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While Israel is interested in purchasing the fifth-generation stealth Joint Strike Fighter from Lockheed Martin, it will likely hinge its order on US acceptance of its demand that Israeli defense industries be allowed to participate in the aircraft's production, senior defense officials said Thursday. On Monday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak met with US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and discussed potential Israeli involvement in the production of the JSF, also known as the F-35. In the past, Israeli aerospace companies have been integrated into the production of aircraft purchased by the IAF. During their meeting, as well as a meeting...

Russia setting, US rising in Indian air force Josy Joseph / DNA Russia’s eclipse and the US’ rise in the Indian military will soon stand out in the air force’s transport division. Sources said the government is moving in to seal yet another government-to-government deal with the US for a military purchase. They are ordering ten C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft. The deal is worth over $2 billion (Rs10,000 crore). When inducted, C-17 Globemaster would replace the Russian-made IL-76 as the biggest transport aircraft of India. C-17, a Boeing product, can carry almost 80,000 kg, against IL-76’s 50,000 kg. Sources said...

IAF's $11-bn order may become larger Ajai Shukla / New Delhi October 16, 2009, 0:36 IST India may go beyond the purchase of 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft. The winner’s jackpot could soon become even bigger in what is already the world’s most lucrative fighter aircraft tender: India’s proposed purchase of 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) for an estimated Rs 51,000 crore ($11 billion). The reason is a breakdown in India’s long negotiations with Dassault Aviation, the French aircraft manufacturer, for upgrading 51 Indian Air Force Mirage-2000 fighters. According to senior IAF sources, Dassault has refused to reduce its...

The Israeli air force scrambled fighter jets on Tuesday after a light aircraft flew into restricted air space over its nuclear reactor in the southern Negev desert, the military said. The warplanes intercepted the aircraft and forced it to land at a nearby airstrip, where the two pilots were handed over to civilian authorities for investigation, an army spokeswoman said. Police had no immediate comment but Israeli media reported that the two men, from central Israel, claimed to have lost their way. Aircraft are forbidden from flying over the reactor near the desert town of Dimona. Israel says the reactor...

In a little noticed interview with the Daily Beast (presumably little noticed because serious people don't read the Daily Beast), Zbigniew Brzezinski suggests that Barack Obama do more than just refuse to support an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites -- the American president must give the order to shoot down Israeli aircraft as they cross Iraqi airspace: DB: How aggressive can Obama be in insisting to the Israelis that a military strike might be in America’s worst interest? Brzezinski: We are not exactly impotent little babies. They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going...

JERUSALEM – Both the Israeli government and the military here refused to respond to comments by Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security adviser during the administration of President Jimmy Carter, who said the U.S. should confront Israeli jets if that nation chooses to take military action against Iran's nuclear installations. "We will not dignify Brzezinski with a response," a source in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office told WND. Netanyahu's spokesmen and the Israel Defense Forces refused to provide an official reply. Discussing the possibility of an Israeli airstrike against Iran, Brzezinski declared in an interview with the Daily Beast website, "We...

Former National Security Adviser to Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski who was a foreign policy adviser to President Obama during the campaign, has suggested that the United States should shoot down any IDF Plane on the way to attack Iranian nuclear facilities. Brzezinski was interviewed by the Daily Beast:

As a political junkie, one the most baffling aspects of national elections is the Jewish vote. American Jews vote overwhelmingly for Democrat candidates in national elections. 2008 was no exception, as reported in an editorial at HAARETZ.com immediately following the election: Despite the tense rift between Republican and Democratic Jews over the course of the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, exit polls on Tuesday showed that Barack Obama received about 77 percent of the Jewish vote. These numbers were higher even than the 2004 election, when Democratic candidate John Kerry received 74 percent of the Jewish vote. Al Gore received the...

Last year Zbigniew Brzezinski, adviser to former US president Jimmy Carter, described the Bush administration's policy of maintaining the option of military action against Iran as "counterproductive." Now Brzezinski, who advises Obama on foreign policy, is calling for the US to shoot down Israeli jets. Brzezinski is known to be anti-Israel. The Weekly Standard Blog reported: In a little noticed interview with the Daily Beast (presumably little noticed because serious people don't read the Daily Beast), Zbigniew Brzezinski suggests that Barack Obama do more than just refuse to support an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites -- the American president...

In a little noticed interview with the Daily Beast (presumably little noticed because serious people don't read the Daily Beast), Zbigniew Brzezinski suggests that Barack Obama do more than just refuse to support an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites -- the American president must give the order to shoot down Israeli aircraft as they cross Iraqi airspace: DB: How aggressive can Obama be in insisting to the Israelis that a military strike might be in America’s worst interest? Brzezinski: We are not exactly impotent little babies. They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going...

Baltimore, Nov 11, 2008 (CNA).- The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) has not yet been able to determine if grants made to ACORN were used for fraudulent voter registration, but has cut off all funding to the community organizing group, Bishop Robert Morin announced on Tuesday. Shortly after addressing the full assembly of U.S. Catholic bishops, Bishop Morin spoke to reporters about what the bishops had learned concerning the use of grants from the CCHD to the group Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), which is currently under investigation in 13 states for voter fraud. CCHD originally...

September 13, 2009 (by Asif Shamim) - An F-16A from the IDFAF crashed in the Southern hills near Hebron on Sunday. The pilot who was killed was the son of the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia accident in 2003. The pilot Lt. Assaf Ramon, 20, was on his 47th training flight since completing his pilot training in June 2009. The aircraft crashed during a routine flight as part of the advanced pilot training course. IAF commander Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan and the head of the IDF Manpower Division Avi Zamir personally delivered the sad...

An F-16 from the IDFAF crashed in the Southern hills near Hebron. The pilot who was killed was the son of the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia accident in 2003. he pilot Lt. Assaf Ramon, 20, was on his 47th training flight since completing his pilot training in June 2009. He was flying an unarmed training mission when the accident happened. IAF commander Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan and the head of the IDF Manpower Division Avi Zamir personally delivered the sad news to his mother, Rona Ramon's at there home. The news of the...

Tragedy struck the family of late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon again Sunday, when his son Asaf Ramon was killed in a crash while flying an Israel Air Force aircraft. Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut was one of seven crew members killed when the U.S. space shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry on February 1, 2003. Asaf Ramon's aircraft crashed near the settlement of Bnei Haver, in the rugged terrain of the Hebron Hills. The Israel Defense Forces carried out an aerial and terrestrial search of the area for some 90 minutes before locating the crash site. Advertisement IAF Blackhawk ("Yanshuf") helicopters...

Our sky's the limit Sep. 10, 2009 Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST The sirens blare throughout the base. Within seconds, four airmen - two pilots and two navigators - jump out of an office, scoop up their helmets hanging on a hook nearby and skip down a few stairs and into a waiting car which drives them down a short road to a nearby hangar. A minute later, they are aboard their two-seater F-16s, have switched on the ignitions and begin making their way to the base's main runway. A minute later they are already in the air. This...

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's reported promise to Israeli President Shimon Peres that Moscow will reconsider the sale of powerful S-300 air-defense missiles to Iran could determine whether Israel - and the United States for that matter - launches pre-emptive strikes against Tehran's nuclear facilities. "President Medvedev promised to review this issue once again after I explained that it would have an impact on the balance of forces in our region," Peres said Wednesday following his meeting with the Russian leader in Moscow on Tuesday. Israel has been threatening to attack Iran's controversial nuclear program for many months because the Jewish...

What do you do when a wing is torn off your F15? If you are Captain Zivi Nedivi, of the Israeli airforce, you break off from your training exercise and return to base. You've only got one wing, but you make up for that by flying twice as fast. The F15 Eagle collided with an A4 Skyhawk.

While some might call him a good luck charm, Col. (res.) Avshalom says he's just your average Israel Air Force navigator. But last week, he led an IAF team to victory in the Air Mobility RODEO 2009 competition in the United States, taking home the Col. Joe M. Jackson Trophy for best C-130 air crew. RODEO, a biannual event that brings transport and mobility air crews from around the world together for several days of competitions, tests the teams' expertise in landing, locating drop zones and parachuting equipment. Last week, an Israeli C-130 Hercules transport aircraft flew to McChord Air...

The Israel Air Force has purchased a new and advanced JDAM smart bomb with a laser-targeting system that will improve the IAF's ability to accurately hit fast-moving targets. According to an Israeli Defense Ministry official, the order was placed earlier this summer for over 100 LJDAM (Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition) kits

NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- Flying at home station is necessary for training, but flying with other units, especially an allied unit like the Israeli Air Force, results in valuable experience and preparation for the fight. A squadron of F-16Is from Ramon Air Base, Israel, is one of the nine units participating in Red Flag 09-4 through July 24 in Las Vegas. Red Flag exercises present a unique experience for U.S. and allied units to fly together against red air, or 'enemy' aircraft provided by the Aggressor Squadrons at Nellis Air Force Base, in a realistic combat environment. The...

JERUSALEM, July 6 (Xinhua) -- The Israel Air Force (IAF) plans to partake in several aerial drills abroad later this year in a bid to train its pilots for long-range flights, reported local daily The Jerusalem Post on Monday. The air force will send F-16C fighter jets to the U.S. state of Nevada later this month for the Red Flag exercise at the Nellis Air Force Base, and meanwhile dispatch several C-130 Hercules transport aircraft to participate in the Rodeo 2009 competition at the McChord Air Force Base in the state of Washington, said the report. In addition, the IAF...

IAF chooses Boeing’s latest C-17 for heavy-lift transport aircraft By Gulshan Luthra New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) The Indian Air Force (IAF) has shortlisted the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III as its new Very Heavy Lift Transport Aircraft (VHTAC). Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik is quoted by the India Strategic defence magazine as saying that the aircraft had been chosen after a thorough study because of its capability to take off and land on short runways with heavy loads, long range, and ease of operation. IAF was looking at acquiring ten C-17s initially through the US government’s...

IAF's combat aircraft conundrum 26 May 2009, 0616 hrs IST, Hormuz P Mama, The IAF’s combat aircraft strength is steadily declining as old aircraft types are phased out of service — the most recent being the MiG-23BN ground attack aircraft. Thus, the IAF now has only 32 combat aircraft squadrons, well below the sanctioned strength of 39.5 squadrons, and could fall further in a few years. To meet its interim requirements, till the Light Combat Aircraft enters service, the IAF had initially wanted only some more Mirage 2000s, which had performed very well with the IAF. Also, while the latest...

IAF drops Russia from $1 bn deal Russia is set to lose a billion dollar (Rs 48,000 crore) defence deal for midair refuellers, signalling a break in its over 50-year-old monopoly as India’s preferred military supplier. The former communist giant has clearly lost favour with the Indian military, as the air force has decided not to field any more Russian Ilyushin-78 refuellers to keep fighter jets airborne for considerably longer periods by tanking them up during flight. After operating Il-78 tankers for almost six years, the Indian Air Force has said the Russian platform does not meet its requirements and...

SNIPPET: "A trustee of an Islamic think tank in Northern Virginia that is long suspected of financing terrorists is expected to become the new head of the Muslim Brotherhood's chapter in Jordan. Ishaq Farhan is expected to be named interim head of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), which is the Muslim Brotherhood's Jordanian political wing, the Jordan Times reported. The move follows the resignation of IAF directors after a leadership dispute. Farhan also is a longtime trustee of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). He is listed on the organization's IRS Form 990s from at least 2005, through 2007,...

Eli Lake finds another scoop, this one revealing a dangerous rift in the United States' traditional alliance with Israel: President Obama's efforts to curb the spread of nuclear weapons threaten to expose and derail a 40-year-old secret U.S. agreement to shield Israel's nuclear weapons from international scrutiny, former and current U.S. and Israeli officials and nuclear specialists say. The issue will likely come to a head when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Mr. Obama on May 18 in Washington. Mr. Netanyahu is expected to seek assurances from Mr. Obama that he will uphold the U.S. commitment and will...

A large majority of Israeli Jews support military action aimed at destroying Iran's nuclear facilities, according to a survey sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League. According to the poll, a large majority of those who support a move by the army said they would maintain their support even if the Obama administration opposed it. An overwhelming majority also said they believed close relations with the United States were essential for ensuring Israel's security. The survey, administered by the Maagar Mochot research institute, involved 610 respondents, constituting a representative sample of Israeli Jews over the age of 18. Asked about military action...

DEBKAfile's Iranian and intelligence sources disclose that Moscow warned Tehran Friday April 17 that Israel was planning to destroy all 140 fighter-bombers concentrated at the Mehr-Abad Air Force base for an air show over Tehran on Iran's Army Day the following day. The entire fleet was accordingly removed to remote bases and the display cancelled. In the first week of April, Tehran announced it would stage its biggest air show ever to dramatize a ceremonial military parade in the capital on April 18. Iran would show the world that it is capable of fighting off an Israeli attack on its...

Air Force reservists who operate the Arrow and Patriot missile defense systems have recently begun spending one day a week on duty to sharpen their skills, amid fears that in a conflict with Iran, dozens of long-range missiles would be fired at Israel..."We are working hard to be ready for the Iranian threat," a top IAF officer said. "We are preparing for barrages, split warheads and other surprises

(IsraelNN.com) While the US is preparing for talks with Iran, Israel appears to be preparing for an attack, according to a plethora of media reports. Israel Air Force planes conducted exercises between Israel and Gibraltar, including midair refueling, according to a report published Saturday in the French weekly L'Express. The writer speculated that the distance of the exercises that were carried out, 2,361 miles (3,800 km) from Israel, appeared to confirm that the IDF is preparing to attack Iran if Teheran continues its refusal to end its nuclear program.

Jerusalem, While the United States is talking about dialogue with Iran, the Israel military has conducted secret drills in a move being interpreted as preparations to foil Tehran's nuclear ambition at any cost, media reports said on Sunday. The Air Force has staged secret manoeuvres between Israel and the British colony of Gibraltar near southern Spain, local media reported quoting French Newspaper L'express. The drills held 3,800 kilometres away from Israel "confirms that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) is making concrete preparations" to attack Iran if it refuses to stop its contentious nuclear programme, the report said.

The only solid fact emerging from the fanciful "reports" traded between Western and Middle East media over the bombing of an Iranian arms convoy bound for Hamas in January is that Tehran's arms shipments to Hamas via Sinai and the Gaza tunnels continue at full spate. Somehow, as the "reporting" unfolded, the US attacker morphed into the Israeli Air Force. Western imagination outdid itself Sunday, March 28, when the London Sunday Times claimed that Israeli intelligence used drones to bomb the convoy in Sudan, possibly even Eitan UAVs, whose wing span is like that of a Boeing airliner, and that...

Israel used unmanned drones to attack clandestine Iranian convoys in Sudan that were attempting to smuggle rockets into Gaza, Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported. The paper said that western diplomats confirmed that Israel attacked the Iranian truck convoys in late January and the first week of February in the remote Sudan desert, just outside the Red Sea town of Port Sudan. The convoys had been tracked by agents from Mossad, Israel's overseas intelligence agency, the report added.

Note: The following news brief is a quote: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3692502,00.html Report: IAF struck arms convoy for Hamas in Sudan in January Published: 03.26.09, 07:09 / Israel News Israeli planes struck in January a convoy of trucks in Sudan carrying weapons meant for the Gaza Strip, the CBS television network reported Thursday. According to the report 17 trucks had been bombed and 39 people had been killed in the strike. (Ynet)

As Israeli troops battled Palestinian gunmen during Operation Cast Lead in an attempt to end the threat posed against southern Israel, IAF warplanes were conducting a similar mission far from the border with the Gaza Strip, a CBS report revealed on Wednesday. According to the report, unidentified American officials told the station that in January, Israeli planes bombed a convoy of trucks carrying arms destined for Hamas through Sudan.

After a day of ceasefire breaches which saw at least 15 rockets land in Israeli territory, IAF planes struck at multiple targets in Khan Yunis and Rafah late Sunday evening.

The Islamic Hamas movement said one of its members has been wounded in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip. The airstrike comes hours after a roadside bomb along Israel's border with Gaza killed an IDF soldier and wounded three others. Hamas said the man was struck as he was riding a motorcycle in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. Residents said Israeli tanks and bulldozers have also entered the area where the roadside bombing took place and were leveling some farmland. Before noon Tuesday, an IDF non-commissioned officer was killed when a roadside bomb planted by Gaza...

SNIPPET: "The fundamental truth is that Hamas' road to Iran runs through the international Muslim Brotherhood, and has for two decades. What is often missing in the discussion of the Muslim Brotherhood is that Hamas, according to its own founding charter, is an integral and armed part of the Ikwhan, not separate from it."

Taken directly from the UK Guardian's Gaza Diary web page earlier today.-

AN Israeli air strike killed a senior commander of Hamas's armed wing this morning while the Islamist group's leader warned the Israeli army, currently massing on the border, would be defeated if it invaded Gaza. A week after Israel launched devastating air strikes against the Palestinian enclave with the declared aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks on its southern towns, an end to hostilities remains elusive despite international diplomatic efforts. The overnight air strike in Gaza killed Abu Zakaria al-Jamal, a senior leader of Hamas's armed wing, the Islamist group said. The Israeli army said only that it carried out...

Despite a significant drop in Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel in the past two days, the IDF kept the pressure on Hamas on Saturday, striking at least 25 targets in overnight sorties, including the home of senior Hamas commander Abu Zacharia Al-Jamal. Following the air strikes, a Hamas spokesman announced that al-Jamal was killed in the attack. He was the third senior operative in the group to be targeted in the past three days...

As Israel's Operation Cast Lead against Hamas in Gaza entered its sixth day, the Israeli Air Force bombed a mosque in the village of Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip. The Holfe Mosque was used as a launching ground for rockets, a meeting place for Hamas terrorists and a staging ground for terror attacks, as well as a communications center. The mosque was used as a storage site for a large amount of Grad missiles, Kassam rockets and additional weaponry. According to the IDF, the strike set off a lengthy series of secondary explosions and a large fire, caused by...

(IsraelNN.com) The IAF hit a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City on Thursday evening. The strike targeted senior Hamas terrorist Nabil Abu el-Amrin.Powerful secondary blasts were seen from the air after Amrin's house was hit, confirming IDF intelligence according to which the building was used to store large quantities of explosives and ammunition. It was not immediately clear if Amrin was killed in the strike.On Thursday afternoon the IAF hit and killed Nizar Rayyan, making him the most senior Hamas terrorist to be killed by Israel in several years. Several others were killed in the blast as well. Paramedics believe...

"OPERATION CAST LEAD The IDF's Fight Against Terror in Gaza" # A blessed New Year to everyone here and abroad. Today's thread beginning January 1, 2009 (U.S.A. Time)

Jan 1, 2009 17:48 Nizar Rayyan considered successor of Ahmed Yassin By YAAKOV KATZ, JPOST.COM STAFF AND AP Sheikh Nizar Rayyan, 52, a senior Hamas leader and cleric, was killed along with several others on Thursday when an IAF aircraft dropped a bomb on the eight-story Jabalya apartment building he lived in, the IDF said. Sheikh Nizar Ryan, a senior Hamas leader, was reportedly killed by IAF strikes on Thursday. Palestinian medics said that nine people were killed, including two of Rayyan's four wives and four of his 12 children, and around 30 were wounded in the air strike.

Officials in the defense establishment have recommended to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to suspend military operations against Hamas in Gaza for 48 hours and during that time to review a number of possible ceasefire solutions for Operation Cast Lead. Senior Israeli ministers were Tuesday night reportedly set to discuss the proposal. If the unilateral ceasefire would fail, Israel would launch a ground offensive, according to reports. Olmert reportedly opposed suspending the operation. Barak was reportedly weighing the idea. The recommendation, disclosed by defense sources on Tuesday evening, came after Defense Minister Ehud Barak spoke with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner...

After more than 200 rockets were launched against its territory in recent days, Israel did what any democratic state would do to protect its citizens: it fired back. Carefully selecting targets in the Gaza Strip in order to reduce civilian casualties, the Jewish state continued its attacks yesterday for a third straight day against its tormentor and sworn enemy, Hamas, the terrorist organization responsible for the rocket assault, while massing tanks and calling up reserves for an expected ground attack.

The Israel Air Force used a new bunker-buster missile that it received recently from the United States in strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday. The missile, called GBU-39, was developed in recent years by the US as a small-diameter bomb for low-cost, high-precision and low collateral damage strikes. Israel received approval from Congress to purchase 1,000 units in September and defense officials said on Sunday that the first shipment had arrived earlier this month and was used successfully in penetrating underground Kassam launchers in the Gaza Strip during the heavy...

GAZA CITY - Israeli warplanes pressing one of Israel's deadliest assaults ever on Palestinian militants dropped bombs and missiles on a top security installation, smuggling tunnels and dozens of other targets across Hamas-ruled Gaza on Sunday. Israel called up 6,500 reserve soldiers and moved infantry and armoured units to the Gaza border for a possible ground invasion. Some 280 Palestinians died in the first 24 hours of the campaign against Gaza rocket squads.

Israel.INTERNET-HAGANAH.com: "OPERATION CAST LEAD The IDF's Fight Against Terror in Gaza"