Current Events in Europe

From Defense News Georgian Parliament To Vote on Russian Military Bases By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, TBILISI Georgia’s parliament will vote March 10 on whether to outlaw Russian military bases on the former Soviet republic’s territory, unless Moscow and Tbilisi can agree on their withdrawal by January 2006. However, Moscow responded that such a timeline was impossible to meet, setting up another confrontation with the former Soviet republic, which currently houses two Russian military bases. Relations between the two countries had been severely strained in recent years, following the election of pro-Western reformer Mikhail Saakashvili as Georgian presiden…

From http:/www.defence-aerospace.com NATO Forces Gather in the Mediterranean for the World’s Largest Annual Anti-Submarine Warfare Exercise Source: NATO; issued Feb. 25, 2005 Ten NATO nations will provide six submarines, ten maritime patrol aircraft and 16 surface ships to take part in NOBLE MARLIN 05 (NM 05), the world’s largest anti-submarine Warfare (ASW) exercise from 03 to 16 March 2005. The exercise will take place in the Ionian Sea to the Southeast of Sicily. Forces are provided by Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Six submarines from France (1), Germany (1), Gr…

From http://www.defensenews.com Estonia To Probe Arms Transport on Sunken Ferry By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, TALLINN The Estonian government has set up a commission to investigate reports that the doomed passenger ferry that sunk in 1994 had transported military equipment, the government announced March 3. “The aim of the expert commission is to look into the possible transport of weapons, which a Swedish inquiry has established,” a government spokesman said, adding that it would present a final report by Sept. 1. The panel is headed by a state prosecutor and includes representatives of other law-enforcement agencies. Swedish reports in January claime…

Russia: No System Will Stop New Missiles By STEVE GUTTERMAN Associated Press Writer March 1, 2005, 4:16 PM EST MOSCOW -- Russia will develop missiles impervious to any defense, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Tuesday in an apparent allusion the nascent U.S. missile defense system. A year ago, President Vladimir Putin said Russia could build unrivaled new strategic weapons, and in November he said it is developing a new nuclear missile system unlike any weapon other countries have or could come up with in the near future. Ivanov suggested the weapons would be based on the mobile version of the Russian Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missiles a…

From http://www.defenselink.mil/news NATO Response Force Will Transform Alliance, Jones Says By Gerry J. Gilmore American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, March 1, 2005 – The introduction of NATO’s response force in 2006 will transform the alliance and help it to better confront 21st century challenges, the U.S. military’s top officer in Europe told a Senate panel today on Capitol Hill. Deploying NATO forces outside of Europe “is the concept that gets us away from the static” 20th century defensive posture that characterized the alliance since its formation in 1949, Marine Gen. James L. Jones explained to members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. N…

From http://www.defense-aerospace.com Ministry of Defence Announces AirTanker Ltd as Preferred Bidder on FSTA Programme Source: UK Ministry of Defence; issued Feb. 28, 2005 The Royal Air Force is a step closer to getting a modern air refuelling aircraft under a Private Finance Initiative programme worth £13bn. The British based AirTanker consortium has today been selected as Preferred Bidder for the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) programme, which will create hundreds of jobs in the UK and sustain thousands of others. Geoff Hoon, Defence Secretary said: "FSTA is the MoD's biggest Private Finance Initiative project. I applaud the positive…

From http://www.defence-aerospace.com VT Group Secures Contract For New Offshore Patrol Vessel Source: VT Group; issued Feb. 25, 2005 VT Group plc has been awarded a contract by the Ministry of Defence for the construction of a new 80 metre Offshore Patrol Vessel (Helicopter) for the Royal Navy. The ship will be built to VT’s account, with production starting in June. She will be handed over to the Royal Navy in Autumn 2006, entering service, after the completion of trials, in Spring 2007. The ship will be chartered to the MoD for an initial period until March 2012. The programme is expected to be worth an initial total of around £30 million, under a …

From The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, http://www.thebulletin.org NRDC: Nuclear Notebook Russian nuclear forces, 2005 By Robert S. Norris and Hans M. Kristensen March/April 2005 pp. 70-72 (vol. 61, no. 02) © 2005 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists There were several key quantitative and qualitative developments with regard to Russian nuclear forces during the past year. [1] Russia continued to reduce its nuclear forces, and officials were unusually candid in describing the likely composition of forces for the coming decade. We estimate that as of early 2005, Russia has approximately 7,200 operational nuclear warheads in its active arsenal. This include…

Ukraine Missiles Go Missing from Crimea Naval Base By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, KIEV Two anti-aircraft missiles and a launch system have gone missing from a Ukrainian naval base in the Crimean peninsula, the defense ministry said Feb. 22. Guards came across two unidentified persons breaking into a weapons depot near Chernomorskoye, western Crimea, early in the morning Feb. 22, a statement said. The pair escaped, but guards then discovered a depot with a forced padlock from which two missiles stored in containers and a launch system for the Strela-3M portable air defense missile system were missing. Police were searching for the thieves and a special com…

From http://www.defensenews.com Indian Bid for Patriot Missiles Would Cause Crisis: Pakistan By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, ISLAMABAD Pakistan said Feb. 23 that any bid by India to buy U.S.-made Patriot missiles would plunge the region into crisis and threaten an ongoing peace process between the two nuclear-armed rivals. Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said that Islamabad, a front-line ally in what the U.S. calls its “war against terrorism,” had conveyed its concern to Washington over New Delhi’s interest in the anti-ballistic missile system. “This is our stance — that this step would be counterproductive, this would erode deterrence, that this wo…