more crew shots for anna…

International Pilots Train to Fly U.S. Fighter PlaneBy Priscilla Huff
Tucson, Arizona
31 July 2006

The U.S. military’s F-16 Fighting Falcon is one of the most popular fighter jets ever. About 4,500 have been sold all over the world. But pilots must be trained by Americans — and that means traveling far from home and learning an entirely different way to fly. VOA’s Priscilla Huff has the story from the desert of the American Southwest.

http://www.voanews.com/english/imag…jul06_150_1.jpgThe F-16 Fighting Falcon is one of most popular fighter planes in the worldPilots who want to fly the F-16 fighter jet must come here, to the desert near Tucson, Arizona. One of the instructors is Lieutenant Colonel Mike High. “Our mission is to train students from all over the world — whoever flies F-16s and whoever wants the training — to train them to fly the F-16.”

The 162nd Fighter Wing of the International Guard hosts the U.S. military’s program to train pilots from allied nations. But before they arrive, they have to master one skill — speaking English. This is critical, says squadron commander Lieutenant Colonel Will Johnson.

http://www.voanews.com/english/imag…31jul06_150.jpgLieutenant Colonel Will Johnson”It’s the language. Every country comes in and they understand English but sometimes, they don’t understand our gang signs or our slang, so that is confusing. But once they figure us out and we figure them out, it’s no problem.”

It is about more than just the language. The F-16 training program also involves learning the American approach to flying the $30 million aircraft. Lessons start with a lot of classroom time.

http://www.voanews.com/english/imag…31jul06_150.jpgLt. Col. Ross Stepaniuk, Polish Air ForceThe American training emphasizes more independent thinking during a mission. Pilot Ross Stepaniuk of the Polish Air Force must learn a different leadership style. “Most of us need to get accustomed to the procedures here. The way of doing things that we are used to in our Air Force, they are totally different here. It is a huge transition for pilots from our system of flying to where, first of all, there is a lot of traffic in the air, second, you fly a lot, and finally, you have to meet very, very high expectations.”

http://www.voanews.com/english/imag…31jul06_150.jpgLt. Col. Mike HighIt will take Stepaniuk and the rest of the Polish Air Force several years to completely make the transition from the Russian MiG to the F-16. Lieutenant Colonel Mike High explains, “I would say there is a very big difference between what he’s been doing, and what he’s learning how to do now. Which means it may be more of a challenge than it may appear to the casual observer. The F-16 is much, much more advanced than the MiG; much more advanced – it’s 21st century technology, whereas the MiG was 1950s technology. Really, I mean, it has been upgraded, but it is a very, very old aircraft.”

http://www.voanews.com/english/imag…31jul06_150.jpgA pilot on an F-16 training missionThe F-16 was first built in 1976. The planes are now assembled under a consortium deal managed by NATO. Parts come from several nations. Once a purchase contract is signed with the U.S. military, the preparation process begins, as ground crews and officers learn how to care for the jets.

And, of course, the pilots need to learn how to fly the planes, which can reach speeds of Mach 2: 2400 kilometers per hour.

Ross Stepaniuk is one of the first seven Polish pilots to graduate from the program after nearly two years of hard work.

http://www.voanews.com/english/imag…_31july_150.jpgColonel Stepaniuk at his graduation ceremonyBut his training is not complete. Stepaniuk must remain in Tucson to earn his wings as an instructor pilot for the Polish Air Force.

“It’s a wonderful aircraft. It feels very good, maybe it’s too good,” he says. “But, it’s still difficult because the more experience you have, the higher the expectations go. You have to know more and more about this plane we all fly, so you have to have tremendous experience in so many areas.”

Pilots from Singapore, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates also are being trained in Tucson. And the next F-16 training program is in the works for Pakistan.

Some footage courtesy Lockheed-Martin

http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-07-31-voa42.cfm

I guess this is what the above article is talking about.

Pakistan imports Y12 aircraft from China

BEIJING (August 02 2006): Pakistan has recently imported some light aircraft from a manufacturer in north-east China’s Heilongjiang province to meet its domestic needs. The 19-seat Y12 series planes were twin-engine, general-purpose monoplanes designed and developed by the Harbin Aviation Industry (Group) Ltd (HAI).

According to the company sources, the aircraft would be mainly used for troops transport and emergency rescue operations. By the end of 2005, HAI had sold more than 100 such aircraft to 20 countries and regions, such as Pakistan, Nepal, Peru, Zambia, Tanzania and Namibia.

Copyright Associated Press of Pakistan, 2006

Plan to sell F-16s to Pakistan cleared

BLOOMBERG NEWS

WASHINGTON – A Bush administration plan to sell as many as 36 Lockheed Martin Corp. F-16 jets and other equipment to Pakistan, the largest U.S. arms sale to the South Asian country, has emerged unscathed from a congressional review period.

Friday was the deadline for the Republican-controlled Congress to block the $5 billion sale. Without a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate to kill the sale, it is automatically approved under the laws governing international arms sales.

“This sale is really a done deal now,” said Christine Fair, an expert in South Asian political and military affairs at the U.S. Institute of Peace, a nonpartisan group founded by Congress.

The U.S. is trying to reward Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for his support in the war on terrorism in the face of domestic opposition. The U.S. is also trying to help Pakistan step up the fight against al Qaeda and allied fighters along its border with Afghanistan.

Lockheed has delivered more than 4,300 F-16s, built at its west Fort Worth plant, and gets about $3 billion in annual sales from the fighter. International F-16 deliveries are scheduled through 2009, when the line would be shut down unless there are additional orders.

The Pakistan deal includes 36 advanced pilot helmets that display target information on the visor and up to 500 Boeing kits for ground-attack, satellite-guided bombs.

© 2006 Star-Telegram.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.dfw.com

No F-16s to Pakistan without security vow: Rice

By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072601507.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pakistan must provide written security assurances as part of a deal for $5.1 billion in American-made F-16 fighter jets and no equipment will be transferred until anti-diversion protections are in place, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has promised Congress.

Aiming to ease lawmakers’ concerns over the weapons package offered to a key American ally in the war on terror, Rice said in a letter obtained by Reuters on Wednesday that before the first aircraft is delivered, Pakistan will sign a document that details Islamabad’s security commitments.

In addition, “no aircraft or munitions will be delivered until U.S. officials have determined that all security measures are in place” and Congress has been briefed on those procedures, she said.

Rice was responding to a letter from Republican Richard Lugar of Indiana, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations, and Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, the panel’s senior Democrat, who had asked her for written assurances addressing concerns raised by him and other lawmakers.

“There should be no ambiguity regarding Pakistan’s obligations in the security realm,” the senators told Rice.

“There should also be no ambiguity regarding Pakistan’s capability to meet and enforce its security obligations,” they added.

On June 28, the Bush administration formally notified Congress of plans to sell Pakistan up to 36 F-16C/D Block 50/52 Falcon fighters built by Lockheed Martin Corp. in a deal worth $5 billion if all options are exercised.

Some lawmakers have expressed concerns about Pakistan’s past nuclear proliferation record, citing fears technology used in the Lockheed Martin Corp F-16s could be leaked to China, Pakistan’s close military ally, and by extension help Chinese arms customers like Iran and Iran’s clients in the Middle East, including Hizbollah, which is now fighting Israel.

DIFFICULT TO BLOCK

Under U.S. law, Congress could block the sale by enacting a resolution of disapproval in both houses within 30 days of the notification date, but such action is rare and it is difficult win the two-thirds majority vote needed to overcome a presidential veto.

Congressional sources said there is no credible effort to do that now and the sale is expected to go through.

A spokesman for Lugar, asked if Rice’s assurances satisfied the senator, said: “He believes it is an important response that is helpful in answering questions raised by members of Congress.”

But other congressional aides said they were still wary of the security plan, which was still being negotiated and should have been completed before the sale was formally proposed to Congress.

In their letter, Lugar and Biden also expressed concern about administration plans to install upgrades to Pakistan’s existing older F-16s at a location in Pakistan because this might allow China — also a major supplier of new fighter aircraft to the Pakistani air force — to gain information about the high-performance U.S. fighter.

But Rice insisted the updates will not be done in Pakistan. A Senate source told Reuters the work likely will be done by NATO ally Turkey, one of six non-U.S. sites approved for this sensitive work.

“This sale is a presidential priority and is a key element of our strategic partnership and reflects our long-term commitment to Pakistan,” Rice said.

The administration advanced the F-16 sale as the U.S. Congress was taking action to approve a landmark civil nuclear cooperation agreement with India, Pakistan’s nuclear rival. Islamabad has asked for a similar deal but the administraiton rejected it.

Pakistan Expanding Nuclear Program

Plant Underway Could Generate Plutonium for 40 to 50 Bombs a Year, Analysts Say

By Joby Warrick

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/23/AR2006072300737.html?nav=rss_world

Pakistan has begun building what independent analysts say is a powerful new reactor for producing plutonium, a move that, if verified, would signal a major expansion of the country’s nuclear weapons capabilities and a potential new escalation in the region’s arms race.

Satellite photos of Pakistan’s Khushab nuclear site show what appears to be a partially completed heavy-water reactor capable of producing enough plutonium for 40 to 50 nuclear weapons a year, a 20-fold increase from Pakistan’s current capabilities, according to a technical assessment by Washington-based nuclear experts.

The construction site is adjacent to Pakistan’s only plutonium production reactor, a modest, 50-megawatt unit that began operating in 1998. By contrast, the dimensions of the new reactor suggest a capacity of 1,000 megawatts or more, according to the analysis by the Institute for Science and International Security. Pakistan is believed to have 30 to 50 uranium warheads, which tend to be heavier and more difficult than plutonium warheads to mount on missiles.

“South Asia may be heading for a nuclear arms race that could lead to arsenals growing into the hundreds of nuclear weapons, or at minimum, vastly expanded stockpiles of military fissile material,” the institute’s David Albright and Paul Brannan concluded in the technical assessment, a copy of which was provided to The Washington Post.

The assessment’s key judgments were endorsed by two other independent nuclear experts who reviewed the commercially available satellite images, provided by Digital Globe, and supporting data. In Pakistan, officials would not confirm or deny the report, but a senior Pakistani official, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that a nuclear expansion was underway.

“Pakistan’s nuclear program has matured. We’re now consolidating the program with further expansions,” the official said. The expanded program includes “some civilian nuclear power and some military components,” he said.

The development raises fresh concerns about a decades-old rivalry between Pakistan and India. Both countries already possess dozens of nuclear warheads and a variety of missiles and other means for delivering them.

Pakistan, like India, has never signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. One of its pioneering nuclear scientists, Abdul Qadeer Khan, who confessed two years ago to operating a network that supplied nuclear materials and know-how to Libya, Iran and North Korea.

The evidence of a possible escalation also comes as Congress prepares to debate a controversial nuclear cooperation agreement between the Bush administration and India. The agreement would grant India access to sensitive U.S. nuclear technology in return for placing its civilian nuclear reactors under tighter safeguards.

No such restrictions were placed on India’s military nuclear facilities. India currently has an estimated 30 to 35 nuclear warheads based on a sophisticated plutonium design. Pakistan, which uses a simpler, uranium-based warhead design, has sought for years to modernize its arsenal, and a new heavy-water reactor could allow it to do so, weapons experts say.

“With plutonium bombs, Pakistan can fully join the nuclear club,” said a Europe-based diplomat and nuclear expert, speaking on condition that he not be identified by name, after reviewing the satellite evidence. He concurred with the Institute for Science and International Security assessment but offered a somewhat lower estimate — “up to tenfold” — for the increase in Pakistan’s plutonium production. A third, U.S.-based expert concurred fully with the institute’s estimates.

Pakistan launched its nuclear program in the early 1970s and conducted its first successful nuclear test in 1998.

The completion of the first, 50-megawatt plutonium production reactor in Pakistan’s central Khushab district was seen as a step toward modernizing the country’s arsenal. The reactor is capable of producing about 10 kilograms of plutonium a year, enough for about two warheads.

Construction of the larger reactor at Khushab apparently began sometime in 2000. Satellite photos taken in the spring of 2005 showed the frame of a rectangular building enclosing what appeared to be the round metal shell of a large nuclear reactor. A year later, in April 2006, the roof of the structure was still incomplete, allowing a unobstructed view of the reactor’s features.

“The fact that the roof is still off strikes me as a sign that Pakistan is neither rushing nor attempting to conceal,” said Albright of the institute.

The slow pace of construction could suggest difficulties in obtaining parts, or simply that other key facilities for plutonium bomb-making are not yet in place, the institute report concludes. Pakistan would probably need to expand its capacity for producing heavy water for its new reactor, as well as its ability to reprocess spent nuclear fuel to extract the plutonium, the report says.

After comparing a sequence of satellite photos, the institute analysts estimated that the new reactor was still “a few years” from completion. The diameter of the structure’s metal shell suggests a very large reactor “operating in excess of 1,000 megawatts thermal,” the report says.

“Such a reactor could produce over 200 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium per year, assuming it operates at full power a modest 220 days per year,” it says. “At 4 to 5 kilograms of plutonium per weapon, this stock would allow the production of over 40 to 50 nuclear weapons a year.”

There was no immediate reaction to the report from the Bush administration. Albright said he shared his data with government nuclear analysts, who did not dispute his conclusions and appeared to already know about the new reactor.

“If there’s an increasing risk of an arms race in South Asia, why hasn’t this already been introduced into the debate?” Albright asked. He said the Pakistani development adds urgency to calls for a treaty halting the production of fissile material used in nuclear weapons.

“The United States needs to push more aggressively for a fissile material cut-off treaty, and so far it has not,” he said.

STUNNING PAKISTAN AIRCRAFT SCOOPS THREE AWARDS

Pakistan’s gesture of thanks to UK and US forces for their help in last year’s earthquake disaster turned into a spectacular winner at the Royal International Air Tattoo at the weekend.

The Tattoo’s Rapid Global Effect theme was so current and appropriate that Pakistan entered a unique aircraft, 6 Squadron’s L382B, the only civilian version of the C-130 Hercules still flying.

With huge, colourful illustrations of the humanitarian work carried out after the earthquake, the aircraft walked away with the Tattoo’s prestigious Concours d’Elegance competition, lifting the Page Aerospace Trophy as well as the BAE Systems’ Trophy for winning the Spirit of the Meet competition.

The crew were also presented with an engraved bowl for having the Best Livery at this year’s Air Tattoo. It was presented by Air Tattoo director Tim Prince.

“This is a wonderful result and we are elated that the Tattoo judges acknowledged what we wanted to present,” said Wg Cdr Haseeb Gul, who commanded a 19-strong team of aircrew and medical personnel in the medical evacuation configured aircraft.

He explained how the extraordinary illustrations were conceived and created. “We all got together, aircrew and ground crew, to discuss what would truly represent the humanitarian teamwork involved last year, “said Wg Cdr Haseeb.

“Once we had agreed the general design, the artists and painters were called in and the work was only finished two days before we flew over here.” The aircraft belongs to No.6 Air Transport Support Squadron, founded in 1942 and the oldest squadron in the Pakistan Air Force.

Wg Cdr Haseeb and his team were presented with their trophies by Mr Paul Gibbs, Managing Director of Page Aerospace, and Mr Nigel Whitehead of BAE Systems