DTN News - SYRIA UNREST: Why Syria Won't Get The Libya Treatment From The West

Defense News: DTN News - SYRIA UNREST: Why Syria Won't Get The Libya Treatment From The West
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Vivienne Walt - TIME
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 19, 2012: One year ago, on March 19, 2011, Western leaders, alarmed by the disaster unfolding in Libya, voted in the U.N. Security Council to intervene militarily with "all necessary means," arguing that they could not stand by and watch civilians get massacred. As a result of the U.N. resolution, NATO launched a bombing campaign, led by Britain, France and the U.S., and flew about 10,000 bombing sorties over Libya, helping to obliterate Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year dictatorship in just seven months.

So, could it happen in Syria? Probably not, according to two reports out on Monday. Both suggest that the Western powers would face significantly bigger challenges in intervening against President Bashar Assad, both politically and militarily, than they did in Libya. Says the British military think tank Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI) in a report marking the anniversary of the U.N. vote: "The Libya intervention took place in a singularly unique moment where the international stars, as it were, were aligned in a set of propitious circumstances."

(MORE: How a New York City–Based Activist Group Became a Player in Syria)

Unlike Gaddafi, Assad has hugely upgraded his air- and sea-attack capabilities since the revolt against him erupted a year ago, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which tracks the opaque defense industry. In its yearly report on global arms transfers, also to be published on Monday, SIPRI lists billions spent by Assad on state-of-the-art Russian systems, much of which has been delivered during the past year. "This is a major upgrade," says Paul Holtom, SIPRI senior researcher on arms transfers. "Any discussions about an air attack on Syria would be more challenging than it would have been previously."

Last year, Russia delivered as many as 36 Pantsyr-SI antiaircraft missiles to Syria, according to SIPRI. Lightweight and mobile, the medium-range missiles can be mounted on the back of trucks, making them difficult for combat jets to target. In addition, the organization believes Russia has recently delivered upgraded versions of the MiG-29 combat aircraft to Syria. And it has upgraded hundreds of T-72 tanks every year since 2007, fitting them with far more modern weapons; in recent weeks, opposition activists in the besieged city of Homs filmed video footage showing T-72 tanks in action during the assault on the city.

Aside from the Pantsyr, Russia also sent Syria other modern antiaircraft missiles last year, including about 40 SA-17 Grizzly missiles and two medium-range SA-17 Buk systems, according to SIPRI. And despite the world's outrage over Assad's crackdown, Assad announced a $550 million deal with Russia in January for 36 light training and combat aircraft called Yak-130.

(PHOTOS: Alessio Romanzi's Photographs of the Syrian Civil War)

Indeed, if Gaddafi had taken delivery of the weapons, which Assad now has, he would have proved a more formidable foe against NATO forces, according to Holtom; Gaddafi's order for six Yak-130s had not been delivered by the time the Libyan revolt erupted in February last year, and he lacked new-generation antiaircraft weapons. "These are systems Gaddafi did not have," Holtom tells TIME. "He was in advance discussions about buying a number of air defense and combat aircraft from the Russians, but he never bought them."

That turned out to be a lucky break for NATO, according to RUSI. It says the Libya campaign was much more difficult than Western leaders revealed publicly at the time, making the prospect of a Syria campaign much more worrisome for politicians with the Libya experience behind them. When NATO began bombing Libya last March, Gaddafi was a much tougher enemy than the coalitions leaders, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, had calculated. Having been argued at the U.N. that it was only to protect civilians in eastern Libya, "the operation was conceived at the lowest level and for the shortest period of time," writes RUSI director of international security studies Jonathan Eyal in the report.

Instead, it quickly morphed into an all-out war. That severely strained European militaries, which flew 90% of the attack sorties. "European stockpiles struggled to cope," writes Elizabeth Quintana, a RUSI airpower senior research fellow, adding that the U.S. ultimately had to "plug the gaps." And since Britain's Tornado and Typhoon jets were flying daily sorties over Libya, Britain's own airspace was left dangerously vulnerable. In addition, she says, European militaries were relying on aging aircraft ill equipped for the intensity and fast pace of Libya's war.

(MORE: The Gaddafi Regime Is Broken. What Will Take Its Place?)

As Libya's war dragged on for months, the strain on NATO forces grew more evident. Indeed, Cameron and Sarkozy must have breathed a sigh of relief when Libyan rebels finally killed Gaddafi on Oct. 20, ending the NATO campaign. "The armed forces were lucky the rebels toppled the Gaddafi regime when they did," Quintana writes.

Ironically, the Libyan war now makes it more difficult for Western leaders to win U.N. approval for military intervention against Assad, even though Syria looks worse than Libya did last March: U.N. officials estimate that more than 8,000 people have been killed in Syria's yearlong revolt, including many civilians in assaults against Homs, Idlib and other opposition enclaves.

This time around, however, Russia with veto powers at the U.N. Security Council has made it clear it will not ditch its longtime ally; it maintains its only naval base in the region in Syria's port of Tartus. Russian officials have said repeatedly they believe Western leaders misled them at the U.N. in March 2011 by saying NATO attacks were only to protect civilians, rather than to overthrow Gaddafi; China which also has veto powers at the Security Council has expressed similar views.

In truth, Gaddafi did critical damage to his own cause — a mistake from which Assad seems to have learned. In firebrand speeches in Tripoli last February and March, Gaddafi dared Western leaders to attack his country and scorned several overtures by them and the Arab League to negotiate a political settlement or exile deal. The RUSI report says Gaddafi "virtually invited military action upon himself. What dictator would now ever risk announcing to the world's media his intention to butcher an entire city like rats," a phrase Gaddafi used frequently to describe his opposition.

Notwithstanding the assault on Syria's opposition, there are differences: U.N. envoy Kofi Annan flew to Damascus on March 10 to discuss possible negotiations with Assad. "Gaddafi had no powerful friends and was isolated in a way that Bashar al-Assad, for example, is not," says the RUSI report. And so far those friends are standing by their man, a leader who now has other weapons at hand.

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*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Vivienne Walt - TIME
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DTN News - CHINA HIKES DEFENCE BUDGET: China Engaging In Military Buildup While US Cuts Forces

Defense News: DTN News - CHINA HIKES DEFENCE BUDGET: China Engaging In Military Buildup While US Cuts Forces
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources by Matt Lacy - Greeley Gazette
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 18, 2012: An expert on Communist China says the United States could be making a grave mistake by cutting back on defense spending while China is doing just the opposite.

Beijing recently announced a new defense budget of approximately $106 billion, which equates to an 11.2-percent increase. Cheng says this increase coupled with last years 12.7 percent increase means that China is now spending more on its military than all other Asian nations combined. The new budget comes at a time when the Obama administration, despite calling for a higher priority in Asia, is busily reducing the U.S. defense outlay.

While many critics of defense spending in the United States say that it is larger than the majority of the world, Dean Cheng, a research fellow at the Asian studies Center with The Heritage Foundation  says there are key differences between the two militaries.

“the U.S. is a key enforcer of international norms and safety. It is the American Navy, more than any other, that keeps the world’s sea lanes safe. It is the U.S. Air Force that provides space situational awareness, including conjunction warnings, to all other space-faring nations (including China) and manages the GPS constellation to global benefit—both without charge.”

He goes on to note that by contrast China's military budget is spent almost entirely on Chinese interests. While he acknowledges that with China having the second largest economy in the world it is expected that have a substantial military, and that while the Chinese defense spending increases by themselves should not draw alarm, there are other reasons for concern.

Cheng says there are two aspects of Chinese defense priorities that could spell problems for the United States.

The first thing he says is that the Chinese are focused on countering the US military. "So they buy things like anti-ship ballistic missiles -- which really are of use only against things like American aircraft carriers, but not against, say, Somali pirates," he offers.

Cheng says another advantage the Chinese military has is that it is still more of a local military operating near China rather than maintaining a global presence like the US. This means China can put all of its resources up against only a portion of the US military.

He goes on to note the Chinese Communist Party appears to be taking a more aggressive stance not only against US interests but against its neighbors Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. The government has been making claims of sovereignty over the South and East China seas and expanding its forces opposite Taiwan.

China is not the only military United States should be concerned about. While our military is facing the possibility of close to $1 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years and a reduction of up to one third of our military force, Russia is also engaging on a military buildup.

A 10 year, $640 billion military modernization underway in Russia will include 600 new aircraft, 1000 new choppers and an additional hundred ships added to the Russian Navy including 20 submarines.

By contrast, the Pentagon has said it may be forced to engage in involuntary separations to meet troop reduction goals of 67,100 soldiers form active and reserve Army units, 15,20 from the Marine Corps, 8,600 from the Navy and 1,700 from the Air Force as part of $487 in budget cuts. If Congress is unable to reach targeted spending cuts that were a part of the congressional deal reached during last years debt ceiling debate another $500 billion could be cut from the military budget.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources by Matt Lacy - Greeley Gazette
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DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: First Flight For Last Raptor

Defense News: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: First Flight For Last Raptor
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Lockheed Martin
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 16, 2012: The final Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor took to the skies for its first test flight here yesterday with company test pilot, Bret Luedke at the controls. Raptor 4195 has a May delivery date and will join other F-22s in the U.S. Air Force’s 3rd Wing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. 

The Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor is a single-seat, twin-engine fifth-generation supermaneuverable fighter aircraft that uses stealth technology. It was designed primarily as an air superiority fighter, but has additional capabilities that include ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals intelligence roles.Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is the prime contractor and is responsible for the majority of the airframe, weapon systems and final assembly of the F-22. Program partner Boeing Defense, Space & Security provides the wings, aft fuselage, avionics integration, and training systems.

The aircraft was variously designated F-22 and F/A-22 during the years prior to formally entering USAF service in December 2005 as the F-22A. Despite a protracted and costly development period, the United States Air Force considers the F-22 a critical component of US tactical air power, and claims that the aircraft is unmatched by any known or projected fighter, while Lockheed Martin claims that the Raptor's combination of stealth, speed, agility, precision and situational awareness, combined with air-to-air and air-to-ground combat capabilities, makes it the best overall fighter in the world today. Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, former Chief of the Australian Defence Force, said in 2004 that the "F-22 will be the most outstanding fighter plane ever built."

The high cost of the aircraft, a lack of clear air-to-air combat missions because of delays in the Russian and Chinese fifth-generation fighter programs, a US ban on Raptor exports, and the ongoing development of the planned cheaper and more versatile F-35 resulted in calls to end F-22 production. In April 2009 the US Department of Defense proposed to cease placing new orders, subject to Congressional approval, for a final procurement tally of 187 operational aircraft. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 lacked funding for further F-22 production. The final F-22 rolled off the assembly line on 13 December 2011 during a ceremony at Dobbins Air Reserve Base.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Lockheed Martin
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DTN News - PAKISTAN TALIBAN NEWS: Kidnapped Swiss Couple 'Escape' Pakistani Taliban After Eight Months In Captivity

Defense News: DTN News - PAKISTAN TALIBAN NEWS: Kidnapped Swiss Couple 'Escape' Pakistani Taliban After Eight Months In Captivity
*Tourists captured while campervanning in volatile region of Pakistan
*Claimed they escaped after showing up at military checkpoint
*But other reports say they were 'freed' after a ransom was paid
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Simon Tomlinson - Daily Mail - UK
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 15, 2012: A Swiss couple kidnapped by the Pakistani Taliban eight months ago today claimed to have escaped after showing up at a military checkpoint in the north-west of the country.

Olivier David Och, 31, and Daniela Widmer, 29 were captured while travelling by camper van in Pakistan's volatile south-west region and had been held on the Afghan border.

But today they were celebrating their freedom - although relatives would barely be able to recognise them.

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We're free: Swiiss couple Olivier David Och and Daniela Widmer wave upon their arrival at the Qasim base in Rawalpindi today after escaping Taliban capture

Safe: The couple, who were captured while trekking in remote Pakistan, announced themselves at a checkpoint in the north of the country

Pakistan army spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said: 'They escaped, this is what they have told us.

'They reported to our checkpost then. They are being questioned at the moment in Peshawar.'     

According to intelligence sources in North Waziristan, where they were held, the two were found at a military checkpoint on a main road in Miranshah, the region's main town at about 5.30am local time.

Handshakes: David Och and Daniela Widmer were believed to be held in North Waziristan by one of the Taliban's top lieutenants

They were then sent to the city of Peshawar by helicopter.    

A Swiss embassy official said the embassy was not in a position to confirm or deny the reports.

Other reports, however, say the couple were freed by the Taliban in an apparent olive branch to the Pakistani government.

Taliban commanders said an undisclosed ransom was paid in exchange for the release of the pair, who in October had appeared in a militant video saying their captors were threatening to kill them.

Unrecognisable: The passport photos of Daniela Wider and Olivier Och

Colonel Nadeem of the Pakistani Army media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), confirmed the couple were released, moved to Peshawar and have now reached Islamabad where they are being put through a medical check up.

Colonel Nadeem said: 'I can confirm that the said Swiss couple have been released, they were picked up in an area near Miranshah in South Waziristan, and have now been moved to Islamabad by security forces.

'They are in okay health.'

When asked about a possible deal for their release, the Colonel said: 'I am not authorised to speak on the matter, and an official version will soon be released by the ISPR.'

Olive branch? Some are claiming Olivier Och and Daniela Widmer, pictured in captivity soon after they were taken, were released as a sop to the Pakistan government

In fear of their lives: This video grab released in October shows the couple in front of Taliban gunman after they were abducted

Sources in North Waziristan say the Swiss couple were being kept by a faction of the Taliban led by Commander Wali ur Rehman, a senior disgruntled militant commander, who is tipped for the organisation's leadership after Baitullah Mehsud's death.

He is considered to be closer to the Pakistan government and is keen on negotiations.

Kidnapping for ransom is relatively common in Pakistan, although foreigners are not often targets. Militants also occasionally take foreigners hostage.    

Two Western aid workers were kidnapped by gunmen in the central Pakistani city of Multan on January 19. Another, a British doctor working with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was kidnapped in the southwestern city of Quetta on January 5.    

Warren Weinstein, an American aid worker, was kidnapped from the central Pakistani city of Lahore in August last year. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for Weinstein's abduction in December.

VIDEO: Appeals from the couple emerged online whilst they were being held 

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Simon Tomlinson - Daily Mail - UK
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DTN News - FOAL EAGLE 2012: US, South Korean Joint Exercise Foal Eagle Largest Of Year

Defense News: DTN News - FOAL EAGLE 2012: US, South Korean Joint Exercise Foal Eagle Largest Of Year
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Jon Rabiroff - Stars and Stripes
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 15, 2012: South Korea — U.S. and South Korean soldiers fired several rounds of artillery into a hillside here Thursday as part of the largest alliance exercise of the year on the peninsula.

After the half-hour exercise, Lt. Col. Adam Robinson of the Utah National Guard’s 145th Field Artillery Battalion talked about how the drill would better prepare U.S. and South Korean troops for a potential invasion from North Korea.

He stopped short of saying anything provocative about the North, even going as far as suggesting at one point, “We want to have peace.”

In doing so, Robinson became the latest in a long line of commanders involved in U.S.-South Korean military exercises in recent years to shy away from any of the chest-thumping rhetoric that usually accompanies exercises carried out by North Korea’s military.

For example, earlier this month during a North Korean drill near the disputed maritime sea border between the two countries, military commanders reportedly warned of a future attack much harsher than one the North launched in 2010 on Yeonpyeong Island, which left four South Koreans dead.

“We only fired a small number of artillery last time, “ North Korean Col. Gen. Pyon In Son was quoted as saying. “We will mobilize all our corps’ artillery pieces to turn them into a real sea of fire this time.”

U.S. Forces Korea spokeswoman Jennifer Buschick said alliance officials see no benefit to getting into a war of words.

“Bellicose rhetoric serves no constructive purpose, does not contribute to stability in the region and is not in the spirit of the armistice” (which halted Korean War hostilities in 1953), she said.

“Our mission is to maintain peace and stability, and to deter aggression on the Korean peninsula, and if that should fail we are prepared to fight and win,” Buschick said. “Our training events are transparent, defense-oriented and designed to increase readiness to defend (South Korea).”

The U.S. and South Korea are in the midst of Foal Eagle, the alliance’s largest military exercise of the year, which runs from March 1 to April 30, and involves as many as 200,000 South Korean troops and approximately 11,000 U.S. forces, most of whom will travel to the peninsula specifically for the exercise.

That was the case Thursday as the 145th traveled from Utah just days in advance of the exercise, during which U.S. Paladin M-109A6s and South Korean K-55s lined up side-by-side and fired in the direction of Rodriquez Range from an off-base staging area.

Robinson said the exercise showed that his battalion was prepared to deploy quickly from the U.S. and join with a South Korean unit - in this case the 628th Field Artillery Battalion - “to prepare for a possible invasion if that happens.”

Asked what, if any, message the exercise might send to North Korea, he said, “That we can work together; that we are united; that we can train together and that we’re ready to fight together.

“We have learned much from them, and they from us, and we will be better prepared if, in case, something happens,” Robinson said.

rabiroffj@pstripes.osd.mil

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Jon Rabiroff - Stars and Stripes
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