Current Events in Mideast-Africa

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…

Hurriyet Daily News link

From Aviation Week BREAKING NEWS -- Iran Set to Try Space Launch Jan 25, 2007 By Craig Covault/Aviation Week & Space Technology Iran has converted one of its most powerful ballistic missile into a satellite launch vehicle. The 30-ton rocket could also be a wolf in sheep's clothing for testing longer-range missile strike technologies, Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine reports in its Jan. 29 issue. The Iranian space launcher has recently been assembled and "will liftoff soon" with an Iranian satellite, according to Alaoddin Boroujerdi, the chairman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission. The move toward …

From Foreign Affairs [excerpt]

VIENNA (Reuters) - New satellite images show a heavy water plant in Iran, intended to supply a research reactor that could eventually produce plutonium for one atomic bomb a year, is nearly complete, a U.S. think-tank said on Friday. The photos of the plant in Arak, 240 km south of Tehran, were taken in February by the U.S. commercial satellite firms DigitalGlobe and Space Imaging and provided to Reuters by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a U.S. think-tank. "Adjacent to the reactor construction site (in Arak) is the heavy water production plant, which is almost completed and is anticipated to supply the necessary heavy water for the he…

From RIA Novosti

Published: 3/10/06, 10:36 PM EDT by the AP UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The five veto-holding members of the Security Council considered proposals on Friday to pressure Iran to resolve questions about its nuclear program, including demands that it abandon uranium enrichment and stop construction on a reactor, diplomats said. Full story Security Council Considers Iran ProposalsPublished: 3/10/06, 10:36 PM EDT by the AP

From the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA): Outside In: Operating from Range to Defeat Iran's Anti-access/Area Denial Threats (PDF)

Saudi Defence Minister Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz is said to have intention to reactivate a project to buy submarines for the Saudi Navy. Source: Tactical Reports http://www.tacticalreport.com/view_news/Sa..._programme/2408 Here's a nugget to get the juices flowing on some potential "what-if" scenarios. Wow, the RSNF with submarines! FWFS, Greg Emerson, DM1(SW), USN-Retired Renton, WA, USA

Israeli Jets In 'Iran-Attack Drill' Over Syria By Post Wire Services JERUSALEM - Israeli warplanes may have been testing air routes for a possible attack against Iran when they were fired on by Syrian forces, experts said yesterday. The official Syrian Arab News Agency Thursday quoted a military official as saying that Israeli jets broke the sound barrier flying over northern Syria earlier in the day, then "dropped munitions" onto deserted areas after being shot at by Syria's air defenses. Israel's air force may have been testing an air path to Iran, in case it decides to carry out an attack against that country's nuclear facilities, analysts said. The…

BAE Not Currently Finalizing Saudi Jet Deal By REUTERS, LONDON DefenseNews BAE Systems, Europe’s largest defense firm, said on Nov. 28 it was not moving forward on finalizing a deal to supply Saudi Arabia with 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets. In an interview in the Financial Times, the company’s chief executive, Mike Turner, was quoted as saying BAE could not speak on behalf of the two governments. "But I do know we are not currently moving forward on finalizing the Typhoon contract," Turner was quoted as saying. A BAE spokeswoman said the sentiment of Turner’s comment was that "since Ramadan negotiations between the two sides had not exactly moved apace". …

Probably shoot-down by very long range SAM (S-400?) when chasing after Iranian drones: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43014081

From Defence Aerospace Rice Says No Agreements on F-16 Sales to Pakistan, India (Source: Voice of America news; issued March 16, 2005) NEW DELHI --- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's talks with India's foreign minister covered regional defense issues, including the possible sale of U.S. fighter jets to India's long-standing rival, Pakistan. India is the first stop on Ms. Rice's six-nation tour of Asia - her first trip to the region since becoming secretary of state. Secretary of State Rice says she discussed the potential sale of F-16 fighter-jets to Pakistan with Indian officials, who have long opposed the plan. She also talked about selling the …

PART 1: Winning the intelligence war By Alastair Crooke and Mark Perry Introduction Writing five years after the attacks of September 11, 2001, US military expert Anthony Cordesman published an account of the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict. "Preliminary Lessons of the Israeli-Hezbollah War" created enormous interest in the Pentagon, where it was studied by planners for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and passed hand-to-hand among military experts in Washington. Cordesman made no secret of his modest conclusions, rightly recognizing that his study was not only "preliminary", but that it took no account of how Hezbollah fought the conflict or judged its results. "This ana…

From Defense Aerospace Statement (Source: Spokesperson of the Israeli Ministry of Defense; issued Feb. 11, 2007) The Arrow Weapon System marked tonight at 9:18 PM, 11/02/07, an important milestone by completing another successful test. The test, the 15th for the interceptor, the 10th for the complete weapon system, is part of the Arrow System Improvement Program, ASIP, which is being carried out jointly, by Israel and the United States. The objectives of the test were: - To examine improved performance including widening of the interception envelope - To test the system in an integrated operational configuration engaging two batteries located…

From Defense Aerospace Royal Navy Submarine Declared Safe After Grounding Incident (Source: UK Ministry of Defence; issued May 27, 2008) The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the Royal Navy submarine HMS Superb struck an underwater pinnacle whilst on dived passage through the northern Red Sea yesterday, Monday 26 May 2008. There were no casualties and the submarine remains watertight, is safe on the surface and able to operate under its own power. The submarine's nuclear reactor is completely unaffected, and there is no environmental impact. Notwithstanding this, from the initial assessment onboard the submarine, it is clear that there is some damage…

From Jane's Opinion: Gripen hard to beat in Indian MMRCA contest By Craig Caffrey 05 August 2008 While there is no shortage of fighter aircraft procurement programmes currently under way, the most eagerly anticipated contest is undoubtedly India's medium multirole combat aircraft (MMRCA) requirement for at least 126 aircraft. The six contenders have now submitted their proposals: Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Dassault's Rafale, Eurofighter's Typhoon, Lockheed Martin's F-16, Russian Aircraft Corporation's (RAC's) MiG with the MiG-35 and the Saab JAS 39 Gripen. Arguably each aircraft stands a fighting chance of securing the lucrative USD10 billion contract.…

From DefenseNews Posted 02/19/07 14:36 Putin Talks Arms, Nuclear Power in Gulf Visit By NABI ABDULLAEV, MOSCOW On the first tour by a Russian head of state to the Arabian Gulf countries, President Vladimir Putin offered weapons and nuclear power technologies to Saudi Arabia, coordination in trading in natural gas in Qatar, and sold arms and emerged as a power broker in Middle East affairs while in Jordan. Putin traveled to the three Gulf countries Feb. 11-13, right after he blasted the United States and its “unilateralist” actions in Iraq during a speech at a defense conference in Munich. In public appearances and private meetings, the president used his trip t…

For anyone who's interested, here are links to two of the English language daily papers we read when I worked in the KSA: http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm http://www.arabnews.com/ There was another called the Riyadh Daily, but apparently it folded a few years ago. Buddha

From Defense Aerospace Defeating al-Qaeda's Air Force: Pakistan's F-16 Program in the Fight Against Terrorism (edited) (Source: U.S. Department of State; issued September 16, 2008) Statement Before the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South Asia by Donald Camp, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs Washington, DC, September 16, 2008 Chairman Ackerman, Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to address you today on Pakistan’s F-16 program. …/… During Prime Minister Gillani’s visit to Washington in late July, you saw the United States and Pakistan committed to maintaini…