Ukraine Gets Green Light to Use F-16s for Strikes on Russian Territory

 Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen announced that Ukraine is authorized to use Danish-supplied F-16 fighter jets to strike military targets within Russian territory, provided these actions comply with the rules of war. Speaking on May 30 in Brussels, Rasmussen stressed that as long as the strikes focus on military installations, they remain within international law.

In July 2023, Denmark and the Netherlands formed a "fighter coalition" to support Ukraine, pledging to supply F-16s and offer essential training for Ukrainian pilots and technicians. This decision is part of a broader Western debate about removing restrictions on the use of Western weapons on Russian soil. Despite concerns from Washington and Berlin, Rasmussen emphasized that this initiative is not a "blank check" for indiscriminate attacks but aims to reduce Russia's offensive capabilities.

Russian Ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir Barbin, warned that using Danish weapons on Russian territory could escalate the conflict uncontrollably. Nonetheless, Denmark and several other nations advocate for lifting these restrictions, asserting that Ukraine must defend itself against assaults.

Currently, eleven Western countries, including France, the UK, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Canada, have agreed to permit Ukraine to target military installations within Russian territory using their arms. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also endorsed this approach after discussions with French President Emmanuel Macron, allowing Ukraine to use Western weapons "within international law" against Russian military bases.

The Danish F-16s, acquired in the 1980s, are advanced multirole fighter jets known for their versatility and sophisticated avionics. They can carry various weapons, including air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles. The F-16s, powered by either Pratt & Whitney F100 or General Electric F110 turbofan engines, achieve speeds over Mach 2 and have a combat radius of about 340 miles with internal fuel, extendable with external tanks and aerial refueling.

Earlier this week, Belgium announced it would supply Ukraine with 30 F-16 fighter jets, with the first deliveries expected this year. This brings the total number of F-16s committed to Ukraine to 85, including contributions from the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway. Ukrainian pilots are currently training in the USA, Denmark, and Romania to operate these jets.

Czech Republic wants to piggyback on German Leopard 2A8 tank buy, Defense News reports

 Czech Defence Minister Jana Černochová has revealed plans for joint negotiations with Germany to acquire Leopard 2A8 tanks, enhancing the procurement process in terms of pricing and delivery time. The collaboration is expected to yield clearer outcomes in the coming year. Previously, the Czech Republic donated T-72 tanks to Ukraine in 2022 and engaged in Berlin's "Ringtausch" program, receiving Leopard 2A4s to maintain combat capabilities. Negotiations for the purchase of up to 77 Leopard 2A8 tanks have been ongoing since July. Additionally, Černochová outlined military acquisition priorities, including the intention to finalize a deal for two C-390 Millennium aircraft from Embraer in 2024 and the imminent conclusion of a contract for 24 F-35s for the Czech Air Force within weeks. These procurement initiatives signify the Czech Republic's commitment to modernizing its military capabilities through strategic partnerships and acquisitions.

Here is the link to the original article:

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2023/12/20/czech-republic-wants-to-piggyback-on-german-leopard-2a8-tank-buy/

Iraq considers Czech made Fighter jets

PRAGUE — The Czech Republic is looking to sell dozens of Czech-made L-159 subsonic jet fighters to Iraq, Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra said after talks Jan. 23 with his Iraqi counterpart in Prague.

"The talks are very intensive ... and concern dozens of planes," Vondra told reporters after meeting Iraq's acting Defence Minister Saadun al-Dulaimi. Al-Dulaimi said Iraq was "really very interested in the planes," which it wants as soon as possible.

Vondra said the Czech side was offering new fighters made by Czech manufacturer Aero Vodochody, as well as 36 unused L-159s, which the defense ministry has been trying to sell for years.

"Iraq is logically interested in new planes ... but it also wants the fighters as fast as possible, so we can use at least part of the unused planes owned by the defense ministry," Vondra said, refusing to give details about the price of the planes, which are facing competition from Britain's Hawk and South Korea's TA-50.

Aero Vodochody, controlled by Czech-Slovak private equity group Penta, is the largest Czech aircraft producer and a subcontractor for Sikorsky, Saab and EADS and other manufacturers.

Switzerland Taps Saab's Gripen as F-5 Replacement

STOCKHOLM - Swedish defense group Saab AB said Nov. 30 it was "proud and delighted" over Switzerland's decision to purchase 22 of its Gripen fighter jets to replace its aging F-5 fleet.

"Given that Switzerland is known globally for applying (the) highest procurement standards and requesting state-of-the art technologies, Saab is both proud and delighted that Gripen has been chosen as the Swiss Air Force's future multirole fighter aircraft," Saab said in a statement.

The Swiss selection "confirms that Saab is a market-leader in the defense and security industry and that Gripen is a world-class fighter system that provides the best value for money", Saab CEO and president Haakan Buskhe said in the statement.

Gripen is already in service with the Swedish, Czech, Hungarian, South African and Thai air forces.

Saab saw its share price take off on the Stockholm stock exchange after the announcement. Saab closed up 11 percent at 120 kronor ($17.75) in an overall market that closed up 5.14 percent.

Czech Planes Grounded for 3rd Time This Year

PRAGUE - The Czech Army grounded its four CASA C-295M military planes Oct. 31 due to equipment failure, said an army spokesperson, the third time the aircraft have been grounded this year.
The navigation screen and other equipment in a plane Oct. 30 from Seville, Spain, "stopped working during landing," spokesperson Mira Trebicka said in a statement. "One of the two engines then stopped working. Army Gen. Vkastimil Picek has ordered the immediate grounding of all planes, until the inquiry has ended."

The two pilots managed to land with one engine.
In 2010, the Czech Army replaced its obsolete Antonov An-26 fleet, which dated from its communist era, with CASA C-295M planes.
The aircraft were already grounded in February following a severe drop in altitude midflight, and again in May after problems with an avionics system.

NATO, Russian Jets Hold First Ever Joint Exercise

WARSAW - NATO and Russian fighter jets held their first ever joint exercise June 7, teaming up in a bid to prevent attacks such as the Sept. 11, 2001, strikes on the United States, a NATO official confirmed.

Col. Sylwester Bartoszewski, supervisor of Vigilant Skies 2011, explains the first of two planned exercises of Polish F-16s and Russian Sukhoi jets on June 7 in Warsaw. NATO and Russian fighter jets held their first ever joint exercise. (Janet Skarzynski / AFP via Getty Images)

"Today was an important step for NATO-Russia relations, and therefore in my opinion, also an important step for the world because the threat of terrorism is a common one," Georges D'hollander, general manager of the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency told reporters in Warsaw on June 7 after the first of two planned exercises were completed.

"This is a confidence-building initiative which originated by the decision of the NATO-Russia Council," D'hollander added, at once stressing its "important political dimension."
The unprecedented exercise began the morning of June 7 with the departure of a Polish CASA 295M aircraft from Krakow simulating a hijacked civilian aircraft. Two Polish F-16s from the Krzesiny air base near Poznan, central Poland, later intercepted the "renegade" aircraft and then handed the mission over to two Russian Sukhoi jets that guided the plane to the northern Polish city of Malbork.
"This was the first time in history when there was co-operation between Russian and NATO fighters in this kind of a scenario," NATO exercise director Czech Colonel Petr Mikulenka told reporters in Warsaw.
The aircraft were taking part in the four-day NATO-Russia "Vigilant Skies 2011," event that began Monday involving flights over Poland and the Black Sea.
On June 8, three Turkish F-16s and two Russian Sukhois will intercept a rogue plane over the Black Sea.
"The aerial exercises are to test the NATO-Russia Council Cooperative Airspace Initiative (CAI), aimed at preventing a new 9/11 by "sharing information on movements in NATO airspace and Russian airspace, and by coordinating interceptions of renegade aircraft," according to a NATO statement.
The initiative hopes to "improve air safety for the thousands of passengers using international flights between NATO airspace and Russian airspace each day, and the millions of inhabitants on the ground."
The new airspace security system "provides a shared NATO-Russia radar picture of air traffic and allows early warning of suspicious air activities through commonly agreed procedures."
"In situations when an aircraft starts behaving erratically, the air traffic coordination system offers increased information sharing and communication to ensure rapid, joint responses to terrorist threats," a NATO statement said.
The system has two coordination centers, one in Warsaw and another in Moscow, with local coordination sites in Russian cities of Kaliningrad, Rostov-on-Don and Murmansk as well as Warsaw, Bodo in Norway and Ankara in Turkey.

Indonesia To Buy 16 S. Korean T-50 Trainers

SEOUL - Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) signed a $400 million deal to sell 16 T-50 Golden Eagle supersonic trainer aircraft to Indonesia, marking the first overseas sale of the $20 million jet co-developed by Lockheed Martin.
The deal obligates South Korea to buy Indonesian-built CN-235 transport airplanes, Seoul and Jakarta government officials confirmed.

Officials with KAI and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) officials had denied that the trainer deal would require the airlifter purchase.
The contract was signed May 25, about a month and a half after Jakarta picked KAI as the preferred bidder for its trainer jet acquisition. The T-50 beat out Russia's Yak-130 and the Czech L-159B.
KAI is set to deliver the jets to the Indonesian Air Force by 2013.
The day after the T-50 announcement, KAI received approval from the Korea Exchange to proceed with an initial public offering (IPO) estimated to be worth about 576 billion won ($523 million).
The state-owned Korea Finance Corp. owns 30.1 percent of the aircraft maker, while Samsung Techwin, Hyundai Motor and Doosan Infracore hold 20.5 percent apiece.
The IPO may be held by the end of June.
Industry and securities sources expect KAI to sell 36 million shares at 14,000 won to 16,000 apiece.
"I'm very happy that the deal has been concluded before the planned IPO," said KAI President Kim Hong-kyung. "This Indonesia deal is just the starting point for the country's aircraft exports. As the leading aerospace company in South Korea, we will make best efforts to help the country become the world's top seven aircraft exporters by 2020."
South Korea will become the sixth country to export supersonic jets, following the U.S., Russia, the U.K., France and Sweden, according to a KAI-DAPA news release.
The single-engine T-50 plane has digital flight controls and a modern, ground-based training system. It is designed to have the maneuverability, endurance and systems to prepare pilots to fly next-generation aircraft such as the Eurofighter Typhoon, the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II. The jet has a top speed of Mach 1.4 and an operational range of 1,851 kilometers.
The news of the offset provision confirmed what Amir Sambodo, special staff for the Indonesian Coordinating Economic Minister told the Jakarta Post on May 20: "There have been talks that if Indonesia buys T-50s, there will be compensation for Korea to purchase CN-235s."
Sambodo said South Korea would buy two or four more CN-235s.
"This needs to be increased to mutually benefit both countries. If South Korea is good at trainer jets, we are strong in transport aircraft," he said.
Seoul and Jakarta had a similar barter trade deal in 2001, when South Korea bought eight CN-235 transport planes in return for selling 12 KT-1 Woongbi basic trainers.
The CN-235 is a medium-range twin-turboprop airplane, jointly developed by Spain's CASA and Indonesia's PT DI. The plane is used for VIP transport, maritime patrols, airlifts and troop carrying.
South Korea has 20 CN-235s, 12 built in Spain and eight in Indonesia. Under a 2008 deal, PT DI plans to deliver four more CN-235s to South Korea's Coast Guard by year's end.

Russia's Top General Says Libyan Air Strikes 'Failed'

MOSCOW - Russia's top general called air strikes in Libya unsuccessful on March 26 and gave his opinion that a ground operation would likely be needed to topple the Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
"Air (strikes) as I see it have not given them results," the chief of staff of Russia's armed forces, Gen. Nikolai Makarov told the Interfax news agency in Moscow.

"If their aim was to topple the regime of Gadhafi, then probably they will not manage without a ground phase," he was quoted as saying. "I would not rule it out."
He reaffirmed Russia's position that it would not take part in the international operation, saying that "there is not even any thought of this."
The general's comments came after Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, warned on March 26 that any ground operation would be classified as an occupation of Libya.
Earlier this week, a Kremlin foreign policy adviser, Sergei Prikhodko, said Russia believed a ground operation would become inevitable if the air strikes got bogged down.
Russia abstained from last week's Security Council vote allowing a no-fly zone, while opting not to use its veto, and President Dmitry Medvedev has expressed concern about the "indiscriminate use of force."
Medvedev in a phone call on March 24 urged his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama to avoid civilian casualties and to limit the international operation to the wording of the U.N. resolution.
But in a rare rift, Medvedev publicly rebuked Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for using unacceptable language after the strongman premier harshly criticized the operation and compared it to a medieval call to crusades.

NATO Chief Hopes Poland EU Presidency Boosts Russia Ties

WARSAW - NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said March 17 he hoped Poland would use its upcoming presidency of the European Union to enhance the military alliance's ties with Russia.
"Poland can ... play a special role in improving the relationship between Russia and NATO in the European Union and that would be beneficial in our endeavors to improve the overall Euro-Atlantic security," Rasmussen said at a joint press conference with Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski in Warsaw.

"We look very much forward to the Polish presidency of the European Union in the second half of this year," he said.
Having joined the European Union in 2004, Poland will take over the 27-member bloc's rotating presidency on July 1.
The NATO chief was in the Polish capital to mark the 12th anniversary of Poland's NATO entry along with fellow ex-communist states Hungary and the Czech Republic, a move that outraged their Soviet-era master Russia.
Poland's ties with Moscow have remained rocky since it peacefully shed communism in 1989, but its increasing importance as an EU member has seen Warsaw take on a conciliatory tone towards the Kremlin.
Rasmussen said he also thought Poland could play a role in enhancing cooperation between NATO and the European Union.
"Poland is a strong ally and has a strong position within the European Union and based on that Poland can play a special role in advancing our mutual cooperation," Rasmussen added.