Current Events in Mideast-Africa

From Flight International Libya 'to order 13-18 Dassault Rafale fighter jets', rejecting Eurofighter, French press reports By Justin Wastnage Libyan leader Col Muammar al-Gaddafi has reportedly selected the Dassault Aviation Rafale fighter jet to re-equip the country's air force ahead of the Eurofighter Typhoon. Libya is reportedly close to finalising an order for between 13 and 18 Rafales in a deal worth as much as €2.5 billion ($3.24 billion), French Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche says. The newspaper cites industry sources and government insiders as saying Gaddafi chose the French offer over a refurbishing of and unspecified number of the count…

From Jane's US and Israel differ on Iranian nuclear ambitions By Alon Ben-David 12 March 2009 United States and Israeli assessments of Iran's nuclear aspirations appear again to be at odds, following a new assertion by Tel Aviv that Tehran has "crossed the technological threshold" in its bid to produce a nuclear weapon. In testimony to the Israeli cabinet on 8 March, Major General Amos Yadlin, head of military intelligence, said that for Iran, from this point on, "reaching a military-grade nuclear capability is a question of synchronising strategy with production of a nuclear bomb". While acknowledging that Iran is keeping its options open, such predicti…

From DefenseNews UAE to Buy Boeing C-17, Lockheed C-130J Airlifters By andrew chuter Published: 23 Feb 07:38 EST (12:38 GMT) The United Arab Emirates has confirmed it is to purchase Boeing C-17 and Lockheed Martin C-130J airlifters. Sheik Mohammed is congratulated by executives from Lockheed Martin after signing an agreement for C-130J airlifters at IDEX 2009 in the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Feb. 23. (SHEILA VEMMER / STAFF) The confirmation came not with an official announcement, but with a simple ceremony involving the removal of shrouds covering models of the two aircraft in the presence of Sheikh Mo…

From Navy Times NATO planning new anti-piracy mission The Associated Press Posted : Thursday Feb 19, 2009 11:38:49 EST KRAKOW, Poland — NATO is planning to deploy a new naval flotilla in the coming months to combat piracy off Somalia, a spokesman for the alliance said Thursday. “Based on discussions, you can expect to see another NATO naval operation off the lawless coastline of Somalia next spring in the general effort to combat piracy,” NATO spokesman James Appathurai told reporters at a meeting of defense ministers. In November, NATO sent four warships to the waters off the Somali coast and the Gulf of Aden to stem a surge of pirate attacks against me…

From Jane's Iran will be major concern for Israel's new leadership By Alon Ben-David 13 February 2009 Israel's inconclusive parliamentary election risks extending political instability at a critical moment for the country. Whoever is eventually installed as prime minister will look to the defence minister to play a pivotal role on a number of contentious issues - not the least of which is the threat posed by Iran's continued pursuit of nuclear technology. Operating under the premise that Iran will have enough fissile material to become a nuclear power by the end of 2009, whichever Israeli government is eventually installed will watch with great interest …

From ARES Sarkozy: Rafales, Rafales, Buy a Rafale! Posted by Robert Wall at 2/12/2009 12:26 PM CST French president Nicholas Sarkozy may yet prove to be a miracle worker. On a trip to Kuwait, Sarkozy says he's gotten close to securing an agreement to sell the Rafale strike fighters to the Middle East country. The deal hasn’t been inked, though, and it wouldn’t be the first time Paris thought it had found its first export customer for the Rafale, only to see the deal fall by the wayside. Kuwait may buy between 14 and 28 fighters, if a contract can be finalized. Kuwait was an operator of Dassault Mirage F1 fighters, although it replaced those after the…

This is both a "Congratulations" moment and an "Oh Dear" one...

From ARES Has Hamas Tested a C-802 Shore-to-Ship Missile off Gaza? Posted by David Eshel at 2/2/2009 9:42 AM CST Israeli military analysts have revealed what could become a formidable addition to Hamas' arsenal: The missile fired from Gaza out to the Mediterranean last week and shown on Israel TV as a Hamas display, was not a Qassam as reported but could be a modified version of a Chinese C-802, possibly an Iranian shore-to-ship Nur C-802 missile, which is based on the Chinese "Silkworm." Chinese C-802 shore-to-ship missile launched A C-802 shore-to-ship missile was fired during the Second Lebanon War from Beirut beach hitting the rear section of the I…

From DefenseNews Algeria Plans To Return 15 Fighters to Russia: Report AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Published: 18 Feb 16:40 EST (11:40 GMT) MOSCOW - Algeria wants to return 15 fighter jets it bought from Russia because of their poor quality, the Kommersant daily reported on Feb. 18, citing an official from Russia's state United Aerospace Corporation. The official said Russia was proposing to take back the MiG-29 jets, which were delivered to Algeria in 2006 and 2007, but only if Algeria bought more modern and expensive planes such as the MiG-29M2 or the MiG-35. Kommersant quoted another Russian official from the energy and industry ministry saying that a deal on…

From Jane's A new line of defence: Iran's naval capabilities By Hossein Aryan 27 January 2009 Iran has signalled its intention to increase its naval presence along the coast of the Gulf of Oman and up to the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important oil conduit, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The commander of the navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran Military (IRIM), Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, said: "A new line of defence has been established to the east of the Strait of Hormuz ... and if necessary we can prevent any enemy ship from entering the Persian Gulf." Adm Sayyari was speaking at the October 2008 opening ceremony of a new naval base at…

Marines join counter-piracy mission Find Marine Corps Times article here. By Trista Talton - Staff writer Posted : Friday Jan 23, 2009 13:30:36 EST Members of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit are participating in counter-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia, a spokesman for Marine Corps headquarters said Thursday. Amphibious transport dock San Antonio, the flagship for Combined Task Force 151, is carrying a reinforced Marine platoon, said 2nd Lt. Josh Diddams. Officials will not say how many Marines are on the ship, which left Camp Lejeune, N.C., in late August with the Norfolk, Va.-based Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group. A typical Marine infan…

Is the Colonel still a kook? From Aviation Week's ARES Blog Moscow Eyes Strategic Port of Benghazi as Second Med Naval Station Posted by David Eshel at 11/4/2008 9:01 AM CST Colonel Mummar el-Qaddafi, Libya's longtime controversial leader, visited Moscow over the weekend and apparently offered the Port of Benghazi to Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev during their talks in the Kremlin last Saturday. The port is located in a highly strategic position, on the north east coast on the Gulf of Sidra, facing southern Europe. No wonder then that prominent Russian naval officers are happy with this lucrative offer. “Russia is interested in getting access to naval…

I'm surprised no one has even breathed mention of the situation in Gaza. Yes, its a politically sensitive issue, and maybe the silence is because we have been conditioned to the same tired, old Israeli-Palestinian grudge?

the BBB : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7637257.stm Extract from the full news page : Somalia's pirates seize 33 tanks The waters off Somalia are among the most dangerous in the world A Ukrainian ship seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia was carrying 33 tanks and other weapons, the Ukrainian defence minister has confirmed. Earlier, the country's foreign ministry said the ship had a crew of 21 and was sailing under a Belize flag to the Kenyan port of Mombasa. There has been a recent surge in p…

From Navy Times San Antonio laid up in Bahrain By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer Posted : Friday Nov 7, 2008 9:43:49 EST NORFOLK, Va. — The troubled amphibious transport dock San Antonio — in the middle of its first deployment — has been forced to undergo two weeks of maintenance in Bahrain due to leaks in its lube oil piping system, Navy officials said. “They had a scheduled port visit,” said Lt. Nate Christensen, spokesman for 5th Fleet in Bahrain. “They’re in port for two weeks for a maintenance availability on some lube oil deficiencies. It’s related to the diesel generators.” Pat Dolan, a spokeswoman at Naval Sea Systems Command, confirmed that the pr…

From ARES Pakistan Inks AWACS Deal with China? Posted by Graham Warwick at 12/18/2008 1:00 PM CST The Pakistani press is reporting that Islamabad has stuck a deal with China for airborne warning and control system aircraft - believed to be KJ-2000s, a Chinese version of the Beriev A-50 Mainstay. If true, it would give Pakistan an approximate equivalent to the Israeli-equipped A-50EIs on order for arch rival India. Photo: Chinese internet, via sinodefence.com According to sinodefence.com, the KJ-2000 is based on the Russian-supplied A-50, but with a Chinese electronically scanned array radar and mission system developed after the U.S. blocked the sale of…

From Stratfor Red Alert - Possible geopolitical consequences of the Mumbai attacks 27 November 2008 Summary If the Nov. 26 attacks in Mumbai were carried out by Islamist militants as it appears, the Indian government will have little choice, politically speaking, but to blame them on Pakistan. That will in turn spark a crisis between the two nuclear rivals that will draw the United States into the fray. Analysis At this point the situation on the ground in Mumbai remains unclear following the militant attacks of Nov. 26. But in order to understand the geopolitical significance of what is going on, it is necessary to begin looking beyond this event at wha…

Gleaned from Sean O'Connor's excellent IMINT & Analysis blog: "Below is a link to a video, showing a presentation given by Dr. Frank Pabian at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. The concept behind Dr. Pabian's presentation was to depict the effect of open source imagery as an analysis tool in nonproliferation and the response of potentially hostile nations in the form of improved denial and deception. Dr. Pabian uses the ongoing nuclear issue with Iran to illustrate this issue, also briefly touching on the Syrian reactor complex struck by Israel, showing a number of commercial images from sources such as Digital Globe and Google Earth to depict vario…

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,462466,00.html Apparantly their boat broke down. A boat filled with weapons. Every little victory counts.

Call made for China to battle pirates By Christopher Bodeen - The Associated Press Posted : Thursday Dec 4, 2008 9:17:56 EST BEIJING — A Chinese general has called for the country’s navy to join the fight against Somali pirates, saying the mission would boost China’s international stature and give its sailors valuable experience in fighting open ocean combat operations far from their home ports. Chinese ships have been among those seized in a wave of pirate attacks this year, including the fishing vessel Tianyu No. 8, seized in mid-November. International warships from NATO and countries including Russia patrol the Gulf of Aden and have created a security…