US seeks military ties, not base, in Philippines

WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States says it shares a common interest with the Philippines in protecting freedom of navigation in the South China Sea but is not seeking to re-establish a military base on the territory of its Southeast Asian treaty ally.

Despite impending budget cuts, the U.S. has signaled its intent to reinforce its presence in the Asia-Pacific, where there is some trepidation over China’s rising military capabilities. In recent months it has announced plans to station troops in Australia and dock Navy ships in Singapore. That has fueled speculation the U.S. could seek to re-establish the permanent military presence it had in the Philippines until the early 1990s.

As senior diplomats and defense officials from the Philippines and the U.S. began two days of annual strategic talks in Washington on Thursday, both sides said the focus was on intensifying military cooperation in other ways, such as more joint exercises.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. is interested in increasing training and cooperation in areas including search and rescue, freedom of navigation, countering terror and countering piracy.

“The idea that we are looking to establish U.S. bases or permanently station U.S. forces in the Philippines, or anywhere else in Southeast Asia, as part of a China containment strategy is patently false,” said Cmdr. Leslie Hull-Ryde, a Defense Department spokeswoman.

The Philippines has turned to Washington for military hardware after accusing Chinese ships last year of repeatedly intruding into areas it claims in the South China Sea’s disputed Spratly Islands and disrupting oil exploration in its territorial waters.

The U.S. says it has a national interest in peaceful resolution of the territorial conflicts and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea – where Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan also have claims. The waters are also home to some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

“Certainly freedom of navigation in the South China Sea is something we share an interest in and something that we are interested in protecting together,” Nuland told a news conference.

Earlier, in Manila, Philippines Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said any additional joint military activity would conform with the 1999 agreement that allows U.S. ship and aircraft to visit and resupply, and for joint military exercises in the Philippines.

The Philippine Senate voted in 1991 to close major U.S. military bases in the country, but since 2002 hundreds of U.S. troops have been training and arming Filipino soldiers fighting al-Qaida-linked militants in a Muslim-majority region of the southern Philippines.

The talks in Washington involve the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Kurt Campbell, and Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense Peter Lavoy. Their Philippine counterparts are Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Erlinda Basilio and Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino.

During the talks, the Philippines will discuss requests for an additional U.S. Coast Guard cutter, a squadron of F-16 fighter jets and other weapons the Philippines needs to bolster its territorial defense, Philippine defense spokesman Peter Paul Galvez said.

 

-ktvn.com

“Red Tails” film honors Tuskegee Airmen

Yesterday, Jan. 20, was the special screening of the new George Lucas-produced film “Red Tails” at Rave Cinemas Franklin Park, Toledo, Ohio.

The all-black unit Tuskegee Airmen of the Army Air Corps in the segregated military of World War II didn’t often get recognition, let alone applause, as its members flew successful missions over Europe.

The Airmen believe the new film, directed by Anthony Hemmingway, will bring long overdue attention to their service.

“What we did was to pretty much change the course of history in terms of civil rights and everything that came after it,” said Harold H. Brown of Port Clinton, 87, who was a pilot flying escort missions as part of the Airmen’s 332nd Fighter Group — the Red Tails that are the subject of the film and so named for the bright red painted on the tails of the P-51 Mustangs they flew.

“There was an awful lot of history in terms of breaking down barriers,” said Mr. Brown, of the Airmen’s Ohio Chapter, in a conversation before a dinner to honor the Airmen.

“This movie is important because it tells a story that needs to be told without the usual Hollywood embellishments,” said John M. Stewart, of the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. Detroit chapter. He served stateside in the Air Force from 1949 — the year after the armed forces were integrated — to 1954. Unlike Mr. Brown, he is not an “original,” as the Airmen call those in the contingent trained at Tuskegee, Ala., for the war effort. But he joined the organization to honor those who were.

“If it wasn’t for the Tuskegee Airmen and the black Marines, we’d all be marching with a swastika flag in front of us,” Mr. Stewart said.

A poster for the movie — which features vanquished Nazi planes aflame and headed earthward — was on prominent display at the dinner, held at the Elephant Bar & Restaurant. Under the movie title was the legend, “Courage has no color.” The Airmen autographed the poster and stood in ones and twos in front of it as comrades or family members took pictures.

In a program at the theater, Mayor Mike Bell, who was made an honorary Tuskegee Airman last summer, said: “The idea of what these Tuskegee Airmen still stand for is a great thing.”

He said that he realized when took a ride aboard an F-16 fighter jet courtesy of the 180th Fighter Wing not only what that unit of the Ohio Air National Guard has done for America, “but also about what these gentlemen have done for America, and at how smart and how quick you have to be able think and how much you have to know to be able to fly.

“It made me think as we were riding home how safe America is because of people like the Tuskegee Airmen and the 180th that protect our country every day.”

The audience in the packed theater included the mayor, Mr. Brown, and U.S. Rep. Bob Latta (R., Bowling Green), whose newly constituted Fifth District will include Toledo Express Airport. About 450 were members of the 180th Fighter Wing of the Ohio Air National Guard, which is based at the airport.

Lt. Col. Mike Digby of the 180th Fighter Wing said the screening was held “to recognize the heritage and history and to see how far we’ve come.” They turned out to be one of the best flying squadrons in World War II.

By chance, when the 180th deployed to Iraq, it was assigned to the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, a successor to the Red Tails’ fighter group. Airspace over Balad Air Base was divided into “Tuskegee North” and “Tuskegee South,” and when Colonel Digby was a supervisor there, he was designated Red Tail 1 or Red Tail 2.

“It all ties together,” Colonel Digby said.

The Tuskegee connection to northwest Ohio goes back to World War II. Art Jibilian, who grew up in Toledo, was one of three who parachuted behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied Serbia to orchestrate the air rescue of more than 500 downed U.S. airmen. The Tuskegee Airmen — the Red Tails — provided air cover for what was called “Operation Halyard,” which took several months.

Brian McMahon, a Perrysburg real estate developer, helped arrange honors for Mr. Jibilian and for the surviving Tuskegee Airmen in 2009 at the largest private air show in the world. He and Colonel Digby helped arrange the dinner and screening.

The story of Mr. Jibilian and the Airmen will have to wait for another movie. But Mr. McMahon hopes that awareness created by Red Tails leads to a Medal of Honor, the highest U.S. military honor. Mr. Jibilian died in March, 2010, in his Fremont home. A resolution for the medal was co-signed by Mr. Latta and U.S. Rep Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo).

After the movie showing, some airmen commented on how realistic it was.

“They had to jazz up a few things, but if you don’t do that, you don’t have a good movie,” Mr. Brown said.

His favorite part was the raid on Berlin, but he noted that all of the accounts in the movie occurred in real life.

Before the screening, four Tuskegee Airmen in attendance, including Mr. Brown and Alexander Jefferson, both of whom were shot down and became Nazi prisoners of war, were honored with coins — a military tradition, Brig. Gen. Mark Bartman said — and congratulations.

Mr. Bell also was made an “honorary Buckeye colonel” and thereby an official member of the militia in the state.

 

-toledoblade.com

Iraq can’t get enough F-16s, will buy 18 more

Iraq is likely to order a second batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 combat jets following last month’s contract to buy 18 of the aircraft, Iraqi officials say.

This appears to be a concerted, but belated, drive by the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to give the country’s emerging postwar air force a credible defensive punch funded by windfall oil revenues and to shore up an important gap in Iraqi defenses as U.S. forces withdraw.

Ali Musawi, a close Maliki aide, said the 18 F-16 jets were “a first installment and hopefully there will be another 18 to make a total of 36.” He said the first batch of F-16s with enhance Iraqi capabilities to protect its airspace, but 18 aircraft will be far too few to effectively cover an area of 169,234 square miles.

Mudher Khidr Nasir, a member of the Iraqi Parliament’s Security and Defense Committee, has told the Iraq Daily Times the 18 F-16 Block 52 aircraft order — enough for one squadron — was so small as to be “ridiculous.”

The contract is worth at least $3 billion but will probably swell to $4.2 billion once training programs, spare parts, maintenance and weapons systems are included. The first of the aircraft Baghdad has ordered aren’t expected to be delivered until the fall of 2012 and most likely not until 2013.

Ultimately, Iraqi commanders have said they want 96 F-16s, enough for five squadrons deployed around the country at air bases built by the Americans following the 2003 invasion.

The F-16s now on order will be the first combat aircraft for the Iraqi air force. The first batch of 10 pilots is already undergoing supersonic training with the U.S. Air Force.

Source: UPI.com

Iraqi parliamentarian seek for more F-16s

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s decision to purchase 18 F-16 fighter jets will provide a “very robust capability” where today there is none and will allow the country’s military to protect its airspace, the chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said Thursday.

But an Iraqi parliamentarian who sits on the defense oversight committee said the size of the order was so small as to be “ridiculous.” Top aides to Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki said a follow-up order for the “Fighting Falcon,” which Lockheed Martin manufactures at Fort Worth, Texas, is a near-certainty.

The deal, worth $3 billion, was announced this week after Iraq, its treasury flush thanks to high oil prices, made a $1.4 billion down payment.

Ali Musawi, a spokesman for Maliki, said the 18 planes were “a first installment, and hopefully there will be another 18 to make a total of 36.”

While the fighters “will enhance” Iraq’s abilities to protect its airspace, land and waters, “They will not, by themselves, be enough, because our neighboring countries have a large number of fighter planes,” Musawi told McClatchy, referring to Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria. “So looking to Iraq’s position in the region, having those planes is not much, but it is a beginning.”

Mudher Khidr Nasir, a member of parliament’s Security and Defense Committee, said the committee hadn’t received official notification of the contract, but added: “I find the number 18 ridiculous.”

The chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said in the context of the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces by the end of this year, Iraq had taken a major step forward.

“The F-16 is a good example of them taking a step to reinforce their sovereignty, increase their self-reliance and deal with one of those security gaps that they still have,” Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan said.

Concerns about Iraq’s lack of air defense capabilities had been one reason some have advocated that the United State leave substantial numbers of troops in Iraq after the Dec. 31 pullout deadline.

But Buchanan said Iraq had made a number of advances toward regaining full sovereignty over its airspace after eight years in which the United States exercised control.

Next month, Iraqi air traffic controllers will assume responsibility for flights below 15,000 feet in the central part of the country, the only part of Iraqi airspace where the U.S. remains in control. Iraq’s air defense radars and long-range radar systems will be fully functional by the middle of next year. And the Iraqi military now has a modern air-operations center that controls military aircraft throughout the country and is able to sound a warning if the borders are breached.

What Iraq has lacked “is the ability to defend their airspace,” Buchanan said. The F-16s will provide help provide that.

“It gives them a very robust capability right now, where they currently have none.” He said that one squadron of F-16s could cover the entire country. He acknowledged that this was likely to be a first installment. “Could you do more with 36 than 18? The answer would be yes, he said.

One additional element still to be set up is ground-based air defense — missiles and guns — which will be deployed to key locations that the Iraqi authorities say must be defended. This is still under discussion with U.S. experts, Buchanan said.

With just 90 days until the deadline for full withdrawal, the U.S. troop presence now stands at 44,000, down from 92,000 at the start of the year. The military has redeployed 1.5 million pieces of equipment, with 800,000 left to go. American forces are still on 34 bases, down from 505 in 2008, Buchanan said.

It’s still unclear whether any U.S. troops will stay on after Dec. 31 as trainers and advisers. Top Iraqi politicians are at loggerheads over whom to appoint to head the Defense and Interior ministries, a decision that’s become inextricably linked to Iraq’s request for the American advisers and trainers.

Tahseen al Shaikhli, a government spokesman, said this week that Iraq and the United States had agreed in principle to have some 3,000 American trainers remain, but he acknowledged that an agreement to provide them immunity from Iraqi prosecution hadn’t been concluded.

In July, Shaikhli had said Iraq was hoping to have some 13,000 U.S. advisers and trainers remain in the country after Dec. 31.

Buchanan said the F-16 deal had been due to be completed in January but that Iraq had postponed it for budgetary and political reasons, including concerns that the country didn’t have enough money to provide for staples for Iraqis receiving food rations.

But with oil at more than $100 a barrel for much of the year, the government, which draws 90 percent of its income from oil sales, found itself with an unexpected windfall of at least $14 billion, Buchanan said.

“Based on that, they decided to go back and see how they were prioritizing spending their money,” he said. Recognizing that they still needed combat aircraft, “they allocated money to it.”

-miamiherald.com

Offsetting Pentagon cuts through exports

Lockheed Martin Corp’s (LMT.N) political backers are stepping up a drive to meet Taiwan’s request for 66 new F-16 fighter jets, a sale that would help the Pentagon’s largest supplier weather possible cuts to its big-ticket weapons programs.

Such a sale, valued at more than $8 billion, would anger China, which deems self-ruled Taiwan a wayward province subject to unification by force if necessary.

Arms sales will be among the subjects explored at the annual Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington September 6-8. Company executives, Pentagon officials and analysts will discuss projected cuts in U.S. military spending that nearly doubled in the decade after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Notwithstanding the possible harm to U.S.-China ties, nearly half of the 100 U.S. senators and 181 of the 435 members of the House of Representatives have urged President Barack Obama to move quickly to meet Taiwan’s F-16 request, informally pending since 2006.

“We are deeply concerned that further delay of the decision to sell F-16s to Taiwan could result in closure of the F-16 production line,” 45 senators said in a May 26 letter to Obama.

Economic arguments in favor of sensitive arms sales may gain traction as the U.S. jobless rate is stuck above 9 percent and campaigning for the 2012 elections is starting in earnest.

The Obama administration has begun consulting Congress on plans to sell Global Hawk spy planes made by Northrop Grumman (NOC.N) to South Korea, Reuters reported this week. This would require a waiver of the Missile Technology Control Regime, or MTCR, a voluntary arms control pact involving at least 34 countries.

Then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in October 2008 that the United States was “very sympathetic” to South Korea’s interest in the high-flying drone but that there were MTCR issues to overcome.

The Global Hawk’s range and payload capacity subject it to the pact created in 1987 to curb the spread of unmanned systems that could be used to deliver weapons of mass destruction.

The State Department declined to comment on a possible MTCR waiver pending formal notification of Congress of any such proposed Global Hawk sale.

Northrop Grumman Chief Executive Wes Bush complained in an August 17 speech that export curbs on unmanned systems were harming U.S. industry without making the United States any safer.

“The good news,” he said, “is that the Defense Department is promoting what is clearly the best export reform policy — build higher walls around fewer things.”

Arms sales to the Middle East, India and East Asia have always been freighted with diplomatic and political considerations, including maintaining balances of power.

Now they are increasingly important to U.S. and European arms makers preparing for security-related spending cuts sparked in part by an August 2 debt-ceiling deal between President Obama and Congress.

The Pentagon is trimming at least $350 billion from its previously projected spending through the next decade under that deal. Additional defense-related cuts of up to $600 billon are set to kick in if Congress fails by the end of the year to find at least $1.2 trillion more in deficit reduction over the same period — a “doomsday mechanism,” as current Defense Secretary Leon Panetta puts it.

Such cuts may mean there is not enough work to go around for Western firms, on top of a recent round of defense-related budget belt-tightening in Europe.

Foreign military sales are “clearly a way to grow to fill the revenue gap which is expected,” said Tom Captain, head of global aerospace and defense business at professional services company Deloitte.

Boeing Co (BA.N), the Pentagon’s No. 2 supplier by sales, is aiming to boost its defense, space and security-related sales toward 25 percent by 2015 from about 17 percent in 2010.

Defense unit Boeing Military Aircraft expects its foreign sales to account for as much as 40 percent of Boeing’s total warplane sales by the end of next year, up from 25 percent in 2010, said Jeffrey Kohler, a Boeing vice president for business development.

 

-reuters.com

Wisconsin ANG F-16 crashed

The pilot of an F-16 Fighting Falcon from the Wisconsin Air National Guard 115th Fighter Wing is safe after ejecting from the aircraft over Adams County June 7 during a routine training flight.

The pilot has been recovered south of Chester, Wisconsin and is being medically evaluated. The F16 aircraft has been located in Chester. Emergency responders are on the scene to secure the aircraft.

An Air Force investigating team has been requested to determine the cause of the accident.

The F-16 Fighting Falcon the first of the US Air Force multi-role fighter aircraft, is the world’s most prolific fighter with more than 2,000 in service with the USAF and 2,000 operational with 25 other countries. The F-16 was the first operational US aircraft to receive a global positioning system (GPS). The aircraft has an inertial navigation system, either a Northrop Grumman (Litton) LN-39, LN-93 ring laser gyroscope or Honeywell H-423.

Source: airforce-technology.com, U.S. Air Force

Danish F-16s killed Gaddafi’s son, reports say

Media reports say that Danish F-16 fighter jets were behind the air raid on Tripoli that on Sunday killed Muammar Gaddafi’s son.

An article on The Guardian reads: “The attack, which according to a diplomatic source was carried out by Danish pilots – most likely in an F-16 bomber – pierced through Gaddafi’s home around 8pm on Saturday night.”

Danish military officials, however, are neither confirming nor denying the claim.

“We do not comment in detail about the individual operations,” Thorbjørn Forsberg, of the Tactical Air Command, told Politiken newspaper.

In addition to Gaddafi’s son, three of the strongman’s grandchildren were reportedly killed in the raid. All three were, according to The Guardian, under 12.

Libya has described the raid as illegitimate and has accused NATO of directly trying to liquidate the country’s leader. NATO officials have been quick to deny allegations that the attack was directed at individuals. They said the sole purpose of the raid was to attack the military command structure.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has also defended the attack, arguing that the UN resolution allows attacks against “the leadership and control” of the Libyan regime.

The goal of the operation was to prevent “losses of civilian lives by attacking Gaddafi’s war machine,” Cameron told the BBC.

Source: the COPENHAGEN post Online

UAE F-16 veers off runway in Italy

A United Arab Emirates F-16 fighter jet taking part in NATO-led military operations over Libya crashed on landing at Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy on Wednesday, officials confirmed. The pilot was forced to eject.

“An F-16 crashed on landing at Sigonella air base,” a NATO official told AFP, adding that he could not reveal the nationality of the plane involved.

UAE’s armed forces said that the F-16 jet was one of theirs in a statement released to the official UAE news agency WAM in Abu Dhabi. The report said that the plane “veered off the runway after landing.”

“The pilot had to eject from the plane to save his life, and minor damages were caused to the plane’s frame,” the military was quoted as saying.

The F-16 fighter plane was not on a combat operation and was being transferred from a base in Sardinia to the Sigonella base in Sicily, NATO said.

Italy’s ANSA news agency reported that the base had been temporarily shut down and flights were routed through another base in Trapani.

Source: Google News

Thailand to spend $224 million to upgrade 6 F-16s.

The Defence Ministry has earmarked a Bt6.9-billion secret budget for the upgrade of six F-16 AB fighter aircraft, including the installation of an air navigation system and maintenance costs.

Defence Minister Prawit Wongsu-wan informed the government about the spending plan at yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, government deputy spokesman Watchara Kannikar said.

The budget will be spread over a three-year period, starting with the initial outlay of Bt1 billion for the current fiscal year.

The price tag for aircraft navigation is estimated at US$205 million (Bt6.56 billion), but the actual disbursement will hinge on the exchange rate fluctuation. The budgetary earmark came in the wake of the crash of two F-16 ADF fighter jets on Monday. Prawit reported to the Cabinet that Air Force investigators were investigating the cause of the crash during the Cobra Gold exercise in Chaiyaphum.

He said the investigators would check physical evidence, weather reports, relevant flight data and testimonies of the two pilots who safely ejected, before drawing a conclusion. He said his initial assumption was that it was an accident and not a mechanical malfunction.

The two jets were refurbished before being deployed by the Air Force in 2002.

- nationmultimedia.com

Indonesia still waiting for answers on used F-16s

 

 

Air Force Chief of Staff Marshal TNI Imam Sufaat

Indonesia’s Air Force Chief of Staff Marshal TNI Iman Sufaat told reporters that they are still waiting on US’ decision for 24 ex-American F-16s.

“We hope to soon have an answer about it,” he said during the meeting of leaders of the Indonesian National Army (TNI) Air Force (AU) at the Air Force Academy (AAU) in Yogyakarta, on Monday.

He said they have submitted a request to the United States (U.S.) about the grants of the F-16 fighter aircraft in 2009, but they never heard any reponse.

“There is no answer from the U.S. probably because many countries have also submitted a grant request F-16 fighter aircraft. They also wanted to get grants to the plane,” he said.

He said the Air Force will also buy a  OV-10 Bronco aircraft, helicopters and an F-22 aircraft since there are additional funds accelerated procurement of major equipment of weapons systems (defense equipment) amounting to Rp 4 trillion.

” This is in accordance with a strategic plan development program of the Air Force for the year 2010-2014,” he added.

- AntaraNews.com