British Royal Navy warship HMS Bulwark visits Pakistan

The ship was in Karachi for a short time to undertake an amphibious familiarisation for the Pakistan Marines with J Company, 42 Commando Royal Marines, and 4 Assault Squadron Royal Marines (ASRM), and to conduct talks with Pakistan Navy personnel recently returned from counter piracy operations in the Middle East.

Commodore Paddy McAlpine, Commander United Kingdom Task Group, and Captain Andrew Burns Royal Navy, Commanding Officer HMS Bulwark, took the opportunity to visit the Commander of the Pakistan Marines Commodore Waris.

While the Pakistan Marines were undertaking their amphibious familiarisation, counter-piracy talks were conducted on board HMS Bulwark. Issues under discussion included tactical techniques employed by boarding teams when searching vessels at sea, and the challenges faced by assigned forces during these important missions.

Commodore McAlpine commented on the visit:

The opportunity to visit Karachi came at quite short notice and was driven by a programme change elsewhere. That’s what a forward deployed Task Group gives – maritime and political choice. In this instance, we were sent to Karachi to boost the bi-lateral Defence and Security relationship with Pakistan. We were overwhelmed by their generosity and the genuine warmth of their welcome. We were very well hosted and protected at a difficult time; a very worthwhile, but all too short, visit.

The British High Commission in Pakistan hosted a reception on board HMS Bulwark, for a variety of military and business leaders. Guests included Rear Admiral Khan Hashan Bin Siddique, Commander Pakistan Fleet, who as a Britannia Royal Naval College graduate reflected positively upon the rare opportunity to visit a British warship while in his own Fleet port.

British Defence & Military Advisor, Brigadier Paul Cartwright said:

We are pleased to welcome HMS Bulwark and its crew to Pakistan. Their presence here is a practical demonstration of the Royal Navy’s long and proud association with the Pakistan Navy and also re-enforces our Government’s commitment to strengthen further the bi-lateral relationship between our two countries. Our Naval assets are heavily committed across the globe and it is therefore a clear statement of the importance we place on UK/Pakistan relations that HMS Bulwark has visited Karachi.

HMS Bulwark has recently conducted maritime and amphibious exercises with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Oman.

The Cougar 13 deployment will operate in the Mediterranean, Red Sea, the Gulf, and Horn of Africa. It involves exercising with partner nations, and will show the UK Armed Forces’ capacity to project an effective maritime component anywhere in the world as part of the Royal Navy’s Response Force Task Group, commanded by Commodore Paddy McAlpine OBE ADC Royal Navy.

The RFTG is the United Kingdom’s high readiness maritime force, comprising ships, submarines, aircraft and a landing force of Royal Marines, at short notice to act in response to any contingency tasking if required.

Dubai Airshow Organizer Harnesses Growth in Military Attendance

Sharief Fahmy is the CEO of F&E Aerospace, which organizes the Dubai Airshow. But he's also a 23-year US Air Force veteran who has seen the show from the military and the industry side

You don’t get to be a key member of the military team responsible for transporting the president of the United States around the globe without having an eye for detail and top-draw customer service, according to Sharief Fahmy, CEO of F&E Aerospace.

Sharief Fahmy is the CEO of F&E Aerospace, which organizes the Dubai Airshow. But he's also a 23-year US Air Force veteran who has seen the show from the military and the industry side

Fahmy should know. As a US Air Force captain, he was a mission director on Air Force One, arguably the most famous aircraft in the world, during the presidency of George W. Bush.

The best of the best attitude required for Air Force One is exactly what the retired lieutenant colonel hopes to bring to his job at F&E Aerospace, which organizes the Dubai Airshow.

“It taught me a level of excellence that I’m hoping to bring to the air show. When you are dealing with America’s first family and other world leaders, you get to learn quite a bit about attention to detail and customer service,” Fahmy said.

The 23-year US Air Force veteran eventually found himself at the US Embassy in Abu Dhabi as an international regional area strategist, a role that included him leading US government participation in a previous Dubai Airshow and the International Defence Exhibition and Conference in Abu Dhabi before retiring and joining F&E Aerospace as chief executive.

“One of the things I bring to the role as CEO is geopolitical knowledge and influence on developing a business. During my tenure working out of the US Embassy on foreign military sales we started with $1.8 billion worth of sales to the UAE [United Arab Emirates] and ratcheted that up to $30 billion on the back of programs like F-16 and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense and Patriot missile programs.

Fahmy said that one of the things he is intent on improving in his new role is the military delegation experience at the show. It’s the key reason that many of the defense exhibitors hand over their shrinking marketing budgets to Dubai Airshow and others to gain access too high level delegations.

“Dubai has always prided itself on its delegation program,” he said. “I hope, having been a military customer and seen it from the other side, to enhance the delivery of the program this year.”

The UAE Defence Ministry is ultimately responsible for who gets invited to the air show and who doesn’t, and delegation numbers are rising, but there is plenty the show organizer can do once those decisions are in place.

Part of that has involved F&E Aerospace hiring additional liaison officials to increase support the show’s delegation effort.

Pakistan successfully test fires Hatf IX (Nasr)

Pakistan on Tuesday conducted a successful test fire of Short Range Surface to Surface Missile Hatf IX (NASR). The test fire was conducted with successive launches of 4 x missiles (Salvo) from a state of the art multi tube launcher. According to ISPR here, NASR, with a range of 60 Kilometer and in-flight maneuver capability is a quick response system, with shoot and scoot attributes. It contributes to the full spectrum deterrence against threats in view of evolving scenarios. The test was witnessed by Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Director General Strategic Plans Division, Lieutenant General (Retd) Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, Chairman NESCOM, Muhammad Irfan Burney, Commander Army Strategic Forces Command, Lieutenant General Tariq Nadeem Gilani, senior officers from the strategic forces and scientists and engineers of strategic organizations. 

  

The Chief of Army Staff congratulated the scientists and engineers on this outstanding achievement which consolidates Pakistan’s deterrence capability.

Indian Army to hold joint military exercise with China to combat terrorism

Indian and Chinese armies are all set to hold their third joint military exercises after a gap of five years, as a 150-strong Indian army contingent arrived in Chengdu city on Monday to take part in anti-terrorism drills.

The 10-day drill code named 'hand in hand' would be formally inaugurated on Tuesday at a designated area close to Chengdu city. 

The annual exercises, which began in 2007, are being resumed after a gap of five years. 

The first exercises were held in China's Kunming city followed by the second round at Belgaum in Karanataka in 2008.

The next round was called off by India following the denial of visa to a top General heading troops in Jammu and Kashmir on the grounds that the region formed part of disputed territory. 

The two sides resumed contacts after China rescinded its decision and began issuing regular visas to residents of Jammu and Kashmir, a move that facilitated a broad engagement between the two giant neighbours.

However, border tensions flared up when Chinese troops pitched tents deep inside the Indian side of Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh region in April this year. 

It was resolved subsequently ahead of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to New Delhi followed by return visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Beijing in October. 

During Singh's visit, the two countries signed the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) which both sides believe would effectively address a host of issues causing tension at the disputed border.

S. Korea's Fighter Plans in Spotlight at Airshow

Western defense contractors participating in South Korea’s biennial arms exhibition tried to convince their hosts they would offer assistance to help build the country’s indigenous fighter jet, code-named KF-X.

The KF-X effort drew keen attention during the Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition (ADEX) from Oct. 29-Nov. 3, amid growing calls here for upgrading the country’s fighter fleet more sustainably and coming up with plans to fill a fighter gap over the next decade.

Worries about a lack of fighter jets in the future have been fanned by the government’s latest decision to delay the selection of its F-X program to acquire 60 foreign combat jets. The Seoul government decided to re-tender the F-X in coming months.

Fighter Debuts: A South Korean FA-50 fighter jet is displayed during an airshow at a military air base in Cheongju on Oct. 24. South Korea's KF-X fighter could be based on a derivative of the FA-50

The KF-X is linked to the F-X, whose offset programs are focused on technology transfer for the former. The KF-X is aimed at developing an F-16-class aircraft with foreign partners after 2020 and producing at least 120 planes. A state-owned economic think tank is conducting a final study on the feasibility of the KF-X development program, which has only Indonesia as an international partner at the moment.

Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), the country’s largest aircraft maker, is to lead the KF-X program in cooperation with the state-run Agency for Defense Development (ADD).

“We have offered the technical data, technical assistance for whatever KF-X design that Korea chooses,” said David Scott, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter campaign director for Lockheed Martin. “On one hand, it’s a derivative of an airplane like a derivative of the FA-50 with a single engine perhaps, and on the other hand, [it] is maybe a clean-sheet design, a twin-engine design.

“Obviously, a derivative airplane will be cheaper and faster to develop than a clean-sheet, brand-new airplane,” he added, referring to the FA-50, a light attack variant of the T-50 Golden Eagle supersonic trainer aircraft, which was jointly developed by KAI and Lockheed.

During ADEX, KAI unveiled two conceptual designs of the “KFX-E” — one with a single engine and the other with two.

“A single-engine concept is in pursuance of both affordability and combat performance, based on the advanced FA-50 technologies by KAI,” a KAI official said.

The plane, powered by a 29,000-pound engine, is designed to be fitted with a limited low-observable configuration, advanced avionics and an air refueling system, according to the official.

The twin-engine platform has external similarities with the tail-aft “C103” design drawn by up the ADD. The aircraft is to be powered by two 18,000-pound engines, he added. The ADD had laid out another version dubbed the “C203,” which has horizontal stabilizers forward.

Eurofighter, too, touted its strong commitment to the KF-X in connection with the F-X.

“Our industrial participation package exceeded the requirement, and on top of that, we offered a direct investment of $2 billion in the KF-X program, should Eurofighter be selected for the F-X program,” said Vice President Peter Maute, head of Eurofighter sales for Cassidian, an EADS subsidiary.

Teamed with Eurofighter, the Eurojet consortium is eager to provide its EJ200 engine for the KF-X.

“We offer the transfer of certain high-end technology and the involvement of local industry,” said Clemens Linden, CEO at Eurojet Turbo GmbH. “We are prepared with this engine for the KF-X program to make it a local engine and are looking for partnerships here.”

Boeing is known to have offered an advanced version of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet for the KF-X platform.

USAF Pilots Develop F-22 'Rapid' Deploy

What began as an idea on a napkin in an Alaska bar is now a new US Air Force capability that could change how F-22s are deployed to the Pacific and around the world.

In 2008, two F-22 pilots came up with the idea to use a C-17 to help up to four Raptors rapidly deploy to any base when needed. The Globemaster could be loaded with all the equipment and weapons for the Raptors, and deploy to a forward operating base within days, if not hours.

“Back in 2008, no kidding, a couple fighter pilots were sitting in a bar looking at the threat out there, at the proliferation of long-range surface-to-air threats and anti-access/area-denial threats,” said Col. David Piffarerio, deputy commander of the 477th Fighter Group. “We wondered how do we get inside of this, how to keep the enemy off their game while advancing US power.”

Rapid Raptors: Three F-22 Raptors land at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, in May. Airmen have developed a plan to rapidly deploy F-22 to global hotspots using a C-17 to carry logistics gear

After years of development, the Rapid Raptor package began operational test and evaluation after a successful August demonstration at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

The basics of the idea are that a fighter squadron and aircraft maintenance unit would use a combination of four F-22s and a C-17 with a tailored maintenance package and trained personnel. Maintainers and ground crews would load the C-17 full of maintenance equipment and weapons and fly with the F-22s to bases that are determined by combatant commanders. It would cut out much of the planning, logistics and overhead that is traditionally needed to schedule a deployment, giving the Air Force the ability to quickly place its most capable fighter at places in the globe not traditionally available.

“If we can get these short-duration, short-term and quick deployments of smaller packages, we can establish in countries that aren’t crazy about us having bases or establishing a permanent presence,” Piffarerio said.

And in a conflict, the quick placement of the Raptors can impact anenemy’s decision-making cycle, he said.

The idea was developed under Pacific Command, meaning that the F-22s assigned to that area could be rapidly deployed to counter threats in the Asia-Pacific. The Air Force already regularly deploys F-22s to bases such as Kadena Air Base in Japan.

Hakimullah Mehsud killed by drone, Pakistan Taliban say

The strike targeted a vehicle used by Mehsud with four missiles in the north-western region of North Waziristan.

Four other people were killed in the strike, including two of Mehsud's bodyguards, intelligence sources say.

Several previous claims of his death, made by US and Pakistani intelligence sources, have proven untrue.

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Pakistan's government has issued a statement strongly condemning the drone attack, saying such strikes were a "violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity".

Friday's strike targeted Mehsud's vehicle in the Dande Darpakhel, some 5km (3miles) north of the region's main town, Miranshah.

A senior US intelligence official told the Associated Press that the US received positive confirmation on Friday morning that he had been killed.

However, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council said that "we are not in a position to confirm those reports, but if true, this would be serious loss for the... Taliban".

BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins says that however weakened the Taliban may be by this loss, they will fight on under a new leader.

Hakimullah Mehsud had come to prominence in 2007 as a commander under the militant group's founder Baitullah Mehsud, with the capture of 300 Pakistani soldiers adding to his prestige among the militants.

In January 2010 he gained further notoriety when he appeared in a video alongside a Jordanian who is said to have blown himself up, killing seven CIA agents in Afghanistan to avenge Baitullah Mehsud's death.

Hakimullah Mehsud had a $5m FBI bounty on his head and was thought to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.

Mehsud became leader of the Pakistani Taliban in 2009, aged 30, after Baitullah Mehsud died in a US drone strike at his father-in-law's residence in South Waziristan.

Hakimullah Mehsud spoke exclusively to the BBC in a recent interview

The strike against Baitullah Mehsud reportedly came after repeated complaints by Pakistani officials that the Americans were not hitting militant groups who attacked targets in Pakistan.