Brazil Undecided on Jet Fighter Purchase

Brazil Undecided on Jet Fighter Purchase

The Brazilian Air Force may not purchase its longstanding order of 36 jet fighters as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is unlikely to make a decision on the multibillion-dollar project before stepping down on 1 January 2011.

The purchase of jet fighters to replace Brazil's aging fleet would cost $6bn-$8bn, which could increase further if options to expand the fleet to more than 100 aircraft are exercised.

Lula said it would be up to the government of his successor, Dilma Rousseff, to decide on the issue.

"It's a very big debt, it's a long-term debt for Brazil. I could sign off on it and do a deal with France, but I'm not going to do that," Lula said, defenceWeb reports quoting media sources.

Lula's comments have given rise to speculation that the project to modernise Brazil's air force has likely been scrapped.

Frontrunners for the contract include the Dassault Rafale jet, the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet and the Saab Gripen.
Brazil Undecided on Jet Fighter Purchase - Air Force Technology

Bangladesh Army's New Type59G MBT

Bangladesh Army's New Type59G MBT

China Defense Blog: Bangladesh Army's New Type59G MBT

Bangladesh Army's New Type59G MBT 

According to our friend, the Bangladesh Military Forum, (http://www.%2a%2a%2a%2a%2a%2a%2a%2a%2a%2a%2a.com/) (*********** = bdmilitary), the first public appearance of the long-expected Type 59G was reported by today's Channel-i news.

In essence, this latest Type59MBT variant is a Type 96G in a Type59 body modified to carry a 125mm main gun, a modern fire control system, and the latest Chinese armor protection package. A total of 300 examples of Type59G will be rebuild from the existing fleet. In addition to the Type59G rebuild program, theBangladesh army will procure the Type96 MBT in due course as part of a greater modernization drive. Since both MBTs are sharing many common components, this will greatly reduce the load on the existing logistic infrastructure.

Here is a list of Chinese land forces hardware to be procured by the Bangladesh Army compiled by BMF.


****
* 7 x Type 96 MBTs (Not delivered yet, but eventually a couple of regiments)
* 5 x MBT ARV (Chinese, for MBT2000/Type 96 recovery)
* 300 x Type 59 MBT Upgrade (1 spotted at Dhaka; Army named them as "Type 59 G")
* 1 x SPH Regt (Chinese 122 or 155 mm SPH is expected)
* 1 x ADA Regiment (This complements another air defence regiment in BDA. Regiment is equivalent of brigade; Equipped with Chinese AAGs and MANPADS).

****Including a couple of pictures, which might be interesting reference material.

Profile for new Type 59G MBT at *************** created with input from armoured corps officer, photo analysis and Chinese defense websites:

http://www.%2a%2a%2a%2a%2a%2a%2a%2a%2a%2a%2a.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=333&Itemid=97 (*********** = bdmilitary)

Pics of UAE F-16E/F B60 Falcon fitted with probe-and-drogue refueling system

Pics of UAE F-16E/F B60 Falcon fitted with probe-and-drogue refueling system

Indian Su-30(Russian technology) vs Pakistani JF-17 thunder(pak+china tech)=Full analysis of su 30 & jf17 thunder

Indian Su-30(Russian technology) vs Pakistani JF-17 thunder(pak+china tech)=Full analysis of su 30 & jf17 thunder

Indian Su-30(R T)


Pakistani JF-17 thunder





Note:The video information is not Confirm...

Indian SU-30 Full analysis

Weapons

The aircraft is fitted with a 30mm GSh-301 gun with 150 rounds of ammunition.

The aircraft has 12 hardpoints for external payloads up to 8,000kg and can carry one or two mission pods such as a laser designator or an anti-radiation missile guidance system.

The Malaysian Su-30MKM is fitted with the Thales Damocles laser designator pod.

Air-to-air missiles

The Su-30M, like the Su-30, can engage two airborne targets simultaneously. The aircraft can be armed with up to six medium-range air-to-air missiles such as the R-27RE (Nato codename AA-10C Alamo-C), the R27TE (AA-10D Alamo-D) or the Vympel RVV-AE (AA-12 Adder).http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/su_30mk/

Dimensions:

Height

6.355m

Wingspan

14.70m

Span of Foreplane

6.40m

Length Excluding Probes

23.335m

Weights:

Empty Weight

17,700kg

Fuel

5,090kg

Maximum Fuel

9,400kg

Take-off Weight

26,090kg

Maximum Take-off Weight

38,000kg

Maximum External Payload

8,000kg

Engines:

Type

2 x Saturn AL-37FP thrust vectoring engines

Thrust

83.4kN

Thrust With Afterburn

142.2kN

Performance:

Maximum Level Speed

2.35 Mach, 2,150km/hr

Maximum Rate of Climb

13,800m/min

Maximum Altitude

17,500m

Combat Range

3,000km

Range With Single In-flight Refuelling

5,200km

Take-off Run

550m

Landing Run

Pakistani Jf-17 thunder

Key Data:

Role

Multirole combat aircraft

Countries

China and Pakistan

Crew

One

Maiden Flight

August 2003

Introduced

March 2007

Numbers Built

20

Estimated Cost

$15m to $20m

Dimensions:

Length

14.9m

Height

4.77m

Width

9.46m

Wing Area

24.4m²

Weights:

Empty Weight

6,411kg

Maximum Take-Off Weight

12,474kg

Loaded Weight

9,072kg

Maximum Landing Weight

7,802kg

Fuel Weight

2,268kg

Engines:

Type

Klimov RD-93 turbofan engine

Number of Engines

One

Dry Thrust

49.4kN

Thrust After Burner

84.4kN

Performance:

Maximum Speed

1,909km per hour

Ferry Range

2,037km

Operational Radius

1,352km

Service Ceiling

15,240m

Armament:

Guns

1 x 2 mm GSh-23-2 twin-barrel cannon

Rockets

57mm, 90mm unguided rocket pods

Air-to-Air Missiles

Short range: AIM-9L/M, PL-5E, PL-9C Beyond visual range: PL-12 / SD-10

Air-to-Surface Missiles

MAR-1 anti-radiation missile, AM-39 Exocet anti-ship missile, and Ra'ad ALCM cruise missile

Bombs

Unguided bombs: Mk-82, Mk-84 general purpose bombs, Matra Durandal anti-runway bomb, and CBU-100/Mk-20 Rockeye anti-armour cluster bomb Precision guided munitions: GBU-10, GBU-12, LT-2 laser-guided bombs, H-2, H-4 electro-optically guided, LS-6 satellite-

Others

3 x external fuel drop tanks for extended range

670m

"How Can You Defend Israel?"

"How Can You Defend Israel?"

I was sitting in a lecture hall at a British university. Bored by the speaker, I began glancing around the hall. I noticed someone who looked quite familiar from an earlier academic incarnation. When the session ended, I introduced myself and wondered if, after years that could be counted in decades, he remembered me.

He said he did, at which point I commented that the years had been good to him. His response: "But you've changed a lot."

"How so?" I asked with a degree of trepidation, knowing that, self-deception aside, being 60 isn't quite the same as 30.

Looking me straight in the eye, he proclaimed, as others standing nearby listened in, "I read the things you write about Israel. I hate them. How can you defend that country? What happened to the good liberal boy I knew 30 years ago?"

I replied: "That good liberal boy hasn't changed his view. Israel is a liberal cause, and I am proud to speak up for it."

Yes, I'm proud to speak up for Israel. A recent trip once again reminded me why.

Sometimes, it's the seemingly small things, the things that many may not even notice, or just take for granted, or perhaps deliberately ignore, lest it spoil their airtight thinking.

It's the driving lesson in Jerusalem, with the student behind the wheel a devout Muslim woman, and the teacher an Israeli with a skullcap. To judge from media reports about endless inter-communal conflict, such a scene should be impossible. Yet, it was so mundane that no one, it seemed, other than me gave it a passing glance. It goes without saying that the same woman would not have had the luxury of driving lessons, much less with an Orthodox Jewish teacher, had she been living in Saudi Arabia.

It's the two gay men walking hand-in-hand along the Tel Aviv beachfront. No one looked at them, and no one questioned their right to display their affection. Try repeating the same scene in some neighboring countries.

It's the Friday crowd at a mosque in Jaffa. Muslims are free to enter as they please, to pray, to affirm their faith. The scene is repeated throughout Israel. Meanwhile, Christians in Iraq are targeted for death; Copts in Egypt face daily marginalization; Saudi Arabia bans any public display of Christianity; and Jews have been largely driven out of the Arab Middle East.

It's the central bus station in Tel Aviv. There's a free health clinic set up for the thousands of Africans who have entered Israel, some legally, others illegally. They are from Sudan, Eritrea, and elsewhere. They are Christians, Muslims, and animists. Clearly, they know something that Israel's detractors, who rant and rave about alleged "racism," don't. They know that, if they're lucky, they can make a new start in Israel. That's why they bypass Arab countries along the way, fearing imprisonment or persecution. And while tiny Israel wonders how many such refugees it can absorb, Israeli medical professionals volunteer their time in the clinic.

It's Save a Child's Heart, another Israeli institution that doesn't make it into the international media all that much, although it deserves a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. Here, children in need of advanced cardiac care come, often below the radar. They arrive from Iraq, the West Bank, Gaza, and other Arab places. They receive world-class treatment. It's free, offered by doctors and nurses who wish to assert their commitment to coexistence. Yet, these very same individuals know that, in many cases, their work will go unacknowledged. The families are fearful of admitting they sought help in Israel, even as, thanks to Israelis, their children have been given a new lease on life.

It's the vibrancy of the Israeli debate on just about everything, including, centrally, the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians. The story goes that U.S. President Harry Truman met Israeli President Chaim Weizmann shortly after Israel's establishment in 1948. They got into a discussion about who had the tougher job. Truman said: "With respect, I'm president of 140 million people." Weizmann retorted: "True, but I'm president of one million presidents."

Whether it's the political parties, the Knesset, the media, civil society, or the street, Israelis are assertive, self-critical, and reflective of a wide range of viewpoints.

It's the Israelis who are now planning the restoration of the Carmel Forest, after a deadly fire killed 44 people and destroyed 8,000 acres of exquisite nature. Israelis took an arid and barren land and, despite the unimaginably harsh conditions, lovingly planted one tree after another, so that Israel can justifiably claim today that it's one of the few countries with more wooded land than it had a century ago.

It's the Israelis who, with quiet resolve and courage, are determined to defend their small sliver of land against every conceivable threat - the growing Hamas arsenal in Gaza; the dangerous build-up of missiles by Hezbollah in Lebanon; nuclear-aspiring Iran's calls for a world without Israel; Syria's hospitality to Hamas leaders and transshipment of weapons to Hezbollah; and enemies that shamelessly use civilians as human shields. Or the global campaign to challenge Israel's very legitimacy and right to self-defense; the bizarre anti-Zionist coalition between the radical left and Islamic extremists; the automatic numerical majority at the UN ready to endorse, at a moment's notice, even the most far-fetched accusations against Israel; and those in the punditocracy unable - or unwilling - to grasp the immense strategic challenges facing Israel.

Yes, it's those Israelis who, after burying 21 young people murdered by terrorists at a Tel Aviv discotheque, don the uniform of the Israeli armed forces to defend their country, and proclaim, in the next breath, that, "They won't stop us from dancing, either."

That's the country I'm proud to stand up for. No, I'd never say Israel is perfect. It has its flaws and foibles. It's made its share of mistakes. But, then again, so has every democratic, liberal and peace-seeking country I know, though few of them have faced existential challenges every day since their birth.

The perfect is the enemy of the good, it's said. Israel is a good country. And seeing it up close, rather than through the filter of the BBC or the Guardian, never fails to remind me why.

- David Harris
Executive Director, AJC, and Senior Associate, St. Antony's College, Oxford University

Most Americans oppose Afghan war

Most Americans oppose Afghan war

A new opinion poll has found that opposition to the Afghan war is at an all-time high in the US as security situation continues to worsen in Afghanistan.

A new CNN/Opinion Research poll (PDF) released on Thursday shows that more than six in ten Americans are now opposed to the war in Afghanistan. 

There is also a growing pessimism in the American public about the way things are going for the US in the war, the poll suggests. 

In response to a question on how “things are going” in the warzone 56 percent responded with “moderately badly” or “very badly.” 

The US President Barack Obama ordered the deployment of 30,000 additional soldiers in Afghanistan about a year ago. 

However, security situation continued to deteriorate across the war-ravaged country in 2010 -- the deadliest year for foreign presence in Afghanistan. 

The total death toll of US-led troops has surpassed the 700 milestone, with the Americans accounting for most of the casualties. 

In the review of his war strategy in Afghanistan this month, Obama declared that the war "continues to be a very difficult endeavor" and the achievements made there are "fragile and reversible." 

Obama had pledged a major drawdown from Afghanistan by July 2011. However, Washington later announced that American troops will remain in the war-torn country for at least four more years. 

The 2001 US-led invasion was launched with the objective of bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan. 

After nine years and despite the presence of over 150,000 US-led troops across Afghanistan, the country's security remains very fragile. 

Moreover, according to the United Nations, the death toll of Afghan civilians this year is 20 percent higher than in 2009, with over 2,400 civilians killed in the country from January to September. 

'Turkey probes US nukes at airbase'

'Turkey probes US nukes at airbase'

The report, called the "US nuclear weapons in Europe," indicates that Washington currently has 90 nuclear bombs of the "B 61" variety in Turkey, all on the Incirlik Air Force base, Turkey's Hurriyetnewspaper reported on its website on Friday. 

The account has been prepared by the US National Resources Defense Council and is based on figures provided last February by the US Air Force. 

It says 50 of the B-61 bombs are ready to be loaded onto American bomber planes while the remaining 40 will be loaded onto Turkish planes. 

According to the daily, Turkish MP Shukru Elekdag has questioned reasons behind keeping the bombs on Turkish soil even decades after the end of the Cold War. 

Elekdag has also noted that Turkey's consent to the deployment of the US nuclear bombs at Incirlik is an act which 'could not be easily explained to its Muslim and Arab neighbors.' 

Press reports have established that US currently has more than 100 nuclear bombs positioned in bases in Belgium, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands.