2 Britons Charged Over Weapons in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan - Two British men arrested in Afghanistan with 30 AK47 assault rifles have been charged with weapons smuggling, a government spokesman said Jan. 5.

The men, named as Julian Steele and James Davis, were paraded at a news conference which heard that they were detained while driving through Kabul and told police they were working for a private security company, Garda World.

"The detainees did not have any documentation for carrying weapons, so we have charged them with illegal smuggling of weapons and have handed them to the attorney general for further investigation," said spokesman Sediq Sediqqi.

"The National Police hereby also announce the dissolution of this company, and based on the order of the interior minister, the head and other officials of this company will be summoned to give account. The company has been dissolved," Sediqqi said.

Two Afghan nationals traveling with the men were also detained. They were also shown to the media along with the weapons, but all four men stood with their backs to reporters.

Afghanistan is home to thousands of foreign private security personnel providing services for foreign troops, diplomatic missions and aid organizations.

But relations with the authorities have deteriorated. President Hamid Karzai accuses the firms of breaking the law and taking business away from Afghans.

Perceptions that those working for security firms are little more than gun-toting mercenaries, roaming the countryside with impunity, have made them deeply unpopular among Afghans.

USAF Orders Work to Stop on Afghan A-29 Aircraft

The U.S. Air Force has ordered work to stop on the Light Support Aircraft (LAS) contract for the Afghan Air Force, officials announced Jan. 4.

The service last month awarded the $355 million fixed-price contract to Sierra Nevada Corp. and partner Embraer for 20 A-29 Super Tucano light turboprop training and attack aircraft.

"Due to litigation currently pending before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the Air Force today has issued a temporary stop work order for the Light Air Support Contract … " Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Jack Miller said in a statement. "The competition and source selection evaluation were fair, open and transparent. The Air Force is confident in the merits of its contract award decision and anticipates that the litigation will be quickly resolved."

Hawker Beechcraft Corp., based in Wichita, Kan., has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government after the company's AT-6 light attack turboprop, an armed variant of the T-6 Texan II primary trainer, was ejected from the competition for submitting a "technically unacceptable" bid.

Hawker Beecher said that the Air Force has not explained why the bid was disqualified.

Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., said that the service needs to explain why the AT-6 was thrown out of the competition.

"It wasn't just the case that they awarded to Embraer and chose a different bidder," he said. "They kicked Beechcraft out of the competition after years of working on it, with literally no explanation."

Pompeo said the Air Force may have legitimate reasons to exclude the Hawker aircraft. "They simply have to let America in on that secret, and the company."

The U.S. Air Force wants the aircraft delivered by April 30, 2014.

A spokeswoman for Embraer said she was not aware of the stop-work order, while Sierra Nevada representatives didn't return calls for comment as of late Jan. 4. Hawker-Beechcraft did not respond as of late Jan. 4.

India OKs $1.18B Deal To Buy Mica Missiles

NEW DELHI - Five months after signing a $2.2 billion deal to upgrade its French Mirage aircraft, the Indian government Jan. 4 cleared an additional $1.18 billion deal to procure Mica air-to-air missiles from France.

The Indian Air Force will buy 500 Mica missiles from MBDA to mount on the 51 Mirage 200H aircraft that are to be upgraded by France's Thales and Dassault jointly with Bangalore-based Hindustan Aeronautics.

The Mica deal was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security, the nation's top government security agency and which is chaired by the prime minister.

Under the deal, MBDA will also have to execute compulsory defense offsets valued at about 30 percent of the total deal.

The Indian Air Force is upgrading 51 Mirage 2000H aircraft over the next 10 years. Two aircraft have already flown to France for the upgrade and will be delivered by July 2014.

The upgrade includes improved avionics, sensors, weapon capabilities and electronic warfare suite, in addition to a high-performance, multimode airborne radar with longer detection ranges.

The aircraft will be fitted with a new-generation digital electronic warfare suite and a glass cockpit with most of the flight and mission parameters projected on the head-up display.

South Korea, U.S. To Boost Guard Against North

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea and the United States will soon sign a new plan on countering any North Korean attacks, Seoul said Jan. 4 amid international wariness over the abrupt leadership transition in Pyongyang.

"We believe there remains a possibility of provocations by the North during the power succession to Kim Jong Un," deputy defense minister Lim Kwan Bin told reporters.

The ministry said the South Korean military, in response to any attack, would ensure "the enemy threat, the source of the provocation and its supporting forces are completely removed".

The North has hailed Kim as "great successor" and appointed him military chief since his father and longtime leader Kim Jong Il died suddenly on Dec. 17.

Hopes that cross-border tensions might ease have not so far materialized, and some analysts believe the untested son, aged in his late 20s, may try to bolster his credentials by staging a limited border incident.

The new regime has already vowed retaliation against Seoul for alleged disrespect during the mourning period for Kim and vowed never to deal with its current conservative government.

More than 100,000 people rallied Jan. 3 in Pyongyang in support of Kim Jong Un, the North's state media reported. It also released footage of his visit Jan. 1 to an armored division.

The South's defense ministry, in a policy document for 2012, said the allies would sign the joint counter-provocation plan this month, as agreed last October.

U.S. and South Korean troops already hold regular annual joint exercises.

"Once the joint operational (counter-provocation) plan is signed, we will engage in more exercises that will help us execute it," Lim said. "It will specify how such exercises should be held."

The two Koreas have remained technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict ended only with a ceasefire. The United States has based troops in the South ever since and now has 28,500 in the country.

Cross-border tensions have been high since the South accused the North of torpedoing a warship with the loss of 46 lives in March 2010.

Pyongyang denied involvement but eight months later shelled an island near the tense Yellow Sea border and killed four South Koreans.

South Korea has since strengthened troops and weaponry on its "frontline" islands.

In Washington, the State Department said Jan. 3 that the North's stated refusal to engage with South Korea bodes ill for efforts to revive six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear disarmament.

"That's not going to be conducive to getting back to the table," said spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

The North said last week it would never have dealings "with the Lee Myung Bak group of traitors", in a reference to the South's president.

Nuland said the North should improve ties with the South and show its commitment to denuclearization before the six-party talks can resume.

The talks - chaired by China and involving the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia - have been at a standstill since the last round in December 2008.

Libyan Rebels Reject Proposed New Army Chief

TRIPOLI, Libya - An umbrella group of former rebels who fought against toppled dictator Moammar Gadhafi have rejected the appointment of Yussef al-Mangush as chief of staff of the new Libyan army.

"We reject anybody who is not among the list of six candidates proposed by us to the NTC [National Transitional Council]," Behlool Assid, a founder of the Coalition of Libyan Thwars (Revolutionaries), said on the sidelines of a Jan. 4 news conference.

He said Mangush was not among the candidates proposed by his group, which represents factions of former rebels from major Libyan cities such as Benghazi, Misrata and Zintan.

Assid told reporters that his group was disappointed as NTC chief Mustafa Abdil-Jalil himself on Dec. 21 had urged the rebels to put forward names for the chief of the national army.

"The thwars had agreed to support the candidate who is selected from the list we proposed ... we feel that the procedure with which Mangush has been appointed is illegal," Assid said, adding that "selecting the army chief is not so easy."

NTC members Abdelrazzak al-Aradi and Fathi Baaja said Jan. 3 that Mangush, a former colonel in Gadhafi's military, had been chosen to head the army.

The post of chief of staff has been vacant since the July murder Gen. Abdel Fatah Yunis, who commanded the rebels in eastern Libya against Kadhafi's diehards. Yunis had been expected to head the new Libyan army when it was formed.

Mangush is currently the deputy defense minister in the interim government of Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib.

During the conflict, Mangush was arrested in the oil town of Brega in April by Gadhafi's forces and freed in late August following the fall of Tripoli.

Several officers in the former army have criticized the NTC for moving slowly on appointing a new chief of staff, saying the delay had also held back the formation of a new army and the integration of former rebels.

Forming a new army is seen as a key step towards disarming militias in Libya, especially in the capital Tripoli where a firefight between ex-rebels on Jan. 3 killed four people.

Iran Renews Warning to U.S. on Aircraft Carriers

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran on Jan. 4 renewed its warning to America against keeping a U.S. Navy presence in the oil-rich Persian Gulf, underlining a threat that Washington has dismissed as a sign of "weakness" from Tehran.

"The presence of forces from beyond the [Gulf] region has no result but turbulence. We have said the presence of forces from beyond the region in the Persian Gulf is not needed and is harmful," Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said, according to state television's website.

"The long-term presence of the United States in the region increases insecurity and the possibility of tensions and of confrontation," the deputy chief of Iran's forces, Masoud Jazayeri, said, according to the Revolutionary Guards website.

"As a result ... the United States must leave the region," Jazayeri said.

Jazayeri noted the exit of the U.S. aircraft carrier John C. Stennis from the Gulf last week and said: "Since you've gone, don't come back, otherwise you'll be responsible for any problems."

The comments echoed a Jan. 3 warning that Iran would unleash its "full force" if a U.S. carrier is redeployed to the Gulf.

"We don't have the intention of repeating our warning, and we warn only once," Brig. Gen. Ataollah Salehi, the armed forces chief, said as he told Washington to keep its carrier out of the Gulf.

The White House on Jan. 3 brushed off the warning, saying it "reflects the fact that Iran is in a position of weakness" as it struggles under international sanctions.

The U.S. Defense Department said it would not alter its deployment of warships to the Gulf.

Iran has just finished 10 days of navy war games near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, at the entrance of the Gulf, meant to show it was capable of controlling the channel and closing it if necessary. Twenty percent of the world's oil ships through the strait.

The exercises climaxed on Jan. 2 with the Iranian navy test-firing three types of missile designed to sink warships.

The head of Iran's parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission, Aladdin Borujerdi, was quoted by the Fars news agency saying the U.S. description of Iran being weak "is a completely illogical stance."

He added: "The U.S. talks about sanctioning our oil but they should know that if Iran's oil exports from the Persian Gulf are sanctioned, then no-one will have the right to export oil through the Strait of Hormuz."

The developments have helped send the prices of oil soaring, though they pulled back a little on Jan. 4. Brent North Sea crude contracts in London were selling for $111.58 per barrel. New York trading of West Texas Intermediate crude was at $102.30 per barrel.

The Pentagon said in a statement it would continue the rotation of its 11 aircraft carriers to the Gulf to support military operations in the region and keep the Strait of Hormuz open.

"We are committed to protecting maritime freedoms that are the basis for global prosperity; this is one of the main reasons our military forces operate in the region," it said in a statement.

The increasingly tense situation in the Gulf was taking place as Iran struggled with turmoil on its domestic currency market.

Foreign exchange shops on Jan. 4 were shuttered as traders refused to comply with a central bank order putting an artificial cap on the value of the dollar against the Iranian rial, which has come under intense pressure in recent days.

The central bank also cut in half, to $1,000, the amount of dollars travelers flying abroad could buy.

Iranian authorities were trying to shore up their currency following its slide to a record low Jan. 2, days after the United States enacted new sanctions targeting Iran's central bank.

Tehran, however, insisted the volatility of the rial was not because of sanctions.

It "definitely has nothing to do with sanctions," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Jan. 3.

The United States and other Western nations have imposed sanctions on Iran's economy over Tehran's controversial nuclear program, which they believe is being used to develop atomic weapons. Iran has repeatedly denied that allegation, saying the program is purely for energy and medical uses.

Helsinki OKs Patriot Missile Shipment to S. Korea

HELSINKI - Sixty-nine Patriot missiles impounded in Finland after being found on a merchant vessel in mid-December were headed for South Korea, the Finnish government said Jan. 4, granting their transit through Finnish territory.

"The missiles in question had been sold to the Republic of Korea by Germany," the government said in a statement, adding that it had granted a license to Seoul's "Defense Acquisition Program Administration to transit through Finnish territory 69 Patriot missiles."

The surface-to-air missiles, produced by U.S. firm Raytheon, were discovered on December 15 aboard the British-registered Thor Liberty docked in the southeastern Finnish port of Kotka.

Confusion initially surrounded the shipment.

Finnish police said the goods were bound for China but did not have the necessary authorization to pass through Finland, while a German defense ministry spokesman said the missiles came from the German military and were destined for South Korea.

The spokesman said it was a "legal sale on the basis of an accord between two states at the government level" and that export authorizations were in order.

However a senior Finnish defense ministry official said Finland had not received any transit license application for the missiles from Germany.

A joint team of Finnish customs and police officials removed and impounded the missiles during an investigation for suspected illegal export of defense material.

The vessel's Ukrainian captain and first mate were also detained for questioning and later slapped with a travel ban which is still in effect.

Last week the customs service said it planned to widen the investigation.

"Next week ... we will want to hear more suspects or persons of interest in the case. It is possible there may be others of interest," the head of the Finnish customs anti-crime unit, Petri Lounatmaa, told AFP.

Finnish transport safety officials have cleared the Thor Liberty to leave Finland, but the vessel has remained in port due to the travel ban imposed on its first officers, and the removal of its cargo.