BY : BBC



Disgraced scientist AQ Khan has said that Pakistan transported nuclear material to North Korea with the full knowledge of the country's army.

In media interviews, he said that the army supervised a flight of centrifuges to Pyongyang in 2000.

At the time, the current President Pervez Musharraf was head of the army.

He has repeatedly stated that no-one apart from Dr Khan had any knowledge of the nuclear transportations which caused international concern.

BY : THE HINDU

The Indian Navy, which commissioned its first Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) squadron at Kochi two and half years ago, plans to operate UAVs from the Naval Air Station at Uchipuli near here.

This is expected to enhance the Navy’s surveillance capability along the coast off Tamil Nadu from Tuticorin to Chennai and the sea around southern peninsula. The move is considered an “imperative” step in the context of the prolonged war between Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The programme took shape after the recent visits of Vice Admiral Raman Prem Suthan, Vice Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma, Flag Officer

BY : Timesonline



The Royal Navy was promoted into the maritime superleague yesterday when ministers signed the long-awaited contract for two 65,000-tonne aircraft carriers.

They will be the second biggest of their kind in the world, each the size of the QE2. Only the American Nimitz Class aircraft carriers, at 90,000 tonnes, have a more impressive tonnage.

The Ministry of Defence went ahead despite a stretched defence budget and murmurings about the near £4 billion price tag and the wisdom of building such huge warships.

Admiral Sir Jonathon Band, the First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, said the signing - on board HMS Ark Royal, one of the existing, much smaller carriers - was

BY : Kanwa Defense Review Monthly

After 10 years of steady effort, both India and China have made significant qualitative changes in their navies. In terms of submarine capabilities – the construction of SSNs and SSBNs – China is now far ahead of India, however.

China has built two 094 SSBNs and two 093 SSNs, along with JL2 and JL1M submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) that are ready to go into service in the PLA Navy, if they have not already done so.

In contrast, India is only preparing to receive one Russian-made Akura SSN for testing purposes by the end of 2008. In February 2008, the Indian Navy also launched from under water a 700-kilometer-range K-15 ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

BY : Reuters

Brazil's air force has launched the process to buy at least 36 fighter jets as part of a broader plan to modernize after most of its neighbors overhauled their fleets, officials said on Thursday.

Brazil wants to buy and build equipment to defend offshore oil assets and a porous Amazon border threatened by armed drug-traffickers and foreign guerrillas.

In February, Colombia ordered 24 Kfir bomber jets from Israel, while Venezuela acquired 24 Russian Sukhoi jets and said last month it is considering buying more. Chile bought new Boeing F-16s and Peru decided to upgrade its jets.

Upon taking office in January 2003, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva scrapped

BY : PTI

With China rapidly modernising its military, India needs to be wary of likely implications, which will impact the nation's security, Army chief Deepak Kapoor warned today. "We need to take note of likely implications of China's military modernisation, improvement in infrastructure in Tibet Autonomous Region and other related issues, which could impact our security in the long run," Kapoor said here. Delivering the 'National Security Lecture' at the strategic affairs think tank Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), Kapoor said China, the largest and the most powerful neighbour, and a rapidly rising power, continued on the path of high economic growth, combined with rapid military modernisation. In his lecture on

BY : AVIATION WEEK




The Netherlands defense ministry refuses to include Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in an evaluation of potential candidates for its next-generation fighter requirement.

Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor also will not be considered, despite a direct request from the country's Parliament to include both U.S. fighters in an evaluation of potential alternatives to the Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

BY : IndianExpress


India will get its first Akula class Russian nuclear submarine in 2009, equipping its navy with the quietest and lethal underwater war machine after a gap of 17 years to enhance its blue water capabilities.

Factory trials of the multi-role nuclear submarine, christened INS Chakra which India-will get on a 10-year-lease, commenced on June 11 at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur shipyard and will be followed by sea trials, Russian defence sources said, adding it will be delivered by September 2009.

According to experts, Chakra would help India fill the void caused by the delays in the indigenous Advanced Technology Vessel project to build a nuclear powered, guided missile attack submarine.

Three Indian naval crews for the nuclear submarine have already been trained at the specially set up training centre in Sosnovy Bor near St. Petersburg.

This facility would also be used for training crews for the Indian nuclear submarines of ATV project currently in the advanced stages of development, sources said.

BY : PIB


In a path breaking development, India and Brazil have entered into a deal to jointly develop an Early Warning System for the Indian Air Force. The agreement was signed here today by Dr. S Christopher, Director, Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS), DRDO, and Mr. Luis Carlos Aguiar, Executive Vice President (Defence and Govt. Market), M/s Embraer in the presence of Mr. Marco Brandao, Brazilian Ambassador and Shri M Natarajan, Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister.

The Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) System is being developed by the Bangalore based CABS for the Indian Air Force. Under the deal, Brazil's Embraer aircraft manufacturer will modify its regional jet aircraft, EMB-145 to carry the Active Array Antenna Unit (AAAU), developed by the DRDO, on the aircraft's fuselage. Three modified EMB-145 aircraft will be developed under this agreement; the first one to be delivered in three years.

BY : TNN

Even as it pushes Sri Lanka to renew political efforts towards resolving its bloody ethnic strife, India is virtually throwing open the doors of its different military institutions to train Sri Lankan soldiers.

In 2008-2009 alone, over 500 Sri Lankan officers and other ranks will receive training in institutions ranging from Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School at Vairengte (Mizoram) to School of Artillery at Devlali (Maharashtra), apart from undergoing specialised naval courses in gunnery, navigation, communication and anti-submarine warfare, say sources.

This comes even as India has also stepped up military supplies to Sri Lankan forces,