Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Delays and Increased Costs Push UK MoD to Returning to F-35B STOVL Choice
The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) will move away from the Carrier Variant (CV) JSF and the Armed Forces will instead operate the short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) variant.
India M777 Howitzer
According to information, India signed with BAE Systems' long-awaited agreement to acquire 145 M777 lightweight towed howitzer 155 mm caliber. Its details remain to be negotiated.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
China Warns US Against Selling Taiwan Radars
China objected Friday to a U.S. plan to supply radar equipment to
Taiwan's air force, even though the sale was far short of the F-16
fighter jets the island's president urged Washington to provide last
week.
U.S. State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said
earlier this week that the U.S. sale includes defense services,
technical data, and defense articles" for Taiwan's air defense system,
and radar equipment for the island's Indigenous Defense Fighter jets.Crowley did not put a monetary figure on the deal or identify the American companies involved. The U.S. is obligated by its own laws to provide Taiwan defensive weapons
.
Beijing opposes any military sales to Taiwan as interference in its internal affairs, and the issue has often strained U.S.-China relations.
"China resolutely opposes the United States selling weapons and relevant technical assistance to Taiwan," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement.
"
Taiwan's Defense Ministry has not commented on the planned sale, but the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, a private advocacy group based in suburban Washington, called it "a small move.
For years the island has been pressing the U.S. to sell it 66 F-16 C/D fighter jets to help counteract a long-standing Chinese military buildup, much of which has been aimed at providing Beijing the wherewithal to invade across the 100-mile- (160-kilometer-) wide Taiwan Strait.
Some Taiwanese defense officials fear that the threat of additional Chinese pressure has already convinced Washington to take the F-16 C/D sale off the table.
However, they continue to hope that the Obama administration might agree to a substantial upgrade of the F-16 A/B fighters currently in the island's inventory as a kind of consolation prize.
Last week after the release of a Pentagon report criticizing the secrecy surrounding China's military expansion, Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou urged Washington to sell the advanced version of the F16 fighter. Beijing said the report was "not beneficial."
In contrast to F-16s, the Indigenous Defense Fighter at the center of the new radar deal is widely regarded as a relatively unsophisticated aircraft, incapable of holding its own against the fourth generation fighters now in the possession of the Chinese air force.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Great Wall 349 (Type 033) Romeo class SS decommissioned.
This old rusty basket is being cleaned up at the Jiangshan Dao yard destined to be a tourist attraction in the Taizhou military theme park near by (here). GW 349 drifted around for 20 years in an unremarkable career – with Wang Fushan, the current deputy commander of the North Sea Fleet, as its skipper being the only bright spot.
.jpg)
.jpg)
