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.

NATO Nearing 'Decisive Blow' In Afghan War: Gates

KABUL - Defense Secretary Robert Gates, wrapping up a final visit to Afghanistan as Pentagon chief, said on June 7 that U.S.-led forces are on the verge of securing a "decisive blow" against the Taliban.
"I leave Afghanistan today with the belief that if we keep this momentum up, we will deliver a decisive blow to the enemy and turn the corner on this conflict," Gates told coalition officers in Kabul.

"And if we do, it will be because of the service and sacrifice of all of you," he said, before departing for Brussels.
During a four-day trip that took him to American bases in the south and east, Gates offered a cautiously optimistic forecast for the war effort, saying now was not the time to ease up on the Taliban-led insurgency.
Although the main purpose of his trip was to say goodbye to troops, Gates found himself sparring at a distance with White House aides who are pushing for a faster drawdown of the 100,000-strong U.S. force.
Gates' farewell remarks reflected his view that a troop surge in the nine-year war has begun to bear fruit and that a withdrawal, set to start in July, should proceed at a cautious pace.
His comments in recent days amounted to a rebuttal to some White House officials who believe the death of Osama bin Laden and a ballooning budget deficit demand a steep reduction in the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.
Appointed by former President George W. Bush in December 2006, Gates has spent his time at the Pentagon consumed with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In Brussels, Gates is due to attend a meeting of NATO defense ministers on June 8 and June 9, where the drawdown in Afghanistan and the alliance air campaign in Libya will top the agenda.

India-Boeing Deal Will Support 23,000 Jobs: U.S.

NEW DELHI - The United States on June 6 hailed India's decision to buy military transport planes worth more than $4 billion from U.S.-based aviation giant Boeing, saying it would sustain 23,000 American jobs.
The U.S. reaction came a day after the Indian cabinet approved a long-pending program to acquire 10 C-17 Globemaster III planes from Boeing.

"This comprehensive purchase will support an estimated 23,000 jobs in the United States," U.S. ambassador Timothy Roemer said in statement.
He said the deal would also provide India with maintenance infrastructure and aircrew training, and that more than 600 American firms would benefit indirectly.
The C-17 advanced airlifter can carry large combat equipment and troops or humanitarian aid across international distances to small airfields, according to Boeing.
India is spending billions of dollars to upgrade its military with hardware imports from Britain, France, Israel, Russia and the United States.

Iran deploys submarines in Red Sea

An Iranian Navy submarine

Iran's Navy submarines have reportedly been deployed in the Red Sea to conduct maritime surveillance operations and also identify warships of other countries.

The military submarines entered the Red Sea waters on Tuesday and are sailing alongside the warships of Iran's Navy 14th fleet, Fars News Agency reported.

The report added that the fleet entered the Gulf of Aden region in May and has now entered the Red Sea in the continuation of its mission.

The deployment of Iranian military submarines in the Red Sea is the first such operation by Iran's Navy in distant waters.

Iran has deployed warships further afield, as far as the Red Sea, to combat Somali pirates.

Rampant piracy off the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia has made the waters among the most dangerous in terms of pirate activities.

The Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, is the quickest route for more than 20,000 vessels traveling annually between Asia, Europe and the Americas.

However, attacks by heavily armed Somali pirates on speedboats have prompted some of the world's largest shipping firms to switch routes from the Suez Canal and reroute cargo vessels around southern Africa, leading to climbing shipping costs.

'US aims to sabotage Pak N-facilities'

President Ahmadinejad unveils US plots in Pakistan and Bahrain

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a press conference in the Iranian capital, Tehran, June 7, 2011.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the United States plans to sabotage the nuclear facilities of Pakistan in a bid to weaken the Pakistani government and nation.

“We have accurate information that, in order to gain dominance over Pakistan and weaken the country's government and nation, the Americans want to sabotage Pakistan's nuclear facilities and pave the way for the US's extended presence and the weakening of the national governing of the people through the lever of the [United Nations] Security Council and some international organizations,” Ahmadinejad said during a press conference on Tuesday.

The Iranian president noted that colonialists used the 9/11 attacks as a pretext to launch their largest military invasion on the [Middle East] region in order to "save from destruction the ailing economy of themselves and the Zionist regime (Israel) as the main base of ultra-modern colonialism."

The press conference is being held in the Iranian capital of Tehran with the participation of almost 350 reporters and photographers from Iranian and foreign media.

Elsewhere during the conference, the Iranian president said that Washington is planning to gain popularity in the Middle East by pretending to support the people of Bahrain.

The Americans, who have themselves given the carte blanche to confront the people in Bahrain, now want to act as supporters of the Bahraini people and pressure the ruler of this country to make concessions and restore parts of the rights of the people and put an end to the story, Ahmadinejad said.

Through that, the US wants to gain popularity among the nations of the region and show themselves as supporters of the rights of the people, he added.

Ahmadinejad noted that the problem of Bahrain is not between the people and the government, but the US military base is the problem.

He added that "if the people of Bahrain are under pressure today, or if the Bahraini government has to stand against the people of the country to defend the US base," it is because of the US and its illegitimate interests.

F-35 Engine Maker to Slowly Lower Cost

Engine maker Pratt & Whitney says it is incrementally lowering the price of its F-35 power plant and could possibly drop the cost even more as the Pentagon begins negotiating for the latest batch of fighter jets.

Engine maker Pratt & Whitney says it will lower the price of the F-35 power plant. (CHERIE CULLEN / U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE)

"We have activities planned and in place to bring the cost down in [low-rate initial production] 5," Bennett Croswell, president of Pratt & Whitney military engines, said during a June 6 briefing in Washington.

Negotiations for the fifth batch of Joint Strike Fighters between the Pentagon and F-35 prime contractor Lockheed Martin just commenced.
The company has a goal to reduce the F135 cost to the price of the F-22A power plant, the F119, by the 250th engine. Pratt has developed a metric of shrinking the cost of the F135 incrementally to reach that goal. Company officials declined to cite those prices, which they consider proprietary.
Pratt officials said they were able to beat their projected pricing targets during negotiations for the fourth batch of F-35 production aircraft last year.
"We're constantly looking at ways to do even better than what that plan is," Croswell said.
At the same time, the company has validated an improvement to increase the thrust of the Marine Corps version of the F-35, which can land vertically.
Through a software change "that reduces the variability of the lift system components," the company is able to add about 100 pounds of thrust, according to Edward O'Donnell, director of F135 and F119 business development. The company is also working to lighten the engine about 100 pounds.
Validating these improvements before the end of the fiscal year in September could become critical for Pratt if language in the House version of the 2012 defense authorization bill become law. The language would require the Pentagon to restart the canceled F-35 alternate engine program - run jointly by General Electric and Rolls-Royce - should a future requirement for more thrust crop up.
"Right now, the F135 meets all of our thrust specification requirements," O'Donnell said. "As we look at the program going forward, there does not appear to be any need to increase the thrust of the engine."
Addressing the House language, O'Donnell said: "It's unfortunate that language in Congress would tie our hands or prevent us from being able to work on the engine should that requirement come forward."

Nuclear Weapons Threat Not Decreasing, Study Says

STOCKHOLM - More than 5,000 nuclear weapons are deployed around the world and nuclear powers continue investing in new weapon systems, making meaningful disarmament in the near future unlikely, a report published Tuesday said.
"More than 5,000 nuclear weapons are deployed and ready for use, including nearly 2,000 that are kept in a high state of alert," according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

SIPRI's report said the world's eight nuclear powers - Britain, China, France, India, Israel, Pakistan, Russia and the U.S. - possess more than 20,500warheads.
As of January 2011, Russia had 11,000 nuclear warheads, including 2,427deployed, while the United States had 8,500 including 2,150 deployed, the report said.
The U.S. and Russia have signed a Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) that calls for a maximum of 1,550 warheads deployed per country.
However SIPRI argued that prospects for meaningful disarmament in the short-term are grim as all eight countries seem committed to either improving or maintaining their nuclear programs.
"The five legally recognized nuclear weapons states, as defined by the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty are either deploying new nuclear weapon systems or have announced their intention to do so," the report said, referring to Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S.
India and Pakistan are "expanding their capacity to produce fissile material for military purposes," according to the report.
SIPRI Director Daniel Nord said south Asia, where relations between India and Pakistan seem perpetually tense, is "the only place in the world where you have a nuclear weapons arms race."
While Israel, which has never conclusively declared itself a nuclear weapons state but is almost universally assumed to be one, "appears to be waiting to assess how the situation with Iran's nuclear program develops," SIPRI said.
Nord argued that because "nuclear weapons states are modernizing and are investing in their nuclear weapons establishments (it) seems unlikely that there will be any real nuclear weapon disarmament within the foreseeable future."
The report said that North Korea "is believed to have produced enough plutonium to build a small number of nuclear warheads, but there is no public information to verify that it has operational nuclear weapons."
Nord identified Pakistan "losing control of part of its nuclear arsenal" to a terrorist group as a specific concern.
He also voiced worry over the potential consequences if "Israel or the United States decide that they will have to intervene and do something about the program in Iran."
Iran has repeatedly insisted that its nuclear program is non-military, but several world powers have demanded closer international inspection of Iran's nuclear sites to verify the claim.
SIPRI is an independent institution that receives 50 percent of its funding from the Swedish state.