India Military Delegation Arrives in China

BEIJING - An Indian military delegation arrived in Beijing on June 19 for a six-day visit, an Indian official said, marking the resumption of defense ties that were frozen for a year over a visa dispute.

The eight-member delegation, headed by Maj. Gen. Gurmeet Singh, will visit the Chinese capital and the restive northwestern region of Xinjiang, a senior Indian defense official told AFP earlier.

A spokesman for the Indian embassy in Beijing confirmed the delegation arrived the afternoon of June 19 but could not provide details on their itinerary or with whom they would meet on the Chinese side.

India suspended military exchanges in July last year after Beijing refused to provide a proper stamped visa to the then head of India's Northern Army Command, which controls the region of Indian Kashmir.

China controls a sliver of Kashmir and regards the region, which is also split with Pakistan, as disputed territory. India has been angered by its practice of providing special stapled visas for visitors from Indian Kashmir.

"We decided to pause defense exchanges because of these differences of opinion," a second source in the Indian government told AFP previously on condition of anonymity.

"There were still phone calls and other contacts, but now with this visit we are seeing the resumption of normal, full-scale military exchanges," said the official.

Singh, the delegation chief, heads the Delta Force, part of a specialized anti-insurgency unit deployed in Kashmir.

Suspicion pervades relations between the two Asian giants amid border disputes over Kashmir and the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

The two also fought a short war in 1962, while the presence in India of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, adds to the tension.

Media reports suggested that the decision to resume defense cooperation was reached during talks between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Hu Jintao in China in April.

S. Korea Not Punishing Soldiers Who Shot at Plane

SEOUL - South Korea's military said on June 19 it will not punish soldiers who fired at a passenger jet flying from China, mistaking the aircraft for an enemy plane amid sea fog and high tensions with North Korea.

"Early-morning sea fog disrupted their vision... they did what they had been told to do based on military manuals," a Marine Corps spokesman told AFP.

"The action was partly caused by high tension with the North … we for now have no plan to punish them given there was no damage to the plane," he said.

Marines guarding the islands near the tense sea border with the North will be given extra training to distinguish between enemy planes and passenger jets, he said.

Two marines at a guard post on the South's Gyodong island near the disputed Yellow Sea border with the North fired 99 K-2 rifle rounds at the plane, which had 119 people on board, on June 17.

The jet, owned by Seoul-based Asiana Airlines, was descending towards the South's Incheon International Airport when the soldiers opened fire. There was no damage to the plane.

The Airbus 321 was following a normal route from the southwest Chinese city of Chengdu, the company said.

Ties between the two Koreas are at their lowest ebb in more than a decade after Pyongyang announced late last month it was breaking all contacts with the South's conservative government.

Seoul accuses Pyongyang of torpedoing a warship and killing 46 sailors in March 2010 - a charge the communist North angrily denies.

But Pyongyang went on to shell a frontier island off the west coast last November, leaving four South Koreans including two civilians dead.

Then, South Korea's defense minister Kim Kwan-Jin, smarting from criticism of what was seen as the military's feeble and slow response to the attack, told frontline troops to strike back in the event of provocation without waiting for orders from top commanders.

Tension further heightened after nine refugees from the impoverished North crossed the sea border by boat earlier this month to defect to the capitalist South. Seoul last week rejected Pyongyang's demand to return them.

Seoul's policy is to accept all North Koreans who wish to stay in the South, while repatriating those who stray across the sea border by accident.

The arrival in February of a boatload of North Koreans sparked weeks of acrimony. That boat drifted across the Yellow Sea border in thick fog, possibly accidentally.

U.S. Senate Bill Requires Fixed-Price JSF Contract

The defense authorization bill passed by the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on June 16 requires a fixed-price contract for the next F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) buy, forcing the contractors to absorb any cost overruns.

The Pentagon plans to buy 32 JSF aircraft in 2012: 19 for the Air Force, seven for the Navy and six for the Marine Corps. (Senior Aiman Julianne Showalter / U.S. Air Force)

The Senate panel met throughout the week behind closed doors marking up the authorization bill for 2012. Details of the markup were released in a June 17 email from the committee.

"The bill contains a unique requirement that the low-rate initial procurement contract for the FY11 lot of the Joint Strike Fighter (LRIP-5) program must be a fixed-price contract and the contract must require the contractor to absorb 100 percent of costs above the target cost," the committee's statement said.
With lot 4, the Pentagon converted from a cost-plus, award-fee plan to a fixed-price, incentive-fee deal. It is negotiating the LRIP 5 buy with prime contractor Lockheed Martin.
If included in the final bill passed by both chambers, the Senate committee's amendment would make using a fixed-price contract legally binding.
The bill fully supports the Pentagon's budget request for procurement of the aircraft, allocating $3.2 billion for the Navy and $3.7 billion for Air Force's JSF buy. The Pentagon plans to buy 32 JSF aircraft in 2012: 19 for the Air Force, seven for the Navy and six for the Marine Corps.
The JSF program is under intense scrutiny by Pentagon leadership due to dramatic cost overruns and production delays. Defense Secretary Robert Gates put the Marine Corps variant on a two year-probation earlier this year.
A Defense Acquisition Board review that would have established a new cost baseline for the F-35 has been postponed until the fall, according to JSF program executive officer Vice Adm. David Venlet.
The review had been scheduled for late May, and then was rescheduled for mid-June.

Pilatus to Sign Aircraft Deal with India: Report

GENEVA - Switzerland's Pilatus Aircraft is about to sign a record deal to supply 75 of its successful PC-7 trainers to the Indian Air Force for 850 million francs ($1 million), according to a press report June 18.
The daily Le Temps, which described the contract as the biggest in the company's history, said it could eventually be extended to as many as 200 of the single-engine turboprop.

Pilatus declined to comment on the report that the trainer had been selected as the winner of offers invited by India two years ago for a new trainer.
More than 500 PC-7s have been sold across the world to air forces and private customers.

Pilatus declined to comment on the report that the trainer had been selected as the winner of offers invited by India two years ago for a new trainer.
More than 500 PC-7s have been sold across the world to air forces and private customers.

Italy May Consider Final Date of Libya Mission: Minister

ROME - Italy may begin thinking about a date for the end of its active duty in Libya after the three-month period of its commitment in the conflict is over, its defense minister said in an interview June 18.
"What I'm saying is that thinking about a final date for our active participation could lead our British, French and U.S. allies to look for a diplomatic solution to the crisis," Ignazio La Russa told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

La Russa said that both Italy's government and parliament should be involved in the process.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition government is riven by tensions after the small but influential anti-immigration Northern League called for a halt to Italy's participation in NATO air raids in Libya.
La Russa said that whatever Italy's position after the three-month period Rome would continue to make its military bases available for allied operations.
He also denied assertions by the Northern League that Italy's participation in the Libya campaign had caused an influx of refugees from North Africa across the Mediterranean Sea, which he said would have happened anyway.
The overwhelming majority of the estimated 11,000 Africans who have arrived in Italy from Libya are protected by the Geneva Convention and cannot be repatriated.
According to figures released June 17, only 60 of the 11,000 were Libyan.
Very few of the estimated 900,000 people who have fled fighting between the NATO-backed rebellion and forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi have ended up in Europe, Antonio Guterres, the head of the U.N. refugee agency, said Wednesday.
The Libyan regime and the country's former colonial ruler Italy signed a pact in August 2008 on tackling illegal migration which have seen the number of clandestine arrivals decline by 94 percent.
Under-pressure Gadhafi has threatened to spark a migration invasion of Europe.

U.S., Vietnam Urge Peace in South China Sea

WASHINGTON - The United States and Vietnam on June 17 jointly called for freedom of navigation and rejected the use of force in the South China Sea, amid simmering tensions between Beijing and its neighbors.
After talks in Washington, the two former war foes said that "the maintenance of peace, stability, safety and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea is in the common interests of the international community."

"All territorial disputes in the South China Sea should be resolved through a collaborative, diplomatic process without coercion or the use of force," the two countries said in a joint statement.
Disputes have flared in recent weeks in the South China Sea, with Vietnam holding live-fire military exercises after accusing Chinese ships of ramming an oil survey ship and cutting the exploration cables of another one.
China staged its own three days of military exercises in the South China Sea, which state media said was aimed at boosting the country's offshore maritime patrol force.
"The U.S. side reiterated that troubling incidents in recent months do not foster peace and stability within the region," the statement said.
It said that the incidents "raise concerns about maritime security, especially with regard to freedom of navigation, unimpeded economic development and commerce under lawful conditions, and respect for international law."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in remarks in July 2010 on a visit to Vietnam that were closely watched around Asia, said that the United States had a vital national interest in freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
China and Vietnam each claim the strategic Paracel Islands and Spratly archipelago.
China has myriad disputes in the potentially resource-rich sea with countries including Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. The Philippines said June 17 that it was sending its aging naval flagship into the disputed waters.
Amid the tensions, China said June 14 that it would not resort to the use of force in the South China Sea and urged other countries to "do more for peace and stability in the region."

U.S. Lawmaker Slams France-Russia Warship Deal

WASHINGTON - A top U.S. lawmaker blasted France on June 17 for agreeing to sell two warships to Russia, saying Paris had ignored "the clear danger" the deal would pose to U.S. and regional security.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, denounced the deal under which France will transfer sensitive military technology to Russia for the first time since World War II.

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"It is deeply troubling that France, a NATO ally, has decided to ignore the clear danger of selling advanced warships to Russia even as Moscow is taking an increasingly hostile approach toward the U.S., its neighbors, and Europe itself," she said in a statement.
"Many of our allies in the region, such as Georgia and the Baltic states, have experienced cyber attacks, severe economic pressure, and even invasion by Russia," she added.
Russia signed the long-awaited contract worth over a billion euros ($1.4 billion) to buy two French warships on June 17 despite alarm from its ex-Soviet neighbors and the United States.
The unprecedented deal comes after talks over the past two years bogged down over pricing and know-how issues.
In a statement entitled "French sale of assault ships to Russia threatens regional security," the Republican congresswoman said it was "a profound mistake to arm our opponents for profit or for the mirage of cooperation that never materializes."
She added the sale of sophisticated arms to Russia was also worrying due to Moscow's past military cooperation with "rogue regimes like Iran and Syria."
"The administration must strongly urge our NATO and EU allies to stop selling weapons systems to Russia that can be used against the interests of the U.S., Europe, and our many other allies," she added.