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Russia is negotiating the delivery of more air defense systems to Iran in defiance of Western pressure to halt the move, an official says. General Director of Russian arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, made the remark while talking to reporters at the Africa Aerospace & Defense-2008 (AAD-2008) exhibition near Cape Town in South Africa. According to RIA Novosti, , Anatoly Isaikin added that contacts between Iran and Russia on the delivery of air defense systems are continuing and Moscow sees no reason to suspend the negotiation. ""Deliveries of Russian anti-aircraft weaponry to Iran were aimed exclusively at increasing its air defense capability...

WASHINGTON -- The United States has targeted Iran's leading manufacturer of surveillance and combat unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Co. Treasury said the company, known by its Iranian acronym, HESA, was a key contractor to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and supplying the Ababil UAV. "The IRGC utilizes the Ababil UAV, manufactured by HESA," Treasury said on Sept. 17. "HESA produces different variants of the Ababil UAV, which can be used for surveillance and attack." Officials said HESA, owned by the Defense Ministry, has exported Ababil. They said...

American made hi-tech goods are being used by Iran controlled companies to produce the deadly roadside bombs used by terrorists in Iraq, according to the US government. According to the Miami Herald, the 13-count indictment was handed down by the Federal Government on Wednesday alleging 16 foreigners and overseas businesses had sold hi-tech "dual use" goods to businesses that were actually "fronts to Iran". The companies were doing "business" building roadside bombs, or IED's. Roadside bombs, or IED's, have killed 1722 troops since the US invaded Iraq in March 2003. "The 16 foreign defendants were charged with conspiracy and violations...

Russia defied the United States yesterday by announcing plans to sell military hardware to Iran and Venezuela. The head of the state arms exporter said that he was negotiating to sell antiaircraft systems to Iran despite American objections. Russia has already delivered 29 Tor-M1 missile systems under a $700 million (£386 million) deal with Iran in 2005. Russia's strategic aircraft, the Tu-160 or White Swan, world's largest supersonic bomber. A pair of them touched down in Venezuela this week as Moscow announced big new arms sales “Contacts between our countries are continuing and we do not see any reason to...

MIAMI - A federal grand jury has charged eight individuals and corporations with participation in conspiracies to export U.S.-manufactured commodities to to Iran. The Indictment alleges the defendants caused the export of 120 field-programmable gate arrays, more than 5000 integrated circuits of varying types, approximately 345 Global Positioning Systems (“GPS”), 12,000 Microchip brand micro-controllers, and a Field Communicator. All have military applications as components in IEDs.The charges are the result of an extensive inter-agency investigation into the use of U.S.-made goods in the construction of IEDs used in Iraq and Afghanistan.Charged are: Ali Akbar Yahya, Iranian and British citizen; F.N....

CAPE TOWN, September 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is negotiating the delivery of more air defense systems to Iran despite Western demands for a halt in sales to Tehran over its refusal to stop uranium enrichment, the head of Russia's arms exporter said Thursday. "Contacts between our countries [on delivery of air defense systems] are continuing and we do not see any reason to suspend them," Rosoboronexport General Director Anatoly Isaikin told reporters at the Africa Aerospace & Defence-2008 (AAD-2008) exhibition near Cape Town in South Africa. The official reiterated that deliveries of Russian anti-aircraft weaponry to Iran were aimed...

Foreign Affairs: Russia has disclosed that it will sell military hardware to Tehran that will protect Iran's nuclear facilities. The time left to halt the Iranian nuclear threat has thus grown that much shorter.Russia's state arms dealer also said Thursday that it will sell anti-aircraft systems, armored personnel carriers and fighter jets to Venezuela. That in itself is worrisome. But the sale of the S-300 surface-to-air missile system to Iran is downright alarming. It's conceivable that, once in place, the system will be able to protect the regime's nuclear facilities from an airstrike. Should Iran then be able to continue...

Reports have circulated for some time that Russia is preparing to sell its S-300 surface-to-air missile system to Iran, offering greater protection against a possible US or Israeli attack on the Islamic republic's nuclear facilities. The missiles have a range of more than 150 kilometres and can intercept jets approaching at low altitudes

Hong Kong, China — China’s official media have released photos of K-8 fighter trainers demonstrating impressive attack power against land-based targets. The aircraft are the same model that China has exported to Sudan, ostensibly for training purposes. However, the K-8 trainers are very much like standard attack aircraft, and their tactical application in the Sudanese Air Force is not only for training but also for land attack operations. The K-8 has flight endurance of three hours, a maximum flight range of 2,100 kilometers, and its combat radius covers the whole of Sudan’s territory

CAPE TOWN, September 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has successfully reestablished military-technical cooperation with African countries, which saw a decline after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the head of Russia's state arms exporter said on Wednesday. "We have recently revived our contacts with all African countries that used to be traditional buyers of Soviet weaponry," Rosoboronexport General Director Anatoly Isaykin told a news conference at the Africa Aerospace & Defence-2008 (AAD-2008) exhibition near Cape Town. Russia's arms trade customers in Africa include Algeria, Libya, Angola, Ethiopia, Uganda, Morocco, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique and Burkina Faso. African countries are attracted...

MIAMI, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- A U.S. indictment unsealed in Miami Wednesday accuses 16 individuals and companies of conspiring to export potential military and explosives components to Iran. The U.S. Justice Department said the 13-count superseding indictment returned Sept. 11 names eight individuals and eight companies. Among the charges are conspiracy, violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the United States Iran Embargo, and making false statements to federal agencies. The defendants are accused of buying and then illegally exporting "dual use" commodities to Iran, the Justice Department said in a news release. The materials included thousands of...

In a move that could reverse years of Army small arms policy, the service is asking industry to send in ideas for a new combat rifle that could replace the M4 carbine. In late August, the Army issued a solicitation to the arms industry asking companies to submit proposals that would demonstrate "improvements in individual weapon performance in the areas of accuracy and dispersion ... reliability and durability in all environments, modularity and terminal performance." And in a dramatic gesture that could throw the door wide open to a totally new carbine, the service did not constrain ideas to the...

Elements in the Iranian state are sending weapons across the border to the Taleban in Afghanistan, a BBC investigation has uncovered.

While Russian arms sales are sliding, American weapons exports are surging. Russian expects to sell $6 billion worth of weapons this year. But Russia exported $8 billion worth of weapons last year, and there were hopes that sales might reach $10 billion this year. The sudden fall in Russian arms sales comes from problems with the two largest customers; China and India. Meanwhile, U.S. sales are currently about $32 billion a year. The United States and Russia have long been the largest exporters of weapons, accounting for about 70 percent of world sales over the last decade. Traditionally, the U.S....

Advanced Patriot missile defense systems from Germany have been deployed on South Korean Air Force bases and unidentified locations nationwide, in an apparent move to counter the increasing threat of North Korean missiles, a military source said Tuesday. The deployment of upgraded Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) systems is a core part of Seoul's plan to build an independent theater missile defense shield, dubbed the Korean air and missile defense (KAMD) network system. The KAMD, also involving Aegis destroyer ship-to-air missile defense systems, is designed to intercept low-flying, short- and medium-range missiles from North Korea. The North is believed to have...

Iranian military leaders said Monday they are conducting a series of missile defense tests and other armed forces exercises. Brig. Gen. Ahmad Mighani told reporters all of the air-defense units of Iran's ground forces would be involved in the exercises, which will include launches of advanced missiles and other precision-guided weapons, RIA Novosti reported. "The drills are being conducted in more than a half of Iran's provinces," Mighani said. "Their main goal is to rehearse tactical operations with modern weapons and generally to upgrade the operational effectiveness of the country's armed forces."

Albania's government said on Friday it was looking into the sudden death of an arms industry figure who was helping prosecutors investigate a weapons sale to the United States and an explosion that killed 26 people. Television pictures showed businessman Kosta Trebicka, his head covered in blood, sprawled on his back on a dirt road in a remote area of eastern Albania, where he had been hunting. His off-road car was nearby, and appeared to be damaged.

The US Department of Defense has notified Congress of a potential sale of 1,000 smart bombs capable of penetrating underground bunkers to Israel, which would likely be used in the event of a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. The notification of the possible sale to Congress was made over the weekend by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), the branch of the Pentagon responsible for evaluating foreign military sales. Congress has 30 days to object the deal. The deal is valued at $77 million and the principal contractor will be Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. The bomb which Israel has...

WASHINGTON: The United States is suddenly faced with the uncomfortable scenario of confronting the very same weapons and military hardware, including F-16 fighter jets, it has armed Pakistan with for decades. The unsavoury prospect of having to take a crack at the its one-time ally has surfaced most starkly in the skies over the Afghan-Pakistan border this weekend after the Pakistan Air Force deployed its US-supplied F-16s to challenge the violation of its airspace by US drones, and in one case, an airborne assault that landed US Navy Seals inside Pakistani territory. The turnaround of Pakistan from an ally to...

Despite reservations in Washington regarding a possible Israeli strike on Iran, the American administration will supply Israel with sophisticated weapons for heavily fortified targets, the U.S. administration announced. The U.S. Department of Defense announced it would sell the Israel Air Force 1,000 new smart bombs, rumored to significantly enhance the IAF's military capabilities. The deal was approved amid public and secret messages from Washington, with the Americans expressing their reservations about a possible Israeli strike against the Islamic Republic's suspected nuclear sites. The Pentagon's announcement, which came on Friday, said the U.S. will provide Israel with 1,000 units of Guided...