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Les citoyens britanniques, ainsi que ceux des pays du Commonwealth ou de l'Irlande résidant au Royaume-Uni et inscrits sur les listes électorales du Royaume-Uni depuis au moins 15 ans, les citoyens du Commonwealth résidant à Gibraltar et les membres de la Chambre des Lords décideront le 23...

Americas

• It may have been coming for some time, but the Pentagon has finally admitted that the F-35 will not be cleared for full rate production until 2018. Frank Kendell, the program’s chief weapons tester, had been warning of delays for some time; however, it had been maintained by some that the jet’s initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) would occur as planned in August or September 2017. Now that reality has hit home, the extra six months will be spent retrofitting the 23 aircraft required for IOT&E with the full 3F software and hardware patches.

• USS John Paul Jones was used to validate the ability of the Aegis Baseline 9 to track Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM) targets within the Earth’s atmosphere recently. Supported by the Navy, Missile Defense Agency, and Lockheed Martin the use of the missile destroyer marks the first demonstration of Aegis’s ability to conduct a complicated tracking exercise against an MRBM during its endo phase of flight. The development comes as targets and threats have become more advanced, with Aegis BMD evolving over the last 20 years from a tracking experiment to today’s capability in which it can detect, track and engage targets.

Middle East North Africa

• Leonardo-Finmeccanica has announced that Pakistan will purchase an undisclosed number of AW139 helicopters for Search & Rescue missions. This will add to 11 already in service, and delivery is to commence in 2017. The contract is part of a fleet renewal program spread over several batches, including a logistic support and training package.

Europe

• Ukraine’s Antonov has been tipped as the favorite candidate in Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd’s. (HAL) medium military transport aircraft program. The company emerged as the frontrunner out of five bids received by the company after meeting all the necessary requirements alongside a recent design with state-of-the-art aviation systems like fly-by-wire, high-efficiency engines and all-weather operations. Antonov or AN class of aircraft have been part of the Indian Air Force (IAF) for over five decades. The IAF has more than 100 AN-32 aircraft recently upgraded on its inventory.

• Sweden’s air force looks set to advance a competition to select its new jet trainer to replace the service’s Saab 105 by the end of the decade. After an initial request for information was issued late last year, the air force and the state’s procurement agency now need to refine their exact needs for the right replacement. Sweden had initially expressed interest in participating in a proposed multinational Eurotraining project however that failed to materialize.

Asia Pacific

• An op-ed piece published last week, suggesting the US should supply AGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles to Japan has received a rebuttal from Chinese researchers. Experts from the China Institute of International Studies stated that while the idea of supplying the missile to Tokyo was not new, it would pose a threat to other countries in East Asia. The warning most likely comes following efforts started last year by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to pursue changing the country’s post-WW2 constitution to allow it to re-arm and expand its forces.

• Israel’s Rafael Advanced Systems looks set to win the Indian Army’s short-range surface-to-air missile (SRSAM) contest with its Spyder system. According to the Economic Times, the Spyder seems poised to win after offerings from Sweden’s Saab and Russia’s Rosoboronexport failed to comply with the Army’s requirements during technical trials. The competition has been running for five years.

Today’s Video

• The “Hell Cannon“: Homemade artillery of Syria’s rebel armies:

SPYDER Mobile Firing Unit
(click to view full)

Israel’s SPYDER air defense system follows a recent trend of using advanced air-air missiles designed for fighter jets as ground-launched surface-to-air missiles (SAM). This truck-mounted system mixes radar and optical tracking with any combination of short to medium-range Derby 4 and ultra-agile short-range 5th generation Python 5 air to air missiles, in order to create a versatile system adapted for a wider range of threats. Hence its inclusion in in our AMRAAM FOCUS article’s “international competitors” section.

India has become the system’s inaugural export customer. SPYDER will reportedly replace India’s Russian-made OSA-AKM/SA-8 Gecko and ZRK-BD Strela-10M/ SA-13 Gopher SAM systems, and the purchase has decisively shelved the Indian DRDO’s failed Trishul project.

More success may be on the way. As India’s Air Force gears up, the Army is reportedly about to follow suit with an even bigger contract.

The SPYDER System SPYDER Systems
(click to view full)

Each SPYDER ADS-SR Mobile Firing Unit can slant-launch up to 4 missiles in either lock on after launch (LOAL) mode, or lock on before launch (LOBL). This short-range version offers 360 degree quick engagement capability and 60-target tracking via IAI’s Elta EL/M 2106 ATAR 3D surveillance radar and TOPLITE optical sensor, a kill range of over 15 km, and openly advertised effectiveness from 20 – 9,000 meters (65 – 30,000 feet).

A new SPYDER ADS-MR 6×6 truck version was unveiled at Eurosatory 2006. It’s restricted to LOAL but offers 8 vertical-launch missiles in any mix, adds a dedicated radar vehicle with a more powerful radar, and puts boosters on all missiles, in order to improve advertised range to 50 km/ 30 miles, and performance to 16 km/ 52,000 feet.

A typical SPYDER squadron consists of 1 Mobile Command and Control Unit, plus 4 Mobile Firing Units with their own built-in power supplies and missile sets of 4-8 missiles.

Contracts and Key Events SPYDER MR vs. SR
(click to view full)

May 26/16: Israel’s Rafael Advanced Systems looks set to win the Indian Army’s short-range surface-to-air missile (SRSAM) contest with its Spyder system. According to the Economic Times, the Spyder seems poised to win after offerings from Sweden’s Saab and Russia’s Rosoboronexport failed to comply with the Army’s requirements during technical trials. The competition has been running for five years.

October 26/15: Vietnam has purchased [Vietnamese] SPYDER air defense systems, manufactured by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. The surface-to-air missile system is capable of launching the company’s advanced Derby beyond visual range and Python-5 missiles, with it unclear whether the Vietnamese military has purchased the Short Range (SPYDER-SR) or Medium Range (SPYDER-MR) version, with respective ranges of 20km and 50km.

Aug 18/09: Indian Army’s QR-SAM. The Times of India reports that India’s Ministry of Defence has finally given the go-ahead for the army’s INR 40 billion (about $820 million) Quick-Reaction SAM program. These mobile missiles would protect Indian maneuver elements like armored columns and troop concentrations, as well as important areas and installations. The Army seeks to equip 3 regiments with this contract, which is over twice the size of the IAF’s 18 squadron purchase. The Times of India:

“With the indigenous Akash and Trishul air defence projects not meeting its “user-requirements”… The Defence Acquisitions Council, chaired by defence minister A K Antony, discussed the entire matter on Monday. Though there was no official word, sources said the Israeli SpyDer QR-SAM systems had been selected for the project.

…The projects were in a limbo for quite some time now, with one of the main reasons being the naming of Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Rafael in the Rs 1,160-crore Barak-I deal kickbacks case by the CBI. The government, however, was reluctant to blacklist these Israeli armament firms because it held that it would prove “counter-productive” since there were several “crucial” defence projects underway with them.”

Jan 20/09: SR-SAM – Revenge of DRDO? India Defence reports that neither MBDA nor India’s state-run DRDO have given up on their “SR-SAM” short range air defense proposal. Rumors peg it as a combination of DRDO’s Trishul and MBDA’s VL-MICA system, though Trishul’s failure and VL-MICA’s techologies mean that claims regarding Trishul technology are likely to be about saving face as much as anything else.

The “Maitri” LLQRM proposal’s positioning would be directly competitive with RAFAEL’s SPYDER, and VL-MICA is deployable as a mobile system. That could affect SPYDER’s future expansion within the Indian military, and might even affect its prospects if program problems crop up. MICA’s capabilities mean that SR-SAM/Maitri would also be directly competitive with India’s indigenous Akash, and might even impinge on the proposed medium range MR-SAM deal involving a longer-range Barak missile.

Dec 11/08: The Indian Ministry of Defence confirms that it has signed the Spyder contract – and canceled Trishul. Defence Minister Shri AK Antony, in a written reply to Shri Tarini Kanta Roy in Rajya Sabha:

“Ministry of Defence has signed a contract with M/s Rafael, Israel to procure Spyder Low Level Quick Reaction Missile System (LLQRM) for the Indian Air Force.

The proposal for Trishul system was foreclosed due to its inability to meet certain critical operational requirements. However, it served as a technology demonstrator and the expertise acquired with the technologies developed during design and development phase of Trishul Missile System are being utilized for developing state-of-the-art Short Range Surface to Air Missile System.”

Costs were not disclosed, though some reports place the deal at $260 million; previous reports of R 18,000 crore would be about $362 million at current exchange rates. Nor was the future composition of India’s Spyder force; Spyder systems now come in the 8-pack, booster-enabled SPYDER ADS-MR, and the 4-pack SPYDER ADS-SR. Indian MoD | domain-b.

Oct 13/08: DNA India reports that a new order from the Union government downgraded both IAI and RAFAEL’s position as weapon suppliers to India, and may place the Spyder contract in jeopardy. The issue is not expected to sort itself out until after the 2009 Parliamentary elections. Read “India Downgrades Vendor Status of IAI and RAFAEL” for more.

Sept 1/08: The Spyder contract was delayed for almost 2 years by political accusations, but those have apparently been put to rest. Defense News reports that a $260 million contract has now been signed with Rafael. The Indian Air Force will receive 18 Spyder systems, with deliveries beginning in early 2011 and finishing by August 2012. Unusually, the contract will not include any mandatory industrial offsets.

March 19/07: Reports indicate that MBDA is working on a deal with the DRDO, whose Trishul short range anti-aorcraft missile project continues to flounder. DRDO’s Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) would team with MBDA to develop a “new-generation low-level, quick-reaction missile (LLQRM) system” known as ‘Maitri’, for the Indian Navy and Air Force. India Defence.

The project is said to be worth $500 million and is to be signed in May between the Hyderabad-based DRDL and MBDA. It is retry to revive the work done under the unsuccessful Trishul LLQRM project,

October 2006: India Defence quoted Air Chief SP Tyagi as saying India is close to wrapping up a deal to purchase quick reaction surface-to-air missiles from Israel as a mobile air defense system. Under the deal, India proposed to buy 18 SPYDER (Surface-to-air PYthon and DERby) missile systems and accompanying missiles in a deal worth more than Rs 1,800 crores (18 billion Indian rupees, or about $395.4 million at the time). RAFAEL would be the prime contractor, and Israel Aircraft Industries the major subcontractor.

Additional Readings

• RAFAEL – SPYDER ADS-MR

• RAFAEL – SPYDER ADS-SR

• RAFAEL – Python 5: Full Sphere IR Air-to-Air Missile

• RAFAEL – Derby: Beyond visual Range Air-to-Air Missile

• Israeli Weapons – SPYDER

• Army Technology – SPYDER Surface-to-Air Python 5 and Derby Air Defence Missile System, Israel

• DID – India’s IGMP Missile Programs. Including the canceled Trishul and the medium range Akash SAM.

• DID – India & Israel Introducing MR-SAM. Based on a longer-range version of the Barak missile.

The rise of Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada shows that the Taliban’s old guard is still holding the reins of power -- and deciding the future of the Afghan war.

Après l'accord de l'Eurogroupe mercredi 25 mai sur la nouvelle tranche d'aide déboursée pour la Grèce à hauteur de 10,3 milliards d'euros et la promesse d'entamer des négociations sur l'allègement de la dette grecque à partir de 2018, les critiques sont nombreuses au Parlement européen à Bruxelles.

Ethiopia's rescue mission after cross-border kidnapping

The US Navy has awarded a $152m advance planning contract to Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) for the construction of the third Gerald R Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, Enterprise (CVN 80).

Raytheon has started delivering pulse power containers (PPCs) to support the US Navy's railgun programme.

The Royal Navy of Oman (RNO) has taken delivery of the first high-speed support vessel (HSSV), RNOV Al Mubshir, from Austal.

Une nouvelle audience a lieu ce jeudi 26 mai devant la justice chypriote pour Seif Aldin Mostafa. Cet Egyptien de 58 ans avait détourné en mars dernier un avion d'EgyptAir avec 66 personnes à bord. A l'époque, les autorités égyptiennes et chypriotes avaient affirmé que le pirate de l'air avait agi par amour pour son ex-femme installée à Chypre. Mais cette version est aujourd'hui contestée par les avocats de Seif Aldin Mostafa, qui aurait agi pour dénoncer les violations des droits de l'homme en Egypte, et absolument pas pour des raisons sentimentales.

Emanating from Russia in the east and the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the south, the EU has been increasingly hit by destabilising messages amounting – in different forms and to different degrees – to coherent hostile ‘strategic communications’ campaigns, or the processes of infusing communications activities with an agenda or plan to impact the behaviour of a target audience. Both Russia and ISIL have engaged in aggressive messaging and deceptive media campaigns, albeit with distinct narratives, targets and audiences. This paper analyses the ‘what’ and the ‘how’: the respective narratives of each actor, their specificities, their similarities and their differences. The analysis also draws attention to strategic communications efforts undertaken by the EU, which are vectored into defensive (react and respond) and offensive (probe and push) dimensions. This understanding of the present context finally allows for an evaluation of what actions can be taken to enhance the effectiveness of the EU’s own strategic communications.
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Emanating from Russia in the east and the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the south, the EU has been increasingly hit by destabilising messages amounting – in different forms and to different degrees – to coherent hostile ‘strategic communications’ campaigns, or the processes of infusing communications activities with an agenda or plan to impact the behaviour of a target audience. Both Russia and ISIL have engaged in aggressive messaging and deceptive media campaigns, albeit with distinct narratives, targets and audiences. This paper analyses the ‘what’ and the ‘how’: the respective narratives of each actor, their specificities, their similarities and their differences. The analysis also draws attention to strategic communications efforts undertaken by the EU, which are vectored into defensive (react and respond) and offensive (probe and push) dimensions. This understanding of the present context finally allows for an evaluation of what actions can be taken to enhance the effectiveness of the EU’s own strategic communications.
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Welche Möglichkeiten die Gläubigen haben mit ihrem christlichen Handeln das politische Geschehen zu bereichern, wurde beim KAS-Empfang erläutert.

Die Herausforderungen Afrikas sind längst zu einer europäischen Angelegenheit geworden. Lage.Bericht, unterwegs in Mali, Niger und der Elfenbeinküste.

The deal, known as a host nation support agreement, will grant NATO more room to operate on Swedish territory for training exercises or in the event of a conflict in the region.

Rund elf Stunden dauerte das Tauziehen, danach atmeten alle Beteiligten auf: Die Finanzminister der Eurogruppe stimmten der Auszahlung von mehr als…

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed profound concern over reports of increasing political tensions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) linked to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the country’s electoral process.

By Manyang David Mayar

Last Sunday, Riek Machar boldly walked to the alter at St. Emanuel Parish, a church mainly of Dinka-Bor congregation, and got hold of the microphone and started to speak. Some of the Christians got irritated, some were surprised and a sense of confusion filled the church. The drama quickly spread out and now still remained as one of the biggest conversations you can hear at tea places under trees, under Amaraat in Juba and in social media platforms.

The main concern of those debates was whether it was a right thing for the church to allow Riek Machar into the Holy House or not and whether it was a right time and place for Riek Machar to speak to Bor people about peace. Members of the public have different opinions about that but one thing I have noted is a confusion on how people looked at Riek and how Riek looked at himself in front of his audiences.

After fighting a war that killed several vulnerable people across the country in Bor including those women in the church, did Riek see himself like a winner in front of the Jieng (Dinka) people? To better understand this, you have to study the speech he delivered in the church.

Did he say sorry for what had happened? No. Did he apologize for any damage the war has caused to the people not only in Bor but across the country? No. What did he say? He only narrated his exit from Juba and blamed Salva Kiir for the Tiger trigger. And now that he is back, it is time for peace and reconciliation. Full stop. No recognition of the mistakes and deaths. And that to my observation make Riek to still see himself in his own eyes like a winner. Especially now that he is back in Juba and holding the second most powerful position in the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGONU).
But to the congregation whose relatives and people they know were killed by Riek forces in Bor, Riek is a sinner. And for that reason, many people think Riek shouldn't have been allowed to go even closer to the first row in the church leave alone standing at the alter and addressing Christians. So in the situation where Riek sees himself like a winner and people see him like a sinner, where does peace belong?

Peace is always at the heart of those who are quick to say sorry and at the heart of those who are quick to forgive. But dilemma comes in when one party fails to say sorry. What does the offended do in that case? The Bible tells us to release such people in our hearts so that our relationship with God can be good. Not because you like what the person did to you but because the Bible says God will do the fighting when you forgive. If we understand these Biblical Concepts as Christians, then Riek Machar visit last Sunday shouldn't be of a big confusion. And only then can peace, concrete and true peace be achieved in this country.

Manyang.davidmayar@gmail.com

Despite an uncertain global economic landscape, Africa’s prospects are positive, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, urging the continent’s leaders to use recent gains to address rising social and economic inequalities.