11 Jul 14. DCNS Cuts Deal With Egypt for 4 Gowind Ships. French shipbuilder DCNS has sold four Gowind warships to Egypt, with the first 2,500-ton corvette to be built in France and the remaining three in Alexandria through a technology transfer, a company spokesman said Friday. The contract was signed in June and has now gone into effect, the spokesman said. The spokesman declined to confirm the €1bn (US $1.4bn) value for the four units reported on the website La Tribune.
This is a “major program for the Egyptian Navy,” he said.
A further two units are held as options, the spokesman said. The deal includes DCNS? Setis combat management system and is seen as a boost for Egyptian local industry. (Source: Defense News)
09 Jul 14. HAL issues RfI for help with stalled IJT programme. India’s state-owned company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) issued a global request for information (RfI) on 30 June seeking technical assistance aimed at streamlining the overweight Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT).
The RfI – responses to which are invited by 14 August – seeks “partnership, technical assistance or consultancy services from experienced airframe designers” to help HAL slim down the IJT’s weight of 4,150 kg in its normal training configuration. This includes provision for two pilots and fuel, but with no external stores. “HAL is envisaging achieving the maximum possible weight reduction/optimisation for the aircraft (IJT) … while ensuring its required strength, stiffness and fatigue criteria,” the RfI stated. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
11 Jul 14. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has held his first meeting with his Japanese counterpart since the government in Tokyo announced it would reinterpret the country’s pacifist constitution to allow Japan to take on greater military responsibilities beyond self-defense.
Hagel met at the Pentagon today with Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera and in a joint press conference afterward said the United States strongly supports the move, calling the decision by Japan’s government bold and historic. If approved by parliament, Hagel said the change would enable the U.S. ally “to significantly increase its contribution to regional and global security and expand its role on the world stage.” The United States and Japan will work together now to revise U.S.-Japan defense guidelines. “Today, we confirm that these new guidelines should be in place by the end of this year,” Hagel said. The revisions will allow Japan to participate more fully in such areas as ballistic missile defense, counterproliferation, counterpiracy, peacekeeping, and a wide range of military exercises. The two countries also will be able to work more closely together on maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and other areas, Hagel said. “We can raise our alliance to a new level, and we intend to do that,” he said. The two said they discussed what the United States and Japan will do to modernize the alliance to ensure it is prepared to address emerging threats and challenges. Onodera said he and Hagel also discussed security in the broader Asia Pacific region. Hagel reiterated the longstanding U.S. position on a territorial dispute that the Senkaku Islands, also claimed by China, are under Japan’s administrative control and fall under the U.S.-Japan mutual security treaty. “The United States opposes any attempts by any country to change the status quo through destabilizing unilateral actions, and we oppose any effort to restrict overflight or freedom of navigation,” Hagel said. China declared an air defense zone over the islands last year. Both defense leaders stressed the importance of good relations with China. (Source: US DoD)
12 Jul 14. Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Toshimitsu Motegi was in Israel this week to sign a first-of-its-kind industrial R&D collaboration agreement with Israel’s Minister of Economy Naftali Bennett. Israel is the first country with which Japan has such an