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25 Jul 19. Pakistan wants to create a self-reliant, self-sustained defense industry. The Pakistani government is promoting aims to increase public-private cooperation and develop a self-reliant, self-sustained defense industry. But the private sector is skeptical.
The aims were outlined by Army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, in a government-hosted seminar earlier this month, which included public and private sector representatives.
The seminar recommended establishment of a task force to develop a roadmap for aiding indigenous defense production, establishing a raw material industry in conjunction with the private sector, utilizing surplus production capacity for export, and establishing ‘digital parks’ to exploit software industry potential and promote university level research and development.
However, Shehzad Ahmed Mir, managing director of Bow Systems Ltd, a private sector defense contracting company, says bureaucratic resistance needs to be overcome.
“Army chiefs come and go, only policies stay. So far there is no government policy to support such repetitive statements made by many an armed forces chief,” he said.
Mir blames Pakistan’s civilian bureaucracy for resisting change.
“The problem lies in the acceptance of the bare fact that private industry can do the job far better, and at much lower cost than these bureaucrats. Unless the defense ministry in Pakistan seriously invites the private industry to sit across the table, go through a lengthy and complex process of negotiations to formulate a standard policy for such matters, such statements are worthless in the business world.”
Exports are a key aspect of the drive, but the problems Mir highlights have already taken their toll. For example, one of Pakistan’s main defense equipment exporters is state-owned Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF), but its main focus is meeting domestic military requirements. Only when these are fulfilled is any spare production capacity given over for commercial orders, which private defense contractors and even POF officials highlight as restricting export potential.
, Pakistan may already have killed off a golden egg laying goose.
The head of UAV firm Integrated Dynamics (ID), Raja S Khan, says the once thriving private UAV industry essentially collapsed when state bodies took their projects in house.
ID has had notable export success, including with U.S. Border Patrol. It is most renowned though for developing the Burraq armed drone (later used as a basis by the government’s Air Weapons Complex to develop the Shahpar UAV). China weaponized Burraq, further developing and successfully exporting it as the CH-3/5 series, for which Pakistan appears to receive nothing.
Khan believes the “major element” required to revive the industry and make it an export competitor is a UAV regulatory policy to “allow private sector entities to develop and test their designs.”
“India has recently introduced its UAV regulatory policy and is far more proactive in allowing its private sector a foothold in the global UAV industry by freely allowing test zones, development and access to regulatory permissions for registered users,” he noted. “Nothing of the sort exists in Pakistan and even a company with the track record of ID is at a loss to test new developments in the absence of regulatory permissions and no accessible or designated flight test zones.”
He is not optimistic for the future.
“The future of development and our export potential looks bleak unless these issues are addressed with policies formulated with UAV professionals on board.”
Mir agrees.
“Pakistan has the defense production equation all wrong and for the wrong reasons,” he said. “Unless that changes for the better and the private sector is not only asked to take the lead, but also the defense setups invest in conceptual programs, our defense needs will remain slave to the ‘no cost no obligation basis’ mantra of the military as a user.” (Source: Defense News)
25 Jul 19. North Korea’s Kim says missile test a warning to South Korean ‘warmongers.’ North Korea said on Friday its latest missile launch was a warning to South Korean “warmongers” to stop importing weapons and conducting joint military drills, a message that analysts said was also aimed at the United States.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally watched the test-fire of two short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, the first test since Kim met with U.S. President Donald Trump last month and agreed to revive denuclearization talks.
The missile tests raises doubts about the revival of denuclearization talks, which stalled after the collapse of a second summit between Kim and Trump in Hanoi in February.
“We cannot but develop nonstop super-powerful weapon systems to remove the potential and direct threats to the security of our country that exist in the south,” Kim said, according to state news agency KCNA.
An official at Seoul’s defense ministry said the missiles were believed to be a new type of short-range ballistic missile, an assessment echoed on Friday by the U.S.-South Korea Combined Forces Command (CFC).
A joint review with the United States showed that both missiles flew some 600 km (373 miles), further than similar previous missile tests, the defense official told Reuters.
The official also said the missiles bore features similar to Russia’ SS-26 Iskander and the ones the North tested in May – a relatively small, fast missile that experts say is easier to hide, launch and maneuver in flight.
A spokesman for the CFC said in a statement the launches were “not a threat directed at [South Korea] or the U.S., and have no impact on our defense posture.”
Pyongyang has shown increasing frustration via state media that South Korea has not followed through on promised economic cooperation or peace agreements, all while importing the latest F-35 stealth fighters and conducting military drills with the United States.
The KCNA report did not mention Trump or the United States, but said Kim criticized South Korean authorities for staging joint military exercises, which Trump promised to end after his first meeting with Kim in June 2018.
North Korea accused Washington of breaking that promise by planning to hold joint military exercises with South Korea next month and warned of a possible end to its freeze in nuclear and long-range missile tests.
While Friday’s message is very clearly directed at Seoul, it does send signals to Washington as well, said Jenny Town, managing editor at 38 North, a project that studies North Korea.
“On some level, this is like North Korea’s version of maximum pressure on South Korea and the United States.”
‘SOLEMN WARNING’
North Korean state newspaper Rodong Sinmun showed photos of the missile launching, Kim Jong Un looking through binoculars and at screens appearing to show the missile trajectory, and smiling and clapping with his officials.
Kim said the test was “a solemn warning to the south Korean military warmongers” and accused South Koreans of “double dealing” for saying they support peace but simultaneously importing new weapons and conducting military drills.
South Korea’s leader should stop such “suicidal acts” and “should not make a mistake of ignoring the warning,” Kim said.
Kim said he was satisfied with the rapid response and low-altitude trajectory of the weapon, which he said would make it difficult to intercept. North Korea may have made some modifications to its missiles since the May test, based on initial photos and the distances traveled, said Jeffrey Lewis, a missile researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS).
Kim Dong-yup, a former naval officer who teaches at Seoul’s Kyungnam University, said the North could have launched the same weapon as May but from the maximum firing angle this time.
“The latest launch has more political purposes as the North called it a show of force rather than firing drills like before, targeting the South’s weapons purchases and joint exercises with the United States,” Kim said.
Ballistic missile tests would be a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban North Korean use of such technology. North Korea rejects the restriction as an infringement of its right to self-defense.
When asked what message the Trump administration was taking from North Korea’s launch of short-range missiles, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News that prior to U.S.-North Korea negotiations Pyongyang had been engaged in activity “far more dangerous for America and Japan and for South Korea”.
Pompeo said when Kim met Trump at the DMZ he had agreed to “avoid launching intermediate-range and long-range ballistic missiles” and “put his negotiating team back in the game”. He said fresh talks were still possible.
“You know, lots of countries posture before they come to the table,” Pompeo told Fox News. (Source: Reuters)
25 Jul 19. New Chinese Defence White Paper sheds light and raises questions. The unprecedented economic rise of China has paved the way for its meteoric increase in military capability and geo-strategic designs for the Indo-Pacific. The new defence white paper, China’s National Defense in the New Era, identifies some old flash points and some new ones, with renewed direction focused on countering American-led aggression in the region.
Like every ascendent economic, political and strategic power China has used its period of rapid industrialisation and economic expansion to begin establishing its position within the broader global context – fuelled by a long memory of a “century of humiliation” at the hands of Western imperialism, finally ending with the successful Communist Revolution in 1949, China and its political leaders have dedicated the nation to establishing a new era of Chinese global primacy.
Recognising this, for the first time in four years the Chinese government has released its national defence white paper (DWP), titled China’s National Defense in the New Era, with a focus on responding to the rapidly deteriorating economic, political and strategic situation in both the Indo-Pacific and in the broader global context.
As China’s position within the global order has evolved and its ambitions towards the Indo-Pacific in particular have become increasingly apparent, the Chinese government, driven by an extremely ambitious leader, President Xi Jinping, has identified a number of factors of both ‘internal’ and ‘external’ concern for the rising superpower’s status.
These ‘concerns’ extend to traditional areas of Chinese focus, namely central Asia, Tibet and the Taiwan situation, and more concerning for nations like Australia – America’s resurgence, characterised by “intensified competition among major countries, significantly increased its defence expenditure, pushed for additional capacity in nuclear, outer space, cyber and missile defence, and undermined global strategic stability”. (Source: Defence Connect)
22 Jul 19. Indonesia outlines defence industrial priorities for 2020–24. The Indonesian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has called for greater levels of synergy between the government, military, and the national defence industry in efforts to improve indigenous military production capability.
The MoD said in a press release on 22 July that the requirement for enhanced collaboration is one of several priorities outlined for implementation in its 2020-24 defence industrial development plan. The plan, which will be overseen by the MoD’s Defence Industry Policy Committee (KKIP), coincides with the third and final phase of the Indonesian armed forces’ (Tentara Nasional Indonesia: TNI’s) modernisation programme called Minimum Essential Force (MEF).
In announcing the 2020-24 plan, Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said that Indonesia’s defence industry has improved capabilities following the enactment of the Defence Industry Law 2012 – also called Law 16 – which commits the MoD to procure from local industry whenever possible. Law 16 also states that when defence imports are pursued the foreign contractor delivers the contract through partnerships with local industry.
Ryacudu said local industry programmes supported through Law 16 include the local production of submarines, frigates, medium tanks, rockets, and munitions.
Ryacudu also stressed a requirement during the 2020-24 plan for government, the TNI, and local industry to expand co-operation and “synchronisation” to support local defence production. He also said that the TNI needed to “consistently prioritise” domestic products over defence imports. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
22 Jul 19. Iran says it disrupted US spy ring operating inside country. Official says network made up of 17 Iranian nationals who worked in military and nuclear centres. Iran claims to have demolished a spy ring of 17 Iranian nationals who worked in the country’s military and nuclear centres and were trained by US intelligence agents. An unnamed official in charge of the intelligence ministry’s anti-espionage operations told foreign reporters in Tehran on Monday that the US had expanded its espionage operations inside Iran under President Donald Trump. But Mike Pompeo, US secretary of state, cast doubt on the claims. “It’s part of their nature to lie to the world,” he told Fox News on Monday. “I would take with a significant grain of salt any Iranian assertion about actions they’ve taken.” Iran revealed the counter-espionage operation in the midst of a crisis sparked by Tehran’s seizure of a UK-flagged tanker on Friday, a show of force in retaliation for Britain’s capture of an Iranian vessel earlier this month. British prime minister Theresa May, who is scheduled to step down on Wednesday, was due to address the tanker seizure on Monday morning in a meeting of the UK government’s Cobra emergency response committee.
The Iranian intelligence official said some of the 17 alleged spies had been sentenced to death while some others were co-operating with Iran’s intelligence services to gather information from the US. The people, he said, were experts and technicians in “sensitive places” from which the US would like to collect more information. He said this included military and nuclear sites, adding that this network failed to do any major sabotage. He said there was no link between CIA and western and regional intelligence services for this operation. But he said some European and non-European countries were aware of the meetings in their countries. On Saturday Iran posted a video of its Revolutionary Guard descending from a helicopter and taking over the Stena Impero tanker as it passed through the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway on Friday, sharply raising tensions in the Islamic republic’s stand-off with the west. The seizure of the tanker was in retaliation for Britain’s decision to impound an Iranian tanker off the coast of Gibraltar earlier this month after it was suspected of shipping oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions. (Source: FT.com)
22 Jul 19. Does Israel’s Rafael foresee export potential? As maker of the Iron Dome and David’s Sling, Rafael has a strong foothold in Israel, where the country depends heavily on those air defense systems for its national security. The company is the 46th largest defense firm in the world, according to this year’s Top 100 list.
Yoav Har-Even, the company’s president and CEO, told Defense News at this year’s Paris Air Show that Rafael produces such equipment primarily “for the sake of the defense of Israel.” But that doesn’t mean there isn’t potential for foreign sales.
Rafael announced ahead of the Paris Air Show that it is incorporating artificial intelligence into its Spice bombs. Could you talk about that?
We integrate the artificial intelligence, as a matter of fact, to all our systems because when you look at the next challenge and the next solution, it should be based on artificial intelligence integrated or embedded. And since we are in this, we are a business of tracking targets, recognizing targets and then impacting the targets. We understand that artificial intelligence is part of it, to define which target is relevant, and then to designate the target, and then to send the right munition to the target.
This happens in an environment or could happen in an environment where there’s no GPS. Is that right?
Yeah. One of the benefits of what we are doing in the last 25 years is that we develop all of systems [as if they are] GPS-denied. I think this gives us an advantage.
I think that today, when you look at the challenges we are facing in traditional electronic warfare, that was only jamming radio networks. It’s now shifting, and you have a lot of GPS jamming, GPS spoofing. And the challenge is to give the ability to our customer to attack the relevant targets [in a GPS-denied environment].
Give me a scenario in terms of how this would function?
Let’s take, for example, what we present here for the Spice 250 – two capabilities that we present here. The first one is attacking a moving target without a GPS, without a man in the loop. So you just need a source that will find or define what is the target — a moving one — and the moment you send the munition, the seeker will find all the moving targets, you will choose the most relevant one; so it will be with a man in the loop or without a man in the loop. The pilot can say, “Now listen, I would like to choose another target,” and select it – although most of the time the computer selects the best one – and then the bomb will glide to the moving target without the man in the loop, autonomously, and detonate on the target. So this is one example.
Another one is the automatic target recognition, or ATR. Basically one of the challenges is that you will have a lot of targets. … The computer will communicate to the bomb what are the most relevant targets, and then it will find the target. The most relevant target will do the ATR, without the man in the loop, and will attack the target.
The company has been developing this technology for some time because you have experience with an environment where GPS is not available. This is something that the U.S. is looking for and is a technology that it’s still learning. I would argue the U.S. has admitted it’s not as advanced as other markets. Do you see potential for global sales, specifically to the United States?
Yeah, I think this is something that we fully understand. We have an advantage, and of course we now sometimes have to convince the customer the GPS is the big advantage but sometimes it can be a disadvantage. And in a sense it’s kind of — I wouldn’t say educating the market, because the market understands it, but to adapt a different way of attacking targets. It’s all a concept. It’s not only the attacking. I think it’s also connected to the targeting process: What are your sensors? Have you integrated your sensor automatically to the shooter? Have you used this or that analysis, [put] big data and artificial intelligence into your sensors?
And now this is already being purchased or ordered by the Israeli military.
Yeah, well, the Israeli Air Force is our customer. In our vision in the company, the vision states that we have to work for the sake of the state of Israel. It’s quite a unique one, quite a unique vision. And then we set about [saying]: “OK, we would like to build the most advanced, working globally, supporting our customer.” But this is how we start.
And maybe because we are 100 percent owned by the government, maybe because we consider ourselves as the national laboratory, so of course all our systems are developed first of all for the sake of the defense of Israel. And then we ask ourselves: Can we do business?
The perfect example of that is Iron Dome, which has seen amazing success in Israel. Now there’s interest from the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps. How’s that going?
We are in the process of answering all [their] questions. I think to answer the questions about the technical issues, about what are the capabilities, of course it’s combat-proven. And I think the decision has been made. [The Army decided to] take at least two batteries of the Iron Dome.
Is that a sign of more to come?
I think it’s a very good way of doing business. “First of all, let’s take the system. Let’s see whether it fits our requirements.” Because you know it’s not necessarily the same requirements, although when you look at Iron Dome as an air defense system and you understand the changes of air defense, you understand that the future air defense challenges are not necessarily attacking the aircraft, but they should attack the ammunition, no matter whether the ammunition is going to be an artillery shell or a long-range rocket.
And this is why Iron Dome, I think, is very good for short air defense needs. And the attitude to take two systems, to learn the systems, to learn the capability — not only from the technical point of view but also from the tactics, techniques and operational procedures — I think it’s a good attitude.
In regard to the Iron Dome, what are some of the requirements, the operations that the company or the U.S. would envision?
For example, if it’s going to be a tactical air defense system, maybe it should be with much more maneuverability capabilities, so this is why we start working on the concept of what we called the I-Dome. It’s to integrate a launcher, a radar, maybe a small radar — not as large as we use for Iron Dome for a stationary mission — and the battle management system inside the truck, so it will be able to maneuver with the troops.
You’re in partnership with Raytheon on the Iron Dome, as well as some other projects. How is that relationship, and how has it eased the process of being able to work with the United States?
We have been working in the United States for more than 25 years, and the way that we are doing business — and we are very satisfied — is that we are working with the tier-one companies. We understand that at the end of the day the U.S. customer would like to see a U.S. entity. When you pick up the phone, you would like to have someone from the United States that will be able to give him the added value of, for example, cybersecurity and other classified issues.
So we are working with Northrup Grumman for more than 25 years on the Litening [targeting pod]. We are working with Raytheon on Iron Dome and David’s Sling. We’re working with BAE Systems on the remote control weapon system for the Navy. We are working with Lockheed Martin for our missiles and our spies. So in a sense we understand that you have to work with those partners.
Speaking of David’s Sling, I know Rafael was asked by Switzerland to participate in a competition for missile defense, David’s Sling being the specific system the country was interested in. Rafael decided not to do that. Can you explain?
I wouldn’t say that Rafael decided not to do this, and I can’t get into all the details. As a matter of fact, the request was sent to the Israeli government.
And there was some contact between the Israeli government and Switzerland. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, but I hope we’ll still have an opportunity to do something like this in the future.
Can you elaborate on what happened?
I might have some assumption, but I prefer not to share it with you.(Source: Defense News Early Bird/Defense News)
22 Jul 19. Influence or profit? Russia’s defense industry is at a crossroads. Russia has long been one of the world’s largest arms dealers, reporting about $15bn in sales annually. It is an important business for Moscow, especially in times of economic strain on its defense budget. Foreign sales help keep the industrial base healthy and working, and Russian hardware is renowned for being comparable to Western wares at lower prices. It also helps that Russia is willing to sell to just about anyone. But global arms sales have always had a political element, and Russia is no different. Many of Moscow’s friends and allies are more cash-strapped than the clients typically enjoyed by Western defense firms. And if a regime is close enough to the Kremlin, Russian state banks and corporations will often provide loans to finance large purchases of Russian hardware.
“Often, loans are provided for politically driven arms contracts,” said Robert Lee, a former fellow at the Russian think tank Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, who is currently studying for his doctorate in war studies at Kings College London.
“Russia generally won’t make a profit off of these contracts, but they do provide work for Russian defense companies by supporting employment, keeping production lines running and lowering costs for domestic procurements,” he added.
The practice of issuing loans to coax sales from less prosperous customers has become increasingly common over the past decade as sales slumped and Russia’s political ambitions on the world stage began to broaden. President Vladimir Putin endorsed the practice during an April 2013 meeting on the arms export industry.
“Some countries are simply short of money at the moment and find it more expedient to prolong the service life of the arms and equipment they already have,” Putin said. “Timely loans made on market terms will help to promote our goods and create markets for subsequent maintenance of goods and for later sales of additional equipment and spare parts.”
There are many examples of this in practice, though they tend to be on a small scale. Last year, Moscow approved a $200 m loan to Armenia for anti-aircraft and radar systems. Bangladesh in 2013 was given an $800 m loan for training jets. Cuba, too, was issued a $50m loan. The financial risk to Russia, if these customers default, is low.
Not only are the majority of these loan arrangements minor, but they often exclude high-end Russian weaponry and are targeted at members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a loosely bound post-Soviet security bloc. They help keep post-Soviet states locked into Russian military equipment — and, by extension, Russia’s sphere of influence.
However, these customers represent a very small slice of Russia’s export business. Economic considerations trump all others when it comes to Moscow’s largest customers: India and China. Russia knows both can and will pay in cash.
But when the conditions and politics are right, Moscow will offer a loan to states ready to spend; look no further than Turkey.
In December 2017, Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov said that 55 percent of Turkey’s $2.5bn purchase of four Russian S-400 air defense systems was financed by a Russian loan. The deal was a major political coup for Moscow, sparking tensions between Turkey and its NATO allies, who eschew the use of Russian equipment.
Though he has specifically endorsed the practice, Putin in 2013 was careful to qualify the nature of his support. “These loans must be based on market principles and not be like the loans the Soviet Union used to accord for ideological reasons, and that no one ever saw again,” he said. One example: Algeria racked up more than $10 bn in loan-financed Soviet hardware by 1989.
Whether or not this has been taken to heart is open to debate. Russia’s largest-scale finance scheme — over $10bn in loans to Venezuela since the mid-2000s — has blown up in its face.
The first $2bn loan came in 2009, after former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez became one of the first leaders to recognize two Russian-backed breakaway republics on Georgian territory. The second and third loans, worth $4bn each, were issued in 2012 and 2014. Each loan was used to buy tanks, airplanes, helicopters, missiles and small arms.
Venezuela began to default on its payments at least two years ago, forcing Russia to restructure the deal into a 10-year financing plan. And the country has now reportedly fallen behind on these adjusted payment schedules. In 2019, Venezuela demonstrated the limits to which political favor and utility for the Kremlin can be stretched, and business again becomes business.
Over the past several months, Rostec and Rosoboronexport have reportedly withdrawn most of their presence from Venezuela — once up to 2,000 personnel, according to some estimates.
Caracas cannot pay, and these entities are primarily concerned with profit. Even in cases where they’re supporting Russia’s foreign policy interests and accepting low margins, money is still coming in. But when the money dries up, the Russian defense industry leaves.
Recently, as the Russian Defence Ministry’s overall budget and equipment surplus has grown, the military has played a direct role in equipment transfers. Syria receives free or reduced-cost surplus hardware and services from the Russian military. This is now happening in Venezuela.
Beyond Syria and Venezuela, the Russian military’s turn of fortune has allowed it to play a more active role in foreign policy by arms transfers — all for the same reasons Rostec and Rosoboronexport are tapped to help the Kremlin’s political ambitions. For example, Russia has reportedly persuaded Nicaragua into hosting an intelligence outpost in exchange for free hardware.
“These small states might vote with Russia at the U.N. or provide other political benefits with minimal cost,” Lee said. “Virtually all of the weapons delivered for free are from the Russian Defence Ministry, and sometimes they’ll modernize them a little before delivery. But for the most part, they receive cheap military stockpiles.”
23 Jul 19. Money isn’t everything: Pakistan seeks more than US funds in meeting with Trump. U.S. President Donald Trump pressed Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday to help “extricate” the U.S. from its war in Afghanistan, dangling the restoration of American aid and other economic incentives. Since the U.S. suspended $1.3bn in aid to the economically ailing country in early 2018, the two sides seemed poised for a reset this week. The two leaders suggested they wanted stronger ties on security and trade — and, according to Trump, that the aid might be restored.
“All of that money can come back, depending on what we work out,” Trump told reporters ahead of a meeting between the two leaders at the White House on Monday.
Pakistan may, in the coming days, help end the Taliban’s reluctance to deal directly with the Afghan government, Khan said. The prime minister said he never believed there would be a military solution and that a peace deal appeared closer than ever.
“Pakistan needs stability,” Khan said. “We have 15 years of fighting this war on terror, over 70,000 Pakistani casualties, over $150 bn lost to the economy. … We desperately want peace, and I am happy President Trump has pushed this forward.”
Author, analyst and former Australian defense attache to Islamabad, Brian Cloughley, believes Pakistan would be interested in a resumption of military aid, though the government understands that Trump’s view of international relations is transactional.
Despite diversifying its supplier portfolio, Pakistan has important American-made equipment in service and, according to Pakistan analyst Kamal Alam, needs military-specific aid, notably AH-1Z helicopter gunships and special operations equipment to meet counterinsurgency needs.
Though it is fencing the Afghan-Pakistan border to stymie infiltration, the Pakistani military knows American equipment would make this effort more effective, and this may be the primary area of focus for resumed military aid. The military would also like to replace its P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, potentially with the Boeing-made P-8A Poseidon.
Pakistan is also seeking U.S. clearance for RIM-116 missile systems, which would serve as the primary air-defense system for the country’s Ada-class corvettes designed by Turkey. Pakistan “needs a good working relationship with the U.S., regardless of whether it is getting any aid,” Cloughley noted.
Of the rocky relationship between Washington and Islamabad, Trump said Pakistan’s previous leaders did not respect the U.S. or his predecessors in office — presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Trump assessed the relationship was on the upswing under himself and Khan, a former sports star who took office in August.
“Pakistan was not doing anything for us, they were really, I think, subversive. They were going against us,” Trump said.
The U.S. announced in January 2018 that it was suspending $900 m of security aid to Pakistan for failing to act against Taliban militants. That included $255mi for Pakistani purchases of American military equipment.
As of Monday morning, the decision remained in effect. But according to a U.S. State Department official, the Trump administration is constantly evaluating the policy, as the president said he might resume aid if warranted by Pakistan’s actions. Trump is also willing to approve specific exceptions to the suspension for programs determined to be in the United States’ national security interest.
Historically, these security assistance programs with Pakistan supported projects for the Pakistan Army, Air Force and Navy, as well as accountability monitoring of American equipment. Those projects were developed with the Pakistani military to support its counterterrorism, counterinsurgency and self-defense requirements, the official said.
Over the past 15 years, Pakistan received roughly $15bn in Coalition Support Funds meant to reimburse support for U.S. operations; roughly $4bn in Foreign Military Financing funds used to purchase American equipment; about $1.4bn in the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund to build Pakistan’s counterinsurgency capability; and approximately $52m in International Military Education and Training funds. (Source: Defense News)
23 Jul 19. Australian Special Operations demonstrate lethal capability. The special operators of the Sydney-based Tactical Assault Group – East (TAG-E) have taken to the air, land and sea to perfect key capabilities around the east coast. Sailing through Sydney Harbour, the first sign things were amiss was the dull thump of helicopter blades, barely audible over the water rushing past the bow of the ferry.
Seconds later, 2nd Commando Regiment soldiers disembarked from rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RHIB) and climbed over the side rails, while their comrades fast roped onto the deck from a hovering Black Hawk, supported by snipers in another Black Hawk providing aerial fire support.
They stormed through the ferry and subdued all the threats they met. Within minutes they had the ferry under control, the threats neutralised and the hostages saved.
Seconds later, 2nd Commando Regiment soldiers disembarked from rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RHIB) and climbed over the side rails, while their comrades fast roped onto the deck from a hovering Black Hawk, supported by snipers in another Black Hawk providing aerial fire support.
They stormed through the ferry and subdued all the threats they met. Within minutes they had the ferry under control, the threats neutralised and the hostages saved.
The scenario was part of Exercise MARS Rotor Anchor Toothfish (RAT), a key exercise for the Sydney-based TAG-E – the ADF’s ‘in extremis’ counter-terrorism force drawn from 2nd Commando Regiment .
Along with the maritime counter-terrorism exercise on Sydney Harbour, MARS RAT also included a ship-at-anchor recovery of a large merchant vessel off Port Kembla, NSW, and a co-ordinated split assault on two linked strongholds: a high-rise in Melbourne’s CBD and shipping facility in Hobart. (Source: Defence Connect)
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About Lincad
Lincad is a leading expert in the design and manufacture of batteries, chargers and associated products for a range of applications across a number of different sectors. With a heritage spanning more than three decades in the defence and security sectors, Lincad has particular expertise in the development of reliable, ruggedised products with high environmental, thermal and electromagnetic performance. With a dedicated team of engineers and production staff, all product is designed and manufactured in-house at Lincad’s facility in Ash Vale, Surrey. Lincad is ISO 9001 and TickITplus accredited and works closely with its customers to satisfy their power management requirements.
Lincad is also a member of the Joint Supply Chain Accreditation Register (JOSCAR), the accreditation system for the aerospace, defence and security sectors, and is certified with Cyber Essentials, the government-backed, industry supported scheme to help organisations protect themselves against common cyber attacks. The majority of Lincad’s products contain high energy density lithium-ion technology, but the most suitable technology for each customer requirement is employed, based on Lincad’s extensive knowledge of available electrochemistries. Lincad offers full life cycle product support services that include repairs and upgrades from point of introduction into service, through to disposal at the end of a product’s life. From product inception, through to delivery and in-service product support, Lincad offers the high quality service that customers expect from a recognised British supplier.
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