Free Republic

The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress on June 30 of a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Tunisia of 12 refurbished SH-60F Sea Hawk helicopters in a package worth some $282 million (€225 million). This proposed sale would “enhance the modernisation of the Tunisian Air Force’s overwater search and rescue capability” says the DSCA and “enable continued interoperability with US Armed Forces and other coalition partners in the region”. The Tunisian Republic Air Force (TRAF) currently operates around eleven HH-3E Jolly Green Giants with 36 Squadron at Bizerte-Karouba Air Base and it is assumed that...

Tunisian authorities have reportedly arrested nine soldiers for allegedly planning attacks on visiting American military officers. The arrests were made under the Tunisian anti-terrorism law, lawyers said. The detainees, two of whom are officers in the Tunisian Air Force, planned to assassinate American military officers who visit the country periodically for military training and joint exercises with the Tunisian army, the German Deutsche Press Agency (DPA) reported. Dr. Jack Kalpakian, a political expert at Morocco’s Al-Akhawayn University in Ifrane, said he was not surprised to hear news of the terror sweep. “Tunisia’s government has followed a very secularist policy and...