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Foreign fighter jets performed well against F-16s in recent exercises. NEW DELHI – Mingling over a few rounds of golf, dogfighting a bit over the jungles of West Bengal - this month's Cope India 2005 war games were billed as a standard two-week exercise between Indian and American top guns. But in website chat rooms devoted to the arcania of fighter aircraft, there was a buzz. Arre, wa! Oh, wow! Had the Indian Air Force beat the Americans? Not exactly, according to observers and participants. The exercises had mixed teams of Indian and American pilots on both sides, which means...

Turkey and Israel have commenced their defense contract cooperation with a ceremony to mark the joint production of upgraded M60A1 tanks for the Turkish military. The ceremonies held at Kayseri, the site of the new production line, were attended by top Turkish and Israeli officials on Tuesday. There was some initial tension over the delay of the contract by Israel, as it conducted field tests on technologies needed for the upgrade, however this seems to have been solved. The program will cost $688 million and calls for the upgrade of 170 M60 tanks to front-line condition based on advanced technologies...

KALAIKUNDA, NOV 17: As the Cope India 2005 Indo-US air force exercises wound down today after two weeks of feverish action in the eastern skies, the US Air Force were left with a stark, double-edged realization. One — that it is no longer the unchallenged leader in the skies, and two—for all future joint operations in South Asia, the IAF would, without doubt, be its natural partner. Vice Commander of the US Pacific Air Forces Lt Gen Dave Deptula said: ‘‘I have never seen a better executed exercise in my 29 years with the USAF. This will go a long...

KALAIKUNDA AIR STATION, India (AFPN) -- For the first time, U.S. pilots faced the Indian Air Force’s most advanced, and newest, fighter -- the Su-30 MKI -- during an exercise Cope India 06 mission here. F-16 Fighting Falcon pilots Capt. Martin “Gabby” Mentch and 1st Lt. Robert “Pipes” Stimpson were the first to mix it up with the Su-30s Nov. 9. The Airmen, deployed here with the 13th Fighter Squadron from Misawa Air Base, Japan, flew against the new jets, which have a thrust-vector capability and updated avionics. The MKI “is an amazing jet that has a lot of maneuverability,”...

American, Indian Airmen ‘mix it up’ by Capt. John Redfield Cope India Public Affairs 11/10/2005 - KALAIKUNDA AIR STATION, India (AFPN) -- For the first time, U.S. pilots faced the Indian Air Force’s most advanced, and newest, fighter -- the Su-30 MKI -- during an exercise Cope India 06 mission here. F-16 Fighting Falcon pilots Capt. Martin “Gabby” Mentch and 1st Lt. Robert “Pipes” Stimpson were the first to mix it up with the Su-30s Nov. 9. The Airmen, deployed here with the 13th Fighter Squadron from Misawa Air Base, Japan, flew against the new jets, which have a thrust-vector...

F-16s will take part in exercise Special Correspondent Air Force station at Kalaikunda revamped for 12-day exercise NEW DELHI: The U.S. Air Force will fly its F-16 planes for the first time in India in a joint exercise next month with frontline Indian Air Force (IAF) fighters at a newly revamped airbase in West Bengal. The F-16s will be supplemented by the airborne warning & control systems (AWACS) or sophisticated radars mounted on planes which, at a height of 30,000 feet have a surveillance radius of 400 km and the capability to simultaneously detect hostile movement of several aircraft. Few...

India and the US would soon sign an agreement on science and technology aimed at accelerating cooperation between scientists from both the countries in areas like space, energy, IT and nanotechnology. The agreement would be signed by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Union Minister for Science and Technology Kabil Sibal during the latter's visit to the United States later this month. The 'Science and Technology Umbrella Agreement' is expected to increase cooperation between scientists from both the countries working in government agencies, private sector, and academia in areas like basic sciences, space, energy, nanotechnology, health and information technology....

U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Nathan Guidry (standing, left) and retired Marine Gunnery Sgt. David Moose (standing, right) train 16 Republic of Georgia soldiers at Krtsanisi, Georgia, to be communications trainers, Sept. 26, 2005, as part of the Georgia Sustainment and Stability Operations Program. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Jonathan Moor Marines Teach Radio Skills to Georgian Soldiers The extensive, four-month training is preparing the Georgian battalion to accomplish their mission in Iraq. By U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Jonathan Moor U.S. Marine Forces, Europe KRTSANISI, Georgia, Oct. 11, 2005 --- U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery...

PARIS, Oct 3 Asia Pulse - The United States might cooperate with Spain to build submarines to sell to Taiwan, the French newspaper Le Monde reported Friday. Washington has agreed to sell eight diesel-electric submarines to Taiwan, as well as six Patriot PAC III anti-missile batteries and 12 P-3C anti-submarine aircraft, although the island's legislature has yet to pass the long-stalled arms procurement bill to buy the weaponry items. According to the Le Monde report, both Germany and France, which have monopolized almost entire traditional submarine production in the global market, have said they do not want to build the...

India may have refused to join the US-led coalition in Iraq and may be opposed to it being under an occupation force. But in a remote corner of Mizoram, a group of US soldiers and officers who will be deployed in Iraq early next year have just completed training at the Indian army's Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS). The 17-day training exercise, named Yudh Abhyas (battle practice), has drawn accolades from the American participants. In fact, according to Major Dan Wilson of the US army's 25th Infantry Division, based in Hawaii, critical aspects of the training will be...

Malabar 2005 Participants - USN, IN USN - USS Nimitz (Aircraft Carrier), USS Higgins (Destroyer), USS Chaffe (Destroyer), 1 X SSN (Nuclear Submarine), 1 X P3C Orion (Operating from Goa), F 18s (Embarked onboard USS Nimitz) IN - INS Viraat, INS Mumbai, INS Godavari, INS Shankul (Submarine), INS Aditya (Tanker), TU 142, Dornier Aircraft Fast Attack, Craft Special Forces (MARCOS) Details - Both groups of ships met at sea on September 25, 2005 at a location 300 nautical miles North West of Goa. The Ships carried out various intermediate level exercises (including joint exercise involving carrier borne aircraft from USS...

SOUTHWEST ASIA - An Air Force officer was killed Sept. 19, and two Airmen were injured as a result of a motor vehicle accident that occurred along the El Alamein Highway, between Cairo West and Alexandria. They were participating in Exercise Bright Star, a recurring joint/combined training exercise held in Egypt. The cause of the accident is under investigation and the names of the personnel are being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin.

Yemen, despite having an ongoing civil war with Islamic conservative Shia tribes on the Saudi border, plus many Sunni Arab Yemenis being big fans of al Qaeda, has made progress crippling terrorist operations in their territory. The recent arrest of al Qaedas senior man in Yemen, Mubkhit Salih al Kuabi was a major operation. More attacks on American ships were planned by al Qaeda, and al Kuabi was sent to make it happen. Apparently, the intelligence efforts of several Arab countries, including Jordan and Saudi Arabia, were used to identify and locate al Kuabi (who was working for Iraqi al...

Turkey And USA To Cooperate In Rifle Manufacture Published: 9/23/2005 ISTANBUL - Turkish weapon manufacture firm ``Sarsilmaz`` will cooperate with U.S. giant firm ``Colt Defense`` in rifle production. Under an agreement to be signed soon, Colt Defense`s products will be manufactured outside North America for the first time, and be exported to other countries via Turkey. Latif Aral Alis, the Chairman of Executive Board of Sarsilmaz firm, and James R. Battaglini, an executive of the Colt Defense LLC, will hold a press conference regarding this cooperation on Monday (September 26th).

NEW DELHI: India might still be shy of openly jumping onto the controversial US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) bandwagon but it's certainly steaming ahead to practice mammoth operations with American forces on the high seas. India's largest-ever naval exercise with any country will kick off on Sunday when Indian and American aircraft carriers, destroyers, guided-missile frigates, fighter and surveillance aircraft undertake combat manoeuvres in the north-west Arabian Sea. The sheer scale of this 10-day Indo-US exercise, "Malabar-05", can be gauged from the fact that it will involve almost 10,000 officers and sailors from the two nations. "This will be the...

The North Arabian Sea would become the stage of a formidable build-up of naval armada, including 100,000-tonne displacement United States carrier Nimitz, as Indian and American flotilla cross swords in a nine-day joint manoeuvre from September 25.The eighth series of exercises, billed the most advanced so far, would not only see the pride of the US seventh fleet,  Nimitz, in action, but also bring the carrier-based E2C Hawkeye Air Early Warning aircraft, the Los Angeles class submarines and the F-18/A hornet to Indian shores. Against such formidable forces, the Indian Navy would pit its lone carrier, INS Viraat, carrier-based Sea Harriers,...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17, 2005 – President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin emerged from a Sept. 16 meeting with a renewed commitment to working together in fighting terrorism and preventing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the two leaders told reporters at a White House news conference. Bush noted that both countries have felt the scourge of terrorism - the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, and Russia in September 2004, when a school siege in Beslan left 331 people, 186 of them children, dead. "We've got a strong ally in Russia in fighting the war on terror," Bush said....

BERLIN, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Russia will send ships early next year to help in NATO patrols of the Mediterranean Sea aimed at intercepting boats suspected of links to terrorism, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Wednesday. :::SNIP::: Russia and NATO agreed last year to work more closely together in the fight against terorrism and have been negotiating for months on how Russia can take part in the patrols, known as "Operation Active Endeavour".

India and the United States will conduct a bilateral naval exercise 'Salvex' off Kochi from today focussing on 'diving salvage' operations. Held as part of the regular 'Malabar' series of bilateral cooperation, the exercise would conclude on September 23, an official release said here on Sunday. The US naval ship 'USS Safeguard' is participating in this exercise while a naval diving team and INS Matanga would represent the Indian side. The exercise would include the deployment of combined underwater salvage teams comprising naval divers from both the countries. 'Salvex' is the first combined diving salvage exercise between the US and...

Russia, U.S. to conduct joint military exercise next year (in Moscow!) MOSCOW, September 9, (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Land Forces and the U.S. Army will conduct a joint military exercise in the Moscow military district in 2006, a Land Forces spokesman said Friday. The official said the preparation and active phase of the exercise would be discussed during the September 11-13 visit of a U.S. military delegation headed by Commander of United States Army, Europe (USAREUR) General B.B. Bell to Moscow. During the visit, General Bell will meet with Commander of the Russian Land Forces Colonel General Alexei Maslov...