France on June 21 successfully test-fired an intercontinental missile that will be outfitted to its new class of nuclear submarines in 2010, Defence Minister Herve Morin said.The M51 intercontinental missile was fired from the Biscarosse launch site in the Landes region of southwest France and splashed down in the North Atlantic “far from the American coast,” said a defence ministry official.“This morning, we carried out the second test of the M51 missile and it was a perfect success,” said Morin during a visit to the air and space show at Le Bourget, outside Paris.A first test of the M51, which can carry six nuclear warheads and has a range of 8,000 kilometers [5,000 miles], was carried out in November 2006. The missile will replace the M45 sea-to-ground ballistic missile and be used by a new class of strategic nuclear submarines that form the backbone of France’s policy of nuclear deterrence.

Austrian Defense Minister Norbert Darabos announced June 25 he would be cutting the number of Eurofighter jets that the country was ordering from European aerospace giant EADS.The order as it stands is for 18 of the fighters, under a contract signed in 2003 by the then conservative OVP government. But the deal has since come under scrutiny amid allegations of bribery.Darabos, of the Social Democrat SPO, did not say by how much he wanted to cut the order, but has hinted that it could be by as much as a third to 12.He has said that savings of 400 million euros (539 million dollars) need to made, and the total order comes to two billion euros.Both Darabos and Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer have spoken in the past of pulling out completely from the contract, which they said was too extravagent for a small, neutral state such as Austria.But the two Social Democrats have had to contend with resistance from their OVP coalition partners.And legal specialist Helmut Koziol, who appeared with Darabos at the press conference announcing the decision, said the legal constraints of the contract mean that any attempt to cancel outright could be costly.The decision to cut the contract has been criticized not just on the right but also in the press.A reduced number of Eurofighters means that they would not be able to assure the safety of Austrian airspace around the clock, but “only in office hours”, said the daily Kronen-Zeitung.But the affair has been complicated by the controversy surrounding how the original deal was made.In April, Austria’s air force chief General Erich Wolf was suspended over irregularities in the contract.Wolf had not managed to clear up the suspicions that a lobbyist for the plane’s constructor EADS had paid 87,000 euros to a company owned by Wolf’s wife when the contract was being negotiated.A parliamentary commission, launched in late October by the Social Democrats, the environmental Green party and part of the far-right, is currently examining the contract signed with EADS.

Russia’s state arms exporter denied a newspaper report Tuesday that it planned to supply jet fighters to Syria and Iran.br /Russian daily Kommersant quoted unnamed sources in the military-industrial complex as saying Moscow had begun shipments of five MiG-31E interceptor fighters to Syria and that Iran would benefit from the sales.br /”Russia has no plans to deliver fighters to Syria and Iran,” Rosorobonexport chief Sergei Chemezov told reporters at the Paris air show, Russian news agencies said. Interfax news agency said a source in the Russian delegation at Le Bourget had said earlier an unspecified “Middle East nation” had become the first buyer of MiG-31E interceptors, paying a total of $400 million under the contract.br /The United States imposed sanctions last year on Russian arms companies, including Rosobonexport, for sales to Syria and Iran. Russia says the sanctions breach international law.br /Russian officials said this year Russia had completed a contract to deliver TOR-M1 anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran, drawing criticism from the United States.br /Under President Vladimir Putin, Russian arms firms have pushed arms sales abroad as the Kremlin seeks to reassert its influence in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

JERUSALEM: Israel is concerned about reported Russian deliveries of advanced MiG-31 fighter planes to its enemy Syria as part of an armaments drive, the top-selling Hebrew daily reported on Tuesday.The MiG-31, considered one of the best fighters in the world, can carry guided missiles with a range of more than 200 kilometres (125 miles) and is capable of striking 24 different targets simultaneously, Yediot Aharonot said.“This information is more concerning when put in the context of massive armaments purchases made recently by the Syrians,” Yuval Steinitz, an MP from Israel’s right-wing opposition Likud party, was quoted as telling the daily.“If Syria acquires the MiG-31 we can no longer rule out the idea that this country is preparing for war,” said Steinitz, a former chairman of Israel’s defence and foreign affairs parliamentary committee. afp

Japan on Wednesday extended its controversial air mission to Iraq for two more years, with the upper house of parliament giving final approval.Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s coalition voted to pass the bill despite criticism from the opposition, which has pledged to pull out the troops as part of its platform for elections expected next month.The extension, which cleared the lower house in May, means that Japanese planes and some 210 air personnel will be deployed in the region until July 2009.The force, which is based in Kuwait, flies goods and personnel into Iraq on behalf of the United Nations and the U.S.-led coalition.Abe’s predecessor Junichiro Koizumi strongly supported the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, arguing that the dictator’s alleged weapons of mass destruction posed a threat.Koizumi previously sent soldiers to Iraq on a non-combat reconstruction mission, the first time since World War II that Japan had deployed troops to a nation where fighting was ongoing.The former premier pulled them out last year, but officially pacifist Japan has maintained the Kuwait-based air mission.Abe, who has weak approval ratings, has championed a more assertive role for Japan in the world and wants to rewrite the country’s pacifist, post-World War II constitution.A March survey by the liberal Asahi Shimbun newspaper showed 69 percent of voters opposed an extension of the Japanese air mission in Iraq.In a symbolic move, the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan submitted a no-confidence motion against the head of the upper house committee that approved the Iraq extension.“We blame the cabinet, and especially the prime minister, for forgetting the basic rules of representative parliamentary democracy,” said Azuma Koshiishi, an opposition lawmaker.

A French Navy Rafale aircraft dropped two AASM (Armement Air-Sol Modulaire) air-to-ground modular weapons in early June, the second and final integration firing, it was announced June 21 here. Developed by Sagem Défense Sécurité, the AASM includes guidance and range-extending kits that can be bolted onto bombs.The Rafale dropped a salvo of two AASMs over the Landes test range, after catapult-launching from the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean and refueling several times in the air. The weapons penetrated cloud cover and struck the target.Following a first firing in April, this second AASM integration firing concludes the demonstration of the weapon’s operational ability on the Rafale.

Two fighter planes, a Turkish F-16 plane and a Greek F-16 collided in mid air and crashed into the Aegean Sea.The location of the crash is approximately 10 miles east of Karpathos, a Greek island in the southern part of the Aegean Sea.br /Yiannis Papageorgiou a spokesman for the Greek Air Force says that the Greek F-16 was dispatched to intercept and identify the Turkish plane that according to Papageorgiou was violating the Athens Flight Information Region, when the two planes collided.br /The Greek Defense Ministry said earlier “the planes collided during interception manoeuvres above Karpathos. We don’t know what has happened to the Greek pilot yet.” A passing merchant ship rescued the Turkish pilot, Halil Ibrahim Ozdemir, who refused to be rescued by Greek frogmen. The Greek pilot was killed in the incident.br /Vecdi Gonul, Defense Minister for the Turkish government released a partial statement saying, “we’re still waiting for definite information and our Chief of Staff is speaking to the Greek Chief of Staff.”br /Puma helicopters as well as rescue personnel have been dispatched to the area.br /When the event became known, Turkish Foreign Minister, Abdullah Gül communicated immediately with his counterpart, Dora Bakoyiannis in order to have a first conversation regarding the fighter planes’ crash.br /Both countries disagree on the boundaries of their airspace over the sea and fighters sometimes conduct mock dogfights in the area between the two countries.

Estonia lodged a protest with Moscow on Wednesday, saying a Russian aircraft had violated the Baltic country’s airspace, the foreign ministry said.“We have issued a diplomatic note to the Russian foreign ministry, asking for explanations over why a Russian airplane violated Estonia’s airspace,” Estonian foreign ministry spokeswoman Ehtel Halliste told AFP.A Russian Tu-154 jet, en route to the Russian Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, violated the airspace of Estonia twice Tuesday, according to the Estonian military.The purpose of the flight could not be established, the military added.The Tu-154 was built as a passenger jet, but the aircraft involved was not on a regular passenger flight.The plane made two brief incursions into Estonian airspace near the Baltic Sea islands of Naissaar and Osmussaar, both north to the capital Tallinn, the military said.“It was not possible to establish contact with the plane,” said Andres Sang, spokesman for the Estonian military. “We notified the NATO air operations center in Germany of the incidents.”The airspace of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is patrolled by a NATO air policing unit, based in Lithuania.Estonia and the other Baltic states, which all joined NATO and the European Union in 2004, have repeatedly protested over violations of their airspace by planes from Russia, which ruled them until the collapse of the Soviet Union 16 years ago.In April, relations plunged to their lowest point since 1991, when Estonia regained independence from Moscow, as Moscow reacted furiously to Tallinn’s decision to shift a city-centre Soviet-era war memorial to a military cemetery.For many Estonians, the monument was a painful symbol of almost five decades of Soviet occupation after World War II, but for Russians, including Estonia’s sizable Russian-speaking minority, the move was an affront to the memory of soldiers who died fighting the Nazis.