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The Pakistan Navy has rebuked reports that it is acquiring an over 30-year old guided missile frigate from the United States for a whopping 64.77 million dollars, saying Pakistan would be getting the warship free of cost. A Pakistan Navy spokesman said that the transfer of USS McInerney, a Oliver Perry class frigate, is being done under the Foreign Military Funding, according to which Pakistan would ‘not have to pay a single dollar for the frigate.’ The naval frigate will be handed over to Pakistan on August 31 following which it would be refurbished according to the Pakistan Navy’s requirements...

The United States has assured India that it is keeping a close watch on the weapons supplied to Pakistan and, will investigate if there is any 'misuse' of the weapons tramsferred to Islambad. Buzz up!Addressing reporters in New Delhi, US Ambassador to India, Timothy Roemer, said:"There are allegations of misuse of weapons given to Pakistan for other purposes. We will investigate it, Congress will take the issue seriously." The American assurance came just days after Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh met US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, where he reportedly expressed...

Last February, in a speech at the annual Munich Security Conference, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen argued that the Alliance should turn into a consultation forum for global security issues. Such a role, he argued, would require the transatlantic security alliance to develop closer relations with all major global players, including India and China. Only a few years ago, any mentioning of India and China as potential NATO partners would have led to raised eyebrows not only in Delhi and Beijing, but also in many NATO member countries. Not this time. In the days just after the Munich conference,...

The armies of India and Pakistan are mobilising for separate large-scale war games on either side of the international border this month to experiment with concepts they will employ in the event of a war with each other. Each side has informed the other — as is normally done in peace time — that it is conducting military exercises near the international boundary and that the movement of troops, tanks, guns and fighter aircraft is not a sign of aggressive intent. Pakistan Air Force combat aircraft landed on and took off from a motorway on Saturday in an exercise named...

Pakistan is scheduled to get 18 of the Block 52 F-16 fighter aircraft and Oliver Hazard Perry Class frigate from the US by fall, and is expected to receive Shadow Drones within a year, a Pentagon official has said. Islamabad is set to receive all this military help under the enhanced US-Pakistan strategic cooperation. "I would like to think that we would get them (Pakistan) within the year," the official said on Tuesday. "Shadow (drone) is one of the things that they had asked for, and as we expanded and talked about other UAV platforms to be able to use...

American aerospace giant Lockheed Martin has assured India that the F-16s being offered to it would be "much more advanced" than the fighters provided to Pakistan. "I can assure you, the Super Viper is much more advanced in all aspects than the F-16s being given to Pakistan," Lockheed Martin's Vice President-Business Development (India) Orville Prins told a group of visiting Indian journalists here on Monday. The assurance comes in the wake of reports that India was concerned over US supplying a new set of F-16s to Pakistan, a decision which could be a crucial geopolitical factor when the Indian Air...

Lockheed Martin, the American aerospace specialist on Monday said the F-16 aircraft being offered India would be “much more advanced” than the fighters provided to Pakistan. Speaking to visiting Indian journalists in Dallas, Texas, Orville Prins, Vice-President, Business Development (India) said, “I can assure you, the Super Viper is much more advanced in all aspects than the F-16s being given to Pakistan.” Mr. Prins' assurance comes in the wake of reports that India was concerned over the U.S. providing Pakistan with a new set of F-16 aircraft, a decision which could be a crucial geopolitical factor when the Indian Air...

As the Pakistan-US strategic dialogue and its accompanying hype wound down in Washington, US briefed India about the content and scope of the discussions between the two sides. US national security adviser, Gen Jim Jones called up Shivshankar Menon, national security adviser, to bring him up to speed on the talks, while US undersecretary William Burns briefed his counterpart, Nirupama Rao. Specifically, the conversations were intended to allay any Indian apprehensions of “secret” understandings reached with Pakistan. As the joint statement made clear, there was no reference to India or Kashmir in the document. Even on the water issue, the...

The prospect of a nuclear deal for Pakistan gives India less sleepless nights than the fact that the US, in an attempt to "incentivise" Pakistan, is piling on sophisticated military equipment that have little to do with counter-terrorism but more to do with targeting India. With the first lot of 18 F-16C/D Block 50/52 combat aircraft due to be delivered in the next few months, India is raising the diplomatic pitch against the transfer of such equipment to Pakistan. While defence minister A K Antony has articulated these concerns, this has been the subject of a lot of diplomatic traffic...

The Indian Army is arming its infantry soldiers with a medium range loitering missile that can strike at a target after hovering over it for 30 minutes and sending in critical data on the enemy installation. The army has issued an open Request for Information (RFI) to major global defence companies seeking to know if they can supply a missile system with such operational characteristics. "The RFI has been issued earlier this month. The loitering missile is basically an unmanned aerial vehicle which can transmit data after hovering over a target undetected for about half-an-hour and later self-destruct on the...

The Obama administration is trying to play catch-up in its relations with the country that could become its most important long-term ally. But it may be leaving it too late, after India last week agreed a $7 billion deal in arms, nuclear reactors and space technology with Russia. India's strategic importance can hardly be exaggerated. More than just the other Asian economic giant after China, India is a democracy where English is an official language. It shares with Washington the same love-hate attitude toward China, hopeful but deeply suspicious at the same time. And with a much healthier demographic profile...

): With an eye to develop a full fledged multi-layer Ballistic Missile Defence system, India is likely to test-fire its indigenously designed and developed Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) off Orissa coast today. The AAD missile is capable of destroying any hostile ballistic missile at low altitude situation, defence sources said on Saturday. Range integration work at the ITR for the proposed trial is complete and the test is likely to be conducted today, they said. The target missile, a modified indigenously built 'Prithvi' posing as an enemy missile, would first be lifted off...

India and US will hold another joint military exercise called “Shatrujeet” focusing on counter-terrorism, in California next month, a media report said. Indian soldiers numbering around 150-200 will soon be leaving for US to take part in the exercise from April 1 to 19; the Times of India quoted defence ministry sources as saying on Thursday. India had hosted the largest-ever ground combat exercise with US, called `Yudh Abhyas', at Babina last October, where US had showcased its Stryker infantry armoured vehicles and Javelin anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) during the combat manoeuvres. The deployment of the Stryker armoured fighting alongside...

India signed a deal with Russia on Friday to buy 29 MiG-29 fighter jets, further cementing Moscow's role as New Delhi's principal arms supplier, the plane maker said. "According to the contract, supplies will start in 2012," said Mikhail Pogosyan, the general director of both Russian plane makers RAC-MiG and Sukhoi. He estimated the value of the deal at around 1.5 billion dollars. The deal is on top of 16 MiG-29 planes New Delhi already agreed to buy for deployment on an aircraft carrier it also hopes to obtain from Russia. Pogosyan was part of a large business delegation accompanying...

Pakistan's navy successfully test-fired a series of missiles and torpedoes Friday in what it called a message to "nefarious" forces — an apparent reference to longtime rival India. While the two nuclear-armed neighbors have taken slow steps toward restarting peace talks, they also have a history of using weapons tests as a form of diplomatic saber-rattling. The tests occurred in the Arabian Sea and employed various aircraft, submarines and ships. It was not immediately clear if the missiles were capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Both countries regularly test their missile systems, and usually notify each other ahead of such launches...

A Pennsylvania woman known to authorities as "Jihad Jane" was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, making false statements to a government official and attempted identity theft. The indictment, unsealed Monday, charges that Colleen R. LaRose, and five unindicted co-conspirators recruited men on the Internet to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe, and recruited women on the Internet who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe in support of violent jihad.

Pakistani air force joins U.S. counterparts in joint maneuvers over North America using the F-16 Fighting Falcon in late 2010, sources said Monday. Sources to the Pakistani newspaper The National said U.S. and Pakistani teams would participate in defense maneuvers in the United States. "The joint exercises have been planned in the wake of the quality performance of the Pakistani air force in air raids in the tribal areas as part of the war on terror as well as the recognition of its air power in South Asia," the source said on condition of anonymity. Pakistani military officials said air...

Government expressed serious concern over the US equipping Pakistan army with modern weapons and asked Washington to ensure that they were not used against India. "United States decision to provide sophisticated weapons (to Pakistan) is a matter of serious concern to India. The US should ensure that these weapons are not targeted against India", Defence Minister A K Antony told reporters here Saturday. Noting that the issue had already been taken up with the US defence weapons, Pakistan , US, army Secretary during his visit to India recently, he said the American explanation that Pakistan army has to be strengthened...

ndia and Pakistan held their first formal talks in 14 months yesterday, seeking to put their volatile relationship back on track after it was derailed by the devastating 2008 Mumbai attacks. Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir met for three hours in New Delhi for talks that offered little hope of a breakthrough, but carried vital importance for regional peace and stability. Arguments over the agenda and a brief exchange of fire between Indian and Pakistani border guards before the meeting augured badly for major progress, with the probable best-case scenario an agreement to keep...

India successfully conducted its fourth, and final, pre-service test of its Agni III IRBM (Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile) on February 7th. The fifty ton, two stage, solid fuel missile reached an altitude of 350 kilometers before heading down towards its target. A 2006 test was a failure, but tests in 2007 and 2008 were successful, as was the latest one. Over a year ago, India began preparations for putting the Agni III into service. This missile has a 3,500 kilometer range. Currently, the Agni series consists of the Agni I, with a range of 700 kilometers, and the Agni II,...