New Zealand to join U.S. backed WGS program

WELLINGTON — The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) is joining an international partnership that will give it guaranteed satellite communications for the next 20 years, Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman announced Jan. 18.

The NZDF is joining the Wideband Global Satellite (WGS) program, a network of nine military satellites built by Boeing and operated by the U.S. Defense Department.

Coleman said WGS will increase the NZDF’s access to satellite broadband “more than 20-fold, with guaranteed access and at a fixed price, ensuring better value for money.”

New Zealand will join Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in a joint agreement for access to the network in return for partially funding the ninth satellite. Australia has been involved in a similar agreement since 2007.

Currently, the NZDF purchases bandwidth on commercial satellites at spot prices, which can involve a premium of up to 100 percent depending on demand, and which can also limit availability of bandwidth.

The NZDF will spend 83.2 million New Zealand dollars ($67 million) on WGS over 20 years. The country’s current annual spending on satellite communications for the military is about 4.3 million New Zealand dollars, growing at some 10 percent per year.

                                                                                                                                              

                

Canadian Soldier Accused of Leaking Secrets

OTTAWA - A Canadian soldier has been charged with leaking secrets to a "foreign entity," court documents revealed Jan. 16.

Jeffrey Paul Delisle, 40, is accused of communicating over the past five years "with a foreign entity information that the government of Canada is taking measures to safeguard."

Delisle was arrested over the weekend and appeared in a Halifax court Jan. 16. He also faces a breach of trust charge under the Criminal Code.The charges were laid under the Security of Information Act.

The offenses allegedly occurred in the capital Ottawa, Halifax and in towns in Ontario and Nova Scotia provinces, said court documents. They did not, however, reveal his rank, the information he allegedly passed on, nor to whom.

Convictions under the security act carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Australia to Let-Go Foreign Troops: Come Here

SYDNEY - Australia's military is looking to recruit foreign troops, particularly those let go in Britain where the government has announced cutbacks on defense spending, according to a Dec. 27 report.

The Australian Defence Force has struggled to fill recruitment quotas and was seeking highly skilled specialists such as fighter pilots and submarine crews from overseas, The Australian newspaper said.

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) recently sent a delegation to Britain to look into the possibility of recruiting recently retrenched sailors, it added.

The Australian Defence Force, which is facing competition for personnel - particularly engineers - due to the nation's lucrative mining boom, confirmed that talks had taken place with British officials.

"The Royal Australian Navy has been in talks with the Royal Navy about this possibility and that obviously will depend on those personnel meeting the Royal Australian Navy's requirements," a spokesman told Agence France-Presse.

He did not comment on whether the military, which has some 1,550 troops in Afghanistan, was prepared to fast-track Australian citizenship for foreign recruits, as reported by The Australian.

The development comes after British Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled 8 percent cuts to the armed forces budget and set out plans to reduce the size of the Royal Army, Navy and Air Force by 17,000 troops.

The report in The Australian said Australian Navy chief Ray Griggs assured his British counterpart that Canberra would not recruit personnel the British needed to maintain their capabilities.

The Australian Defence Force was also looking to other western countries, including the United States, Canada and New Zealand, to build up personnel, particularly for its submarine crews, the newspaper said.

On its website, the Australian Defence Force says it "looks to overseas candidates to fill gaps in our services that can't currently be satisfied by standard recruitment."

It said its Navy recruitment program was aimed at "serving or immediately ex-serving officers and sailors of foreign naval forces [not greater than three years since separation from military service] with specific qualifications and/or experience that is directly transferable to the RAN."

Austria Balks at Selling Old Tanks to Canada

VIENNA - Austria is in talks to sell 40 secondhand Leopard 2A4 tanks back to their German manufacturer after Vienna balked at the Canadian military buying them, a press report said Dec. 12.

Austrian Defence Ministry spokesman Michael Bauer confirmed only that talks with the firm, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, were "going well, although nothing has been signed yet."

The Austrian daily Kronen-Zeitung said the Canadian military had also expressed interest in buying the 15-year-old tanks, which Krauss-Maffei will buy back for 400,000 euros ($532,300) each and then modernize.

"But that would have meant so much red tape, since the Canadians are fighting in Afghanistan, meaning that the sale would not have been approved," the paper cited an unnamed army insider as saying.

This created consternation among some partners in the NATO military alliance, although "as luck would have it" Canada decided it was no longer interested, the daily added.

The paper said Austria bought the tanks for 1.3 million euros each in 1996.

Canada Dismisses 'Apocryphal' Talk of F-35

OTTAWA - Canada's defense minister said it was premature to signal the end of the F-35 fighter jet that is to become the backbone of its air force, after his U.S. counterpart said the program may have to be axed.
"This sort of apocryphal language that the Joint Strike Fighter program is coming to an end and that countries are pulling back is not correct. It's premature to make those kinds of judgments," Defense Minister Peter MacKay said Nov. 16.

"A lot of this, clearly, is brought about by budgetary pressures, and Canada, like every country, is concerned about delays in delivery and discussions around the cost."
MacKay said Canada is in discussions with the manufacturer Lockheed Martin as well as other countries that committed to buying the next-generation fighters.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," he told reporters.
Pentagon chief Leon Panetta this week warned it would have to look at draconian measures, including possibly ending the F-35 fighter jet program if Congress fails this month to reach a deal to reduce the country's deficit and prevent deep defense budget cuts.
Canada has made plans to spend billions on its own F-35 fleet.
Earlier, Prime Minister Stephen Harper affirmed in parliament that Canada is proceeding with the purchase while a junior minister said the F-35 "is critical to maintaining Canada's sovereignty."
"There is no indication that anybody is walking away from the F-35 program," Associate Minister of National Defense Julian Fantino added.
"The aircraft are coming off the production line. Pilots are flying them," Fantino said. "They are being delivered to countries. Our program is on track, on time and we are staying with it."

U.S. Senate Panel Targets Counterfeit Electronic Parts

The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee is planning to crack down on counterfeit electronic parts, which more often than not originate in China and eventually make their way to U.S. military weapon systems.

Raytheon notified the U.S. Navy on Sept. 8 that counterfeit transistors had been found on a night vision or FLIR system used on the Navy's SH-60B helicopters. If the FLIR system were to fail, the Navy said the helicopter would be unable to conduct su (GETTY IMAGES)

The committee, led by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., released the results of a months-long investigation on Nov. 7. As part of the investigation, committee staff traced the DoD supply chain back to its start for more than 100 counterfeit parts and found that 70 percent of them originated in China.

"Nearly 20 percent of the remaining cases were tracked to the U.K. and Canada - known resale points for counterfeit electronic parts from China," a background memo from the committee said.
According to a January report from the Commerce Department, counterfeit electronics in the defense industry are on the rise. In 2005, there were 3,868 incidents detected, compared with 9,356 in 2008, according to the report.
Levin and McCain want the Pentagon to better enforce laws that protect the DoD supply chain, but they also admit those laws don't go far enough.
The Senate panel is considering adding language to the defense authorization act for 2012 that would hold contractors responsible for the costs of replacing a part that is discovered to be counterfeit, Levin said at a Nov. 7 press briefing.
Levin said that under cost-plus contracts it is difficult to make the contractor pay for a replacement part unless the government can prove the contractor bought the part knowing that it was counterfeit. Today, the multimillion-dollar price tag of replacing these parts more often falls to the government and the taxpayer, he said.
He would like to see the Pentagon use fewer cost-plus contracts and more fixed-price ones, where bargaining above the negotiated price is limited. Levin said this could help motivate companies to take stronger steps to avoid buying counterfeit parts.
The life of a counterfeit electronic part is long, with many stops along the way. It often begins as electronic waste, shipped from the United States and the rest of the world to Hong Kong. From there, the raw material makes its way to China, where it is broken down, "burned off of old circuit boards, washed in the river, and dried on city sidewalks," according to the Senate report. Part of this process includes removing any indentifying marks, including date codes and part numbers.
Once the old part is made to look brand new, it is shipped to the Chinese city of Shenzhen, which Levin described as the "epicenter" of counterfeit electronics. There, the part can be sold openly in the markets or on the Internet.
From China, the counterfeit part makes its way through the DoD supply chain, often passing through four or five subcontractors before a prime contractor has integrated it onto a weapon system.
The committee found that the Defense Department is particularly vulnerable to counterfeit electronics, because the life of a weapon system long outdates the production of a specific commercial electronic part.
"An electronic part may be manufactured for two years, while a defense system it is used on may be in service for more than two decades," according to the Senate report.
Quoting the director of DoD's Microelectronics Activity Unit, the Senate report says, "The defense community is critically reliant on a technology that obsoletes itself every 18 months, is made in unsecure locations and over which we have absolutely no market share or influence."
During the Nov. 7 press briefing, committee staff highlighted three examples of counterfeit parts making their way into and through the DoD supply chain.
In the first instance, Raytheon notified the U.S. Navy on Sept. 8 that counterfeit transistors had been found on a night vision or FLIR system used on the Navy's SH-60B helicopters. If the FLIR system were to fail, the Navy said the helicopter would be unable to conduct surface warfare missions using Hellfire missiles.
The committee traced the transistors back to Huajie Electronics in Shenzen. From there, the part passed through five different companies before it got to Raytheon.
The second example involved the Air Force's C-27J aircraft, for which L-3 Communications is the prime contractor.
On Sept. 19, L-3 told the Air Force that 38 video memory chips installed on the plane's display units were suspected to be counterfeit. Again, the part originated in Shenzhen with a company called Hong Dark. From there, it was sold to Global IC Trading Group, which sold them to L-3 Displays, a business unit of L-3 Communications.
According to the Senate investigation, L-3 first learned that Hong Dark was the source of counterfeit parts in October 2009.
"In total, the committee identified nearly 30 shipments, totaling more than 28,000 parts from Hong Dark to Global IC Trading Group that were subsequently sold to L-3," the report says.
The final example the committee gave to reporters was on the Navy's P-8A Poseidon, a Boeing 737 airplane that has been modified to include anti-submarine capabilities.
On Aug. 17, Boeing alerted the Navy program office that an ice detection module contained a "reworked part that should not have been put on the airplane originally and should be replaced immediately."
After a failure of that subsystem on the flight line, BAE Systems, which makes the ice detection modules, discovered many of the system's parts were not new.
This time, the committee traced the part to A Access Electronics in Japan, a company affiliated with A Access Electronics in Shenzhen. The company in Japan sold it to Abacus Electronics in Florida, which wired payment to a bank in Shenzhen. Abacus sold the part to Tandex Test Labs, which BAE had hired to "source the parts and screen them for signs of counterfeiting," according to the Senate report.
The Senate committee staff found that Tandex screened the first 50 and sent the remaining 250 to BAE without inspecting them.
In the case of the C-27J and the P-8A, the committee found the companies in question did not notify the government early enough about the suspected parts.
The Senate committee is schedule to hold a hearing on the subject Nov. 8, when three different panels of witnesses will testify, including the head of the Missile Defense Agency and several industry officials.

Indian Army declared terrorist by Canada

Turkey Signs Deal To Buy Six CH-47 Copters

ANKARA - Turkey has signed a government-to-government deal with the United States to buy six CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift transport helicopters, worth up to $400 million, a senior procurement official said.
The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the Pentagon body that coordinates weapon sales, notified Congress of a potential sale of 14 CH-47F heavy-lift helicopters for $1.2 billion in December 2009, and Congress gave permission later that month.

But because of financial constraints, the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM), Turkey's arms procurement agency, later decided to buy only six CH-47Fs, five for the Army and one for the Special Forces Command, postponing a decision on the remaining eight aircraft. Contract negotiations among the SSM, the U.S. government and Chinook maker Boeing were launched last year.
"The contract was signed in late July," the procurement official said. "It was worth around $400 million. After the helicopters begin to arrive, we plan to make some modifications on them according to our needs."
The six CH-47F Chinooks will be the first heavy-lift helicopters in the Turkish Army's inventory. Their deliveries are expected to begin in 2013 and end in 2014.
"These helicopters have incredible capabilities. Three or four of them can transport a company-sized unit and its equipment to long distances only in a few hours," the procurement official said. The maximum speed of the CH-47F is about 312 kilometers an hour.
Developed in the 1960s, the Chinooks have been exported to many countries, including Australia, Britain, Canada, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Japan, Morocco, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.
The Chinook has been successfully operated in combat in several wars and armed conflicts.
The Chinook is a twin-engine, twin-rotor helicopter. The counter-rotating rotors eliminate the need for an anti-torque vertical rotor, allowing all power to be used for lift and thrust.
The CH-47F is the upgraded version of the CH-47D, and is the latest model in this helicopter family. It can carry up to 60 troops and personnel.
A CH-47 Chinook was shot down by Taliban forces southwest of Kabul in Afghanistan in earlier this month, killing 30 U.S. troops, including 23 Navy SEALs, and eight Afghans.
"These are not unsafe devices. On the contrary, these helicopters had mission flights of thousands of hours in Afghanistan only this year, and this was the first such incident," the procurement official said.
Turkey usually manufactures its own defense equipment, or jointly produces it with foreign partners. But since the number of heavy-lift helicopters being ordered is rather small, SSM decided on direct procurement from a single source, i.e. Boeing. The heavy-lift helicopter program is expected to be among Turkey's last direct foreign procurement projects.

Gadhafi Unable to Launch Offensive: NATO

MONTREAL - Forces loyal to Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi are no longer able to launch a credible military offensive, the commander of NATO-led Libyan operations told AFP in an interview Aug. 11.
"The Gadhafi regime's forces continue to be weakened, both in strength and their will to fight," Canada's Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard said, speaking from his Italy headquarters, as rebel troops made new advances.

"They are no longer able to launch a credible offensive," he added.
NATO was authorized in March by U.N. Security Council resolution 1973 to defend Libya's civilian population from attacks by Colonel Gadhafi's regime, which faced a popular revolt after 42 years in power.
As NATO-led airstrikes have helped the rebels on the ground without managing to decisively turn the tide in the conflict, Gadhafi has brought in fighters from other African countries to bolster his embattled forces.
"We're seeing lots of mercenaries, ruthless mercenaries that come from other countries and are enlisted by Gadhafi's forces to inflict extreme violence on men, women and children," Bouchard said.
"The recruiting of these mercenaries continues," he said. "There is a growing demand for their services which lends credibility to the fact that Gadhafi's forces are being affected by NATO's actions as well as defections of generals, policemen and even politicians."
The rebels, meanwhile, have treaded water since scoring early victories that led to their control of Cyrenaica in the west, and enclaves in Tripoli.
Today, there's "activity" on three fronts, in Brega in the east, and in Misrata and Jebel Nefoussa in the west. Gadhafi forces are "shooting blindly on civilians," Bouchard said.
"On the three fronts, we're seeing changes as anti-Gadhafi forces march forward to stop the attacks on the population," he added.
Gadhafi's regime this week accused NATO airstrikes on the village of Majer of killing 85 people, including women and children, south of the disputed city of Zliten.
"I can assure you that the target was a legitimate one that contained mercenaries, a command centre and 4x4 vehicles modified with automatic weapons, rocket launchers or mortars," Bouchard said.
"I cannot believe that 85 civilians were present when we struck in the wee hours of the morning and given our intelligence" on the target, he added.
"I can assure you that there wasn't 85 civilians present, but I cannot assure you that there were none at all."
"Frankly, I cannot say if there were any civilian deaths or how many," said the general, who accused Gadhafi forces of often leaving already dead corpses at military sites after they have been leveled by NATO airstrikes to make the bombings appear like blunders.
The NATO mission is due to wrap up in September unless it is extended by states participating in it, including Britain, Canada, France, Italy and the United States. Their governments are under increasing fiscal pressure to pull back.
And if the mission "Unified Protector" is not renewed? "It's just speculation," said Bouchard. "My goal is to bring this conflict to an end before the mission is over."

Huge Cyber Spying Effort Revealed, China Suspected

WASHINGTON - The United States, United Nations, defense contractors and the International Olympic Committee were targets of a massive global cyber spying campaign, a computer security firm said on Aug. 3, with China seen as the likely culprit.

McAfee vice president for threat research Dmitri Alperovitch described it as a "five-year targeted operation by one specific actor" but declined to identify the country responsible.

California-based McAfee said in a report it had identified 72 victims in 14 countries of a sophisticated hacking effort dubbed "Operation Shady RAT," which it traced back to at least 2006.

The "compromised parties" included the governments of Canada, India, South Korea, Taiwan, the United States and Vietnam, McAfee said, as well as a U.S. Department of Energy research laboratory and around a dozen U.S. defense contractors.

Others included computer networks of the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the International Olympic Committee, Asian and Western national Olympic committees and the Montreal-based World Anti-Doping Agency.

In a conference call with reporters, Alperovitch, the lead author of the report, said the intrusions into the systems of defense contractors targeted "sensitive military technologies."

He said McAfee had notified law enforcement about the cyber espionage campaign, briefed the White House and members of the U.S. Congress and was working with some of the targeted companies on remediation efforts.

"We believe based on the targeting and the scale and the impact of these operations, and the fact that they didn't just have an economic gain in mind but also political and military, that that this is clearly a nation-state but we're not pointing the finger at anyone," Alperovitch said.

James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the evidence may not be "conclusive in a legal sense," but suspicion points towards China.

"You can think of at least three other large programs attributed to China that look very similar," Lewis told AFP. "It's a pattern of activity that we've seen before."

Google said in June that a cyber spying campaign originating in China had targeted Gmail accounts of senior U.S. officials, military personnel, journalists and Chinese political activists.

In January of last year, Google announced it was halting censorship of its Internet search engine in China after coming under attack along with 20 other companies from hackers based there.

In February, McAfee said in another report that hackers in China have penetrated computer networks of global oil companies, stealing financial documents on bidding plans and other confidential information.

McAfee said it had discovered the "Shady RAT" series of cyber attacks by gaining access to a command and control server in a Western country used by the intruders and examining its logs.

"After painstaking analysis of the logs, even we were surprised by the enormous diversity of the victim organizations and were taken aback by the audacity of the perpetrators," McAfee said.

McAfee said attacks on Asian and Western national Olympic committees, the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency occurred in the lead-up and immediate follow-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

It described this as "particularly intriguing and potentially pointed a finger at a state actor behind the intrusions, because there is likely no commercial benefit to be earned from such hacks."

Other targets included a private Western organization focused on promoting democracy, two U.S. national security think tanks, South Korean steel and construction firms, a Danish satellite communications company, a Singapore electronics company, a Taiwanese electronics firm, Vietnam's government-owned technology company and U.S. state and county governments, McAfee said.

It said a major U.S. news organization - identified as the Associated Press by The Washington Post - was "compromised at its New York headquarters and Hong Kong bureau for more than 21 months."

McAfee said the attacks involved sending infected emails to employees of the targeted companies. When opened, the emails implanted malware and established a backdoor communication channel to the command and control server.

Data theft appeared to be the chief objective of the attackers but Alperovitch warned the "potential exists for even more insidious activity."

"These intruders are in our systems, in the systems of all these companies, in all these government systems," he said. "The likelihood that they'll escalate the activity from just stealing data to modifying data or destroying data or destroying systems is also there."

Norway Withdraws Jets from Libya Ops: Military

OSLO - Norway on Aug. 1 withdrew as planned its final four F-16 fighter jets that have been taking part in the NATO-led mission over Libya, the Norwegian military said.
The Norwegian planes, which landed at their bases in Bodoe in the north of Norway and in Oerland in the central west of the country, carried out 583 missions, out of a total of 6,493 flown by NATO since March 31, and dropped 569 bombs, military spokesman Petter Lindqvist told AFP.

On June 10, the center-left government, split over Norway's prolonged participation in the bombing, announced it would gradually withdraw its six F-16 fighter jets stationed at the Souda base on the Greek island of Crete.
The government explained that its small air force could not sustain a large air contribution for a long period of time.
Only eight of NATO's 28 member states have flown bombing missions since the alliance took command of the operation on March 31: Norway, Britain, France, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Italy and the United States.
London has increased its contribution by adding four Tornado jets, effectively making up for the loss of the Norwegian planes.
NATO officials say Norway's departure will not affect the tempo of air operations, which have averaged more than 100 sorties per day including around 50 missions aimed at hitting targets.
The Scandinavian country, shocked by a bombing and shooting spree committed by a far-right extremist, will continue its involvement in the operation with 10 officers posted at the Libya air command centre based in Italy.

U.S. Tried Halting Pakistan Nuclear Drive: Documents

WASHINGTON - The United States waged a secret diplomatic campaign in the 1970s to prevent Pakistan from developing nuclear weapons by pressing countries to control exports, declassified documents said.

In remarks with striking parallels to current U.S. debates, officials in President Jimmy Carter's administration voiced fear about Pakistan's trajectory and tried both pressure and aid incentives to seek a change in its behavior.

In a secret November 1978 memo, then-Secretary of State Cyrus Vance instructed U.S. diplomats in Western Europe, Australia, Canada and Japan to warn governments that Pakistan or its covert agents were seeking nuclear material.

Vance acknowledged that Pakistan was motivated by concerns over historic rival India. But he voiced alarm that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, before being deposed as prime minister in a coup, said that Pakistan would share nuclear weapons around the Islamic world.

"We believe it is critical to stability in the region and to our non-proliferation objectives to inhibit Pakistan from moving closer to the threshold of nuclear explosive capability," Vance wrote, the year before the overthrow of Iran's pro-Western shah and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Britain was waging a parallel campaign, Vance said. Britain banned the export of inverters - which can be used in centrifuges that produce highly enriched uranium - and urged other countries to follow suit, Vance said.

Most countries sounded sympathetic, though West Germany - a major industrial exporter - insisted it already had adequate safeguards, memos said.

Pakistan nonetheless pursued nuclear weapons and detonated a bomb in 1998 in response to a test by India. The Pakistani scientist who built the bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, had access to sensitive technology in the Netherlands.

Khan admitted in 2004 that he ran a nuclear black-market, selling secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Khan, who is considered a hero by many Pakistanis, later retracted his remarks and in 2009 was freed from house arrest.

The declassified documents were released after requests by the National Security Archive at George Washington University and the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars.

William Burr, a scholar at the National Security Archive, said that a U.S. report from 1978 that could shed light on Khan's activities was missing and that he feared it had been destroyed.

The released documents said Pakistan wanted to maintain work on a reprocessing plant. France initially supported the project but backed out in 1978 due to fears that it would be used to produce weapons.

Then-Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher in a secret memo urged a "low profile" on France's decision, saying it would "severely embarrass" France's then-President Valery Giscard d'Estaing and impede future cooperation if it appeared he was responding to U.S. pressure.

Christopher also said he was urging the U.S. Congress to consider economic assistance and military sales to Pakistan, which was considered a U.S. ally in the Cold War when India tilted toward the Soviet Union.

Assistance to Pakistan can "perhaps relieve some of the tension and sense of isolation which give Pakistan greater incentive to move covertly in the nuclear field," wrote Christopher, who later served as secretary of state.

The United States eventually pursued a major assistance package for Pakistan as part of a partnership against the Soviets in Afghanistan. The United States later cut aid due to nuclear concerns - only to resume it again as it sought Pakistan's cooperation in Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

President Barack Obama's administration recently suspended about one-third of its $2.7 billion annual defense aid to Pakistan to put pressure for more action against Islamic militants.

Canada Will Ship War Supplies Home Via Kuwait

MONTREAL - Canada will use air and port facilities in Kuwait to help ship back home military materiel used during its nine-year combat mission in Afghanistan, Defense Minister Peter MacKay said July 11.

"Kuwait is an influential partner in the region and we are very pleased that this agreement has been reached for the benefit our respective countries," MacKay said in a statement.

He was speaking after he signed a deal during a two-day visit to Kuwait for logistical support from the Gulf nation.

Canada officially ended its nine-year combat mission in Afghanistan on July 7, closing the curtain after the deaths of 157 troops.

The departure of nearly 3,000 troops, who took on some of the heaviest fighting in the southern province of Kandahar, comes as Western forces begin to announce gradual drawdowns of troops ahead of a full withdrawal in 2014.

After spending more than C$11 billion on the war and with popular support waning at home, most of the Canadian soldiers, based mainly in the dangerous battleground of Kandahar, have packed up and gone home.

"The movement of equipment and vehicles from Afghanistan requires access to both an airport and sea terminal for the transhipment of materiel back to Canada," the Canadian defense ministry said in a statement. "The establishment of this support presence in Kuwait allows this to happen in a safe and controlled environment."

Until last year, Canada was using a base situated in Dubai to support its operations in Afghanistan. It was forced to leave the base amid differences with the United Arab Emirates over increasing commercial flights between the two nations.

MacKay recalled that Canada had deployed some 4,000 troops during the first Gulf War in 1991, and "our friendship has grown stronger over the past 20 years," he added.

A separate Canadian training mission involving 950 troops will continue to work in Kabul with Afghan security forces.

Canada will also continue to give aid to Afghanistan, with its overall involvement between now and the end of 2014 expected to cost around US$700 million a year.

Turkey Still Hopes To Order First F-35

ANKARA - Although Turkey still plans to buy about 100 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, it has not formally committed to the U.S.-led program. To do so, it needs to submit a purchase order for a first batch of six aircraft before the end of this year.
"We will have talks [with the Americans] in the months ahead in an effort to resolve some matters," said Murad Bayar, chief of the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, the government's defense procurement agency. "If we manage to reach an agreement, we expect to order the first six aircraft this year. We expect to reach a deal."

The F-35, whose production is led by Lockheed Martin, will be built by a consortium of nine countries, including Turkey. Other members of the consortium are Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Norway and Denmark.
A few years ago, when Turkey's planned buy of about 100 jets was expected to cost approximately $10 billion, Turkish companies grabbed project work worth up to $5 billion. But the unit price has gone up over the past two years, exceeding $12 billion, according to Turkish officials.
Now Turkish companies seek to raise their share to around $6 billion to stay near the planned 50 percent figure. In addition, the U.S. remains reluctant to share millions of lines of source code that make the plane's flight possible. But Turkey wants access to part of the source code related to operational needs.
But placing an order for the first six aircraft before the end of this year is related mostly to early deliveries, around 2014 and 2015, and failure to do so would not undermine participation in the program, Bayar said.
"If we don't place the first purchase order by the year end, it would not necessarily mean that we have failed to agree. It may mean that we, at this point, may not have the finances," Bayar said. "Anyway, we hope that none of this happens."
The F-35 comes in three variants for conventional takeoff and landing, short takeoff and vertical landing, and for aircraft carrier operations.

Canada Ends Combat Mission in Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Canada ended its nine-year combat mission in Afghanistan on July 7, closing the curtain after the deaths of 157 troops and signaling the start of further American and NATO withdrawals later this year.
The departure of nearly 3,000 soldiers, who took on some of the heaviest fighting in the southern province of Kandahar, comes as Western forces begin to announce gradual drawdowns of troops ahead of a full withdrawal in 2014.

After Canada spent more than $11 billion on the increasingly unpopular war, most of the Canadian soldiers have packed up and gone home.
A change of command ceremony was held at Kandahar airfield to mark the formal end of combat operations, although hundreds of other troops are being sent to work in a training role in the Afghan capital.
Afghan, Canadian and American national anthems were played to a small group of soldiers from each country, before commanders addressed the crowd and formally handed control of the mission to the United States.
"Over the years Canadians, both military and civilian, have made the ultimate sacrifice," Brigadier Gen. Dean Milner, head of the Canadian combat mission, said in his speech to the assembled troops. "Although there is still work to do, (we) are extremely proud of what has been accomplished."
Canadian soldiers first deployed to Afghanistan in early 2002, several months after a U.S.-led invasion of the country to oust the Taliban in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
They arrived in Kandahar - the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban - in 2006 and have faced a tough fight to overcome a trenchant insurgency in the farming districts north and west of the main provincial city.
"The Canadians had a lot of challenges in Kandahar, not the least was the deep entrenchment of the Taliban insurgents in places like Arghandab, Panjwayi and Maywand (districts)," said Kabul-based analyst Candace Rondeaux of the International Crisis Group. "At the same time, they certainly were able to stabilize different areas of the province at different points of their engagement and were noted for their high level of civilian engagement which set them apart from other NATO forces."
The handover comes a day after British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that 500 troops would go home in 2012, and a fortnight after U.S. President Barack Obama said 33,000 "surge" troops would return by next summer.
France and Belgium have also recently announced modest troop reductions as the Western coalition eyes the end of the 10-year war.
"The picture's very mixed as exit builds," added Rondeaux. "It's difficult to say anyone accomplished the mission perfectly."
In recent weeks Canadian troops have been completing their final patrols, packing up dusty outposts and gathering at the giant Kandahar airfield military base to debrief before starting to catch their flights home.
On July 5, Canada handed control of their last district to U.S. forces in a flag-lowering ceremony, a key symbolic step in the drawdown process, although the Americans had been in place for weeks.
Public opposition to the war in Canada has grown, with a poll earlier this year by Vision Critical/Angus Reid indicating 63 percent of Canadians were against it, compared to 47 percent in 2010.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged in 2008 that troops would leave this year.
After U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May, Harper said he believed Afghanistan was "no longer a source of global terrorism."
A separate Canadian training mission involving 950 troops will work in Kabul with Afghan security forces.
Canada will also continue to give aid to Afghanistan, with its overall involvement between now and the end of 2014 expected to cost about US$700 million a year.

Canada: No More Jets to Libya Before Election

OTTAWA - Canada will not consider increasing its forces helping NATO to pressure Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi to quit until after a May 2 election, the prime minister said April 15.
"We continue to discuss this with allies, but we've been clear, we are not putting Canadian soldiers on the ground, and in terms of requests for additional participation, we will not make those kinds of commitments during an election campaign," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said during a campaign stop.

"To make any kind of additional commitment would require the parliament of Canada to be sitting and to be discussing these matters."
Nearly a month of coalition strikes have so far failed to shift the balance of power in Libya.
The French and British called for allies to contribute more jets to the mission, but the United States has resisted pressure to return its warplanes to the frontline in Libya.
Washington pulled back around 50 combat planes from Libyan operations last week after handing over control of the mission to NATO, although since then they took part in some missions to take out Gadhafi's air defense systems.
Currently, only six out of 28 nations are conducting air strikes, while France and Britain carry out half of them. The other half are conducted by Belgium, Denmark, Norway and Canada.

NATO Now in Full Control of Libya Mission

BRUSSELS - NATO on March 31 warned Libyan forces they would be "ill-advised" to kill civilians as the alliance took sole command of air strikes that were under U.S. leadership.

Libyan rebels drive toward the city of Brega on March 31, en route to a battle with forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. (Mahmud Hams / Agence France-Presse)

An armada of ships and warplanes from the United States, France, Britain, Canada and other coalition nations came under NATO control after the 28-nation military organization overcame internal divisions to take over the mission.

U.S., British, French, Canadian, Danish and Belgian jets have attacked Moammar Gadhafi's ground forces since March 19 under a U.N. mandate to use "all necessary measures" to protect civilians.
Canadian Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, commander of Operation Unified Protector, said NATO aircraft had flown 90 missions since the alliance took charge at 0600 GMT March 31.
"Those who are acting against the civilian population and civilian centers, you would be ill-advised to continue such activities, I recommend that you cease these activities," Bouchard told reporters via video link from his headquarters in Naples, Italy, stressing that NATO would remain "impartial."
The United States, already stretched after a decade of combat in Afghanistan and a fragile situation in Iraq, had been eager to hand over control of the operations to someone else.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance will be able to declare "mission accomplished" when "the civilian population in Libya is not under threat any longer."
But he acknowledged it was impossible to know when this would happen, and he stressed that a political solution, not just military means, was needed to resolve the conflict.
"I urge all parties to seek a political decision sooner rather than later and ensure a political transition to democracy. But I'm not able to lay out a timetable," he said at a conference in Stockholm.
The alliance stressed it would stick to the U.N. mandate to shield civilians, as Rasmussen reiterated his opposition to arming the rebels.
The head of NATO's military committee, Italian Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola, said there was no discussion about deploying troops. He also denied that NATO was coordinating its operations with the rebels.
Asked about reports that the CIA was on the ground in Libya, Di Paola said NATO does not question the source of intelligence it receives from allies.
Di Paola said he expected some 20 NATO allies to provide assets for one or all three operations under alliance control - the strikes on ground forces threatening civilians, a no-fly zone, and an arms embargo.
But key NATO members have voiced unease about the bombing missions.
Bouchard vowed that NATO pilots would conduct their missions "with care and precision" in order to "avoid harming the people of Libya."
The general launched a probe into allegations made by a Tripoli-based Italian bishop that dozens of civilians were killed during coalition bombings.
No date was given for the incident, which could not be independently verified.
Turkey, NATO's sole Muslim member, criticized the scope of the coalition strikes and has made clear its planes would not take part in any airstrikes.
Another major NATO member, Germany, refused to vote for the U.N. Security Council resolution that authorized the use of force and will stay out of the offensive operations.
The Netherlands has contributed planes but they will only participate in maintaining a no-fly zone to prevent hostile jets from flying, not the strikes against other targets.
NATO wants to bring outside partners into the mission, especially Arab nations. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are the only Middle Eastern nations to have provided jets.
Sweden, a NATO partner but not member, offered fighter jets but said it would not conduct ground strikes.

NATO Starts Taking Control of Libya Operations

BRUSSELS - NATO on March 30 began to take command of Libyan air bombing operations from a U.S.-led coalition, as warplanes and other assets from several allies came under the military organization's control.

French Air Force Rafale jets, right and center, and a French Air Force Mirage 2000 fighter jet are shown March 30 over the Mediterranean Sea. The jets are taking part in the military Libya operations, soon to be led by NATO. (Gerard Julien / Agence France-Presse)

"NATO aircraft are flying under NATO command in the Libyan sky," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said.

"This is a phased process, which will be completed as soon as all allies and partners have transferred authority for their assets."
The 28-member alliance is gradually replacing the United States at the helm of aerial missions that have been conducted by U.S., French, British and other coalition planes since March 19 to protect civilians from Moammar Gadhafi's ground forces.
Britain, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Spain and the Netherlands placed all or part of their military assets under NATO's authority on March 30, an alliance official said on condition of anonymity.
NATO's combined air operations centre in Poggio Renatico, northern Italy, transmitted flight plans to units involved in the aerial campaign, the official said.
A NATO diplomat has said that the alliance would effectively be in full command of the operations on March 31.
NATO has enforced an arms embargo off Libya's coast since last week and also is policing Libya's skies to prevent hostile jets from flying.
NATO agreed to take on the broader mission - strikes against forces threatening civilians - on March 27 after overcoming Turkish concerns about the air strikes and French reluctance to hand the lead to the alliance.

Coalition Against Gadhafi Growing

Overall direction of the extended, multi-national effort to enforce a United Nations-mandated no-fly zone over Libya is not yet clear. While the U.S. is leading military operations, several key NATO partners are also involved in combat operations which began March 19.

One of about 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles launched by coalition forces against Libyan government targets March 19 rises from the U.S. destroyer Barry. (Interior Communications Electrician Fireman Roderick Eubanks / U.S. Navy)

"The U.S. is militarily in the lead," Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, director of the U.S. Joint Staff, said at a March 20 Pentagon briefing, but the goal is to shift to a coalition-led leadership structure.

"We do not know when we'll be ready to do that and we don't yet know what that structure will be," he told reporters.
The immediate goal of the combat operations is not to oust Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, but to protect civilians with the establishment of a no-fly zone over Libya's northern regions, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said while making the rounds of Sunday-morning talk shows,
U.S. forces gathered to conduct military operations against Libya are organized under U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), commanded by Army Gen. Carter Ham from his headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. Adm. Samuel Locklear is in tactical command of Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn aboard the flagship Mount Whitney in the Mediterranean. Locklear is triple-hatted as commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe, U.S. Naval Forces Africa and of the Allied Joint Force Command, headquartered in Naples, Italy.
British Major Gen. John Lorimer described the command structure at a morning briefing March 20. "This operation is currently under U.S. command, supported closely by French and U.K. armed forces. AFRICOM is the supported Combatant Command, and U.K. has liaison officers and staff embedded at every level," Lorimer said.
A French defense ministry source told Agence France-Presse March 20 that coalition members conducting air strikes on Libyan targets are coordinating their actions but there is no central command organizing the attacks.
"There is no centralized headquarters and at this stage everyone is using their own headquarters in a coordinated manner," the French source said.
The French are operating out of Mont Verdun, near Lyon in the east of the country, where the air force has its chief air defense control center. The British headquarters are at Northwood, in the suburbs of London, and those of the United States at Ramstein in southwest Germany. The American HQ has the "greater planning capacity," the French source said.
He added that there were "exchanges of staff between the three HQs," in particular between Mont Verdun and Ramstein, and a "definition of command structures as the deployment takes place."
The purpose of Operation Odyssey Dawn, according to AFRICOM, "is to enforce U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973, which is centered on protecting Libyan citizens from any further harm from Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's regime."

First Strikes 'Effective'

Forces from the U.S., France, Italy, Canada and the United Kingdom were involved in the initial operations and strikes on Libya on March 19, which included the launch of at least 110 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles from U.S. surface ships and submarines and one British submarine.
Gortney said on March 20 that more Tomahawks had been launched since then, bringing the total to 124.
Combat aircraft from the U.S., U.K., and France took part in the first strikes on Libyan targets. Many of the aircraft are operating from at least seven air bases in southern Italy.
The first strikes were aimed at Libya's air defense systems, including SA-2, SA-3 and SA-5 surface-to-air guided missiles, and their guidance radars.
"We judge these strikes to have been very effective in degrading their systems," Gortney said. "There has been no new air activity by the regime," he said. "The fixed missiles, SA-2, 3 and 5, and early warning radars have been taken down and we do not see them emitting."
Further strikes were conducted March 20 against Libyan government forces about 10 miles south of Benghazi, Gortney said. While battle reports are still coming in, "we judge those strikes at having been quite successful at halting ground movement."
"Benghazi is certainly not safe from attack but is certainly safer than yesterday," he added.
The attacks were carried out by U.S., British and French strike aircraft, Gortney said, supported by U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft flying from land bases.
Strikes were also conducted against the Ghadrabiya air base, a joint military and civilian facility, Gortney said. U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bombers using joint direct attack munitions (JDAMs) took on the mission, flown from their base at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, he added. A number of military targets at the base were destroyed, he said.
There were no indications of civilian casualties, Gortney said.
The Libyan government has claimed that at least 48 people have died in the assaults.
Libyan leader Gadhafi is not a target.
"At this point I can guarantee that he is not on a targeting list," Gortney said.
No coalition aircraft have been lost, he noted.
Coalition forces are not now targeting mobile anti-aircraft sites, Gortney, said, including SA-6 and SA-8 mobile missile launchers or the many hand-held SA-7 missile launchers, nor are anti-aircraft guns being directly targeted.
"There are so many mobile guns that it's better to avoid them," he explained.
Gortney would not answer questions about specific nations allowing coalition aircraft to operate from their bases or about overflight issues.
Gadhafi's call for a cease fire garnered little respect from Gortney.
"I question anything that Gadhafi calls for," Gortney said. "He moved troops into Benghazi after he called for a cease fire."
Gortney noted growing support for the coalition operations.
"Shortly before I came, in here the Arab League endorsed our enforcement of the no-fly zone," he said.

Coalition Growing

The coalition supporting the no-fly zone against Libya is growing, Gortney said, and is not limited.
"We'll take as many coalition partners as will commit to do this with us," he said. "We have many nations that are waiting to announce themselves."
More forces from the first five countries are en route to the region, and several other nations have joined the coalition or appear about to join.
Here is a country-by-country breakdown of the forces as of March 20:

UNITED STATES

· Submarines Providence, Scranton and Florida launching Tomahawks.
· Destroyers Barry and Stout launching Tomahawks.
· Amphibious assault ships Kearsarge and Ponce, carrying Marines of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU).
· Command ship Mount Whitney.
· Support ships Lewis and Clark, Robert E. Peary and Kanawha.
· U.S. Navy aircraft include EA-18G Growler electronic air warfare aircraft, at least four P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and one EP-3E Aries electronic surveillance aircraft, all flying from land bases in the Mediterranean. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier jets are operating from the Kearsarge.
· Air Force aircraft include B-2 stealth bombers flying from Missouri and F-15 and F-16 fighters from unspecified bases.
· The Bataan Amphibious Ready Group will deploy from Norfolk,Va., on March 23 ahead of schedule to support Odyssey Dawn operations. The group includes the amphibious ships Bataan, Mesa Verde and Whidbey Island carrying the 22nd MEU.

FRANCE

· Aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle left its base at Toulon March 20 en route to waters off Libya. De Gaulle is carrying 20 aircraft, including Rafale and Super Etendard strike fighters, and is escorted by the destroyers Dupleix and Forbin, frigate Aconit, oiler La Meuse, and an unnamed nuclear attack submarine.
· Destroyer Jean Bart already on the scene.
· French land-based strike aircraft spearheaded the March 19 attacks on Libya.

ITALY

· Destroyer Andrea Doria Frigate Euro Support ship Etna As of early March 20, more ships were to be en route from Italy: Destroyer Francesco Mimbelli; frigate Fenice; patrol ships Libra and Sirio; amphibious ships San Giorgio and San Marco.
· At least 4 Tornado strike aircraft and 4 other combat aircraft are available.

CANADA

· Frigate Charlottetown Six CF-18 Hornet strike fighters Canada's forces are operating as part of Operation Mobile.

UNITED KINGDOM

· Unnamed Trafalgar-class nuclear attack submarine launching Tomahawks.
· Frigates Westminster and Cumberland.
· Typhoon and Tornado strike aircraft operating from Gioia del Colle air base in southern Italy. Tornado GR4s with Storm Shadow cruise missiles took place in the initial strikes on March 19, flying from the Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Marham in Norfolk, eastern England. Agence France-Presse reported the aircraft conducted four mid-air refueling operations during the 3,000-mile, eight-hour mission, the longest Royal Air Force bombing mission since the 1982 Falklands war. The British effort against Libya is dubbed Operation Ellamy.
· Additionally, E3-D Sentry, Sentinel and Tristar surveillance aircraft and VC-10 aerial tankers are operating.

BELGIUM

· Six F-16 fighters to be ready for operations March 21.

DENMARK

· Six F-16 fighters and a transport are operating from Sigonella air base on Sicily.

QATAR

· Four combat aircraft reportedly are in operation by March 20.

SPAIN

· Four F-18 strike fighters are operating from Decimomannu air base on the Italian island of Sardinia.
· One aerial tanker and one CN-235 maritime surveillance plane.
· A submarine and frigate are to deploy this week pending parliamentary approval, according to Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

· Strike aircraft are reported en route to Decimomannu air base.
The U.S. aircraft carrier Enterprise, which recently passed through the Mediterranean, is now in the Arabian Sea conducting air operations over Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom.
Compiled from reports from U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Navy, British Ministry of Defence, Canadian Forces, Agence France-Presse and Deutsche Presse-Agentur

West Mobilizes For Libya Air Strikes

BRUSSELS, Belgium - A coalition of Western nations mobilized Friday to launch quick air strikes against Libya after the United Nations approved military action to prevent Moammar Gadhafi from crushing insurgents.
The United States, Britain and France were expected to scramble fighter jets against Gadhafi's forces after they secured the UN Security Council's blessing.

Paris warned military action was imminent.
The strikes will come "rapidly ... within a few hours," French government spokesman Francois Baroin said after the UN Security Council approved "all necessary measures" to impose a no-fly zone on Libya.
The goal of the operation would be to "protect the Libyan people and to allow them to go all the way in their drive for freedom, which means bringing down the Gadhafi regime," Baroin told RTL radio.
The three military powers could be joined by Canada, which according to Canadian media planned to deploy six CF-18 fighter jets.
Norway said it would take part in the operation and Denmark awaited parliamentary approval before joining the action with F-16 warplanes. Poland offered logistical support but no role in a military strike force.
NATO was holding a meeting to decide what, if any, role it may take.
The West could be joined by Arab nations in the endeavor after the Arab League pressed for the international community to impose a no-fly zone against Gadhafi's forces.
Qatar's foreign ministry said the Gulf state would "contribute in the efforts aiming at stopping bloodshed and protecting civilians in Libya" and urged quick action to impose the no-fly zone, the state news agency said.
The UN's approval of the measures sparked celebrations in the rebel bastion of Benghazi in eastern Libya where the opposition had urged the international community to act quickly.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the UN measures were needed to "avoid greater bloodshed" and stop Gadhafi from attacking his own people.
"This places a responsibility on the members of the UN and that is a responsibility to which the United Kingdom will now respond," Hague said.
Britain's Royal Air Force is expected to send Tornado attack aircraft equipped with precise weapons from their bases in Marham, east England, and Lossiemouth in Scotland.
NATO convened a meeting to debate whether the 28-nation military alliance would take part of the international effort.
"For any NATO operation, there needs to be a demonstrable need for the alliance to act, firm regional support and a clear legal basis," said NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu.
"Under those three conditions, NATO stands ready to act as part of the broad international effort," she said.
NATO allies have been divided about intervening in Libya, with Germany and Turkey voicing opposition to a military intervention.
Germany was among five nations, alongside China and Russia, that abstained from voting for the UN resolution, which passed 10-0 late Thursday.
Warning of "considerable risks and dangers," German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle insisted no German troops would participate in military intervention.
"We remain eminently skeptical on the option of military intervention ... anticipated in this resolution. We see in it considerable risks and dangers. That is why we could not approve this part of the text," a statement said.
Russia also ruled out taking part in the operation.
The UN Security Council also agreed to protect civilian areas and impose a ceasefire on Gadhafi's military, but ruled out sending ground troops.