U.S. Naval Air Systems Command has awarded Lockheed Martin $2.44 billion to begin buying advance materials needed to build 12 F-35 Lightning II aircraft in 2008.br /This second F-35 low-rate initial production (LRIP II) contract will buy a half-dozen each of the conventional and vertical-takeoff variants.br /“This is the first mixed lot,” said Lockheed Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) spokesman John Smith.br /The contract buys long-lead items such as key raw materials, machined items, associated ancillary mission equipment, sustainment support, special tooling and test equipment, according to the Pentagon’s F-35 contract announcement.br /Two F-35s are now being built under an April 2006 $550 million LRIP I contract, after the Defense Acquisition Board approved their construction in April.br /Funds for a 16-plane LRIP III contract were requested in the 2008 DoD budget now under lawmakers’ scrutiny.

British and Norwegian fighter jets scrambled over the North Sea after Russian bombers were spotted flying at “unusual” latitudes overnight, the Norwegian military said July 20.The repeated sightings of Russian jets — the most numerous off Norway’s coast since the end of the Cold War, according to Norwegian public radio NRK — came amid an escalating diplomatic crisis between Russia and Britain.In the third incident of its kind this week, Norwegian jets were again called out early July 20 as another two Russian bombers were spotted close to Norwegian airspace, the military said.Two Russian TU95 Bear bombers were first detected overnight July 19 in international airspace between Stavanger, southeastern Norway, and the Scottish town Aberdeen, Norwegian army spokesman Lt. Col. Jon Inge Oegland told AFP.“It is a little unusual. It’s been a long time since we saw Russian aircraft this far south,” he said.Norway sent two F-16 fighters “to identify the aircraft and to mark the Norwegian airspace,” he said, adding that Britain also dispatched aircraft to the scene.The Russian bombers then turned back.Hours later, two Russian TU160 Blackjack bombers were observed flying westward, west of the Barents Sea, early Friday morning, again prompting the Norwegian military to dispatch F-16s, Oegland said.“Both times the Russian bombers stayed within international airspace the entire time. They didn’t do anything wrong,” Oegland stressed.“It would be pure speculation to guess why they did what they did.”Britain announced on July 16 the expulsion of four Russian diplomats after Moscow refused to extradite a suspect in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian intelligence agent turned Kremlin critic.Two Russian TU95 Bear bombers were detected in the Norwegian Sea off northwestern Norway on July 17. Oslo and London scrambled fighters, but the Russian planes turned back on their own, the Norwegian military said.Moscow responded with tit-for-tat expulsions of British diplomats on July 19.

Saab is playing down reports from Bangkok that Thailand’s military government has reached a decision in principle to purchase six JAS 39 Gripen fighters at a cost of $450 million.br /Thailand’s interest in the Gripen dates to 2004, when the government of then-Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra came close to ordering 20 Gripens, according to a Ministry of Defense (MoD) source in Stockholm.br /“There have been close contacts between Saab, senior Swedish government officials and Thailand since 2004,” the source said. “This situation hasn’t been changed by the military coup and overthrow of Thaksin Shinawatra in September 2006. It would appear from the latest reports emanating from Thailand’s government and Air Force that there may be good news for Saab and the Gripen already this year, although it must be said that nothing is at all certain at this stage.”br /Thailand’s Ministry of Defense has maintained contacts with the Swedish government and Saab, the source added.br /“Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s visit to Sweden in September 2004 was a significant moment in cementing close relations between Thailand and the Gripen,” the MoD source said. “Shinawatra told the then-Swedish prime minister, Göran Persson, that Thailand favored buying Gripen to replace its F-16s and F-5Es.br /“The Stockholm visit was followed up by regular meetings between Swedish officials and their Thai counterparts. There were Gripen test flights arranged, and intergovernment talks on a bilateral agreement that would attach to any sale.”br /The Shinawatra government appeared to lose some interest in the Gripen in 2005 and 2006, when the Ministry of Defense in Bangkok signaled that it might opt to purchase the Russian Su-30 Flanker fighters, produced by Sukhoi, for the Royal Thai Air Force.br /“What seems clear is that the military government in Thailand will not purchase all the new fighters it needs at once,” a Stockholm-based defense analyst said. “The total figure being mentioned is 12 fighters instead of 20, and it’s likely that the first order will be for six aircraft. The Thai Air Force’s present F-16s and F-5Es have been in service since the 1970s and are due to be taken out of service in 2008, so a decision on a replacement fighter is urgent.”br /It is unlikely that the Thai government has reached a final decision on its fighter replacement program, the analyst said.br /“The Thai Air Force’s replacement proposal cited the JAS Gripen 39, the F-18, the F-16, the Su-30 and the Dassault Rafale as possible options,” the analyst said.br /br /{Edited later}br /a href=”http://dailylark.blogspot.com/2007/10/thailand-picks-swedens-gripen-for-1b.html”As of 18 October 2007 Thailand Decides to buy Gripens /a

A U.S. Marine Corps V-22 Osprey landed July 10 on the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, the first time the vertical-takeoff-and-landing tiltrotor had operated from the deck of a foreign warship, a Royal Navy spokeswoman said.The touchdown was the first of several expected over the several weeks of a Joint Task Force Exercise involving U.S. and Britain warships off America’s eastern seaboard. Illustrious, which is leading one of three strike groups in the exercise, will also host as many as 14 U.S. AV-8B Harrier combat aircraft, the largest number of foreign aircraft to operate at one time from an Invincible-class carrier, the spokeswoman said. The ship is also home base for two squadrons of British Sea Kings.The spokeswoman said the landing was to enable the British and U.S. navies improve interoperability.Industry sources said the landing would also inform the debate in Britain over the provision of a Maritime Airborne Surveillance and Control aircraft for two 65,000-ton carriers expected to be built for the Royal Navy for operation from the middle of the next decade.Lockheed Martin is leading AgustaWestland and Thales UK in an assessment of the requirement. The most likely aircraft is seen as the EH101 Merlin, but other options, including the V-22, have been considered. The British navy uses a modified Sea King for airborne surveillance from its Invincible-class carriers.

Taiwan’s army will acquire 30 Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters for $2.6 billion instead of buying more Cobras, service project planning director Col. Dai Kuang-chao said July 10 at a Ministry of National Defense press conference.The program, already five years late, still awaits U.S. government approval, while the Taiwanese legislature is expected to approve the budget only in 2008 or 2009, and may delay longer. Nevertheless, the Army’s choice is seen as a milestone.Taiwan has two Army Helicopter Groups (Shinsu and Lungtan) that fly 62 AH-1W Cobra attack helicopters, about 80 aging UH-1H Huey utility aircraft and nine OH-58D Kiowa Warrior armed scouts. Equipped with anti-armor missiles for use against troop transports, the Apaches will help meet the Army’s new mission of confronting invading Chinese forces off the coast with 40 minutes of warning.Critics say the Apaches are not a cost-effective choice, given Taiwan’s economic slump and limited defense budget. They say the aircraft require too much maintenance, as well as a completely new training curriculum and support structure from the Cobras. Taiwan’s local Bell Helicopter representative expressed regret for the decision, citing Bell’s long history of co-development and manufacture of aircraft with state-run Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation. Bell had offered AIDC a co-assembly option for 30 AH-1Z Cobra heavy attack helicopters, plus upgrades of existing AH-1Ws to the AH-1Z configuration. In February 2004, AIDC signed a $10 million contract with Bell to manufacture 280 tail booms/elevators for the U.S. Marine Corps’ new Bell AH-1Z Cobra and UH-1Y Huey. There had been hopes in AIDC and Bell that the new UH-1Y would be selected over the UH-60. AIDC has suffered from financial problems over recent years due to a steady decrease of military and civilian orders.MND sources said they are waiting on price and availability data from the U.S. government on Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters to replace the army’s UH-1Hs.The Taiwan navy operates two squadrons of Sikorsky S-70C anti-submarine warfare helicopters with the 701st Thunder Hawk Sq and the 702nd Magic Hawk Squadron, and the air force has three search-and-rescue S-70C Blue Hawks at Chiayi Airbase and two VIP transport S-70Cs at Sungshan Airbase, Taipei. The navy also has nine MD 500 anti-submarine helicopters assigned to the 501st Squadron in Kaohsiung.

India’s $11 billion program to buy 126 Multi-role Medium Range Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) won approval June 29 from a key acquisition body, clearing the way for a request for proposals to go to six global firms within two weeks, Defence Ministry sources said.Expected to run at least five years, the country’s largest-ever arms purchase will come with several new twists. For the first time, life-cycle costs will be considered when judging the merits of candidate aircraft, which are expected to include the Boeing F/A-18, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin F-16, MiG-35 and Saab Gripen, ministry officials said.Ministry officials are expecting each aircraft to cost $20 million to $22 million to acquire, and possibly three times that sum over its expected lifespan of 4,000 flight hours over 40 years. The proposals will be evaluated by Indian Air Force technicians, and the planes will be field-tested to produce a short list of vendors, whose lifetime support offers and performance-based warranties will be compared, said the Defence Ministry official.The selection process will be conducted as outlined in the Defence Procurement Procedures – 2006, ministry spokesman Sitanshu Kar said. Kar said the program would strive to buy an operationally appropriate aircraft, run a competitive, fair and transparent procurement process to generate best value for money, and help Indian defense companies grow to a global scale.The winning company will manufacture just 18 aircraft, with the remaining 108 to be built in India under system integrator Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., Bangalore, said Defence Ministry officials. The total offset requirement has been boosted to 50 percent from 30 percent.“It is expected that the Transfer of Technology and offset contracts would provide a great technological and economic boost to the indigenous defense industries, which would include the [state-owned] Defence Public Sector Undertakings, Rashtrya Udyog Ratnas [private companies licensed for military production] and other eligible private sector industries,” according to a ministry release. “Foreign vendors would be provided great flexibility in effecting tie-up with Indian partners, for this purpose.”Delays ExpectedThe huge program will not be easy for India to keep on schedule, given the Defence Ministry’s history of program delays, said defense analyst Surya Pal Singh, a retired air commodore. If the 2009 elections produce a new government, the acquisition process could stretch beyond five years, Singh said.Already, it has taken since December 2005 for the Defence Acquisition Council — headed by Defence Minister A.K. Anthony — to move from the request for information to a request for proposals.Defence Ministry officials blamed the delay on the decisions to ask for life-cycle costs and higher offsets.In any case, the final decision will come down to politics, especially New Delhi’s relations with Russia and the United States, said defense analyst Nitin Mehta. The jet should be powered by twin turbofans that provide thrust of between 25,000 and 30,000 pounds, yielding a top speed of Mach 2 and a range of more than 2,500 kilometers, an Indian Air Force official said.Expected to operate largely in air-defense missions, the plane should carry 20mm to 25mm cannon, radar-guided air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground weapon pods, and satellite-guided air-to-surface missiles, including anti-radiation weapons.Avionics would allow the aircraft to fly on the nap of the Earth and at night; stealthy coatings would reduce its radar signature; and refueling gear would allow aerial tanking

Moscow’s respected business daily Kommersant reported that Russia’s arms-trading monopoly Rosoboronexport has begun to fulfill an arms deal it secretly signed with Syria this year to sell five MiG-31E jet fighters, considered among the best in the world, and an additional unspecified number of the newest MiG-29M/M2 fighter-bombers.br /The paper reported the total price to be about US$1 billion. MiG-31s were produced at the Sokol aviation factory in Nizhniy Novgorod from 1981-94 (some 500 planes overall). Since production has been terminated, Syria, according to Kommersant, will get the jets from the Russian Defense Ministry stockpile after a refurbishing at Sokol.br /Kommersant suggested that Iran is partially or even fully covering the purchase bill, and that the jets may partially or fully end up as part of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. Commenting on the Kommersant report, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamiynin last week told reporters, “All Russian arms deals comply with international law and Russia’s obligations under international treaties and UN Security Council resolutions.”br /This vague statement was widely taken as indirect conformation of the Kommersant story, but it later turned out not to be the case. By last Tuesday evening, Rosoboronexport head Sergei Chemizov, speaking in Paris at Le Bourget Air Show, had denied the existence of any jet fighter deal with Syria.br /This is not the first time Kommersant has published a page 1 “scoop” on breaking arms-trade news that later turned out to be not fully accurate. Last month it reported that Libya and Russia were close to finalizing a $2.2 billion arms deal. Neither Moscow nor Tripoli confirmed the report.br /This month Kommersant reported that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez might buy nine Russian submarines, reportedly worth $2 billion, when he visits Moscow in June to meet President Vladimir Putin. This deal seemed fishy from the start, since it clearly exceeded the present capacity of Russian shipbuilders to make new subs and the Venezuelan navy’s capacity to run so many new ships.br /Kommersant reported that Venezuela had chosen Russian subs over others offered by Germany and France, which also sounded odd, because Russian conventional attack subs, including the latest models, are outdated and significantly inferior to German and French ones. Venezuelan Defense Minister Raul Isaias Baduel promptly denied that his government was planning to buy submarines from Russia.br /Kommersant claims the MiG-29M/M2 is more or less the same jet Russia is peddling to India as the MiG-35. The MiG-35 is still only a flying prototype – not a real fighter – and the Russian Air Force does not have any such planes. If India chooses a European or US fighter instead, the MiG-35 as well as the MiG-29M/M2 may never enter serial production.br /The MiG-31, in turn, is a real fighting jet. Russia today has some 280 MiG-31s. Before delivering the aircraft to buyers, arms traders and producers first remove secret Russian military equipment. Then the jets are repainted and sold as “modernized” for high prices, creating sky-high profits that do not seem to ever reach state coffers.br /Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moscow has been trying to sell the MiG-31. The plane has been displayed at air shows, but no customers have come forward. The MiG-31 is a highly specialized jet – not a fighter per se, but an interceptor specifically designed to kill long-range US cruise missiles. The MiG-31 is a bulky two-seater that can carry up to eight air-to-air guided missiles with a range of up to 120 kilometers.br /The MiG-31 can fly supersonic near the Earth’s surface as well as high up. It is a purely defensive fighter, designed to be used over friendly territory to defend against massive air assaults. The MiG-31 has sophisticated and powerful radar that can track 24 different targets simultaneously and exchange information with other MiG-31s and ground control centers.br /Any country that is seriously preparing to meet the US military on the battlefield, as Iran seems to be, would want to have such a jet to meet an air assault complemented with hundreds or thousands of cruise missiles, as happened in 1999 in Yugoslavia and in 1991 and 2003 in Iraq. Syria could also want several such jets, if Washington were to decide to attack, say, terrorist-connected targets on its territory. The MiG-31 deal with Syria, as reported by Kommersant, seems more plausible than stories about, say, nine subs for Venezuela.br /Chemizov has denied the MiG-31 contract, but Kamiynin was deliberately noncommittal. Kommersant may have received confidential information about the possible deal and the leak could have been deliberate. The arms-trade stories Kommersant has been printing may be tests of Western (US) reactions, to see what would happen if imaginary arms contracts suddenly turned out to be real.br /These leaks also may be a signal to the West to understand what woe to expect if the Russo-US summit this coming weekend in Maine goes awry.

Germany’s highest court July 3 rejected a legal complaint against the deployment of Tornado jets in Afghanistan in support of NATO’s offensive against Taliban extremists.The federal constitutional court said it found no evidence that the use of six German reconnaissance planes since April represented a break with NATO’s “focus on peacekeeping” in the war-ravaged country.It also approved the controversial cooperation of German soldiers with the US-led anti-terror operation Enduring Freedom.The new Left Party, comprised of former East German communists and disaffected Social Democrats, had argued that the deployment of German Tornados with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) violated the NATO charter limiting alliance deployments to Europe and North America.It said the Afghanistan mission constituted a major amendment of the treaty that should have required the German government to seek parliamentary approval.The court ruled that the ISAF mission, which includes about 3,000 German troops, served to protect “the security of the Euro-Atlantic region.”The judges noted that the operations in Afghanistan were prompted by a direct attack on a NATO partner, the suicide hijackings of September 11, 2001 in the United States.Al-Qaeda operatives including leader Osama bin Laden sought refuge in Afghanistan when the Taliban were in power there.Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung welcomed the ruling, saying he expected parliament to approve an extension of the mandate for the jets in October.“I am happy the constitutional court confirmed the position of the government that the deployment of the Tornado jets is constitutional and complies with our basic law,” he told reporters at a security conference in Berlin.“I think that is an important message for our soldiers, who are making an important contribution to peace and stability. The Tornados offer protection to our soldiers and the [civilian] population.”The Tornados were deployed primarily to supply aerial images of Taliban positions.

ORONO — A celebration of the town’s 175th anniversary turned into a nightmare for one Orono horse farm owner when a flypast by Canadian Forces CF-18 fighter jets on Saturday afternoon caused havoc with her horses, killing one and injuring four others.br /“I had just finished a lesson with a student, another student was driving her horse when the first plane came over,” said Catherine Sampson, who with her husband owns the Trillium Morgan Horse Farm. “We weren’t sure exactly what it was at first, but they flew right over our west pasture where most of our young horses were pastured and right over our arena roof where the riders were.”br /The fighter jets were performing a manoeuvre as part of a three-day event held to celebrate the history of Orono. It was organized by the 175 Celebration Committee, a sub-committee of the Orono BIA.br /Ms. Sampson, who is seeking compensation from the committee and the military, said the jets flew just above tree level and “were very low and very loud.”br /The noise from the planes spooked the horses, causing them to panic trying to get back to the stable. In their attempt, several horses were injured when they pushed into a fence.br /“A young horse owned by one of my clients could not be salvaged,” she said. “We had two vets working very hard, about 20 people trying to stabilize these horses who had severe blood loss and numerous other problems but the youngest one couldn’t be saved at all so she was humanely destroyed.”br /Ms. Sampson’s personal horse — a thoroughbred mare worth $5,000 — was also critically injured and remains on “wait-and-see” status. Three other horses sustained minor injuries.br /Prior to the event, the municipality of Clarington issued a warning to local residents about a “low-altitude manoeuvre” by the fighter jets that would cause a period of loud noise for a short period of time. Residents were reminded to take any precautions they deemed necessary to protect both humans and animals from the noise.br /Jennifer Cooke of the Municipality’s communications and marketing office says she issued the warning on behalf of the 175 Celebration Committee which in turn had been asked to do so by the pilots of the fighter jets.br /But Ms. Sampson says a warning printed in the local paper is not adequate, especially for farmers who are very busy this time of year and may not have time to read the paper. And even if they had adequate warning, she says the military should know not to fly that low over agricultural land — spooking even those animals sitting in the safety of the stable.br /“It could have been prevented,” she said.br /Lieutenant Paul Finnemore, of Air Force public affairs, says it was a terrible tragedy.br /“Our intention, of course, in the military, is not to terrorize the citizenry and their animals. We serve to defend Canada and their interests,” he said.br /Should Ms. Sampson pursue compensation, Lieut. Finnemore said the government has a department to deal with it.br /“There is definitely a process,” he said. “And definitely in the past there has been payouts by different problems caused by the military and other government organizations as well. It’s handled on a case by case basis.”br /Clarington Mayor Jim Abernethy, who called Ms. Sampson this morning to offer his condolences, said the Municipality also has a process in place through which she can make a claim for compensation.br /Ms. Sampson said that while she does want to pursue compensation for the vet bills, she says her real goal is to stop this from happening again. br /“I wouldn’t want another farmer or horse owner to have to go through this tragedy that we went through,” she said. “Its very devastating to everybody, the children who worked with these horses in our lesson program, it’s very heartbreaking for everyone.”