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Daily News
by Gail Helmer
Jane's News Briefs
Friday, July 27, 2001Jane's Defence Weekly
CDC wins UK Bowman contract UK Secretary of State for Defence Geoff Hoon announced on 19 July that Computing Devices Canada (CDC) had been selected as preferred supplier for the long-delayed �1.7 billion ($2.52 billion) Bowman secure tactical communications system.
USAF to experiment with hyperspectral imagery
The US Air Force (USAF) expects to begin later this year a one-year space experiment to assess the merits of using satellite hyperspectral imagery to locate and strike enemy targets hidden by camouflage and other deceptive measures that can thwart visible sensors.
BMDO to test kinetic energy firepower
The US Ballistic Missile Defence Organization is planning to conduct an experiment in 2005-2006 to test if ballistic missiles can be shot down in-flight using a space-based kinetic energy system.
Boeing studies Meteor as a successor to HARM
A study looking at the feasibility of using the MBDA Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile as a replacement for the Raytheon AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) has been carried out and completed by Boeing for the US Navy. Boeing is MBDA's US partner on the ramjet-powered Meteor system.
Italy begins work on second carrier
On 17 July Fincantieri's Riva Trigoso shipyard began cutting metal for the Nuova Unit� Maggiore, the aircraft carrier that is scheduled for delivery to the Italian Navy in 2007. Chief of Naval Staff Adm Marcello De Donno announced that the new carrier will be named Andrea Doria.
New Zealand sells its only sealift ship
The New Zealand government has sold the military sealift ship HMNZS Charles Upham to a civilian shipping company for NZ$8.6 million (US$3.5 million).
Czech MoD to shed 1,000 jobs
Czech Defence Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik has announced plans to shed more than 1,000 Ministry of Defence (MoD) employees from 1 October as part of a move to save money and also professionalise the armed forces.
Colombia seeks light combat aircraft
Budgetary authorities in Colombia have authorised up to $235 million in additional funding for the acquisition of new light combat aircraft for the Colombian Air Force. The funds, to be sought via an external credit arrangement, will permit the purchase of 24 aircraft to replace the ageing OV-10A Bronco and A-37B Dragonfly counter-insurgency aircraft now in service.
Kosovo testing ground for Luna unmanned air vehicles
The German Army has finished deploying an experimental combined air-land reconnaissance unit intended to support NATO's interdiction effort across the Kosovo-Macedonian border and to provide co-ordinated intelligence of 'ethnic flashpoints' in Kosovo.
Jane's Foreign Report
Blair buys Bush's umbrella
What the British prime minister promised the American president AS FAR as the British were concerned, the key diplomatic development last week was not the G-8 summit in Italy but, rather, President George Bush's visit to London for talks with the prime minister, Tony Blair. A major decision concerning British involvement in the Bush administration's scheme for a national missile defence (NMD) has evolved. FOREIGN REPORT reveals what is going on.
Will the Middle East conflict spread?
A confidential analysis of the possibility that the current conflict between Israel and the Palestinians could spread has been produced by the outgoing chief of research of the military intelligence service (Aman), Brigadier-General Amos Gilad. Here are some highlights.
Slowly in Syria
AS SYRIA'S President Bashar Assad enters his second year as head of state, having succeeded his late father, Hafez Assad, he finds political life in Damascus difficult and frustrating. Syrians in general hope for a relaxation of the authoritarian regime that has been in power for decades. They are, however, asking for too much from a regime that allows Bashar Assad to do too little. Is there a solution?
The prospects for a 'Greater Albania'
Albanian nationalism has overtaken that of the Serbs to become the principal destabilising factor in the Balkans. Ethnic Albanians belonging to the self-styled National Liberation Army (NLA) are occupying ethnic Albanian villages in northern Macedonia and threatening two Macedonian towns, Tetovo and Kumanovo. Their purpose: to extract concessions from the moderate, non-violent coalition of Slavs and ethnic Albanians in the Macedonian parliament.
Conflict between nuclear powers
ARTILLERY duels between India and Pakistan erupted again in Kashmir three days after the leaders of the two countries failed to make progress in resolving the 54-year-old dispute over the divided territory. Neither Pakistan's self-appointed head of government, General Pervez Musharraf, nor India's prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, showed any sign of being ready for give-and-take negotiations. Both stuck to old positions. The venue of the talks, Agra, city of the uniquely beautiful Taj Mahal, might have been expected to provide a productive and peaceful atmosphere. Not so. What next for the sub-continent's two nuclear powers?
Jane's Intelligence Watch Report and Jane's Terrorism Watch Report
China
- Gao Zhan, a US permanent resident of Chinese nationality, was convicted on 24 July on charges of spying and sentenced to 10 years in prison, AP reported. Gao immediately applied for medical parole on grounds that she suffers from heart ailments. Gao, 39, is a researcher at American University in Washington. She was accused of helping US business professor Li Shaomin, who was convicted on 14 July of spying for Taiwan. Gao was arrested on 11 February during a family visit to China. Gao's lawyers have said she gave Li photocopied book and magazine articles about Taiwan and its relations with China. They said that Gao knew that some of the materials were not meant for widespread distribution, but said she had no reason to know they were secret.
United States
- A senior RAND consultant has called for a drastic reshaping of intelligence gathering and analysis in the post-Cold war era, emphasizing the need to treat intelligence "largely as information rather than as secrets," Spy News reported on 19 July. Gregory Treverton, a former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council and White House aide, said in his book "Reshaping National Intelligence for an Age of Information" that the "traditional separation" between intelligence and intelligence officials and policy and policymakers must be broken down. He also called for the linking of government and nongovernment information collectors, analysts and consumers in "distributed, problem-solving networks." Treverton said that during the Cold War the principal target of US intelligence was the Soviet Union, entailing a narrow group of customers comprising government, political and military officials and a finite pool of information from sources owned or managed by a few government agencies. He said the world is more open now "with many targets and many possible missions."
Burundi
- The BBC reported on 23 July that a coup attempt by 100 army rebel soldiers in the capital Bujumbura failed to halt the Arusha peace process. Defence Minister Cyrille Ndayirukiye said that the soldiers were from the minority Tutsi tribe, and fled the capital after a night of gunfire.
France - Corsica
- A bomb explosion in Borgo at a police barracks slightly injured 14 gendarmes, according to a 23 July report on France Info radio. Leaflets demanding the release of nationalist prisoners were found in an adjacent building.
India - Assam - National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN)
(Isaak-Muivah) - IRNA reported on 23 July that NSCN militants ambushed a 14-vehicle Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in the North Cachar Hill district, 217 miles (350 km) south of Guwahati. The remote landmine explosion and subsequent gunfire killed three soldiers and critically wounded two others. The attack by NSCN factions led by Thuingaleng Muivah and Isaak Chishi Swu comes in the midst of a ceasefire and peace talks aimed at ending the 54-year-old tribal insurrection.
Sri Lanka - Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelma (LTTE)
- LTTE rebels attacked Sri Lanka's international airport and adjacent air base, damaging 13 military and passenger aircraft, the Times of India reported on 24 July. After six hours of fighting, all 13 guerrilla attackers and five military personnel were killed. Civil Aviation Minister Jeyaraj Renandoupulle said, "We have the whole place under our control and we hope to have the airport open by 6:00 pm (12:00 GMT) Tuesday (24 July), and we plan to have the first flight operating tomorrow morning." Sri Lankan military aircraft within hours of the assault resumed bombing LTTE rebel camps.
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