LiveScience. "But the algae that causes red tide is a marine group and not a freshwater group, so it's highly, highly unlikely that this is a red-tide-related phenomenon."

It wouldn't be surprising to believe pollution is the cause. According to Wikipedia, the Yangtze River "has suffered from industrial pollution, agricultural run-off, siltation, and loss of wetland and lakes," which have made flooding considerably worse, especially given the heavy rainfall in that region of China. Even though some sections of the Yangtze are currently protected as nature reserves, the Daily Mail noted that last December, the Jian River, which connects to the Yangtze, had turned red "after becoming polluted by a powerful dye." Reports say the dye was dumped into a storm drain in the city of Luoyang by two illegal dye workshops. The factories were eventually raided by officials and their machinery was disassembled.

The Yangtze's redness was most pronounced near Chongqing, but Chinese residents have also reported the red water at several other points. Officials still investigating the cause.

     
*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith - DTN News
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