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Daily News
by Gail Helmer
Jane's News Briefs
Thursday, June 21, 2001Jane's Defence Weekly
EU military staff goes operationalThe new EU Military Staff was declared formally operational on 11 June, ready to begin advising the EU Political Security Committee and Military Committee.
Projects lag as Australia battles to implement PFI
Key Australian Defence Force capability acquisition programmes are on hold as the Australian government struggles to implement a policy governing the use of funds through private financing initiatives (PFIs).
Europe set to repeat A400M commitment
The nine European nations involved in the A400M project are expected during the 16-24 June Paris Air Show to formally commit to procuring at least 200 of the military transport aircraft, said French Defence Minister Alain Richard.
US study recommends 'global joint response force'
A study group advising US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recommends the Department of Defense create "global joint response forces" that would train together for early deployment.
India and Russia test joint missile
India and Russia last week successfully tested a jointly designed anti-ship cruise missile to a range of 280km from the Chandipur interim testing range on India's east coast.
Colombian Army orders more Mi-17s from Russia
Colombian Army officials have announced that the country will soon formalise an order for six new Mi-17MD (NATO reporting name: 'Hip') transport helicopters with Russia's Kazan manufacturing plant.
Hungary hosts exercise to test US forces in Europe
Hungary hosted the largest power-projection exercise of its kind to date involving elements of US Army Europe (USAREUR) and US Air Forces Europe (USAFE). Exercise 'Lariat Response', from 8 to 12 June, was designed to test the emergency deployment readiness of USAREUR's Immediate Ready Force.
Swiss vote to arm peacekeepers
Swiss voters in a 10 June referendum endorsed by a 51%:49% margin an amendment to military law allowing Swiss troops to be armed for self-defence on peace support operations.
Israeli EROS A1 conducts first manoeuvre
Israel's EROS A1 high-resolution imaging satellite has performed its first orbit-raising manoeuvre since its launch from Russia's Svobodny site on 5 December 2000.
Kuwait to buy air-defence system from Egypt
Kuwait's Defence Minister, Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah, has announced that the emirate plans to buy up to five Amoun low-level air-defence systems, enough to equip an air-defence battalion, from Egypt later this year.
Jane's Navy International
Aegis evolves for the future
The Aegis Combat System was conceived during the Cold War as a blue water shield for the US fleet. Scott C Truver reports on the evolution of Aegis over the last quarter of a century, and examines how the system is now being re-engineered as a multi-mission combat suite to serve the US fleet into the mid-21st century.
F-100 keeps its course
The Spanish Navy's new F-100 frigates will be the first of a new generation of air defence escorts to enter service with Europe's major navies over the next decade. Richard Scott explores the complex evolution of the programme and examines its current status.
Procurement problems impede India's power projection
The Indian Navy faces serious challenges as many of its major vessels near the end of their service lives, and as its indigenous shipbuilding efforts struggle to achieve acceptable levels of productivity and efficiency. Rahul Bedi reports.
MTBMD Forum targets missile defence
Rear Admiral Rodney P Rempt, Assistant Chief of Naval Operations for Missile Defense and Director, Surface Warfare, talks to Richard Scott.
Rivals up the stakes for Newport News Shipbuilding
Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics are locked head-to-head in a takeover battle for Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), the outcome of which will determine whether all future US nuclear-powered warships are to be built by one company, writes Philip Sen.
LPD-17 delivery faces further delays
Following recent studies of the US Navy's (USN's) LPD-17 ship programme, the service is delaying the delivery of the first ships by another 14 months and is prepared to inform Congress of increased costs in the Fiscal Year 2002 (FY02) budget, according to a service official.
French Navy outlines equipment priorities
New cruise missile-armed multirole frigates and nuclear attack submarines (SSNs) have emerged as top priorities in the French Navy's forward equipment programme, casting renewed doubts as to whether a second aircraft carrier will feature in the 2003-08 Loi de Progammation.
Submarine rivals court Malaysia
Three European submarine builders are engaged in talks with Malaysia over the lease or sale of submarines as the Southeast Asian state again re-visits long-held plans to establish a submarine arm.
'Blue Game 01' tests NATO's littoral warfare tactics
'Blue Game 2001' is NATO's only littoral warfare training exercise, and thus a very important event in its calendar. Tim Ripley reports on the new equipment and tactics on display.
Slow progress for Canada's Iroquois destroyer
The Canadian Forces Maritime Command's (MARCOM's) plans to replace the capabilities of the Iroquois-class destroyers are progressing slowly.
Jane's Foreign Report
Japan may buy North Korean missiles
Such an extraordinary idea has a certain logic PERHAPS in order to have a reputation for exporting at least one well-made product, not its uncuddly children's toys, North Korea has gone into the business of making and exporting ballistic missiles. Its customers include Libya, Syria, Pakistan and Iran. Missiles are a money-spinner for the hermit-like communist dictatorship in Pyongyang. Now FOREIGN REPORT has been told of a surprising new development.
Watch Macedonia
ALTHOUGH no government is prepared to admit it publicly, some sort of Western military intervention in Macedonia's civil conflict is now almost inevitable; the only question is whether it would come as part of a deal between the ethnic Albanian guerrillas and the Macedonian government or whether the West will, yet again, have to introduce its forces on the ground to impose another untidy and expensive peace. Nobody relishes the prospect of yet another Balkan adventure, the fourth in a decade. To complicate matters, Macedonia represents not only another test of western resolve but also the first test of Europe's claim, voiced most loudly by France, that it can run a military operation on its own if the Americans do not wish to be involved. We predict the result.
The Taliban and Pakistan
IN LATE May the leader of the Taliban, the fundamentalist Islamic movement that currently rules all but a small sliver of Afghanistan, announced that all Hindus in the country would have to wear a piece of yellow cloth to distinguish them from their Muslim neighbours. His justification was that the yellow cloth would serve as a protection against harassment by Taliban policemen. Really?
Communism in Nepal
Nepal's royal massacre on June 1st will intensify the 'people's war' now being fought by Maoist insurgents. Their leaders have held a secret meeting in the capital, Kathmandu, to discuss how the new situation affects their plan to set up a Communist republic. What next?
King Abdullah's headache
WHERE is a West Bank Palestinian family, exhausted by the Intifada and Israel's attempts to crush it, most likely to go? And where would Jordanian citizens, living illegally in the West Bank, seek safety? King Abdullah of Jordan thinks he knows the answer. So does the expansionist Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, who once famously said: "Jordan is Palestine."
Poisoned and forgotten
IN APRIL, special trucks covered with lead sheets and equipped with radiation counters set out with a police escort from Russia's Research Institute for Plant Biological Protection in Krasnodar to drive 2,000km to the Ulyanovsk region. The institute, formerly known as the Caucasus Research Institute of Phytopathology, had long been trying to find out exactly how all forms of life react to exposure to radiation caused by a nuclear bomb explosion. To do this, scientists needed to contaminate some land with radioactivity. A field of 2.5 hectares had been subjected to high-level radiation since 1971 to observe the reaction of an agricultural-industrial complex to mass contamination with radioactive substances.
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