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Daily News
by Gail Helmer
Jane's News Briefs
Friday, August 03, 2001Jane's Defence Weekly
USA snubs biological weapons protocol After more than six years of sometimes tumultuous negotiations, the USA announced last week that it would not support a protocol to strengthen the Biological and Toxin Weapons Conventions, which is in the final stages of being hammered-out by a UN negotiating group in Geneva.
Israel cancels $250m sale of Phalcon to China
Israel has formally cancelled the $250 million sale of the Phalcon airborne early-warning system to the People's Republic of China.
First Al Khalid MBTs delivered to Pakistani Army
The Pakistani Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) facility has delivered the first of 15 pre-production Al Khalid main battle tanks (MBTs) to the Pakistani Army for extensive user trials at squadron level.
Algerian 'Hind' upgrade nears completion
The Algerian Air Force is close to completing its modernisation of 33 Mi-24 (NATO reporting name: 'Hind') attack helicopters, an informed source has told Jane's Defence Weekly.
Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia form new brigade
The Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia have announced plans to create a new joint brigade consisting of 1,500 personnel. The Czech and Polish defence ministers agreed on 23 July to participate in the new trilateral brigade.
Greece set to select new owner for contract-rich Hellenic Shipyards
The Greek government will choose on 3 August the company with the winning bid to privatise the state-owned Hellenic Shipyards, which has about Dr1.6 trillion ($4.1 billion) in orders or expected orders.
Jane's Defence Upgrades
USN SSGN conversion gains support, funding
The US Navy's programme to convert up to four Ohio-class ballistic missile nuclear submarines (SSBNs) that have to be withdrawn from service under arms-control agreements to cruise missile and special forces platform (SSGN) configuration now appears more likely to be funded. However, the programme's size remains uncertain.
Spanish Seahawk upgrade starts
Lockheed Martin Systems Integration (LMSI) has started work on an avionics and weapons upgrade of the Spanish Navy's six Sikorsky HS.23 (S-70B Seahawk) anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters at its Owego facility in New York.
Upgrades secure SOCOM mobility
Ensuring future global access for US special operations forces will mandate continued support for a range of mobility platform upgrades and service-life extension activities, according to Lieutenant General William P Tangney, Deputy Commander-in-Chief for US Special Operations Command (SOCOM).
Two upgraded Su-25s to meet at MAKs
The Israeli-Georgian SU-25K Scorpion upgrade (which was shown at last month's Paris air show) will also be exhibited at the MAKS exhibition in Russia next month (August), where it will meet Russia's Su-25SM modernisation offering.
COBLU comes aboard RN Type 22 Batch 3 frigates
The UK Royal Navy (RN) Type 22 Batch 3 frigates, HMS Chatham and HMS Cornwall have become the first ships to receive the Co-operative OUTBOARD Logistics Update (COBLU) communications band electronic support measures (CESM) system. A third vessel, HMS Cumberland, is currently receiving its COBLU fit as part of a docking period at Devonport. Richard Scott reports.
Jane's Foreign Report
Putin speaks softly
MOST of the discussions between Russia's President Putin and President Bush have centred on America's proposed missile defence programme. However, officials accompanying the American president to his two summits with Putin within a month have noticed another major development: a subtle shift in the way Russia is proposing to deal with another Bush security plan, that of expanding Nato eastward in Central Europe. FOREIGN REPORT reveals a change in the Kremlin position that is nothing short of revolutionary.
Iraq sponsors bombers
LAST week the Israeli security services exposed an Iraqi plot to detonate a car bomb in Ben Gurion international airport near Tel Aviv. The hunt for the pro-Iraqi terrorist cell deemed responsible followed warnings to the police and security forces. The investigation created chaos for several days at all the entrances to the airport. Although the Iraqi operation was thwarted, it nonetheless revealed the extent of Iraqi involvement in the Palestinian Intifada.
Europe's air safety agency takes off
Europe's transport ministers have reached broad agreement on the establishment of a European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) which will bring a new and major area under the direct purview of the European Commission (EC). The move will downgrade the existing Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA), a sort of airlines club whose directives are not binding. The projected EASA, an agency of the European Union, will have both administrative and legal powers, issue airworthiness certificates for new aircraft and set technical standards which will be legally binding in all member states.
EU-Israel trade deadlock
AN ATTEMPT to resolve a simmering dispute between Israel and the European Union (EU) over goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied Arab territories has ended in deadlock - and has brought the prospect of friction between Brussels and individual EU member states. A two-day meeting of officials of the European Commission and Israeli customs officials in Jerusalem agreed only on a final attempt to resolve the dispute by the end of October. If that fails, the matter will be referred for arbitration under the terms of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
Is Venezuela's president a populist?
The conventional wisdom about Venezuela's 46-year-old President Hugo Chavez is that he is a populist. He poses as a nationalist asserting his country's interests in dealing with the United States. He has struck up a relationship with another charismatic Latin American, Fidel Castro, and renewed an agreement to sell Cuba oil below the market price. He has annoyed the Americans by visiting Iran and Iraq and by criticising heavy American assistance to neighbouring Colombia's campaign against leftist and rightist rebels.
The hermit is hard to catch
THE OPEN-ENDED invitation by the American secretary of state, Colin Powell, last week at the Asean Regional Forum in Hanoi to meet with the North Koreans leaders "anywhere, any time", with "no preconditions", is only the latest and most public indication that the Bush administration is interested in getting back to the negotiating table with the hermit government in Pyongyang. Curiously, it is the North Koreans who now seem to be dragging their feet. Powell intended to meet with his North Korean counterpart in Hanoi, but the North Koreans refused to send him, offering instead a lower-ranking foreign ministry official, Ho Jong, to shake Powell's hand in a receiving line. A missed opportunity for the North, to be sure. FOREIGN REPORT explains the reasoning behind this seemingly odd behaviour.
Jane's Intelligence Digest
Closer ties for India and Israel
In recent years, India's policy on the Middle East has seen a shift in focus away from the Arab nations in favour of closer links with Israel (see Jane's Intelligence Digest 4 August 2000). At a time when regional tension remain high and Arab moves to isolate Israel internationally are being stepped up, the growth of strategic ties between the two nations is a cause for grave concern within the Arab world.
Jane's Intelligence Watch Report and Jane's Terrorism Watch Report
Russia - Federal Security Service [Federalnaia Sluzhba Besopasnosti (FSB)]
- Two weekly Russian newspapers, Argumenty i Fakty and Obshchaya Gazeta, have reported that the FSB has drafted a plan that would give it enormous powers to control the national economy, according to the 30 July Moscow Times. The plan was announced by FSB officer Yury Ovshenko, director of the Institute of Problems of Economic Security, at a briefing for a "closed circle of journalists" last week. The newspaper reports said that the purpose is to "cope with the catastrophic results of the so-called reforms of 1992-99" by reversing some "unlawful" privatisations and searching for money that has been siphoned out of Russia illegally. Among the measures to be adopted, the FSB would take over control of the Central Bank and the State Customs Committee to prevent future capital flight. Also, the results of privatisation would be reviewed by the Security Council headed by an FSB official. The plan also includes replacing Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov with either Novgorod Governor Mikhail Prusak or former Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko, who now heads the Volga Federal District. However, FSB spokesman Andrei Laryushin said in a telephone interview that he had read the reports "with great surprise" and called them "a provocation whose purpose could be only speculated upon. Also, Laryushin said that no FSB officer by the name of Yury Ovshenko existed and that the FSB had no links with the institute named in the newspaper reports.
United States - Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
- A senior US intelligence official said that an intelligence review panel is exploring possible new roles for the CIA and other spy agencies in the domestic arena to protect the US from terrorist attacks, Reuters reported on 18 July. Normally US intelligence agencies operate overseas and are generally prohibited from having a hand in domestic affairs. The panel comprises "government insiders" led by Joan Dempsey, deputy director of central intelligence for community management, and a group of "outside experts" led by Brent Scowcroft, a former White House national security adviser. The CIA is generally forbidden to spy on US citizens, but can under certain circumstances collect intelligence information on US citizens if they are suspected to be involved in espionage or terrorist activities. The US government has been trying to develop a large-scale emergency plan to deal with any biological, chemical or nuclear attack on US soil. Vice President Dick Cheney is leading a review of US ability to cope with such an attack.
Afghanistan - United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan (UIFSA)
- Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran Radio reported on 29 July that four Taliban fighters were killed and six wounded during clashes with UIFSA rebels in the Dara-e Zindan region in Samangan province. During the fighting UIFSA forces claimed to have captured eight Taliban positions. Taliban commanders in Qala-e Jangi were subsequently ordered to carry out air strikes on UIFSA positions.
Angola - National Union for the Total Independence of Angola [Uniao Nacional para a Independencia Total de Angola (UNITA)]
- Angolan government troops claimed to have killed 70 UNITA rebels in week-long operations around Belo Horizonte, according to a Radio Ecclesia report on 30 July. An "unspecified number" of civilians and government troops were also killed. UNITA forces, who were forced to withdraw after government counterattacks, briefly occupied Umpulo village in Bie province.
Macedonia - National Liberation Army (NLA)
- The Independent of UK reported on 30 July that NLA rebels attacked a car convoy on the Tetovo-Skopje highway carrying Ljube Boskobski, Macedonia's hardline Interior Minister. The minister escaped injury and claimed that NLA rebels unleashed an unprovoked attack. An NLA commander in a telephone interview claimed Boskvoski's military escort opened fire first.
The Philippines - Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG)
- The Philippine Star reported on 31 July that ASG rebels attacked Mt. Carmel Cathedral in Sulu with a fragmentation grenade. The bombing came a day after an unknown caller told a local radio station that the ASG would attack Catholic churches if the government's military crackdown against them continues.
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