Sweden Halts Arms Deliveries to Two Mideast States: Official

STOCKHOLM - Sweden has halted weapons deliveries to two countries in the Middle East and North Africa due to the unrest sweeping the region, the head of a government agency said March 9, refusing to name the countries in question.
"We have withdrawn licenses (for weapons exports) to two countries ... due to the situation in the region," Andreas Ekman Duse, the head of the Swedish Agency for Non-Proliferation and Export Controls (ISP), told AFP.

"We cannot say which countries, due to commercial and diplomatic classified information," he said.
His agency, which controls Sweden's exports of military equipment, would closely watch the situation, and the licenses could be restored "if the development in these countries goes in a democratic direction," he said, adding "when that will happen I cannot say."
ISP meanwhile also announced March 9 that Sweden last year saw its military equipment exports rise 1 percent to 13.7 billion kronor (1.55 billion euros, $2.16 billion).
Around 70 percent of that went to the European Union, the United States and South Africa, with the number boosted by a larger order of 90 tanks to the Netherlands and Sweden's ongoing deliveries of JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets to South Africa.
Another 20-some countries accounted for the remainder of exports, and the Scandinavian country for instance raked in 804 million kronor from weapons sales to the United Arab Emirates and 246 million kronor from sales to Saudi Arabia, ISP said in a statement.

Indian AF to Buy 64 Indigenous Combat Helos

NEW DELHI - The Indian Air Force will buy 65 Light Combat Helicopters (LCH) from state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) for about $1.4 billion.
Under development since 2006, the LCH has undergone several test flights, and deliveries are scheduled by 2013-2014.

The LCH is a two-engine, 5.5-ton helicopter and will carry air-to-air missiles, 20mm guns, unguided rockets and cluster bombs, grenade launchers and anti-radiation missiles. It will be used to kill UAVs and slow-moving aircraft, escort troop-carrying copters on special operations, destroy enemy air defenses, fight in urban environments, and blow up tanks and other vehicles.
An Air Force official said the weight of the LCH has been reduced, although he declined to detail the service requirement. The total demand for the helos by the Air Force and Army is 179.
The LCH will also be capable of high-altitude warfare since its operational ceiling will be 16,000 to 18,000 feet. The LCH is not a derivative of the homegrown Advanced Light Helicopter although it uses the same transmission and rotor systems.
The helicopter will be equipped with missile warning systems, anti-missile countermeasures and night attack-capable cockpit displays. Its narrow fuselage will be stealthy, and its landing gear will be built to handle hard landings.
The LCH carries a homegrown gyro-stabilized sighting system comprising a high-performance thermal imager and laser rangefinder with a four-kilometer detection range.
The helicopter also will be armed with the Helina missile, a Nag derivative, with an extended range of seven kilometers to augment its air-to-ground capability.
The Air Force is operating at just 74 percent of its helicopter requirements, as most of its helicopter fleet have reached their life expectancy, an Air Force officer said.

Finmeccanica Seeks Partnership with Turkish Group

ANKARA - Italian defense giant Finmeccanica, the largest company operating in Turkey's defense and aerospace industries, is seeking a partnership model to join forces with an umbrella group that houses several Turkish top defense manufacturers, a senior official from the Italian company said.

Finmeccanica's strategic objective in the Turkish market is to reach a global agreement with the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation, Paolo Pozzessere, Finmeccanica's commercial director, said March 7.

"We cannot fail to dedicate special attention to this group, which is very similar to our own," Pozzessere said. "Today, we are looking to focus on defense electronics, where we regard Turkish companies, particularly those of the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation, are our main partners."
Pozzessere said that Finmeccanica's main objective is to maintain its current position in the Turkish market and use its potential to increase penetration into countries in the region.
The Turkish Armed Forces Foundation owns majority stakes in the country's top defense companies, including military electronics firm Aselsan, software company Havelsan and rocket manufacturer Roketsan. These three are among Turkey's five biggest defense companies.
Finmeccanica opened a Turkish office here in November. Finmeccanica subsidiaries, including AgustaWestland and Telespazio, already have grabbed Turkish contracts worth billions of dollars in total for attack helicopters and for Turkey's first military satellite. On Nov. 8, the company and Turkey's procurement office signed a nearly 150 million euro (nearly $210 million) contract for the company's urgent production of nine T129 attack helicopters for the Turkish Army.
Turkey already has a separate, multibillion-dollar contract with AgustaWestland for joint manufacture of 51 T129 attack helicopters, a Turkish version of the company's A129.
Finmeccanica S.p.A. is the second-largest industrial group and the largest of the high-tech industrial groups based in Italy. It works in the fields of defense, aerospace, security, transport and energy. It is partially owned by the Italian government, with the Treasury holding about 30 percent of Finmeccanica's shares.
"In the short and medium term, for example, Turkey already has or will soon have requirements for passenger and military air transport and latest-generation trainer aircraft, for which Finmeccanica Group companies offer themselves as partners for national companies," Pozzessere said.

New Egyptian Government Sworn In

CAIRO - Ministers of Egypt's new government were sworn in on March 7 by the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, at a ceremony in the capital Cairo.

Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's government includes six new ministers including Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi, Oil Minister Abdullah Ghorab and those of interior, culture, justice and labour.

Sharaf, appointed on March 3 after protests against the presence of associates of Hosni Mubarak in the caretaker government running affairs since the former president's departure, has vowed to work for a democratic system.
Arabi, a former ambassador to the United Nations, was named as foreign minister on March 6. The 75-year-old replaced Ahmed Abul Gheit, who had been in the job since 2004.
New premier Sharaf addressed thousands of protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday and was received with raucous cheers of support.
Sharaf was appointed after the unexpected resignation of Ahmed Shafiq, sparking celebrations from protesters demanding a purge of the remnants of Mubarak's regime.
Strongman Mubarak appointed Shafiq in the dying days of his rule in a bid to quell the protests, and Shafiq stayed on as head of the caretaker government.
The activists had put forward Sharaf's name during talks with the military eight days ago during which they also called for rapid, profound changes towards democracy.
A popular referendum on constitutional changes in Egypt has been set for March 19, an army source told AFP on March 4.
After Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces formed a committee to pilot constitutional changes, headed by respected scholar Tarek al-Bishri, which proposed to limit presidential terms to two and reduce them to four years.
Under the suspended constitution, a president can serve an unlimited number of six-year terms.

Daimler, Rolls-Royce Mulling Tognum Takeover

FRANKFURT - German automaker Daimler and Rolls-Royce are in "constructive discussions" concerning a takeover of Tognum, a German manufacturer of motors and turbines, Daimler and Rolls-Royce said March 7.

The two groups are interested in "acquiring the majority of Tognum in equal shares," a statement said, confirming a report by Manager Magazin.

The statement added that "no final decisions on increasing the equity interest have been made."
Tognum is based in Friedrichshafen, southern Germany.
Daimler, also the world's biggest heavy truck maker, already owns 28 percent of Tognum, a major supplier of Daimler's engines.
Tognum shares soared 21.27 percent to 22.44 euros in midday trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange while the MDax index on which they are listed was 0.84 percent higher overall.
Daimler shares showed a gain of 1.44 percent to 48.93 euros while the main market DAX index was 0.74 percent higher overall.
Tognum also builds motors for armored vehicles and boats and posted sales of 2.5 billion euros ($3.5 billion) in 2009, a level it expected to reach again in 2010.

U.S. Under Pressure to Arm Libya Rebels

WASHINGTON - The administration of President Barack Obama has come under mounting pressure to arm Libyan rebels facing an emboldened and regrouping military, amid charges Washington missed recent chances to oust the country's strongman.

Obama has insisted that all options, including military action, remain on the table with respect to Libya, where Moammar Gadhafi's forces have unleashed deadly airstrikes on rebels and civilians in efforts to crush an uprising in which thousands are feared dead.

But with the administration cautioning that a decision on a no-fly zone was still far off, opinion among U.S. lawmakers and former officials appeared to coalesce around the likelihood that supplying weapons to the outgunned rebels was a way forward.
"I assume that a lot of weapons are going to find their way there (to rebels in Libya) from one means or another over the course of the next weeks," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, from Obama's Democratic Party, told CBS's "Face the Nation" March 6.
Ex-governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, also said it was time to "covertly arm the rebels" and enforce a no-fly zone over Libya.
And Stephen Hadley, national security adviser to Obama's predecessor George W. Bush, said Washington should look at the potential for funneling arms to Gadhafi's opponents.
"Obviously, if there is a way to get weapons into the hands of the rebels, if we can get anti-aircraft systems so that they can enforce a no-fly zone over their own territory, that would be helpful," Hadley told CNN.
Pentagon spokesman Col. David Lapan declined to confirm any potential plans to send weapons to opposition forces, simply telling AFP that "all options are being considered."
According to The New York Times, these options could include use of signal-jamming aircraft in international airspace to muddle Libyan government communications with military units.
Another tactic would be to air-drop weapons and supplies to Libyan rebels, the report said. Other options under consideration also included inserting small special operations teams to assist the rebels, as was done in Afghanistan to topple the Taliban, the paper noted.
Kerry said a no-fly zone should be set up in conjunction with allies, but warned that direct military action would be "trickier."
"The last thing we want to think about is any kind of military intervention, and I don't consider the fly zone stepping over that line," Kerry said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has warned that imposing a no-fly zone begins with direct military action, as it would require bombing raids to eradicate Libya's air defenses, thus potentially dragging the United States into a third major war front after Iraq and Afghanistan.
But both Kerry and Republican Sen. John McCain - two of the most renowned combat veterans in the U.S. Senate - downplayed the risk and complexity of such a move.
"That's actually not the only option for what one could do," said Kerry.
"One could crater the airports and the runways and leave them incapable of using them for a period of time."
There were other ways of displaying U.S. might to Tripoli, including the use of military transport planes to fly Egyptian refugees out of Tunisia, and the recent arrival in the Mediterranean of two U.S. warships with Marines on board.
"We have made the presence of American military felt for that purpose," Kerry said.
A former Tripoli regime member complained that Washington has missed a key opportunity to end Gadhafi's four-decade grip on power.
"We asked for help when he was on the ropes," said Libya's ex-minister of immigration Ali Errishi, who resigned shortly after the uprising began nearly three weeks ago, along with several key Gadhafi loyalists and military figures.
"They were dragging their feet, I don't know why."
Rebels have taken control of much of Libya's eastern half, but Gadhafi's well-armed forces have gone on the counter-attack against rag-tag groups of rebels who are often armed only with AK-47 assault rifles.
McCain, Obama's 2008 rival for the presidency, said a no-fly zone would "send a signal to Gadhafi" that Obama was serious in his call for the Libyan leader to step down.
"It would be encouraging to the resistance, who are certainly outgunned from the air," he told ABC's "This Week."
He backed off from direct military engagement but noted Washington could also provide technical assistance and intelligence capabilities.

Israel's National Security Council Head Steps Down

JERUSALEM - Israel's National Security Council chair Uzi Arad stepped down on March 6 after two years in the post, a statement from the prime minister's office said on March 7.

Arad, who was seen as an influential advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is stepping down before a replacement has been named.

Israeli media has reported that he could be replaced by Yaakov Amidror, a reserve major general who formerly headed the Israel Defence Forces' research and assessment division and is considered a military hawk.
Amidror opposed Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and has in recent years called for the reoccupation of entire areas of the coastal enclave.
Israel's National Security Council, created in 1999, includes 20 advisers from various backgrounds who are charged with drafting reports on potential government security policy but lack any decision-making power.
Arad, who announced he was stepping down in February, had been mentioned as a possible nominee to become Israel's ambassador to London, but has since said he plans to return to academia.