Current Events in Mideast-Africa

From DefenseNews [excerpt]

From DefenseNews Posted 08/14/07 16:14 Iran President Denies Arming Taliban in Afghanistan By REUTERS, KABUL Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied on August 14 U.S. accusations his country was arming Taliban insurgents in neighboring Afghanistan. U.S. officials say Iranian weapons are entering Afghanistan on such a scale it is hard to believe Tehran is not aware of the shipments. High-powered roadside bombs, which Washington says Iran sends to Iraq, have also begun to appear in Afghanistan. Asked about the accusations, Ahmadinejad told a news conference in the Afghan capital, Kabul: “I strongly doubt that, there is no truth in it... even in Iraq such cl…

From DefenseNews Posted 10/15/07 20:16 India Working on Sea-Based Nuclear Missiles By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI NEW DELHI — India is drawing closer to a sea-based nuclear strike capacity. The hull of its homegrown nuclear-powered submarine, the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV), is under construction by the Larsen & Toubro (L&T) shipyard and is slated for sea trials in 2009, Indian Navy sources said. Land-based tests of some systems are already completed. The classified program is being run by the state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) with help from Russia. India also is buying two Russian nuclear-powered subs. The DRDO is developin…

From Reuters [excerpt]

Pakistani Ballistic Missile Test Failed (DefenseNews)

Iranian Unit To Be Labeled 'Terrorist' U.S. Moving Against Revolutionary Guard By Robin Wright, Washington Post Staff Writer The United States has decided to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country's 125,000-strong elite military branch, as a "specially designated global terrorist," according to U.S. officials, a move that allows Washington to target the group's business operations and finances. The Bush administration has chosen to move against the Revolutionary Guard Corps because of what U.S. officials have described as its growing involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as its support for extremists throughout the Middle East, the s…

Don't forget to check out the latest Harpoon3 scenario with this exact premise! UNIFIL made with the PlayersDB

From DefenseNews Posted 10/24/06 11:06 Iran Could Have Nuclear Bomb By 2015: Germany By REUTERS, BERLIN Iran is unlikely to be able to develop a nuclear bomb before 2015, the chief of Germany’s BND foreign intelligence agency said on Oct. 24. His estimate falls within the 3-10 year range of forecasts given by most international experts. "It is difficult to give an exact estimate of the time," BND head Ernst Uhrlau told a security conference organized by the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. "According to the current rate of enrichment, the Islamic Republic will not have sufficient amounts of highly enriched uranium with which to build atomic weapons before 2010. For…

From Haaretz Published 15:40 15.08.10 Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved the purchase of 20 F-35 fighter planes for the Israel Air Force on Sunday. The planes, manufactured by the American company Lockheed Martin, are expected to be delivered to Israel between 2015 and 2017. Barak's approval of the $2.7 billion deal came after more than two years of tough talks between the Israeli defense establishment, the U.S. Pentagon, and Lockheed Martin. The talks were complicated by the IAF's demand to install Israeli systems on the aircraft and the refusal of the Americans to allow those changes. In the end, the IAF's desire to be the first air force in th…

From http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-09-18/iran-deploys-russian-made-submarine-in-gulf [excerpt]

Source: Air Force Link - Reaper UAV now flying in Afghanistan

Precision and Purpose: Airpower in the Libyan Civil War (pdf, RAND)

From Defense Aerospace Reports Citing Imminent Attack on Iran Are Wrong, Official Says (Source: US Department of Defense; issued April 17, 2006) WASHINGTON --- Recent news reports citing an imminent U.S. military attack against Iran are flat wrong, a senior Defense Department official said here today. Such reports constitute "wild speculation," DoD spokesman Bryan Whitman told Pentagon reporters, reiterating previous policy remarks President Bush has made on the Iran issue. The president has chosen diplomacy in concert with the international community as the preferred approach in persuading the Iranian government to jettison its nuclear programs, Whit…

From Flight Global DATE: 05/11/09 SOURCE: Flight International South Africa cancels order for eight A400M transports By Craig Hoyle The EADS-led A400M airlifter has suffered its first orders blow since the programme ran into development difficulties, with South Africa having cancelled its order for eight of the aircraft. Confirmed on 5 November, South Africa's decision comes after deliveries of the Airbus Military product have fallen around three years behind schedule. The South African government says the decision was taken during a meeting in Cape Town on 4 November, and that its action was informed by an extensive review into the troubled acquisit…

From DefenseNews Bush Declines To Exclude Nuclear Strike on Iran By EDMUND BLAIR, REUTERS, TEHRAN U.S. President George W. Bush refused on April 18 to rule out nuclear strikes against Iran if diplomacy fails to curb the Islamic Republic’s atomic ambitions. Iran, which says its nuclear program is purely peaceful, told world powers it would pursue atomic technology, whatever they decide at a meeting in Moscow later in the day. Bush said in Washington he would discuss Iran’s nuclear activities with China’s President Hu Jintao this week and avoided ruling out nuclear retaliation if diplomatic efforts fail. Asked if options included planning for a nuclear strike, B…

Putin Confirms Sale of Short-Range Missiles to Syria By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, MOSCOW President Vladimir Putin said April 22 that the controversial sale of Russian short-range missiles to Syria would go ahead as planned. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon voiced fears April 21 that the anti-aircraft missiles being sold by Russia to Syria could find their way into the hands of “terrorist organizations.” “With respect to the sale which was signed with Syria and which will be finalized, it involves short-range air defense systems,” Putin said in an interview with Israeli television aired by Russian networks a few days before his visit to Israel. “These s…

From Air Force Times New small bomb dropped in Afghanistan Staff reports Posted : Thursday Feb 1, 2007 9:54:57 EST The Air Force’s newest operational bomb, the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb, was dropped in Afghanistan for the first time Saturday. Getting the honors of using the bomb in combat was the 391st Fighter Squadron deployed to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, from Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. The decision to drop the weapon came when Army soldiers were under mortar fire from a ridgeline, according to an Air Force account. An Air Force joint terminal air controller with the Army unit requested the F-15E Strike Eagle drop the GBU-39 and told the …

From Flight Global [excerpt]

Iran, UAE Close to Deal on Hormuz Islands (DefenseNews)

Israel and Iran: A Dangerous Rivalry (pdf)