Iran eyes new destroyers

Iranian Navy's Deputy Commander Rear Admiral Gholam-Reza Khadem Bigham says the navy aims to build new destroyers with state-of-the-art design and defense systems.

“The assembly line for the production of missile-launching frigates with advanced systems and modern features have been set up,” IRNA quoted Rear Admiral Bigham as saying on Friday.

He hailed the country's first domestically-build and developed guided missile destroyer Jamaran and said, “The military capabilities … need to meet our defense requirements to protect the Islamic Republic's interests against aerial, surface and sub-surface threats.”

Last February, the Iranian Navy launched the Jamaran destroyer with a displacement of around 1,420 tons, fitted with modern radars and other electronic warfare capabilities.

Jamaran, a multi-mission destroyer, can carry 120-140 personnel on board and is armed with a variety of surface-to-air missiles.

It has a top speed of up to 30 knots and has a helipad. It also features highly advanced anti-aircraft, anti-surface and anti-subsurface systems. The vessel has also been equipped with torpedoes and modern naval cannons.

Rear Admiral Bigham also said that the Naval Forces of the Islamic Republic Army is fully capable of defending the country as they continue to upgrade the navy's defense systems.

He underscored the navy's plans for longer missions in international waters and pointed out that more durable surface and sub-surface fleet were required to achieve the goal.

India to reduce troops in Kashmir

NEW DELHI — India plans to reduce its security forces by a quarter in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, an official said Friday.

The unexpected announcement on Kashmir by Home Secretary G.K. Pillai is intended to rebuild fractured public goodwill after a violent uprising by young people in the Muslim-majority region last year.

New Delhi faced one of the biggest challenges to its grip on the divided and disputed territory last summer when more than 100 people were shot dead by security forces during violent demonstrations.

Speaking at a university seminar on Kashmir in the Indian capital, Pillai said that the government was looking at cutting troops by "25 percent in 12 months from populated areas."

"If we can manage with local police, that would be the most ideal situation, and this is one of the confidence-building measures -- that people don't get harassed by the over-presence of security forces," Pillai said.

"If peace comes, if violence is not there, people are comfortable, we can gradually reduce our presence and make sure that all forces are there only at the border for preventing infiltration."

The presence of hundreds of thousands of paramilitary and army troops in Kashmir -- India does not disclose official troop figures -- is seen by local politicians and observers as fuelling anger against rule from New Delhi.

The drawdown signals that New Delhi's focus has shifted from fighting an Islamist insurgency in Kashmir that raged for 20 years and claimed more than 47,000 lives, according to an official count.

Deaths due to the violence are at their lowest level in more than a decade.

Hardline Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani dismissed the government's plan and demanded the full withdrawal of Indian forces from the region.

"I will be only satisfied when all the Indian forces stationed in Kashmir are withdrawn," Geelani told AFP.

The intensity of the insurgency, funded by Islamist militant groups in neighbouring Pakistan, has declined since India and Pakistan started a peace process in 2004 to resolve all pending disputes including Kashmir.

The region is split between the two countries along a UN-monitored line of control and has been the trigger for two of the three wars fought between the neighbours since independence in 1947.

The majority of militant groups active in the Indian-administered part of the region favour its secession from India to neighbouring Pakistan.

US likely to remove sanctions from Indian defence entities

WASHINGTON: The US, which imposed curbs on trade with defence entities like ISRO and DRDO following India's nuclear tests in 1998, has set in motion regulatory changes to lift the ban soon, thus fulfilling a commitment made by President Barack Obama.

A formal notification to lift the ban by the US Department of Commerce for this purpose is in advanced stage, top US officials said.

"These regulatory changes will begin the transformation of the bilateral export control policies to realise the full potential of the strategic partnership between our two countries," Eric Hirschhorn, Under Secretary for Industry and Security, US Department of Commerce, told PTI.

But he did not give any time line for the removal of restrictions, which is eagerly awaited in India.

However, official sources said a formal notification in this regard could well be issued before the scheduled India visit of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke from February 6-11.

US imposed curbs on trade with these defence entities in the wake nuclear tests carried out by India in 1998.

"The Department of Commerce is working quickly to publish a regulation that will remove Indian space and defence-related entities from the Entity List and enact other India-specific export control changes," a senior US official said.

They clarified these notifications would be India specific.

"We have a separate track on these issues in partnership with India," another Administration official said.

"As you'll recall, in New Delhi, the President together with the Prime Minister announced a resolution of unilateral export control issues and the President announced his support for India in multilateral fora. That has not changed and we continue to move forward on those steps," the official said.

Obama, during his India visit, had assured India that he would remove these companies from the entities list.

"Commensurate with India's nonproliferation record and commitment to abide by multilateral export control standards, the US will remove all civil space and defence-related entities from the Department of Commerce "Entity List."

"Inclusion on this list generally triggers an export license requirement when exported," said a fact sheet issued by the White House during the Obama visit.

Thursday, January 13, 2011 China's military capabilities focused on US: Mullen

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Ch...-Mullen/736927
Ahead of the State visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao, a top American military leader has said that many of the modern military capabilities being developed by Beijing were focused on the United States.

"Many of these capabilities seem to be focused very specifically on the United States," Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told foreign journalists here, when asked about the high-tech military equipments, anti-satellite missiles and fifth generation fighter jets being developed by China.

The latest news reports in this regard, he said, had not come as a surprise to him because he had watched them evolve this capability.

"In that regard, it is significant. But in a sense that it's not a surprise, and I've spoken to this many times, China is investing in very high-end, high-tech capabilities.

"The question that is always out there is to try to understand exactly why, that the opaqueness of that tied to our lack of relationship is something that I'd like to see if we can crack open," Mullen said.

Israeli warplanes strike on Gaza: witnesses

 

 

 

GAZA CITY: Israeli warplanes struck two buildings used by Hamas security south of Gaza City but caused no casualties, Hamas officials and eyewitnesses said early Wednesday.

The facilities, housing offices of the Hamas National Security Service, were hit around midnight, they said.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

The strikes came hours after Israeli aircraft killed a militant of the Islamic Jihad and wounded another man, in the southern town of Khan Yunis.

Tensions have been rising in recent weeks with militants firing dozens of rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel and the Israelis responding with air strikes.

In the most recent incident a rocket fired from Gaza hit open ground in the Negev desert, causing no casulaties or damage.

Several rockets, however, have hit populated areas, causing injuries and property damage.

China urges US to halt Taiwan arms sales

TAIPEI: Chinese Defence Minister Liang Guanglie Monday urged the US to halt its arms sales to Taiwan, saying the US arming of the island had 'jeopardised China's core interests'.

'We do not want to see such things happening again,' Liang told reporters when asked about the latest arms sales at a joint press conference with US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

'We do not want US weapons sales to Taiwan to further damage the relationship between China and the US and (between) the two nations' armed forces,' Liang said following talks with Gates.

Despite the divergence over Taiwan, Gates and Liang earlier Monday agreed that they should set aside military differences and seek a long-term dialogue.

'There are many areas where we have mutual interests and can work together,' Gates said between two sessions of talks with Liang.

'And those areas where we have disagreements, those disagreements are best dealt with through constant dialogue and discussion with one another and transparency, and you can count on us to do our part,' Gates said.

Liang said during the talks that China-US military relations were 'faced with new opportunities for development together with some difficulties and challenges'.

He said the two nations 'need to work together to expand our shared interests to reduce our differences ... for us to ensure that military relations between our two nations would progress along a sound and steady track'.

Indeed, the two countries took advantage of Gates' visit to announce plans for a series of working groups that will seek ways to improve cooperation between the two countries' militaries.

Topics to be covered in those groups include ways to work together on maritime rescues, counterterrorism, anti-piracy efforts disaster relief and humanitarian assistance.

'In order to reduce the chances of miscommunication, misunderstanding, or miscalculation, it is important that our military-to-military ties are solid, consistent and not subject to shifting political winds,' said Gates.

Gates further noted that China had agreed to consider starting talks on strategic security issues ranging from nuclear issues to missile defence and cyber security.

Liang hosted an official welcoming ceremony before the talks, which China had postponed since the US agreed a $6.4-billion arms package for Taiwan in January 2009.

Vice President Xi Jinping told Gates later Monday that stable bilateral relations were important for both nations and the world, state television reported.

'We need to trust each other, face international problems together and share opportunities for development,' Xi was quoted as saying.

The US is aiming to restart joint military exercises that China suspended after objecting to the arms sales to Taiwan.

China and Taiwan split at the end of a civil war in 1949, but Liang Monday reiterated his government's claim that the island remains 'an inalienable part of China'.

Before Gates' trip, some US officials said they were concerned that China is hiding the extent of its military capabilities. Some analysts said they believe real defence spending could be double Beijing's official 2010 figure of $76.3 billion.

China is also further along in the development of a stealth aircraft than the US had predicted, and Gates said before Monday's talks that he was concerned about the country's development of anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles.

In turn, recent US moves to consolidate relationships with other Asian countries have worried China's leadership because of its ongoing territorial disputes in the region.

Gates was also expected to push China for greater cooperation in dealing with North Korean aggression.

He was scheduled to travel to Japan and South Korea after his talks in Beijing.

 

ato strike kills three Afghan police

The strike came Sunday when US Special Forces and local police had teamed up to hunt down Taliban fighters who had just carried out an attack in central Daykundi province. -AFP File Photo

KABUL: A Nato airstrike in central Afghanistan killed three Afghan police officers who were mistaken for insurgents, the coalition said Monday, in an operation that could cause new friction between the international force and a government struggling to find stability.
Separately, in the south, a suicide car bomber struck a border police convoy Monday, killing at least two officers and a civilian, a provincial official said.
The attack took place in Spin Boldak, a town near the Pakistani border where a Taliban-claimed suicide bombing days earlier killed 17 people, including the deputy head of the local border forces, and wounded 23.
The erroneous Nato strike was at least the fourth incident in roughly a month in which coalition troops mistakenly killed civilians or friendly forces, threatening to further sour Afghan attitudes toward the foreign forces.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly complained about civilian deaths in Nato operations as the coalition tries to stamp out the persistent Taliban insurgency.
The strike came Sunday when US Special Forces and local police had teamed up to hunt down Taliban fighters who had just carried out an attack in central Daykundi province, said the province’s deputy governor, Amanullah Gharji.
The Afghan police killed in the strike were apparently mistaken for the insurgents, he said, adding the strike may have been launched on the basis of a mistranslation by an interpreter with coalition forces.
Gharji said that the victims’ families were initially outraged, asking why coordination had been so poor.
”They said that they gave their men to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with the coalition forces and that they are against the insurgency,” he said, adding that they wanted to know why the miscommunication occurred.
He said that the governor sent a representative to the area to explain the situation, and the representative was able to defuse the tension.
The families and residents in the area ”just want us to follow up” on the incident, he said.
Nato said a team on the ground called in air support after seeing ”nine armed individuals setting up what appeared to be an ambush position.” The men later turned out to be Afghan police, it said.
The coalition, confirming three Afghan policemen killed and three more wounded, said it was investigating what was an apparent case of friendly fire.
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