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RIYADH (AFP) - Saudi King Abdullah will start a three-day official visit to Turkey on Tuesday during which a military cooperation accord will be signed with Ankara, a Saudi-owned newspaper reported Saturday. During Abdullah's visit to Ankara at the invitation of Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, six bilateral accords will be signed, including one on military cooperation and another on protecting investments, the pan-Arab Al-Hayat said. A 45-strong team of Saudi businessmen will be among the delegation accompanying Abdullah to Turkey, it said. Talks will also cover the Lebanon conflict and other regional issues. The paper said the Saudi monarch...

The USS Abraham Lincoln, USS Kitty Hawk and USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike groups steam in formation during a joint photo exercise (PHOTOEX) in preparation for Valiant Shield 2006 on Sunday, June 18, 2006, in the Pacific Ocean. The PHOTOEX featured 14 ships as well as 17 aircraft from Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corp including a B2 bomber. The Kitty Hawk Carrier Strike Group is currently participating in Valiant Shield 2006, the largest joint exercise in recent history. Held in the Guam operating area beginning June 19-23, the exercise involves 28 Naval vessels including three carrier strike groups,...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Coast Guard and Navy will be conducting a joint exercise tomorrow between 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Cumberland Sound, Ga., designed to test the Coast Guard's ability to deter, detect and disrupt hostile acts direct at an escorted U.S. Naval vessel. During the exercise, Coast Guard and Naval vessels will be utilizing aggressive vessel tactics and firing blank ammunition from machine guns. This is to provide the most realistic means of evaluating unit capabilities, tactics, doctrine and plans. Coast Guard units routinely work in the Kings Bay, Ga., area to provide security for security...

Israeli Naval Forces Will Join NATO Exercise for First Time 19:40 May 30, '06 / 3 Sivan 5766 by Scott Shiloh For the first time since its founding in 1949, NATO will fully integrate Israeli Naval forces into a miltary exercise that will take place next month in the Black Sea. Ahead of the exercise, eight ships belonging to the NATO Southern Command docked Monday morning at Haifa port. The ships form part of a rapid deployment force and will remain in Haifa until June 4. The ships arrived as part of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue, a program set up with...

NEW DELHI, MAY 20 The VHP has offered to team up with Pope Benedict XVI to fight their ‘‘common’’ adversary of Islamic terrorism. VHP president Ashok Singhal made this offer to the Pope today, two days after the latter expressed serious reservations about moves to ban conversions in certain parts of India. The entire Sangh Parivar, particularly VHP, would have normally unleashed a no-holds-barred campaign against the Pope. However, Singhal, by courting the Pope, has obviously made a major tactical turn. The VHP chief said: ‘‘Christians and Hindus are both facing the same historical threat of jihad.’’ Drawing a parallel...

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2006 – The Defense Department is moving to establish a worldwide group of joint intelligence organizations designed to rapidly gather, interpret and act on information to better meet 21st-century military needs, senior military officials said here today. On April 3, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld issued a directive to establish a Joint Intelligence Operations Center at DoD's Defense Intelligence Agency, at each unified combatant command and at U.S. Forces Korea, Army Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and warfighting support, told reporters at a news briefing. "What we're trying to do is...

MOSCOW, February 27 (Itar-Tass) - - Russia and Turkey will conduct a joint naval exercise in the south-western part of the Black Sea on February 27-28, head of the press-service of the Black Sea Fleet Igor Dygalo told Itar-Tass on Monday. The Russian Guard’s missile cruiser Moskva, as well as two frigates and two missile motor boats of Turkey will take part in the exercise. According to Dygalo, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Vladimir Masorin, who concluded his visit to Turkey on Monday, will stay on board the cruiser Moskva to watch the manoeuvres. After the exercise the ships Moskva...

JOLO, Philippines There's been an explosion near a Philippines army camp where American troops are staying for joint war exercises. Witnesses say at least 20 people are hurt but a U-S military spokesman says there are no American casualties. The U-S official also says the incident will not hamper the two-week joint counterterrorism exercises that are to start Monday. Witnesses say those wounded were mostly men and female entertainers at a karaoke bar near the gate of the Philippine army camp.

The Indian and US navies have set up a Valentine’s Day tryst with aircraft carriers. The USS Ronald Reagan, named after a predecessor of US President George W. Bush who is scheduled to visit in early March, will be teaming up with the INS Viraat off the coast of Sri Lanka on February 14. The USS Ronald Reagan is steaming in from Singapore at the head of a carrier strike group that is forward deployed in the US’s “global war on terrorism”. The rendezvous for the passage exercise — or Pas Ex — was set up in quicktime because the...

The United States has allowed New Zealand to join a combined military exercise off Singapore, signalling an apparent thaw in the Anzus defence standoff. New Zealand and American forces are participating in a multi-national exercise this week, which is practising interception of ships carrying weapons of mass destruction. Since the mid-1980s the US has barred New Zealand participation in joint exercises in retaliation for New Zealand's anti-nuclear law. The only exceptions have been when the two countries are required to work together in preparation for operational military deployments, such as when frigates, Orions and army units have been deployed to...

Although Ukraine's December 2004 Orange Revolution sparked speculation about the country's potential to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), mainstream security analysts have missed the potential for co-operation with Kiev on missile defence. But US President George W Bush and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko have said that this is a promising area for co-operation. During their 4 April 2005 meeting in Washington, the two presidents agreed "to work together on missile defence, including beginning negotiations on a framework to facilitate such co-operation and closer industry-to-industry collaboration". These few words may lift US-Ukrainian security co-operation to new heights.

Moscow, Jan. 8 (PTI): Indian and Russian paratroopers will hold their second joint exercise in August in Russia. "We have planned two joint exercises in 2006, with India and NATO," Commander of Russia's elite Airborne Troops Colonel General Alexander Kolmakov, said in a TV interview. He said this time the joint war games with India would be held on the Russian soil in August. Earlier last October, Gen. Kolmakov had led the Russian Airborne combat unit for the first such joint anti-terror wargames Indra-2005 with the Indian paratroopers at Mahajan range in Rajasthan

For Gorshkov, Navy pilots head to US for training SHIV AROOR NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 23: By the time Russian-built aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov arrives in 2008, the Navy will have a contingent of 32 pilots, trained in specialised deck-based fighter operations at the US Navy training command in Pensacola, Florida. With the first batch of four Lieutenant-rank officers are already under training there, the next is scheduled to go in March. The selection of venue for training to operate Russian-built MiG-29K fighters off the Gorshkov may seem strange but the government was compelled to accept the Pentagon’s offer because Russia...

TOKYO - The Japanese government has decided to proceed with the United States in developing a joint missile defense shield, a top government official said Saturday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said steps would be taken to ensure the decision to pursue the shield, which uses defensive missiles to destroy attacking ones before they reach their targets, does not violate Japan’s pacifist constitution. “Amid proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles, the system is a genuinely defensive, and the only instrument to protect the lives and assets of our people,” Abe said. “It suits the defense policy...

MOSCOW, December 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russian paratroopers will participate in three joint military exercises with foreign countries in 2006, Commander of the Russian Airborne Troops said Thursday. "We have planned two joint exercises with NATO and India for 2006," Colonel General Alexander Kolmakov said. "In addition, we will conduct joint maneuvers with Uzbekistan and a series of international exchanges with foreign paratroopers." According to the general, the joint exercises with NATO have been scheduled for September and those for India have been slated for August. Both maneuvers will be held in Russia.

BANGKOK, Dec 13 (TNA) - Indonesia and Thailand have agreed to enhance their anti-terrorism cooperation between their armed forces to uncover terrorist networks. The militaries of the two countries also support their police forces for any anti-terrorism efforts, Indonesian Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono was quoted by news reports of ANTARA and Vietnam News Agency (VNA) as saying on Monday after a meeting in Jakarta with Thai Army Chief Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin. Juwono said the Indonesian-Thai army cooperation has been implemented for the past 20 years and their officers have exchanged programme for the past 15 years. However, to catch up...

New Delhi, December 9: In a step up of service-to-service engagement, India and US will conduct the biggest-ever Army level exercises near Ranikhet in Uttaranchal in January as American officials today indicated that Washington was working to open doors to high-technology transfers. A company force of the US Army will conduct joint exercises with a thrust towards anti-insurgency operations in the mountainous terrain near Choubhatia, US officials said adding that in the coming year, armed forces of the two countries would participate in ‘more complex, patterned’ war games. "US Pacific Command wants to expand its military-level interaction with India over...

In a step up of service-to-service engagement, India and the United States will conduct the biggest-ever army level exercises near Ranikhet in Uttaranchal in January, as American officials on Friday indicated that Washington was working to open doors to high-technology transfers. A company force of the US army will conduct joint exercises with a thrust towards anti-insurgency operations in the mountainous terrain near Choubhatia, US officials said adding that, in the coming year, armed forces of the two countries would participate in 'more complex, patterned war games'. "The US Pacific Command wants to expand its military-level innteraction with India over...

In a step up of service-to-service engagement, India and the United States will conduct the biggest-ever army level exercises near Ranikhet in Uttaranchal in January, as American officials on Friday indicated that Washington was working to open doors to high-technology transfers. A company force of the US army will conduct joint exercises with a thrust towards anti-insurgency operations in the mountainous terrain near Choubhatia, US officials said adding that, in the coming year, armed forces of the two countries would participate in 'more complex, patterned war games'. "The US Pacific Command wants to expand its military-level innteraction with India over...

Britain in battle with US over fighter plane Peter Almond and Dominic O'Connell BRITAIN is threatening to pull out of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), a co-operative combat-aircraft project with America that is one of the largest military programmes in the world. The move, confirmed to The Sunday Times by senior defence officials, could have serious repercussions for BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce, Britain’s two main contributors to the project. BAE is part of the consortium developing the plane, and had expected revenues of about $24 billion (£13.8 billion) in development and production contracts. Rolls-Royce is developing the lift fan for...