Malaysia is strengthening its military air ties with China and has sought the assistance of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in maintenance and logistics support for Malaysia's fleet of Sukhoi SU-30 fighter jets.
Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) chief Jeneral Datuk Seri Rodzali Daud said Malaysia was also looking into acquiring some Chinese military ware.
"China had risen to become the superpower of the region and is advanced in its technology as well and our relationship with China is getting better and better," Jen Rodzali told Bernama Friday.
Malaysia's order for four Airbus A400M military planes will proceed but delivery will be delayed by at least three years to 2016, a senior official said Friday.
The European aircraft manufacturer suffered a major blow on Thursday as South Africa cancelled a multi-billion dollar contract to buy eight of the aircraft because of delays and a huge cost rise.
South Africa and Malaysia were the only two non-European orders for the A400M. Malaysia placed its order in 2005 for the four planes originally due to be delivered in 2013.
A week from today, the strongest gantry crane in the Western Hemisphere will lift into place an 81-foot by 96-foot hunk of steel, the first building block of the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier.
In a keel-laying ceremony at Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Newport News shipyard the morning of Nov. 14, a gang of workers will hoist the 900-ton structure into Dry Dock 12 in front of a gaggle of top Navy officials and dignitaries, including the late President Gerald R. Ford's daughter, Susan Ford Bales, who is also the ship's sponsor.
The event marks the first major construction milestone for the 1,092-foot, nuclear-powered Ford, the lead ship in a new class of Navy carriers that is scheduled to enter the fleet in 2015.
Thales is keen to raise its stake in naval systems company DCNS to 35 percent from 25 percent, as systems integration plays an increasingly important part in the design and building of modern warships, said Marc Darmon, head of Thales' naval division.
"Lifting the stake in DCNS would boost synergies for DCNS and Thales, as the main task facing industry is the managing of integration risk, which comes from the complexity of systems," Darmon said.
Thales makes radars, optronics for infrared search and track and electronic warfare, communications and sonar gear, and integrates systems. The Tacticos combat management system, which fuses sensors and weapons, is one of its key products.
India’s long-criticised Akash anti-aircraft missile is now blazing towards success.
Its counterparts in the DRDO’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, the Prithvi and Agni ballistic missiles, were on target from the start; the anti-tank Nag missile will also enter service shortly; the Trishul short-range anti-aircraft missile was abandoned unceremoniously.
Now, after years of rejection from the military, the Akash is being accepted as a world-class missile.
Saab, a global provider of defence and civil security solutions, services and products, has expressed optimism about the Indian market and emphasised it was here to say.
It said its presence in the Indian market would not be affected by the outcome of the Indian Air Force's 126-fighter jet global tender, in which it is a contender along with five others.
Saab officials have stressed that they are looking at a ''long and sustainable relationship with India,'' and other than the IAF's MMRCA tender were also looking at opportunities in maritime patrol and the civil security segment during the Commonwealth Games.
EU military chiefs are nervous that their advice will not carry the same weight once the new Lisbon Treaty is in place and that the planned diplomatic service will not contain enough experienced military personnel.
Europe's chiefs of defence gathered in Brussels on Wednesday (4 November) to review all military operations under the EU flag and to witness the handover of power from outgoing EU military committee chair, Frenchman Henri Bentegeat, to Sweden's Hakan Syren.
But the hotter topic - dealt with in "informal talks" - was the impact of the Lisbon Treaty on the current EU military set up, the two generals told journalists after the meeting.
Boeing today announced that it delivered the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) third F/A-18F Block II Super Hornet three months ahead of schedule on Sept. 30, after completing production on the multirole fighter at Boeing Integrated Defense Systems' St. Louis facility.
Boeing publicly debuted the first of the RAAF's 24 Super Hornets in St. Louis on July 8. Each of the three completed aircraft has been delivered three months ahead of schedule.
"We look forward to continuing to deliver Australia's newest combat aircraft on budget and ahead of schedule, as promised," said Carolyn Nichols, Boeing F/A-18F program manager for Australia.
The Indian Defence Ministry is negotiating the purchase of C-17 heavy-lift Globemaster aircraft from the United States through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route, say ministry sources.
The U.S. Air Force flew the Globemaster in a joint air exercise between the air forces of the two countries held in India Oct. 19-23 at Agra to let the Indian military familiarize itself with the transport craft, said a senior Indian Air Force official.
India is negotiating the purchase of 10 C-17 aircraft made by U.S.-based Boeing, disregarding the Russian IL-76 transport even though the American aircraft is three times costlier, Defence Ministry sources said.
South Africa said Nov. 5 that it had cancelled a big contract for Airbus military planes in a new setback for the troubled A400M program that prompted Airbus to insist the plane was almost ready for test flights.
The decision also left South Africa with a headache with its aging Herculus military transport fleet.
Both sides face contractual issues over cancellation payments and conditions.
Canadians won't find out how much it has cost to move a fire-damaged submarine from Halifax to Victoria for refit.
CBC News has been trying to find out the price tag for moving HMCS Chicoutimi since it was transported last April to British Columbia from Nova Scotia via the Panama Canal.
The submarine, badly damaged by fire in 2004, needs two years worth of repairs. The cost will be covered by $1.5 billion given to a Victoria-based company.
Limited operations of the Boeing Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft are expected to start in Australia late in December with an aircraft equipped for domestic operations, while four fully equipped aircraft are expected to be delivered by the end of 2010.
According to Boeing Integrated Defence Systems, the first two aircraft for delivery to Australia will not have an operational Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) system.
The absence of ECM will prevent their operation in a war zone but they are able to train crews in the operation using their MESA radar.
The chairman of the military committee of NATO wrapped up his visit to Egypt and Jordan to discuss bilateral cooperation for regional security.
Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola met with military leaders in Egypt and Jordan to discuss the Mediterranean Dialogue program.
That program was started in 1994 to facilitate communication between the alliance and its Mediterranean partners and dispel any false impressions about NATO activity, NATO said.
Israel has decided to defer a requirement to integrate indigenous munitions and an additional fuel tank on the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters (JSFs) it plans to procure over fears it could push rising costs still higher.
Each of the first 25 aircraft could cost USD130 million should Israel be granted US government approval – expected in November – to install indigenous electronic warfare (EW) and C4I systems on the future fighter, Israeli defence sources told Jane's.
The price of the aircraft has already spurred internal debate; the Israeli Ministry of Defence (MoD) and commanders of the Israel Defence Force (IDF) land forces have called for the acquisition to be delayed by two years, while the Israel Air Force (IAF) has maintained the need to begin payments in 2010 ahead of first deliveries in 2014.
Taiwan said Wednesday that its giant neighbour China has started building its first aircraft carrier, a move analysts have said could raise military tensions in the region.
The head of Taiwan's National Security Bureau told parliament construction of the carrier had begun, Lin Yu-fang, a legislator of the ruling Kuomintang party, told AFP.
However, the security chief, Tsai Teh-sheng said the carrier's construction "has not been smooth" and that the Chinese navy may struggle to put it into service by 2012 unless it makes a manufacturing breakthrough soon.
Whether it's called an "arms race" or a "coincidental modernization" of existing stocks, a wave of weapons purchases by Latin American nations is causing neighbors to watch each other with growing mistrust and fear.
Brazil says it must protect its newfound oil and gas riches. Venezuela says the U.S. military might attack it. Colombia is worried by Venezuela, Ecuador is watching Colombia, and Paraguay is keeping an eye on Bolivia.
There's no question that weapons sales around the region are soaring. They almost doubled in just five years, from $24 billion in 2003 to $47 billion last year, according to one report by Colombian analyst Javier Loaiza. Others put the 2008 total at $60 billion.
The outgoing chairman of the European Union Military Committee wants more assets to combat piracy in the Somali basin because of the vast area that needs to be covered.
"The EU has committed three or four frigates, in 2010 but we probably need between six and 10 to cover that vast area," Gen. Henri Bentegeat said at a news conference following a meeting of the EU Chairs of Defense Staff (CHODs).
He insisted that there was coordination between the EU and NATO naval assets in the area and "certainly no duplication."
France is pursuing further arms sales in Latin America after its extensive weapons deal with Brazil and is hoping to persuade Argentina to become its next big customer for military hardware.
French Defense Minister Herve Morin, currently on a Latin American tour, told Argentine government leaders during a visit to the capital France could help the country recapture its pre-eminence through closer military cooperation with Paris.
However, French offers of military technology transfers and other assistance were couched in carefully worded statements.
Argentina so far has remained noncommittal but has accepted a French offer to send a delegation that will evaluate Argentina's defense needs.
Greg Combet, Acting Minister for Defence, today announced the completion of the deeper maintenance contract for the Air Force F-111 fleet.
“Since the F-111 was introduced it has flown over 160,000 hours. To help it achieve this Air Force and Defence Industry collectively completed over 300 routine deeper maintenance servicings that have included removal of wings, engines, undercarriage and other major components for overhaul or replacement,” said Mr Combet.
“The maintenance systems introduced with the F-111 aircraft have been a mainstay of Defence and industry’s high-tech support capabilities for well over 35 years.”
Plans to replace the ageing Cheetah and Chetak chopper fleet of the Army and Air Force are set to get delayed, thanks to indecision of the Defence Ministry over conducting of the field trials.
The original plan was to induct 197 Light Utility Helicopters (LUHs) starting from 2009-10 but the process has not moved beyond the Request for Proposal stage and the vendors response to it.
The summer trials were planned to be held by June-July this year but they have not been held, resulting in delay of six months in the fresh acquisition process for the choppers.
North Korea today claimed to have completed reprocessing spent fuel rods at its Yongbyon nuclear plant to extract weapons-grade plutonium.
"We have finished reprocessing 8,000 spent fuel rods as of August. We have made substantial achievements in weaponising plutonium from the extraction," Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said.
Experts said North Korea might be able to produce enough material for one more atomic weapon from the fuel rods cooling at the Soviet-era plant, which was being taken apart under a disarmament-for-aid deal. The announcement is seen as a fresh attempt to put pressure on the US for direct talks.
Forecast International projects that the worldwide radar market will be worth $52 billion over the 2009-2018 timeframe.
Its recently published analysis "The Market for Radar Systems" further projects that more than 15,000 individual radar units will be produced over the next decade.
The global economic downturn and a renewed interest in domestic policies in the United States may force militaries to cut spending.
But according to William Ostrove, FI electronics analyst and author of the study, "The need for sensors will continue to drive radar sales worldwide.
Both the Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales aircraft carriers will be able to carry the joint strike fighter (JSF) according to defence equipment and support minister Quentin Davies. Speaking in the House of Commons he also rubbished the Gray Report's claim that there was a £2bn annual overspend in the MoD's equipment programme.
In October, it was reported that government would downgrade either the Queen Elizabeth or the Prince of Wales carrier, taking away their ability to carry the JSF. Reports stated the MoD was looking to save money on the 65,000 tonne carriers, which are already £1bn over budget.
Davies said reports the carrier plans were to be scaled down were "complete rubbish".
A Los Angeles-class nuclear powered attack submarine (SSN), the USS San Juan (SSN-751), will dock in Simon's Town tomorrow.
A South African Navy (SAN) spokesman says visit forms part of the Navy's objective of maintaining and enhancing international contact with United States Navy (USN).
The USS San Juan is the 40th Los Angeles-class attack submarine and an improvement over her predecessors. The US Navy operates 46 Los Angeles class submarines as well as three Seawolf and four Virginia class.
North Korea's second-highest ranking Air Force officer arrived in Beijing on Tuesday to attend an event celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Chinese Air Force, according to the Yonhap News.
Maj. Gen. Kim Kwang-su and his entourage plan to attend a forum on air force-related developments to be held on Friday and meet senior Chinese military officials for talks on bilateral exchanges, diplomatic sources here said.
South Korea's Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Lee Kye-hoon is also scheduled to take part in the conference, which brings together top Air Force officials from 34 countries.
Equipping the airship bought in the US for patrol and surveillance work in the lower South with a pair of state-of-the-art spy cameras will face further delays, the army says.
Spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd yesterday said deployment had been complicated by the US reluctance to supply the two high-resolution surveillance cameras for the plane-shaped balloon.
"High-definition security cameras are considered to be warfare equipment and can't be acquired without going through strict procedures," Col Sansern said.
Russia's troubled Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) will be test-fired on November 24, a defense industry source said on Monday.
He said the submarine would be launched from the Dmitry Donskoi nuclear-powered submarine in the North Sea.
The Typhoon-class submarine, based at a naval facility in northern Russia's Severodvinsk, is the only vessel in service with the Russian Navy capable of testing the new missile.
Recent years have seen a flurry of orders for aircraft carriers by Japan, India, Australia, South Korea, Russia and China.
The sudden focus on air capability at sea represents a paradigm change in the thinking of these states, and both communist and democratic governments appear to be on the same wavelength. Is this a harbinger of a new cold war in Asia?
Unresolved territorial disputes in East Asia, especially related to maritime boundaries, have resulted in the naval build-up by countries in the region.
Raytheon Company and the U.S. Navy completed the first free-flight demonstration of the Joint Standoff Weapon Extended Range air-to-surface precision guided missile.
The JSOW-ER is a powered variant of the combat-proven glide JSOW. It takes the GPS-inertial navigation system reliability of existing JSOW variants and combines it with the network-enabled maritime-interdiction capabilities currently in development for the JSOW C-1.
The JSOW-ER also integrates the Hamilton-Sundstrand TJ-150 engine, currently in production for Raytheon's Miniature Air Launched Decoy.
Five sites in Scotland have been secretly earmarked as radioactive waste dumping grounds.
The list was drawn up by Ministry of Defence chiefs who are looking for a storage site for 27 nuclear submarines that have been scrapped or are about to be.
The sites are the Clyde naval nuclear bases of Coulport and Faslane, the Rosyth dockyard in Fife, the Dounreay nuclear plant in Caithness and Hunterston nuclear power station in north Ayrshire.
China's quest for a strong air force is in line with the need to safeguard regional stability and world peace, the service's commander-in-chief, General Xu Qiliang said Sunday.
"Regardless of its extent of development, the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) will never pose a military threat to any country," Xu said in an interview to Xinhua News Agency just days before the 60th anniversary of the Chinese air force on Nov 11.
PLAAF will employ a combination of defense and attack strategies, he said.
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. in Melville, NY recently received a pair of contracts from America and Australia for the AN/SPQ-9B radar system.
That radar was the main air defense radar on several American destroyer and cruiser classes, but is now relegated to a secondary role on advanced air defense ships.
It provides the capability to detect and track low-flying, high-speed, small radar cross-section anti-ship missile targets in heavy clutter environments.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced the arrival of Chinese K-8 planes for training and combat by the end of 2009, as part of their fleet modernization with defensive purposes.
According to the president the 18 aircrafts, together with Russian Sukhoi fighters will replaced the Mirage fighter jets, six of which were donated to Ecuador.
Referring to the donation to Quito, Chavez also asserted that they are in good technical conditions, rejecting staments by his political rivals.
A Russian nuclear submarine has successfully test-launched a ballistic missile, the Defense Ministry said on Sunday.
"On November 1, the Northern Fleet's nuclear-powered missile-carrying submarine, Bryansk, successfully test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile in the Barents Sea from a submerged position," the ministry said in a statement.
"The warheads reached the target area at the designated time," the statement said.
Rising costs, changing threats and rival aircraft — manned and unmanned — could cut nearly in half the number of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters that ultimately are built, a Dutch defense analyst said in a report to the Dutch parliament.
And if fewer planes are built, the price for each, already $100 million or more, will undoubtedly increase, analyst Johan Boeder warned.
A “likely estimate” is that 2,500 F-35s eventually will be built, Boeder wrote in a report delivered to Dutch lawmakers in September.
The Netherlands, one of nine countries financing the development of the F-35, was expected to buy 85 planes, but may cut that to 57, Boeder said.
The ‘mother’ will be back in action soon. With power projection being the name of the game, India is finally ready to once again deploy its solitary aircraft carrier INS Viraat on the high seas after an almost two-year gap.
INS Viraat is now on the verge of completing its ‘sea-acceptance trials’ and ‘work-up phase’ off Mumbai after an 18-month-long comprehensive refit in Mumbai and Kochi to increase its longevity as well as upgrade its weapon and sensor packages.
Coincidentally enough, the 28,000-tonne old warhorse will also be completing its 50th year as an operational warship this November.
The commander of the Pearl Harbor-based nuclear-powered submarine USS La Jolla was relieved of duty yesterday because of a "loss of confidence in his ability to command," Navy officials said.
Cmdr. Doug Sampson was replaced as commander of the USS La Jolla and assigned to Submarine Squadron 1 by Capt. Stanley Robertson, Submarine Squadron 1 commodore.
The issues surrounding Sampson's relief from duty included "La Jolla's in-port planning, operations and administrations, which fell short of high Navy standards," said Lt. Cmdr. David Benham, spokesman for the Pacific Fleet Submarine Force.
To strengthen its capabilities of carrying out special underwater operations in high seas and enemy harbours, the Indian Navy is planning to procure five midget submarines for the Marine Commandos (MARCOS).
Submarines weighing less than 150 tonnes are classified as midgets and are used by the Navies to carry out underwater covert operations and surveillance missions.
The Navy has already initiated the process of procuring these vessels and recently issued a Request for Proposal to Indian shipyards including Hindustan Shipyards Limited, ABG and Pipavav shipyards, Defence Ministry sources told PTI here.
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