Canadian Air Force,C-17 Globemaster III

South Korea stages live-fire drill near tense sea border

South Korea's military Wednesday staged a live-fire artillery exercise on an island hit by a deadly North Korean bombardment last November, officials said.

The exercise on Yeonpyeong island near the tense Yellow Sea border began at 9.30 am (0030 GMT) and was scheduled to last about one hour, a defence ministry spokesman said.

Tensions along the disputed border have been acute since the shelling last November 23 killed two marines and two civilians and damaged dozens of homes. It was the first attack on a civilian area in the South since the 1950-53 war.

Pyongyang said it was responding to a South Korean artillery drill which dropped shells earlier that day into waters claimed by the North.

Wednesday's drill was the first since a live-fire exercise on Yeonpyeong last December 20. That passed off without incident despite the North's threats to hit back.

A similar live-fire drill was being carried out Wednesday on Baengnyeong island, the closest one to the North's coastline.

The exercises involve K-9 self-propelled howitzers, Vulcan cannons and 81mm mortars, according to the Marine Corps which garrisons the frontline islands whose defences have been strengthened since last November.

Guns were being aimed southwards, away from the North.

British Submarine Strikes On Libya Air Defense

A Royal Navy submarine has launched further missile strikes against Libyan air defence targets as part of cordinated coalition action in support of enforcing UN Resolution 1973.

In a statement, the Chief of the Defence Staff's Strategic Communications officer, Major General John Lorimer, said:

"British Armed Forces have again participated in a co-ordinated strike against Libyan air defence systems in support of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973.

"The UK launched guided Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles from a Trafalgar-Class submarine at air defence targets as part of the coalition plan to enforce the resolution.

BAE Systems Enhances Capability of South Africa Hawk

RAF Tornado GR4s launched a number of guided Brimstone missiles at Libyan armored vehicles last night which were threatening the civilian population of Ajdabiya.Defence Secretary, Dr Liam Fox said:

"British Tornado GR4 Aircraft, on armed reconnaissance missions over Libya, last night (24/03/11) took part in a coordinated missile strike against units of Colonel Gaddaffi's Libyan Military in support of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973.

"The Tornado aircraft launched a number of guided Brimstone missiles at Libyan armoured vehicles which were threatening the civilian population of Ajdabiya. Brimstone is a high precision, low collateral damage weapon optimised against demanding and mobile targets.

"Britain and her International partners remain engaged in Operations to support United Nations Security Resolution 1973, to enforce the established No Fly Zone and to ready the UK's contribution to the NATO arms embargo of Libya."

Ground operation in Libya

The international coalition force is planning a ground operation in Libya that could start in late April, a high-ranking Russian intelligence service source said on Friday.

"Information coming via different channels shows that NATO countries, with the active participation of Britain and the United States, are developing a plan for a ground operation on Libyan territory," he said.

"From all indications, a ground operation will be launched if the alliance fails to force the Gaddafi regime to capitulate with air strikes and missile attacks."

If the events in Libya follow this scenario, the ground operation could start "in late April-early May," he added.

The UN Security Council imposed a no-fly zone over Libya on March 17, allowing "all necessary measures" to protect civilians from Muammar Gaddafi's attacks on rebel-held towns.

Venezuela To Get 15 Billion Dollar Arms Including J-10 Jets

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez thrown more than 15 billion U.S. dollars worth of arms procurement bill, which sparked concerns in Latin America.

 The article said that Venezuela's purchase of a large number of tanks, helicopters, armored vehicles, submarines and missile systems at an unprecedented rate in history in Latin America to arm themselves. 

"New Herald" (El Nuevo Herald), said experts consulted, Chavez spent over 15 billion U.S. dollars worth to strengthen its military power for militaryprocurement, has produced unrest in the region. Analysts warned that the arms purchase along with people doubt, there is no competitive bidding and early course of the study, the way decisions are temporary. 

It is learned that Chavez used the funds to purchase these new weapons in the country one of the largest in history, and a large part from the loan; for the military procurement funds may end up more than 15 billion U.S. dollars. 

Some analysts said that the funds have been used for arms purchases totaled about 300 billion U.S. dollars; and this figure is Chavez himself expressed the hope that the modernization of the national armed forces in the amount spent.

 Closely track the event of a Venezuela and Africa-governmental organization "National Security and Civil Defense Control Association," the report said, the country has received or will receive a large number of mainly by Russia, China and Spain to provide the equipment and military facilities. 

These weapons include: 92 medium-sized T-72B1V tanks, 240 infantry fighting vehicles (BMP-3 and BTR-80), 9 submarines, nearly 50 various types of ships, a dozen Su-30MK2 fighters, undetermined number of Chinese J-10 fighters, and nearly 100 Russian helicopter; most of these equipment will be used for combat operations.

Taiwan Says China Deploys DF-16 Ballistic Missile

Taiwan National Security Bureau Director-General, Tsai Der-sheng, announced on 16 March that China has begun deploying a new pattern of ballistic missiles against Taiwan.

The announcement came during a question-and-answer session following a presentation on the country's intelligence affairs and his bureau's operations before the Foreign and National Defense Committee of the Legislative Yuan.

The designation he quoted for the missile was Dong Feng 16 (DF-16) and described this as "a new addition to the People's Liberation Army [PLA]arsenal." He said that it posed a greater threat to Taiwan "given its extended range and more powerful payload." Some DF-16 missiles were being deployed to replace older systems, he said, but others were being added to the number of ballistic missiles arrayed against Taiwan.

Tsai gave few details of the DF-16, whose existence had not previously been reported. He confirmed that this was a new missile and not an upgraded model of the earlier DF-15 (CSS-6). According to reports in the local press, he said that the DF-16 has a range of between 800 km and 1,000 km but declined to say whether it used multiple-warhead technology.

Army fusing UAS sensors

The U.S. Army is testing prototypes of a new high-tech synchronization engine at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala., which can combine video feeds and sensor data from multiple Unmanned Aircraft Systems on a single Ground Control Station, service officials said.

"We are opening a gateway to information that we have never done before. Today, you can't switch between one stovepipe intelligence source to another that easily," said Tim Owings, deputy program manager, Army UAS.

The new system, called the Federated Universal Synchronization Engine, or FUSE, uses software and hardware to fuse a host of different intelligence sources on one viewing screen, including Ground Moving Target Indicator, Electro-Optical, Infrared and Synthetic Aperture Radar capabilities, Owings said.

"FUSE is about operator cueing - to get the operator better intelligence feeds so that he can find targets more rapidly. If you are a Shadow you don't have a moving target indicator. All you have is video. With FUSE - if you have a Gray Eagle in the same area with an SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) - you will now be able to see the GMTI (Ground Moving Target Indicator) on the Shadow GCS (Ground Control Station)," Owings said.

NATO takes control on Libya no-fly zone

NATO has agreed to take control of enforcing a no-fly zone in Libya to thwart the forces of leader Moamer Kadhafi, as coalition air strikes targeted Tripoli for the sixth straight day.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Thursday that after lengthy negotiations the 28-member alliance reached a deal to enforce the no-fly zone.

"We are taking action as part of a broad international effort to protect civilians against the Kadhafi regime," he said.

Rasmussen said the NATO operation was limited to enforcing the no-fly zone, but a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity later in Washington, said that NATO reached a "political agreement" to also command all other operations aimed at protecting civilians -- meaning strikes against Kadhafi's ground forces.

The news came as anti-aircraft fire raked the Tripoli skies late Thursday, with at least three explosions shaking the capital and its eastern suburb of Tajura, AFP journalists reported.

At least one blast was heard from the centre of the city, while others came from Tajura, home to military bases, an AFP journalist reported.

Libyan state television said that "civilian and military sites in Tripoli and Tajura" had come under fire from "long-range missiles."

Naval fighter jet to be part of Russian Air Force

Naval strike aircraft will be reassigned to the Russian Air Force by the end of 2011, a high-ranking Navy source told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

"The strike component of naval aviation will be transferred under the control of the Russian Air Force by the end of the year," the source said.

Naval strike aircraft include Tu-22M3 Backfire long-range bombers, MiG-31 Foxhound interceptors, Su-27 Flanker fighter jets, and Su-24 Fencer attack aircraft.

"Black Sea Fleet's Su-24 attack aircraft based in the Crimea under a treaty with Ukraine will remain under control of the Navy as an exception," the source added.

The Navy will also retain control over Su-33 Flanker D and Su-25UTG Frogfoot carrier-based aircraft, Il-38 May and Be-12 anti-submarine warfare aircraft. The transfer of the naval transport aircraft fleet to the Air Force is still under discussion.

According to the source, the Russian navy will soon start receiving MiG-29K Fulcrum fighter jets.

Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, is capable of carrying 26 Su-33 and MiG-29K aircraft.

Russia is aiming to finish drafting plans for a new nuclear-powered aircraft carrier for its Navy by 2012 and build at least three of the ships for its Northern and Pacific fleets.

Canadian Auditor Stands By F-35

Canada: The Parliament of Canada Act mandates the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) to provide independent analysis to the Senate and House of Commons on the state of the nation’s finances, government estimates and trends in the national economy.

After the release of the PBO report “An Estimate of the Fiscal Impact of Canada’s Proposed Acquisition of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter”, the Department of National Defence (DND) provided a comparison of its figures with those of the PBO.

On 3 March 2011, DND informed the PBO that it had not yet undertaken a ‘detailed analysis of the entire project.’

Directly prior to the PBO’s report being released, DND provided its costs with respect to acquisition, initial logistics set-up, and operating and support, among others. However, DND did not provide details of its methodology, assumptions, uncertainties, or risks associated with these figures. Given this, the PBO is left to speculate as to the basis of the costs provided.

It appears that DND has relied upon the 2009 Selected Acquisition Report (SAR), published by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), as well as figures provided by the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program Office. However, the reasonableness of relying on such figures might be questioned. The SAR was published in April of 2010. Since then, the JSF program has undergone two restructurings to address significant program delays and cost overruns, including a restructuring of the management of the JSF Program Office (see Nunn-McCurdy breach).

Pentagon Actions in Libya

By the fifth day of coalition task force operations supporting a no-fly zone in Libya and protecting Libyan civilians, the 13-nation alliance had flown more than 300 sorties in the North African country, Pentagon officials said yesterday.

By 3 p.m. EDT yesterday, the United States had flown 212 sorties, other coalition sorties totaled 124, and Tomahawk missile launches numbered 162, officials said.

Officials said the 336 sorties included 108 strike sorties, meaning they encountered opposition from Moammar Gadhafi’s forces.

The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1973 on March 17, demanding an end to violence against Libyan citizens and authorizing enforcement of a no-fly zone over Libya.

Task Force Odyssey Dawn, including forces from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada and Arab states, immediately shifted from humanitarian and refugee evacuation missions under way since March 4 to military air operations enforcing the resolution.

Russian Submarine

A missile production plant insouthern Siberia has produced enough Bulava ballistic missiles to complete its tests and arm the first Borey class strategic submarine, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Monday.

"A batch of missiles sufficient to finish the tests and equip one submarine has been produced already. Larger production would cause the missiles to stock up," Ivanov said after a meeting of defense industry officials in the southern Siberian republic of Udmurtia.

The Bulava (SS-NX-30) submarine-launched ballistic missile carries up to 10 MIRV warheads and has a range of over 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles).

Despite several previous failures, officially blamed on manufacturing defaults, the Russian military has insisted that there is no alternative to the Bulava and pledged to continue testing the missile until it is ready for service with the Navy.

Libya fighting rages as Kadhafi,looks for way out

Fighting raged on Tuesday between forces loyal to Moamer Kadhafi and insurgents, despite a UN-mandated no-fly zone and amid reports the Libyan leader may be looking for a way out of the conflict.

As a senior US officer said Kadhafi forces were still attacking civilians, doubts persisted over the best way to continue the campaign to stop Kadhafi, and where it was leading.

However, US President Barack Obama said there has been a "significant reduction" in US flights over Libya, and he expected "clarity" on the future command structure of allied military operations "over the next several days."

He was cutting short a Latin America trip to fly home to meet his security team about the Libya conflict, the White House said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told ABC News that people close to Kadhafi have been contacting Libya's allies worldwide to see how they can "get out of this."

Pakistan Hataf-2 Abdali Ballistic Missile