1989.

Humanitarian law comes before soverignity.

And oil law comes before everything. Things are quite simple. There are countries in economic woes, that are net importers of oil and a long period with high oil prices can set back their growth (USA is a prime example). Most NATO member countries have made their annual budgets assuming a mean oil price of around 80$ per barrel. If this goes 100$, one can understand the negative effects on the execution of the budget.

Other countries, that are net exporters, like Russia, don’t really have any haste in ending the Libyan crisis, because, they sell at higher price…

So, the way i see it, there are some forces like USA that want the Libyan issue end quickly. So either Gaddafi scores a quick victory and then sanctions will be put on him, or, the US will intervene to a way that will help the insurgents to finish off Gaddafi. Either way USA doesn’t want the oil price to stay high for months. So, if this crisis doesn’t end in a way or the other, the US will intervene UN or no UN.

Someone has to liberate the oil flow towards the free world.

Militarily, not one country takes any notice of the UN.

That’s true, but it’s the only organization that can give a shroud of legitimacy under international law to an action. The problem is, that the real power center in the UN, the Security Council, was formed after WWII in a way to represent the balance of powers of that era, so it’s not certain that a decision will pass. But, lack of UN resolution won’t stop someone really determined. It’s good to have, but if you don’t , you go ahead anyway saying that you care for humanity.

Brazil to delay huge fighter jets deal: report

– Sat Feb 19, 1:32 pm ET

BRASILIA (AFP) – Brazil is postponing a long-awaited decision on a multi-billion-dollar purchase of 36 fighter jets until next year as a result of massive budget cuts, a Brazilian newspaper reported Saturday.

Major daily O Estado de Sao Paulo cited four unnamed government ministers as saying new President Dilma Rousseff saw no “climate” for the acquisition in 2011, and that such a move in the midst of a $30-billion slash in the year’s budget would be an “inconsistency.”

France, Sweden and the United States are vying for the contract, which has an initial value estimated at $4 billion to $7 billion, with the possibility of many more aircraft in the future as the Brazilian Air Force seeks to revamp its fleet of fighters.

Rousseff had met for over three hours with Defense Minister Nelson Jobim on Tuesday to discuss the budget restrictions, and while Jobim told reporters that the pending deal would not be impacted by the cuts he also said there were “no budget expenditures this year” for the fighter contract.

Jobim had also stressed the military would take its time to choose the best bid and begin complex negotiations on technical matters and the terms of the deal, but said he expected a decision this year.

Sources in the president’s office and the defense ministry told AFP that the purchase process was ongoing.

The intense competition for the contract has dragged on for years, with Rousseff inheriting the purchase decision from her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The shortlist for the jets is made up of the French-made Rafale, Sweden’s Gripen NG and the US F-18 Super Hornet, and speculation has swirled about which bid is in favor.

Lula had declared a preference for French planes but ultimately left the decision to Rousseff, who has not shown any favoritism during her first 45 days in office.

Brazil insists on the unrestricted transfer of technology as part of the deal, as it intends to use the vast project to develop its aviation industry and become a regional provider.

In January the French defense minister said his country was confident of scooping the contract. Earlier this week the Pentagon assured that Brazil would get a “significant transfer of technology” by buying US fighter planes from Boeing.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110219/bs_afp/brazildefensefranceusswedenbudget_20110219183225

Now let’s hope for the Indian competition to give some fruits.

Problems persist with the US on fighter planes

23 January 2011, Sunday / ERCAN YAVUZ, ANKARA

Turkey is now seeking new ways to sidestep difficulties in the procurement of F-16 fighter planes and there have been serious doubts as to whether its plan to purchase 100 F-35 fighter planes would ever materialize.

Turkey is seriously reconsidering the myriad agreements it has signed with the US, as well as its participation in an international consortium for the procurement of new generation fighter jets, due to rising costs and persisting problems originating from the American side.

Turkey is now seeking new ways to sidestep difficulties in the procurement of F-16 fighter planes, which it has been jointly producing with the US since 1987, due to the delayed delivery by the US authorities of some of the plane’s parts and accessories. There have been serious doubts as to whether Turkey’s plan to purchase 100 F-35 fighter planes would ever materialize, as the country is thinking about withdrawing from the consortium following the hike in costs that resulted from other countries leaving from the consortium.

With 240 F-16s, Turkey has the third largest fleet of these fighter jets after the US and Israel. Turkey chose the F-16 to use in its air force in the early 1980s, and Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAİ) was established soon after the decision. Between 1987 and 1995, TAİ assembled 152 planes in the first phase of the F-16 project. The second phase took place between 1995 and 1999, and 80 planes were assembled. Turkey received its first overseas order for F-16 planes in 1993 from the Egyptian air force and assembled 46 planes for them.

Recently TAI upgraded the first of 17 planes for Jordan’s air force within the context of a modernization program. Several Turkey-made planes have also been dispatched to Pakistan.

In total TAİ has assembled 278 F-16s since it first began operations in 1987. During production, 29 planes were produced with no mistakes and three of them were considered “perfect.” Considering that only nine F-16 planes are produced as perfect out of 4,000 fighter jets in the world, Turkey’s success is conspicuous.

Turkey suspended production of the F-16 in 2000, but these fighter jets still remain the backbone of the Turkish armed forces.

Strained ties delayed delivery of plane accessories

As the agreement between the US and Turkey expired in 2000, Turkey has continued to work with Israel in modernizing the F-16s. Turkey has attempted to compensate for several mistakes that occurred while working with the US through several deals with Israel. The fundamental problem was that the US did not hand the F-16s directly to the Turkish Air Forces and it required TAİ-made planes be tested in the US before the eventual delivery to the Turkish Air Forces.

The US had also refused to provide source codes for the software of F-16s to Turkey since the inception of the joint production. Tensions in the relations between the US and Turkey have recently spawned a series of crises in this particular sphere, a possibility which Turkey has overlooked for years.

A senior official at the Turkish Undersecretariat for the Defense Industry (SSM) confided in Today’s Zaman that the US is not willing to provide vital parts of the F-16 planes to Turkey in contrast to agreements the two countries have signed in the past few years.

The same senior official said the US delayed the fulfillment its duties specified in the agreements it signed with Turkey between 1987 and 1995 and that this has caused serious problems in modernization of F-16s.

The official lamented that Turkey is experiencing very serious problems in obtaining parts and accessories for the planes as ties with Israel collapsed, and that he finds it noteworthy to stress that the US administration has made congressional approval a precondition of selling any sort of weaponry and military equipment.

Last October the US expressed concerns that Turkey was using US-made F-16s in the Turkey-China aerial exercises, which took place in the Central Anatolian town of Konya, but Turkey reassured the US administration that no US-made jets were used in the joint drill.

Turkey decided to modernize 165 F-16 planes on Dec. 11, 2009 and several Israeli firms were competing to win the tender, along with Turkey’s TUSAŞ and HAVELSAN. All projects between Turkey and Israel in the areas of military training and cooperation were frozen in mid-June after the lethal May 31 Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara, which was carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, leaving left nine civilians dead. The two countries were set to realize a $757 million plane and tank modernization project but this project was also shelved. The Turkish government decided to give the modernization tender to Turkish firms after Turkish-Israeli ties became strained.

A $240 million modernization project was given to Turkish companies, but 30 percent of the plane’s parts will be provided by the US military behemoth Lockheed Martin.

Turkey is also considering its participation in the world’s largest military consortium that is planning to produce 3,000 F-35 fighter jets. Turkey is the ninth country to take part in the production process of the F-35 warplane project. The other countries are the US, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Denmark, Canada and Norway. Turkey is expected to purchase 100 F-35 jets in the next 15 to 20 years. Rising costs pushed several countries to withdraw from the $280 billion project, and the same senior official said Turkey might also consider withdrawing.

The Defense Industry Executive Committee (SSİK), under the aegis of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will make its final decision in April. The SSİK is seeking ways to jointly produce some parts of F-35 fighter planes with the American General Electric Co. and the Rolls-Royce Group in Turkey.

Turkey is also deliberating the exchange of its F-16s for F-35s within a reasonable time period. Turkey is expected to pay nearly $11 billion for 100 F-35 fighter jets. Citing rising costs in production, the consortium is asking Turkey for an additional $4 billion for the F-35s, but Turkey is reluctant to pay this amount. As some countries have withdrawn from the project, Turkey will reportedly have to pay up to $25 billion for the project.
Turkey is planning joint warplane production with Gulf countries

Turkey has made a radical shift recently, deciding to produce its first fleet of national fighter jets following crises in F-16 and F-35 projects with the US and Israel.

Turkish authorities decided during a Defense Industry Executive Committee (SSİK) meeting last December to begin production on the first Turkish fighter jets in 2020 in order to meet the needs of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). TUSAŞ Engine Industries Inc. (TEİ) and TAİ will be the leading companies that will undertake production of these fighter jets, planning to design and produce plane engines by 2015.

Israel claimed that Turkey will fail to produce these jets as no country in the world would dare to build its own planes without participating in a consortium due to the high costs.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Adana deputy Kürşat Atılgan told Today’s Zaman that no country could produce a fighter jet by itself and for lucrative production, there needs to be at least 400 jets produced. Considering this fact, Turkey had been secretly trying to build a consortium with neighboring and friendly countries. In last month’s SSİK meeting, Gönül also talked about the possibility of joint production of fighter jets with South Korean companies. This issue was raised during Erdoğan’s recent visit to Gulf countries. Turkey thinks it will be easier to produce its own fighter jets with five countries involved in the region.

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-233254-problems-persist-with-the-us-on-fighter-planes.html

While being from zaman, who is close to Erdogan’s party, this article is interesting, i trully doubt that the turkish airforce, who is 100% “US-bred” will allow to disengage from the F35 program.

Maybe it’s part of political pressure towards the US after Washington denied to export the Reaper to Turkey. There’s a lot of things going on right now with Israel, Cyprus and the gas in the area, the F35 is a good bargaining chip to force USA towards a more friendly posture in the matter. Of course it could also be something much simpler, like pressure to stop this unofficial “spare parts embargo”, if it’s true. (it’s plausible).

Are there any still operating in Greece ? and is the large C-47 dump still at Thessalonki ?

AFAIK, the situation of HAF’s C-47 is, a bit “blurry”. They are “retired”, in the sense that they are not operationally active and the last squadron (335.1 Tactical Transport) was disbanded.

However, 1 C-47 from what i know, was sent to 383 firefighting squadron (normally has Canadairs), to be kept as “historical aircraft”, for anniversaries-exhibitions.

So, the answer is a bit subjective here. Is it operating? I would say no. But one is in flying conditions…

I don’t know what the status of the dump is.

I thought this site would be of interest in context of MMRCA,
it compare Super Hornet vs Gripen NG payload & range & speed.

Just curious. Do you also happen to know the price of the Gripen NG? The more i learn about this gem, the more i believe that it is the most suitable choice for HAF. 😀

you’re saying the Gripen NG can carry almost as much as the super hornet, and flies farther too!?

when can I make babies with this thing?

I saw it first.

The funny thing is the RAND report on F22 and F35 of not so long ago with a scenario about a war involving Taiwan. It was “worried” about chinese Flanker variants that by 2020 would probably have AESA radars and IRSTs if i remember correctly. And what do you know! Instead, the Chinese (as well as the Russians), won’t only the “IRST and better radar”, but stealth fighters too! 😀 If RAND knew about these developments when it did the report, combined with the delays in F35 program, it would probably revise its report in “buy more F22s, for God’s sake!”. 😀

The F35s may find trouble, in case of a large SAM site with Pantsyrs and S400, if, it has at the same time to fight against enemy airforce too (with capable aircrafts). Otherwise, a SAM site on its own, won’t survive a saturation attack. What are the chances that USAF will have to do this? Very low. The US list of “rogue states” doesn’t include anyone with an airforce capable of giving trouble to USAF.

but it may be needed to prevent the possibility that one day China and India will be economic and military allies..

imagine the day that would happen…they would have 1/3rd of the world’s population, a good chunk of the world’s gdp, and much of its growth!! 😮

In that case, the one with interest to prevent such a possibility, is a 3rd party. Luckily, you are both “big” enough, not to fear intervention of 3rd parties.

P.S: How do you send a monkey and a pig on journey? Map and compass? Some educated pigs! 😀