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It is not just the Indo-U.S. Civilian Nuclear Deal that has gained momentum in recent days, nor is it just the ever growing economic and business ties but the Armed Forces of the two largest democracies in the world are coming together at an unprecedented rate even as the Government of India has gotten rid of its Communist backers in the Indian Parliament. Operation Vajraprahar Indian and American armed forces are holding joint maneuvers on counter-terrorism in the famous Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School at Vairangte, Mizoram - about 100 km from Mizoram capital Aizawl. The three week-long 'Operation...

Kuwait has activated its Emergency War Plan after an armada of US naval battle groups headed for the Persian Gulf, Middle East Times reports. The report comes after DEBKAfiles claimed on Monday that the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the USS Ronald Reagan, and the USS Iwo Jima are sailing toward the Persian Gulf to reinforce the US strike forces in the region. The US naval force is accompanied by a British Royal Navy carrier battle group and a French nuclear hunter-killer submarine. The deployment is believed to be the largest naval task force assembled by the United States and its allies...

080722-N-7571S-001 ATLANTIC OCEAN (July 22, 2008) A French F-2 Rafale launches from the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) during the first integrated U.S. and French carrier qualifications aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier. The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group is participating in Joint Task Force Exercise "Operation Brimstone" off the Atlantic coast. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan Snyder/Released) 080721-N-7241L-009 ATLANTIC OCEAN (July 21, 2008) A French Rafale M prepares to land aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) during combined French and American carrier qualifications. This event marks the first...

We Swedes wish to honor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cole_bombing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darrell_S._Cole True Swedes - like I - love America. Yes, we are Europeans and you are Americans. Often, we insult each other, by employing various methods. Yet, you are our sisters'N'brothers and nothing will ever change tHAT. I would give my life up for America. The US is a nation which believes in true freedom. This idea will conquer the world.

IAF seeks govt nod to take part in 'Red Flag' war games 5 Oct 2007, 1620 hrs IST,PTI NEW DELHI: In a move that could raise the hackles of the Left parties, the Indian Air Force has sought the government's nod to take part in the world's most advanced aerial combat training exercises, ironically labelled "Red Flag", hosted by the US. The IAF wants to take part in the exercises slated for January 2008 and has sought government's clearance, Air Force Chief Fali Homi Major said here on Friday. If the government gives the nod, this would be the second...

Joint anti-terrorism exercises by Indian, UK forces (DPA) 16 September 2007 NEW DELHI - Special forces from Britain and India are scheduled to begin a joint exercise on Monday during which they will train to combat a guerrilla-like enemy in a region with similar rugged terrain as Afghanistan, officials and news reports said. The 24-day exercise in the high-altitude Ladakh region in northern India, has been codenamed Himalayan Warrior, the Indian army said in a statement. The British army, which is part of the coalition forces battling the Taleban militia in Afghanistan, had requested that the manoeuvres be held in...

Front PageIAF Jaguars ‘sink’ USS Nimitz, F-18s return the favour to INS Viraat Manu Pubby Posted online: Saturday, September 08, 2007 at 0000 hrs Malabar Exercise: From tracking nuclear submarines to managing 200 aircraft and taking on deep-sea terror threat, five Navies cover sweeping range of maritime operations ON BOARD USS Kitty Hawk (150 miles west of Port Blair), September 7: As the small green dots approached closer on the radar screen, the Indian officer sitting deep inside USS Nimitz knew it was too late to save the ship. Jaguar maritime fighters of the Indian Air Force (IAF), operating from...

August 30, 2007 PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. – North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command along with U.S. Pacific Command, the Department of Homeland Security as well as local, state and other federal responders will exercise their response abilities against a variety of potential threats during Exercise Vigilant Shield ‘08, a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff-designated, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM)-sponsored, and U.S. Joint Forces Command-supported Department of Defense exercise for homeland defense and defense support of civil authorities missions. VS-08 will be conducted concurrent with Top Officials 4...

WASHINGTON: The ongoing naval wargame in the Bay of Bengal involving five nations does not "target" China but is designed to shape strategic choices by regional actors like India, a senior Pentagon official has said. "This exercise does not target China. It is designed to shape strategic choices being made by all regional actors. Malabar is a sign of responsible stakeholders interested in promoting peace and security by a visible presence," said Brigadier General John Toolan, Principal Director for South and South East Asia at the US Department of Defence. The four-day 'Malabar Exercise' started on September 4 with the...

A multilateral naval drill involving India, the US and three other nations begins in the Bay of Bengal Tuesday, an event that India says is a pointer to the country's growing importance on the world stage. This is the first time a joint exercise on this scale involving 25 vessels is being conducted off India's eastern seaboard and New Delhi has repeatedly sought to allay apprehensions that the drill had military overtones. 'There is no military alignment. It's only an exercise,' Defence Minister A.K. Antony has said of Malabar-2007 that runs Sep 4-9 and involves the navies of India, the...

Sweden offers joint development of jets, submarines to India NEW DELHI: Keen to cast off the ghost of the Bofors kickbacks scam, Sweden has proposed new avenues of defence cooperation to India, including joint development of jet fighters and submarines. "The Swedish government is proposing to invest in Gripen fighters and is keen that India too take a investment stake in jointly developing these new generation fighters," visiting Swedish Vice Minister for Defence H G Wessburg said. Gripen is one of six jets vying for India's biggest ever global tender worth over Rs 42,000 crore (10 billion dollars) for the...

MIAMI (AP) - Warships from Canada and more than a dozen other countries joined the U.S. navy for ongoing manoeuvres Sunday near the Panama Canal in an exercise being billed as one of the largest multinational military training events of the year. More than 30 ships began the exercises Wednesday in the waters near the canal, to practise defending the economically and strategically crucial waterway. The exercise is scheduled to continue through Friday in the Caribbean and Pacific approaches to the canal. Thousands of ships pass through the Panama Canal every year, shuttling more than 200 million tons of exports...

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the biggest naval wargame to be hosted by India in the Bay of Bengal, a top American military official on Thursday scotched China's fears that the exercise involving US, Australia and Japan was aimed at isolating the communist country. US Navy's Pacific Commander Timothy J Keating observed that Indo-US military ties had become "more robust" but side stepped questions about opposition from the Left parties to the upcoming Malabar exercise, merely saying, "It is what democracy is all about." The four-day Malabar exercise beginning on September 4, which will see the biggest congregation of warships in...

HONG KONG: A nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier will return to India next month despite angry protests, its commander said on Monday, highlighting the closer military ties between the two nations. The USS Nimitz, one of the world's largest warships, will head back to the Bay of Bengal the first week of September to participate in a joint exercise involving 25 ships from India, Australia and Singapore. It will be the carrier's second visit to India in two months, having been near the country's southern coast in Chennai in July, which was seen as a landmark event in the growing defence...

MOSCOW: Russian and Chinese military transport planes dropped more than 200 paratroopers and heavy weapons during a dress rehearsal on Monday for a massive joint military exercise by the two former Cold War rivals, the first on Russia’s territory. A 1,600-member Chinese military contingent backed by aircraft, tanks and other heavy weapons has travelled to the Chelyabinsk region in Russia’s Ural Mountains for the war games, to be held on Friday and watched by the leaders of Russia, China and other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. The SCO, which also includes four ex-Soviet nations in Central Asia, was created...

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Joint military exercises involving troops from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will continue till August 17. More than 6,000 troops and 36 aircraft from the six nations are currently engaged in China’s far northwest Xinjiang region for two days; tomorrow they will move to Chelyabinsk, Russia. The exercises are intended to improve cooperation against terrorism, drug and weapons trafficking and criminal gangs as required by an agreement of mutual assistance against armed attacks. But the real objective is political. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Hui noted that “this is the first time that all the leaders...

KIEV, Ukraine - A World War II mine was discovered and safely destroyed Thursday in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol during a visit by a U.S. Navy destroyer for drills with Ukraine, officials said. The mine, weighing up to 1,100 pounds and containing up to 110 pounds of TNT, was found drifting in the water Wednesday near a navy hospital on the shore, said Valery Strelets, spokesman for the local branch of Ukraine's Emergencies Ministry. The report came as the USS Forrest Sherman called at the port to conduct drills with the Ukrainian navy. The U.S. destroyer was about...

Biggest ever multi-nation sea war games off Bay of Bengal NEW DELHI, JULY 31 (PTI) The biggest ever armada of warships including Indian vessels and nuclear submarines from the US and Australia will be in action off the Bay of Bengal in early September for some complex multi-nation sea war games. The navies of India, the US, Australia, Japan and Singapore will take part in the exercise which will witness nuclear powered aircraft carriers, advanced air early warning planes and fighters display their prowess. This will be biggest assembly of fighting sea machines in the area, since the 1971 Indo-Pak...

India to hold biggest ever naval exercise in Bay of Bengal New Delhi, July. 13 (PTI): Twenty warships from five countries, including three aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and fighters, will assemble in the Bay of Bengal in September for a major naval exercise to be hosted by India. The other countries taking part in the wargame are the US, Japan, Australia and Singapore and the warships that will be fielded for it include two American nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, USS Nimitz and Kitty Hawk, defence ministry officials here said today. Besides the carriers with their full complement of 80 to 100...

Twenty warships from five countries, including three aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and fighters, will assemble in the Bay of Bengal in September for a major naval exercise to be hosted by India. The other countries taking part in the wargame are the US, Japan, Australia and Singapore and the warships that will be fielded for it include two American nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, USS Nimitz and Kitty Hawk, defence ministry officials here said today. Besides the carriers with their full complement of 80 to 100 aircraft, the exercise codenamed Malabar-07 will feature missile destroyers, stealth frigates, nuclear and conventional submarines and...

Biggest joint naval exercise in Bay of Bengal in September Sandeep Dikshit U.S., Japan, Australia and Singapore navies to participate in manoeuvres NEW DELHI: India will hold its biggest naval exercise with the U.S., Japan, Australia and Singapore in the Bay of Bengal in September this year, senior security officials here said on Wednesday. The decision comes amid China’s concerns over last month’s meeting between India, the U.S., Japan and Australia and assurances by India and Australia that security and defence issues did not form part of the meeting’s agenda. The concern over “encirclement of China’ was strong enough for...

The Americans Are Coming! MV-22 Osprey Makes First Landing On British Carrier Wed, 11 Jul '07 Marines, UK Forces Prepare For Joint Exercise Off Eastern US Ahead of a US-led Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFX) on the Eastern seaboard of the United States, the HMS Illustrious welcomed the very first embarkation of a US Marine Corps Bell/Boeing MV-22 Osprey onto the Royal Navy aircraft carrier Wednesday. It is the first time an Osprey has landed on a non-US vessel. Portions Copyright © 1999-2007 by Aero-News Network, Inc. All rights reserved. Representatives with the UK's Ministry of Defense tell ANN the...

HMS Illustrious has become the first Royal Navy ship to embark a US Marine Corps Bell/Boeing MV-22 Osprey aircraft onto its deck during a joint exercise in the United States. The landing, which comes ahead of a US-led Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFX) on the Eastern seaboard of the United States, was the first time that an Osprey has embarked in a non-US vessel anywhere in the world. The MV-22 Osprey, the world's first tilt-rotor aircraft, has a unique vertical take-off and landing capability. It is ideally suited to working from the deck of HMS Illustrious, which is currently the...

(June 29, 2007) -- For several months, the Marines and sailors of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit prepared to take part in Exercise Talisman Saber 2007, a bilateral joint exercise between Australian and U.S. armed forces. Time drew near for the kickoff of this major joint field training exercise at the Shoalwater Bay training area in Central Queensland, Australia. The first of two waves of Marines and sailors of E Company filed off into an Australian landing craft resembling a gigantic, oceangoing flat-bed truck and packed it in close for what everyone already knew would be a tight squeeze. After...

<p>Russia said Tuesday it was pulling out of joint military exercises with the United States scheduled for later this month because of unspecified problems with U.S. personnel. A Defense Ministry statement announcing the decision to cancel the Torgau-2006 exercises suggested it was connected to a dispute between NATO and countries participating in the NATO "Partnership for Peace" program.</p>

Russia Cancels Joint Exercises With U.S. Wednesday September 6, 2006 3:01 AM By MIKE ECKEL Associated Press Writer MOSCOW (AP) - Russia said Tuesday it was pulling out of joint military exercises with the United States scheduled for later this month because of unspecified problems with U.S. personnel. A Defense Ministry statement announcing the decision to cancel the Torgau-2006 exercises suggested it was connected to a dispute between NATO and countries participating in the NATO ``Partnership for Peace'' program. ``We are aware of media reports and will work through appropriate channels to determine the status of future military exercises,'' Lt....

India and Russia have agreed to hold joint wargames on Russian soil next year to enhance military ties and share experience in handling low-intensity conflicts at high altitudes, Army Chief General J J Singh said here. Singh, who is on his maiden visit to Russia, held wide- ranging talks with Chief of General Staff of the Russian armed forces General Baluyevsky and Commander-in-Chief of the Land forces Colonel General Alexei Maslov yesterday. "We have agreed to enhance our co-operation, including joint exercises on Russian soil in 2007," he told Indian reporters here. Describing his talks with Baluyevsky and Maslov as...

RIYADH (AFP) - Saudi King Abdullah will start a three-day official visit to Turkey on Tuesday during which a military cooperation accord will be signed with Ankara, a Saudi-owned newspaper reported Saturday. During Abdullah's visit to Ankara at the invitation of Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, six bilateral accords will be signed, including one on military cooperation and another on protecting investments, the pan-Arab Al-Hayat said. A 45-strong team of Saudi businessmen will be among the delegation accompanying Abdullah to Turkey, it said. Talks will also cover the Lebanon conflict and other regional issues. The paper said the Saudi monarch...

The USS Abraham Lincoln, USS Kitty Hawk and USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike groups steam in formation during a joint photo exercise (PHOTOEX) in preparation for Valiant Shield 2006 on Sunday, June 18, 2006, in the Pacific Ocean. The PHOTOEX featured 14 ships as well as 17 aircraft from Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corp including a B2 bomber. The Kitty Hawk Carrier Strike Group is currently participating in Valiant Shield 2006, the largest joint exercise in recent history. Held in the Guam operating area beginning June 19-23, the exercise involves 28 Naval vessels including three carrier strike groups,...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Coast Guard and Navy will be conducting a joint exercise tomorrow between 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Cumberland Sound, Ga., designed to test the Coast Guard's ability to deter, detect and disrupt hostile acts direct at an escorted U.S. Naval vessel. During the exercise, Coast Guard and Naval vessels will be utilizing aggressive vessel tactics and firing blank ammunition from machine guns. This is to provide the most realistic means of evaluating unit capabilities, tactics, doctrine and plans. Coast Guard units routinely work in the Kings Bay, Ga., area to provide security for security...

Israeli Naval Forces Will Join NATO Exercise for First Time 19:40 May 30, '06 / 3 Sivan 5766 by Scott Shiloh For the first time since its founding in 1949, NATO will fully integrate Israeli Naval forces into a miltary exercise that will take place next month in the Black Sea. Ahead of the exercise, eight ships belonging to the NATO Southern Command docked Monday morning at Haifa port. The ships form part of a rapid deployment force and will remain in Haifa until June 4. The ships arrived as part of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue, a program set up with...

NEW DELHI, MAY 20 The VHP has offered to team up with Pope Benedict XVI to fight their ‘‘common’’ adversary of Islamic terrorism. VHP president Ashok Singhal made this offer to the Pope today, two days after the latter expressed serious reservations about moves to ban conversions in certain parts of India. The entire Sangh Parivar, particularly VHP, would have normally unleashed a no-holds-barred campaign against the Pope. However, Singhal, by courting the Pope, has obviously made a major tactical turn. The VHP chief said: ‘‘Christians and Hindus are both facing the same historical threat of jihad.’’ Drawing a parallel...

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2006 – The Defense Department is moving to establish a worldwide group of joint intelligence organizations designed to rapidly gather, interpret and act on information to better meet 21st-century military needs, senior military officials said here today. On April 3, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld issued a directive to establish a Joint Intelligence Operations Center at DoD's Defense Intelligence Agency, at each unified combatant command and at U.S. Forces Korea, Army Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and warfighting support, told reporters at a news briefing. "What we're trying to do is...

MOSCOW, February 27 (Itar-Tass) - - Russia and Turkey will conduct a joint naval exercise in the south-western part of the Black Sea on February 27-28, head of the press-service of the Black Sea Fleet Igor Dygalo told Itar-Tass on Monday. The Russian Guard’s missile cruiser Moskva, as well as two frigates and two missile motor boats of Turkey will take part in the exercise. According to Dygalo, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Vladimir Masorin, who concluded his visit to Turkey on Monday, will stay on board the cruiser Moskva to watch the manoeuvres. After the exercise the ships Moskva...

JOLO, Philippines There's been an explosion near a Philippines army camp where American troops are staying for joint war exercises. Witnesses say at least 20 people are hurt but a U-S military spokesman says there are no American casualties. The U-S official also says the incident will not hamper the two-week joint counterterrorism exercises that are to start Monday. Witnesses say those wounded were mostly men and female entertainers at a karaoke bar near the gate of the Philippine army camp.

The Indian and US navies have set up a Valentine’s Day tryst with aircraft carriers. The USS Ronald Reagan, named after a predecessor of US President George W. Bush who is scheduled to visit in early March, will be teaming up with the INS Viraat off the coast of Sri Lanka on February 14. The USS Ronald Reagan is steaming in from Singapore at the head of a carrier strike group that is forward deployed in the US’s “global war on terrorism”. The rendezvous for the passage exercise — or Pas Ex — was set up in quicktime because the...

The United States has allowed New Zealand to join a combined military exercise off Singapore, signalling an apparent thaw in the Anzus defence standoff. New Zealand and American forces are participating in a multi-national exercise this week, which is practising interception of ships carrying weapons of mass destruction. Since the mid-1980s the US has barred New Zealand participation in joint exercises in retaliation for New Zealand's anti-nuclear law. The only exceptions have been when the two countries are required to work together in preparation for operational military deployments, such as when frigates, Orions and army units have been deployed to...

Although Ukraine's December 2004 Orange Revolution sparked speculation about the country's potential to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), mainstream security analysts have missed the potential for co-operation with Kiev on missile defence. But US President George W Bush and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko have said that this is a promising area for co-operation. During their 4 April 2005 meeting in Washington, the two presidents agreed "to work together on missile defence, including beginning negotiations on a framework to facilitate such co-operation and closer industry-to-industry collaboration". These few words may lift US-Ukrainian security co-operation to new heights.

Moscow, Jan. 8 (PTI): Indian and Russian paratroopers will hold their second joint exercise in August in Russia. "We have planned two joint exercises in 2006, with India and NATO," Commander of Russia's elite Airborne Troops Colonel General Alexander Kolmakov, said in a TV interview. He said this time the joint war games with India would be held on the Russian soil in August. Earlier last October, Gen. Kolmakov had led the Russian Airborne combat unit for the first such joint anti-terror wargames Indra-2005 with the Indian paratroopers at Mahajan range in Rajasthan

For Gorshkov, Navy pilots head to US for training SHIV AROOR NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 23: By the time Russian-built aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov arrives in 2008, the Navy will have a contingent of 32 pilots, trained in specialised deck-based fighter operations at the US Navy training command in Pensacola, Florida. With the first batch of four Lieutenant-rank officers are already under training there, the next is scheduled to go in March. The selection of venue for training to operate Russian-built MiG-29K fighters off the Gorshkov may seem strange but the government was compelled to accept the Pentagon’s offer because Russia...

TOKYO - The Japanese government has decided to proceed with the United States in developing a joint missile defense shield, a top government official said Saturday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said steps would be taken to ensure the decision to pursue the shield, which uses defensive missiles to destroy attacking ones before they reach their targets, does not violate Japan’s pacifist constitution. “Amid proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles, the system is a genuinely defensive, and the only instrument to protect the lives and assets of our people,” Abe said. “It suits the defense policy...

MOSCOW, December 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russian paratroopers will participate in three joint military exercises with foreign countries in 2006, Commander of the Russian Airborne Troops said Thursday. "We have planned two joint exercises with NATO and India for 2006," Colonel General Alexander Kolmakov said. "In addition, we will conduct joint maneuvers with Uzbekistan and a series of international exchanges with foreign paratroopers." According to the general, the joint exercises with NATO have been scheduled for September and those for India have been slated for August. Both maneuvers will be held in Russia.

BANGKOK, Dec 13 (TNA) - Indonesia and Thailand have agreed to enhance their anti-terrorism cooperation between their armed forces to uncover terrorist networks. The militaries of the two countries also support their police forces for any anti-terrorism efforts, Indonesian Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono was quoted by news reports of ANTARA and Vietnam News Agency (VNA) as saying on Monday after a meeting in Jakarta with Thai Army Chief Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin. Juwono said the Indonesian-Thai army cooperation has been implemented for the past 20 years and their officers have exchanged programme for the past 15 years. However, to catch up...

New Delhi, December 9: In a step up of service-to-service engagement, India and US will conduct the biggest-ever Army level exercises near Ranikhet in Uttaranchal in January as American officials today indicated that Washington was working to open doors to high-technology transfers. A company force of the US Army will conduct joint exercises with a thrust towards anti-insurgency operations in the mountainous terrain near Choubhatia, US officials said adding that in the coming year, armed forces of the two countries would participate in ‘more complex, patterned’ war games. "US Pacific Command wants to expand its military-level interaction with India over...

In a step up of service-to-service engagement, India and the United States will conduct the biggest-ever army level exercises near Ranikhet in Uttaranchal in January, as American officials on Friday indicated that Washington was working to open doors to high-technology transfers. A company force of the US army will conduct joint exercises with a thrust towards anti-insurgency operations in the mountainous terrain near Choubhatia, US officials said adding that, in the coming year, armed forces of the two countries would participate in 'more complex, patterned war games'. "The US Pacific Command wants to expand its military-level innteraction with India over...

In a step up of service-to-service engagement, India and the United States will conduct the biggest-ever army level exercises near Ranikhet in Uttaranchal in January, as American officials on Friday indicated that Washington was working to open doors to high-technology transfers. A company force of the US army will conduct joint exercises with a thrust towards anti-insurgency operations in the mountainous terrain near Choubhatia, US officials said adding that, in the coming year, armed forces of the two countries would participate in 'more complex, patterned war games'. "The US Pacific Command wants to expand its military-level innteraction with India over...

Britain in battle with US over fighter plane Peter Almond and Dominic O'Connell BRITAIN is threatening to pull out of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), a co-operative combat-aircraft project with America that is one of the largest military programmes in the world. The move, confirmed to The Sunday Times by senior defence officials, could have serious repercussions for BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce, Britain’s two main contributors to the project. BAE is part of the consortium developing the plane, and had expected revenues of about $24 billion (£13.8 billion) in development and production contracts. Rolls-Royce is developing the lift fan for...

Foreign fighter jets performed well against F-16s in recent exercises. NEW DELHI – Mingling over a few rounds of golf, dogfighting a bit over the jungles of West Bengal - this month's Cope India 2005 war games were billed as a standard two-week exercise between Indian and American top guns. But in website chat rooms devoted to the arcania of fighter aircraft, there was a buzz. Arre, wa! Oh, wow! Had the Indian Air Force beat the Americans? Not exactly, according to observers and participants. The exercises had mixed teams of Indian and American pilots on both sides, which means...

Turkey and Israel have commenced their defense contract cooperation with a ceremony to mark the joint production of upgraded M60A1 tanks for the Turkish military. The ceremonies held at Kayseri, the site of the new production line, were attended by top Turkish and Israeli officials on Tuesday. There was some initial tension over the delay of the contract by Israel, as it conducted field tests on technologies needed for the upgrade, however this seems to have been solved. The program will cost $688 million and calls for the upgrade of 170 M60 tanks to front-line condition based on advanced technologies...