USAF Buys Prop Bomber For Afghanistan

The USAF has selected the A-29 Super Tucano for its Light Air Support program. The Super Tucano was designed by the Brazilian-based company Embraer but will contract out to Florida-based Sierra Nevada to complete 20 Super Tucanos for $427.5 million. They will be sent to Afghanistan and be given to the Afghan Air Force as US forces leave the country. The Light Air Support program has faced harsh criticism from Air Force officials in the past who did not want to buy low-cost propeller driven attack planes but in times of tightening budgets and the need to hand off aircraft that Afghans will find useful and operable the low cost, high capacity Super Tucano won the contract over some interesting rivals. 

Italian Election Solves No Problems

The general election in Italy ended in a political gridlock as no party was able to gain a majority in the senate while in the house a coalition of the center-left Italy Common Good gained enough support to gain a majority. In the senate, the votes gained by upstart former comedian Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement that is against the euro prevents an active coalition being formed. Former Prime Minister Silvio Burlusconi's People of Freedom coalition gained 29.1% of the vote despite Burlusconi being on trial for seeing an underage prostitute with the promise of repealing a recent property tax that has proven very unpopular. Economists fear an economic downturn based on gridlock, the showing of the anti-euro faction, and the probability of another election soon. New austerity measures, which many see as essential to the Italian economy are politically impossible with the outcome of the election. 

India Launches 7 Satellites On One Rocket

India launched its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle   from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India with seven satellites on board, including an Indo-French weather satellite, a satellite to detect asteroids, and two small space telescopes. It was the 23rd successful launch of the PSLV. 

Arrow 3 Missile Defense System Successfully Tested By Israel

The Israeli Defense Ministry announced that it conducted a successful test of its new high altitude missile defense system, the Arrow 3. The system is a joint project of the Israeli Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure and the US Defense Department's Missile Defense Agency. The Arrow 3 is the long range interceptor of the Israeli anti-missile system that includes the successfully deployed "Iron Dome" used for short ranged missiles. The Arrow reached an altitude of 100 kilometers, attained hypersonic speed, but did not intercept another missile, that will come at a later test. according to officials. 

South Africa To Investigate Zimbabwe's Mugabe For Crimes Against Humanity

   The South Africa's Priority Crimes Litigation Unit of National Prosecuting Authority and the Directorate for the Priority Crime Investigation Unit of the Police Service are to open an investigation of the use of wide-spread rape by members of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's political party ZANU-PF as a political tool in the 2008 presidential election according to NGO AIDS Free World. A South African court ruled in 2012 that the country was obligated to investigate the charges due to international law obligations. This may be the first time that "universal jurisdiction" has been claimed in a rape case. 
   Evidence has been gathered from 84 victims in Zimbabwe that have identified over 200 perpetrators and organizers. According to the reports rapists would wear ZANU-PF shirts, sing party songs and made political statements. Victims would be taken to party camps that may be used during this year's election and raped on average at least five times but that may be an underestimate since many of the women fell unconscious during the rapes. None of the rapists have been charged by Zimbabwe authorities. 
   The investigation is seen as putting Mugabe on notice that he is being watched while a constitutional referendum and a national election go on this year. Zimbabwe refuses to ratify the International Criminal Court and is protected from investigation by China's UN veto. There are also reports that civil society leaders in Zimbabwe have been arrested or attacked in recent weeks in advance of the votes. 

Syrian Foreign Minister Opens Door For Talks With Rebels

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallem said in Moscow that the government is ready to hold talks with all parties to end the two-year long civil war in the country. In a press conference before meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Al-Muallem also indicated that there was willingness to create a new coalition that would be willing to negotiate with both internal and external opposition. Lavrov also stressed that a political solution is the only alternative, this is contrasted by US Secretary of State John Kerry's proclamation that Assad must go. This comes after a Syrian opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib last week rejected talks while in Moscow and a statement earlier today saying that the government has not contacted the opposition to open talks and criticized Moscow for not condemning the killing in Syria.

US To Fly 140000 Tear Gas Bombs To Egypt

   According to reports on January 28, 2013 a permit was obtained from the US government by the Egyptian government to buy 140000 tear gas canisters since current stocks have been depleted over the course of two years of revolution and strife.  A letter from the Egyptian Interior Ministry to the Defense Ministry asked that an order for more bombs be made because the incidents were ongoing and that they were needed to preserve the nation's safety from rioters. The Interior Ministry also asked that the shipment be sent by air after a delay in sea transportation because of an 'urgent need.' 
   A US State Department spokesperson, when asked about the transfer, said, "Whether we're talking about Egypt or any other country or any other country on the planet, frankly, we support the right of peaceful protest as one means for citizens to express themselves to their government. But the protest has to be peaceful and the response to the protest has to be restrained and peaceful on the part of the government." 
    Letters between the Egyptian Interior and Defense Ministries indicate that the permit from the US was only allowed after the tear gas had labels of the country of origin removed from them. This is in response to pictures like the one posted above of a tear gas canister used against protesters in Tahrir Square in Egypt in 2011 that show that the tear gas was made in the US state of Pennsylvania. 

Bulgarian Government Falls Due to Austerity Protests

    On February 21st the Bulgarian parliament accepted the resignation of the government in the wake of a three week long bloody protest against current austerity policies that have seen electricity cost clime over 13% in the last six months. Mismanagement and corruption, including accusations of a proposed electrical board commissioner were also points of the protest. While the austerity policies have hit the weak middle class in the country they have enabled the government to avoid asking for a financial bail-out. A caretaker government will be appointed and elections will be held in April or May. In the meantime, the contract with a Czech electrical firm, which is one of the three main power suppliers in the country, will be reviewed. 
    Protester's chants of "No parties!" have underlined the public discontent in the current political system. Price fixing by the electrical firms have squeezed people on fixed incomes who now have a power bill in excess of their monthly funds. Protesters have specific demands that would promote government openness: cancellation of electricity contracts and nationalization of future ones, declassification and revision of all privatization contracts over the last 24 years, an end to the privatization process, formation of a constituent assembly to revise the constitution with specific measures to move the legislature closer to the people. Bulgaria is just the latest western country to feel pressure from common citizens since the 2008 financial crisis. 

China Planned To Use Drone To Bomb Drug Lord In Myanmar

Chinese newspaper Global Times announced that in April China planed to use a drone to assassinate a drug lord named Nam Kham suspected to have been responsible for the killing of 13 Chinese sailors. Later, the drug lord was captured in Laos by Laotian and Chinese authorities. Reports did not indicate if the Chinese planned informing Myanmar of the strike set to be made in the northern part of the country which has long been a troubled area for the central government. The drone would have been guided by Chinese the 16 satellite global positioning system called Beidou. Increasingly, powerful countries with the capabilities are violating the sovereignty of other countries with little or no warning for national security concerns. 

Tunisian Prime Minister Resigns

Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali resigned as promised today after failing to form a new government. The previous government fell in early February after the main opposition party left in response to the assassination of opposition leader Chokri Belaid. Jebali, leader of the Islamist Ennahda party was trying to form a non-political caretaker government without consulting his party or the secular opposition. The proposed new cabinet was rejected on February 18 by the parliament. Jebali stated that he would not try to form another government without assurances about the timelines of another election and a new constitution. 

Afghan President Bans NATO Airstrikes Called By Afghan Forces

On February 18th Afghan President Hamid Karzai banned Afghan forces from calling in NATO airstrikes in residential areas. This is in response to an airstrike which killed 4 militants and ten civilians the previous week. The order, directed at the defense ministry, the interior ministry, and the National Directorate of Security states that, "During operations, you do not call for air support from international forces operations in residential areas." Currently, NATO forces only use airstrikes as a last resort in defensive conditions. The NATO rule went into effect last June when 18 civilians were killed in an airstrike at what turned out to be a wedding. US forces say they will abide by the new rule and that it will not impede security functions. 

India Buys French Surface-To-Air Missiles for $6 Billion

    French President Francois Hollande visited India on 14 February and finished an arms deal of $6 billion to co-develop short-range surface-to-air missiles. Most surface-to-air missiles in the current inventory of the Indian armed forces come from Russia. Also discussed at the bilateral meeting were nuclear power cooperation and a final push for the Dassault Rafale, which has failed to find any foreign buyers in ten years, to win India's Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft competition, the biggest foreign arms contract in a generation. 

Mali: Links Between Tuareg Coup Leader And Islamist Revealed

     New sources suggest that the Islamist push into southern Mali in January was to help trigger a putsch in Bamako by Tuareg military forces led by Captain Amadou Sanogo who changed sides when French forces intervened. This week, Sanogo was named to a military review board by Malian President Dioncounda Traore in order to separate him from Tuareg troops. There was to be a general partition of the country by the jihadist group Ansar Eddine in the north and Taureg forces in the south. If the Taureg overthrow of Tarore had been successful it would have prevented UN approved intervention by West African states. French intervention seems to have made the Taureg forces change direction and help the government in Bamako for now.
       Meanwhile, troops from the Economic Community of West African States  have been asking Malian civilians to supply them with food. Over seven thousand troops from Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo and others have been pledged for the operation. It is hoped that these troops will gain UN recognition and financial backing to help stabilize the country after the French troops who led the attack against Ansar Eddine in January. 

US GAO Warns Of Weather Satellite Coverage Gap

The US Government Accounting Office today issued a report saying that gaps in satellite weather coverage are at high risk. The Joint Polar Satellite System that is supposed to replace the previous generation Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites have been behind schedule and over budget for at least three years. The GAO report estimates that the current JPSS prototype in orbit will last three years while the NASA/NOAA authority that build and run the systems say it will last a total of five years. Cost overruns, missed project milestones, technical and management problems associated with the five sophisticated sensors that make up the JPSS in the GAO report. The report also predicted that there might be a 17 to 53 month gap between the failure of the current prototype and the first JPSS. A the chief of the World Meteorological Organization's space observation program warned that as much as 40% of the data used in current weather forecast models would be lost if polar coverage is lost. 

Correa Wins Reelection In Ecuador By Wide Margin

    Rafael Correa yesterday won a third term as Ecuador's president with an impressive 63% of the vote on Sunday.  Guillermao Lasso, a former Correa supporter, had 21% and right-wing candidate Lucio Gutierrez had 6%. Correa has been considered a populist who has dropped the poverty rate in Ecuador by five percentage points by lavish spending on social programs backed by oil exports mainly to China. He has taken criticism from the left for attacks on press liberties and for not supporting locals opposed to heavy mining in the country. International critics in the west have lambasted him as a populist strongman when he defaulted on $3.9 billion in foreign investment obligations when he first took office and when he granted asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange last year.
 

China Takes Over Naval Base in Pakistan

Today China took control of a naval installation in Gwadar, Pakistan to help secure oil shipments from the Persian Gulf to China as a part of its so-called "String of Pearls" basing strategy. China mainly funded the Gwadar port as a commercial concern by paying over $250 million in 2007 but Pakistani authorities did not connect the port to the local rail and road system making it a commercial failure for the Singapore-based company that transferred control of the port to a Chinese state-owned company today as announced by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari today. The base would give the Chinese Navy better access to the Arabian Sea and is much closer to their oil exporters. Indian Defense Minister AK Antony took note of the transfer publicly and expressed concern of an encirclement of India if all of the "String of Pearls" ports come under Chinese control.

Congo Security Arrangement To Be Signed

     UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon later this month will sign a security peace deal with several African states to end conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Eleven nations, including the DRC, Congo, South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Angola, and Burundi have signaled the UN that they are ready to sign the agreement that would set up an international force of local countries to stabilize the eastern part of the DRC which has long been an area rife with militia groups that pay little attention to the government in Kinshasa. An agreement was due to be signed at the African Union in January but South Africa and others complained that the UN did not share details with the governments about specifics of the deal, supposedly South Africa balked at the cost of the agreement which they were expected to pay.
      Currently, the M23 militia, a group that had joined the DRC army but broke away over power sharing arrangements, is a prime concern after the group took over the biggest city in the DRC east, Goma for a short time in November. The current agreement may have a chance of working because the prime backer of M23, the Rwandan government, seems willing to engage in resolving the situation. 

Satellite Helps US Ship Shoot Down Missile.

The missile cruiser USS Lake Erie was able to shoot down a medium-range ballistic missile in a test using tracking information sent from a satellite, before the ship's powerful radar detected the missile. This was the first time remote data was used for an intercept and the 22nd success out of 30 tries for the  SM-3 Ballistic Missile Defense program. Twenty-six US navy cruisers and destroyers are equipped for BMD with more on the way.

Yield of North Korean Nuclear Test

Jeffery Lewis of the excellent Arms Control Wonk has an article about the recent North Korean nuclear test and has examined approximate yields made by a variety of authorities. The long and the short of it is that the actual yield will take some time to determine, if ever (there is still debate on the size of the last test in 2009). Lewis does say that at the present it would be best to say that the test was "several kilotons" or "on the order of 10 kilotons" which is bigger than the last test. With North Korea claiming more nuclear and missile tests coming, I'm afraid academics like Lewis will have a bigger sample size to work from.

Egypt's foreign exchange reserves at all time low

Egyptian foreign exchange reserves fell by $1.4 billion to a 15 year low of $13.6 billion in January. Reserves in December were already at "minimum and critical levels." This will hurt Egypt's oil and wheat imports. Countries including Turkey and Qatar have offered loans to tide them over and there is hope for an IMF loan later in the year but stability and private sector growth are needed to bolster the tottering pound.

Outrageous cost of operating Australia's submarines

Australia owns six domestically built Collins class submarines but persistent mechanical problems and high operating costs barely keep two in the water at a time. In a recent parliamentary hearing officials revealed that operating costs for 2002-2003 had been A$203 million but estimates for 2014-2015 it would clime to A$640 million with three boats available at most. Given a shrinking Australian defense budget, an ambitious submarine replacement project, and a quite submarine arms race in the region how much money can they put into these lemons?

Rheinmetall's 50kW laser system

The guys who make the best tank guns in the world have a new toy. A 50kW laser system that was able to shoot down two drones in tests. This could be the answer to how to protect big targets like ships from swarms of missiles. They think they can get the cost per shot down to a few dollars as opposed to $800,000 for a cheap interceptor missile. I know there are a lot of similar weapons in development but it would be nice to have a good defensive weapon.

Three ships of the Chinese North Sea Fleet returning after drills in the West Pacific.

Gangster Banks:Too Big to Jail

This is the first thing I've read that tries to explain the LIBOR scandal. It seems that for over twenty years the 16 biggest banks in the world would collude to fix an interest rate that was tied to most of the financial products (loans, etc.) in the world to help out buddies who would bribe them. It also shows how HSBC should be a prominent player in any remake of Scarface. Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer is a traitor and should be treated accordingly.

How to start a battalion (in five easy lessons) in Syria.

Factionalism among the Syrian rebels  seems to follow a familiar Arab stereotype of individualism and tribalism. This enlightening long article follows a rebel leader thought the first year and a half of the revolt. Information about the sources for money and weapons and the disintegration of the "Istanbul Room" group of Turks and Americans who armed the revolt goes into more detail than I've seen on the situation in Syria.  Seeing local fighters fall out with international backers in favor foreign jihadists doesn't bode well for the future.