Free Republic

Officials with the Spanish toll road operator Cintra have announced that the company has secured $430 million in loans from the U.S. government to build and operate two segments of a toll road in central Texas. Cintra officials announced the company’s financial plan for the $1.36 billion Highway 130 segments on Monday, March 10. OOIDA Senior Government Affairs Representative Mike Joyce told Land Line that the Association does raise red flags when federal dollars are used to subsidize private investors. Officials with the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association are not, however, categorically opposed to a state using future toll revenue to...

REFUGIO, Texas - With an abandoned Wild West-vintage town of storefronts slumbering just a block from old US 77, tiny Refugio is a place where myth and reality coexist in a ghostly silence. more stories like this Obama faces heat over aide's NAFTA remarks to Canadians Texas, Ohio could decide Dem nomination Canada says didn't misrepresent Obama over NAFTA McCain tags Dems on trade treaty NAFTA seen differently in Ohio, Texas And now this South Texas outpost is swept up in one of the more intriguing tests of myth vs. reality in today's political life: the battle over the so-called...

JERUSALEM — Syria has lost a MiG-21 fighter-jet near Israel. Israeli officials said the Syrian Air Force sent several MiG-21s on a mission near the Golan Heights, part of which was captured by Israel in the 1967 war. They said one of the MiGs crashed on Sept. 22. The governments of neither Israel nor Syria officially confirmed the crash of the Syrian MiG-21. The Israel Air Force has been on alert for Syrian retaliation in wake of reports of an Israeli air strike on a suspected Syrian nuclear or missile facility near the border with Iraq on Sept. 6. The...

Nearly a fifth of America's roads are now considered in poor shape and about one-in-four bridges is rated "structurally deficient." The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that the cost to fix these problems is a staggering $460 billion. The tab grows far larger when you add in the hundreds of billions to build the new transportation infrastructure that's needed to handle the country's growth. Part of the problem is that big increases in state and local spending for politically popular programs, especially Medicaid and education, as well costly public employee pensions and benefits, have crowded out infrastructure -- even as...

CHISINAU, Moldova: An appeals court freed former Defense Minister Valeriu Pasat on Monday, overturning his conviction for abusing his position in the sale of 21 fighter planes to the United States...Pasat, who was defense minister from 1997 to 1999, was accused of selling the MiG planes for US$40 million (€29 million) when the country could have received more money from Iran, which had offered to pay the poor former Soviet republic US$90 million (€66 million). The United States has defended the 1997 sale, with a U.S. government representative testifying that Moldova could have faced economic sanctions if it sold the...

A scramble for a piece of the world's largest fighter plane deal in over a decade moved into its final stage Friday with India examining the final bids from global weapons giants. Indian defence ministry and industry sources said the choice appeared to have narrowed down to the Russian-built MiG-35 and MiG-29 aircraft, and US offerings the Lockheed Martin F-16 and Boeing F-18. A top defence procurement committee meeting had been expected to result in an announcement of the vendor of the 126 war planes, but an official statement late on Friday only said the tender has been "fine tuned."...

MiG-31 Foxhound(click to view full) Russian newspapers are claiming that Russia has begun delivering 5 MiG-31E Foxhound aircraft to Syria under a deal that was reportedly negotiated in autumn 2006. The Russian newspaper Kommersant adds that: "...a lot of MiG-29M/M2 jets was sold to Syria as well. They are being sold abroad for the first time and are similar in their technical specifications to the MiG-35 model Russia is now offering India. The total value of the contract for the MiG-31 and MiG-29M/M2 aircraft is estimated at $1 billion." The paper adds that this amount raises questions, noting the likelihood...

Russia has started delivery of top-of-the-line fighter jets to Syria under a new deal estimated to be worth $1 billion, a newspaper said Tuesday - but the report was quickly denied by the state arms trader. The business daily Kommersant said that Russia had begun delivering five MiG-31E jets under a deal apparently negotiated during Syrian President Bashar Assad's trip to Moscow last autumn. Commenting on the report, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in a statement that "all of Russia's deals in the sphere of military-technical cooperation comply with international law and Russia's obligations under various treaties and...

The nation's transportation experts have identified their top three priorities: a national freight network, urban congestion and connecting new urban centers with the interstate system. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, meeting in national conference last month, heard futurists predict that the cost of meeting the transportation needs would be $3.1 trillion over the next 25 years. State and local governments are turning to "public-private partnerships," or PPPs, to produce the funding. The city of Chicago was happy to partner with a Spanish-Australian group that paid $1.83 billion for a 99-year lease to operate the Chicago Skyway....

Two MiG-29 fighters collide over southern Russia - 1 18:52 | 21/ 03/ 2007 ROSTOV-ON-DON, March 21 (RIA Novosti) - Two Russian MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters have collided in the Rostov Region in southern Russia, but both pilots survived the accident, a local police source said Wednesday. The collision occurred near the Millerovo airfield in the afternoon, about 220 kilometers (130 miles) north of the regional center, Rostov-on-Don. Both pilots have been transported to a nearby military hospital with minor facial lacerations, Air Force spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky said, adding that the crash did not cause any injuries to anyone on the...

MiG-23MFs to be phased out, last flight on March 20 AHMEDABAD, MAR 16 (PTI) The MiG-23MF fighters of the Indian Air Force (IAF) will take to the skies for one last time on March 20 before being phased out. Four of the only five existing MiG-23MF fighters of the IAF will fly for the last time from the frontline Jamnagar airbase in Gujarat before entering the annals of Indian military aviation history, official sources said today. The fifth aircraft will be kept on display, they said. Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi and South Western Air Command chief Air Marshal...

THE Sydney-based Macquarie Infrastructure Group will know tonight if it has garnered an early slice of the vast toll road riches up for grabs in Texas. The announcement by the Texas Department of Transportation of the winning bidder for State Highway 121 - a planned 42km toll road in northern Dallas, one of the fastest growing areas of the US - shapes up as the first big test of MIG's decision to all but jettison its Australian routes for a shot at the far larger but less developed US markets. Texas, which is forecast to double its population to 50...

Raptor debuts at Red Flag, dominates skies by Tech. Sgt. Russell Wicke Air Combat Command Public Affairs 2/20/2007 -  NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. (ACCNS)  -- The 94th Fighter Squadron deployed 14 F-22A Raptors and 197 personnel from Langley AFB, Va., to participate in the aircraft's first Red Flag exercise, which ran from Feb. 3 to 16 here. An official from the 65th Aggressor Squadron said the F-22s demonstrated an extremely lopsided advantage in their favor. Pilots from the 65th and 64th AS, including exchange pilots from the Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Air Force, of Australia and England respectfully, expressed...

Never-seen battle in sky ANIL BUDUR LULLA The F/A-18 F Super Hornet and the MiG-35 Bangalore, Feb. 11: A brilliant blue-and-red streak in the sky, the MiG-35 climbs 90 degrees towards the sun, changes its mind and does a vertical U-turn, screaming 90 degrees towards earth. It’s still in one piece. Moments later, the grey F/A-18 F Super Hornet shoots sunwards like a bullet after a short take-off, levels at 8,000 feet, floats, turns left, shows its dual engines just above the gaping audience, goes into attack mode and swivels — all in one smooth motion. “It’s like nothing we’ve...

Surely Fort Worth Weekly publisher Lee Newquist’s phone will be ringing any second now with a call from Australia and an offer of millions of dollars. After all, your favorite alt-weekly criticized the Trans-Texas Corridor in a recent cover story (“Detours on a Super-Highway,” Jan. 10, 2007), and it’s pretty obvious that foreign fat cats who lease U.S. highways and charge tolls to drivers don’t take kindly to criticism. Macquarie Media Group of Australia is set to pay upward of $100 million for American Consolidated Media, which owns small community newspapers across Texas — newspapers that have criticized the proposed...

Macquarie to buy newspaper chain; critics fear it's to silence Trans-Texas Corridor opponents. One of the foreign firms leasing the Indiana Toll Road is drawing suspicion from some Texans after announcing plans to acquire a chain of small newspapers there. Australia-based Macquarie Media Group last week said it will pay $80 million for American Consolidated Media, which publishes 40 community newspapers and shopping publications serving nine communities in Texas and Oklahoma. Macquarie's sister company, Macquarie Infrastructure Group, last year joined with the Spanish conglomerate Cintra to lease the Indiana Toll Road for the next 75 years. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels...

President Bush has announced that he intends to appoint an official with toll-road investor Macquarie to be the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Transportation. David James Gribbin, IV, of Virginia is currently the division director for Macquarie Holdings, a Washington, DC, company under the umbrella of the toll-road investor Macquarie Infrastructure Group of Australia. Before that private sector job, Gribbin was chief counsel of the Federal Highway Administration. Current Transportation Secretary Mary Peters also worked at FHWA at that time. Bush’s announcement may draw anti-privatization sentiment from U.S. senators during the confirmation process, according to Toll Road News,...

The Trans-Texas Corridor, and the TTC-35 component that will parallel Interstate 35, is the best solution to the congestion facing Texas highways, and I-35 in particular. Not only would it relieve traffic congestion, it would also expand economic opportunity along its path. What citizens need to realize also is that from the start, part of the long-term answer to relieving that congestion, and part of the TTC plan, has been passenger rail. Ottis Foster is correct in his Dec. 16 guest column, “Trucks on rails, off I-35” regarding rail being a key part of the solution to the increased traffic...

First MiG 29 K for Indian Navy takes off Manu PubbyPosted online: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 Moscow, January 22: The first fighter aircraft designed and developed in Russia after the break-up of the Soviet Union — the Mig 29 K/KUB for the Indian Navy — took off on its inaugural flight at the Zhukovskiy test centre here on Monday. The first flight version of the ship borne fighters, on order from the Indian Navy for its carrier INS Vikramaditya, took off on a cold winter morning with the tell-tale black smoke but dispelled all doubts after a flawless 20-minute test...

MiG's Acting Chief Faces Fraud Charges Combined Reports Moscow city prosecutors have charged the acting head of MiG Corp., first vice president Sergei Tsivilyov, with fraud in an attempted sale of counterfeit parts for Poland's MiG-29 fighter jets, Kommersant said Wednesday, citing an unidentified person in the prosecutor's office. The charges could be part of a struggle for control over United Aircraft Corporation, or UAC, a state-owned group of aircraft makers that MIG will soon join, an analyst said. Tsivilyov and a director of a company named Aviaremsnab were charged with fraud and forging documents on an attempted delivery of...

Russia plans complete overhaul of MiG-31 interceptor fleet 15:13 | 02/ 11/ 2006 MOSCOW, November 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russia plans to modernize its MiG-31 Foxhound interceptor aircraft, which have been in service for 25 years, the air force commander said Thursday. The modernized interceptor will feature unique air-to-air missiles capable of hitting targets at ranges exceeding 200 kilometers (125 miles), including aircraft with stealth capabilities, cruise missiles, and supersonic aircraft, Army General Vladimir Mikhailov said. "Modernization of the fleet of MiG-31 interceptors will significantly increase the combat capabilities of the air defense, especially over remote areas of northern Russia,...

MiG 27 Fighter Bomber Will Have New Engines General director of the Salyut Moscow Machine Building Production Plant Yury Eliseev has announced at the Farnborough Airshow in Great Britain that a new engine will be used in modernized MiG 27 fighter bombers, the main aircraft of the Indian Air Force. The new engine, the AL-31F, will be 200 kg. lighter than the R-29B-300 used previously, and have one metric ton more propulsion (12,300 kg./sec.) than its predecessor. It will also use 15 percent less fuel. The Indian Air Force has 150 Mi G27 Bahadur models and will modernize 60 of...

06:42 GMT, Jul 03, 2006 Latest Headlines... Two Russian Su-30 fighter jets arrive in Venezuela MOSCOW/CARACAS. July 3 (Interfax-AVN) - Two Russian Su-30 fighter jets have landed in Caracas to join a military parade to mark the anniversary of Venezuela's independence from Spain on July 5, an official with the Russian defense and industrial complex told Interfax- AVN. "It has yet to be decided whether the planes will remain in that country until a contract is signed for the sale of 24 Su-30 fighter jets to Venezuela, or they will return home after the celebrations," the official said. sd md

India to station MiG-29 fighter-bombers at Tajikistan base By Rahul Bedi, Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, April 20 (IANS) India's first overseas military facility in Tajikistan is expected to become operational by the year-end as part of New Delhi's thrust into oil-rich Central Asia to meet its growing energy needs. The Indian Air Force (IAF) is to deploy a fleet of MiG-29 fighter-bombers at the airbase at Aini, 15 km from the Tajikistan capital Dushanbe. India's quasi-military Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is currently constructing three hangars at Aini, two of which will accommodate the 12 aircraft the IAF will deploy...

New Delhi, April 7: Photographs of militant training camps across the Line of Control, images of Pakistani army and armoured corps movements, mapping of new roads built by adversaries in sensitive border regions — ever wondered how India gets hold of these pictures? The secret, so far, was in the Indian Air Force’s MiG 25 aircraft that are to be junked from service next month. The high-altitude surveillance aircraft capable of flying at 2.8 Mach will fly its last sortie for the IAF on May 1 from the base of the 102 Trisonic Squadron at Bareilly. IAF pilots recall some...

CARACAS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his country is ready to buy Russian-built fighter jets, as the United States refuses to supply spare parts for its F-16 jets. At a military ceremony on Monday, Chavez expressed his appreciation for Russia's help, saying Venezuela will buy fighter jets from Russia and "keep them here to protect this land." He also thanked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for approving the sale of 33 military helicopters and 100,000 AK-47 assault rifles to Venezuela. Chavez also blamed Washington for forbidding Brazilian manufacturers from selling training aircraft to his country on...

Stripped fighter jet seized Hong Kong customs authorities have seized an aircraft believed to be a Soviet-made Mig-29 Fulcrum fighter jet at the Kwai Chung Container Terminal after a routine check revealed the shipment was missing an import license. Leslie Kwoh Wednesday, April 05, 2006 Hong Kong customs authorities have seized an aircraft believed to be a Soviet-made Mig-29 Fulcrum fighter jet at the Kwai Chung Container Terminal after a routine check revealed the shipment was missing an import license. The aircraft did not carry any weapons and had been stripped of its engine and other parts when it was...

Young IAF pilots prefer Mirages over F-16s. But the Mirage assembly lines are now being shut down. Though French defence minister Michele Alliot-Marie told her Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee last month that the lines could be kept open if India gave "firm indications", France itself is pushing the Rafale now. "If not the much-cheaper Mirage, go for Rafale. At more than $70 million per jet, Rafale is no doubt very expensive but it's of the latest generation and packs a mean punch. If not 126, we can go in for a lesser number of Rafales," says a Wing Commander. But...

An obscure arms deal from nine years ago has produced a major human rights case in the former Soviet country of Moldova, challenging the U.S. government to stand up for its own good name as well as for the rule of law. The case centers on the conviction Jan. 16 of the former Moldovan defense minister, Valeriu Pasat, and his sentence to 10 years in a hard-labor penal camp. Pasat's ostensible offense was to sell 21 MiG-29 fighter aircraft to the Pentagon in 1997 for $40 million. The prosecution alleged the planes were worth $55 million more and thus Pasat...

Venezuela has become an important customer of Russian weapons, a senior government official said when announcing a record sale of armament in 2005, AP reported. Mikhail Dmitriyev, the head of the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation, advised that Russia could sell MiG strike aircraft to Venezuela. Queried about Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez' remarks on the possibility of buying MiG's, Dmitriyev answered that no concrete deal has been made. However, "if Venezuela desires to procure MiG's, we are ready to cooperate," he noted. According to the official, Russia is also determined to open a maintenance site for any weapons...

New Delhi: India is finalising a proposal to have its fleet of 67 MiG-29 multi-role fighters refurbished for $888 million by the Russian company RSK-MiG, but the upgrade programme is already two years behind schedule. "The programme is part of IAF's (Indian Air Force's) long-term plan to modernise its fighter fleet with the aim of expanding its strategic reach, firepower and area of responsibility over the next decade as India's burgeoning economy and regional importance proliferate," a senior IAF officer told IANS. Granted financial clearance by the defence ministry in fiscal 2005-06, the MiG-29 upgrade project has already been delayed...

<p>New Delhi: The dogfight for bagging the Indian order for 126 fighter aircraft has taken a sensational twist. The front-runner, the French Mirage 2000, has pulled out, complaining that India is taking too much time to make up its mind.</p>

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...

MARIETTA, Ga., December 15, 2005 -- Lockheed Martin’s [NYSE: LMT] F-22A Raptor, the world’s only 5th generation fighter aircraft, surpassed a monumental milestone today when the United States Air Force declared that the Raptor has reached initial operational capability. General Ronald E. Keys, Commander of Air Combat Command, made the historic announcement at Langley Air Force Base, Va., from a Raptor hangar near his headquarters. “The F-22A fulfills a long quest to bring 5th generation capabilities of stealth, supercruise, and precision to the warfighter today and for decades to come,” said General Keys in an Air Force news release. “If...

London – In the most recent operation for smuggling the weapons of the Iraqi former army, Iraqi military detachments have managed to seize Meg-29 plane motors, which were stolen from a workshop affiliated to a party armed militia headquarters, on their way to be smuggled to Iran. The Iraqi News Agency stated the news accompanied with documents that represent a committal letter addressed by the big crimes' administration in Al Rassafa on 17/08/2005, signed on behalf of the brigadier general who is the department director, to the general administration for fighting big crimes. The agency stated that the interior ministry...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. .................................................................. .................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should...

India will start receiving the first carrier-based MiG-29K multi-role fighters from Russia in 2007, a year ahead of schedule. The first batch of few MiG-29KUB would be delivered towards the middle of 2007, in time for Indian Navy to train the first batch of its pilots, a top official of Russian Aircraft building Corporation (RSK), the manufacturers of the MiG range of fighters, said. He said that RSK would deliver Navy’s entire order of 16 MiG-29K by 2009. The Russian team is in New Delhi to finalise the training schedule for the Indian Naval pilots. While the first batch of...

Mystery MiG jet baffles Kabul March 24 2002 at 02:22PM Kabul - A mystery pilot flew an Afghan MiG-21 jet into Kabul airport on Saturday, stepped from the cockpit and walked away without explanation, leaving the warplane on the tarmac and troops stationed there baffled, the International Security Air Force (ISAF) said on Sunday. "An Afghan MiG-21 arrived unexpectedly in Kabul international airport," said ISAF spokesperson Can Oz. The aircraft was in poor condition and its communications equipment was failing when the pilot radioed the airport requesting permission to land. The pilot spoke briefly to Afghan airport officials before walking...

Israel downed 2 Syrian MiGs last September over sea SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM Friday, February 11, 2005 Diplomatic sources said Israel Air Force F-16 multi-role fighters intercepted and downed two Syrian MiG-29 fighter-jets last year. The sources said the dogfight took place in September 2004 over the eastern Mediterranean Sea. This was the first engagement between Israeli and Syrian fighter-jets since the 1980s. The sources said the air battle took place when Israel Air Force fighter-jets buzzed the Syrian city of Latakia, a port used by Iran for the shipment of weapons to Hizbullah. The Washington-based Reform Party of Syria...

By Wayman Dunlap Editor The next time someone tries to tell you that American military forces are nothing but death-dealing, mindless killers, tell them to talk to Salam Shalaam, who flew MiG-23s with the Iraqi Air force during the 1991 Gulf War. He was ordered to fly his aircraft to Iran, where it would be safe from the U.S. Air Force's far-reaching hand. He never made it. En route, he was intercepted by two USAF F-16 Fighting Falcons. The experienced pilot tried in vain to lose the two jets. Moving and maneuvering as best he could, he thought he lost...

Defence deals: India, Russia to take fresh look Russian PM Mikhail Fradkov sacks MiG Corp chief EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE Posted online: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 at 0209 hours IST MOSCOW, SEPTEMBER 28: Indo-Russian defence deals are going to be subjected to a little hammering out. A high-level defence contingent — including Defence Secretary Ajai Vikram Singh and naval vice-chief, Vice-Admiral Yashwant Prasad — is in Moscow to hold discussions with the Russian government on defence deals, ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India in December. The team’s visit comes immediately after Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov sacked MiG...

...Russian news services are reporting that both U.S. and Colombian military sources have confirmed that Venezuela's defense ministry has purchased several advanced MiG-29 fighters and that that U.S. sources have detected them on training missions. ..."Venezuela plans to spend approximately $5 billion on acquisition of Russian fighters including purchase of armament, airdrome and airborne equipment." ...UPI: "letters addressed last year to the director general of Russian Aeronautic Corp., Nicolai F. Nikitin, the Venezuelan air force requested the 'latest version' of the MiG-29 SMT equipped with high-tech weaponry, including radar-guided missiles and 2,000-pound bombs." UPI: "The plane must have the capacity...

Venezuela`s MiG 29 Fulcrums United Press International CARACAS, Venezuela, Sep 14, 2004 Analysis: Venezuela eyes Russian MiGs Venezuela plans to acquire 50 of Russia's most advanced warplanes, according to U.S., European and Latin American military intelligence officials who are concerned about regional ambitions harbored by President Hugo Chavez. Chavez's plans to use oil revenues to upgrade his military were reported last May by CNN, which quoted Pentagon sources as saying that Venezuela would spend an estimated $5 billion to obtain sophisticated hardware. United Press International has details of agreements being negotiated with Russian defense contractors for a large number of...

Venezuela plans to acquire 50 of Russia’s most advanced warplanes, the UPI news agency reported citing U.S., European and Latin American military intelligence officials who are concerned about regional ambitions harbored by President Hugo Chavez. The UPI also reported details of agreements being negotiated with Russian defense contractors for a large number of super jet fighters fitted with state-of-the-art weaponry. In letters addressed last year to the director general of Russian Aeronautic Corp., Nicolai F. Nikitin, the Venezuelan air force requested the “latest version” of the MiG 29 SMT equipped with high-tech weaponry, including radar-guided missiles and 2,000-pound bombs. “The...

TIRANA, Sept 16 (Reuters) - A fully armed MiG-19 fighter plane exploded shortly after take-off on Thursday morning from Tirana's Mother Teresa international airport, an Albanian defence ministry spokesman said. The aircraft, part of Albania's ageing military fleet of Chinese-made MiGs, was on its way to a firing range, spokesman Igli Hasani said. The MiG-19 is a single-seater jet fighter, which was initially produced by the Soviet Union. "We're 99 percent sure the pilot is dead because the plane turned into a ball of fire," a police spokesman said. All flights at Mother Teresa International airport were immediately cancelled.

15:21 2004-09-17 American military intelligence confirms that the Venezuelan ministry of defense has several new MiG-29 fighters. The MiG-29s for now located on one of the bases in the region of Lake Maracaibo. The fighters periodically perform training flights in the region of Curacao island in the Caribbean sea, where they were detected by the American military. Information about Venezuela's MiG-29s was also confirmed by representatives of the Columbian ministry of defence. The purchase of Russian fighters, according to the American military, is part of a long-term plan by the Venezuelan ministry of defense to upgrade their air forces. Venezuela...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6, 2003 -- American forces have found Russian fighter jets buried in the Iraqi desert, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in an Aug. 5 press briefing. "We'd heard a great many things had been buried, but we had not known where they were, and we'd been operating in that immediate vicinity for weeks and weeks and weeks … 12, 13 weeks, and didn't know they were (there)," Rumsfeld said. The secretary said he wasn't sure how many such aircraft had been found, but noted, "It wasn't one or two." He said it's a "classic example" of the challenges...

Details now emerging. In Japanese..... North Korean MiG locked on to Japan EP-3 surveillance craft over Sea of Japan in March 2003, during joint work over international waters between Japan and North Korea, with US Navy. US Navy RC135-S "Cobra Ball" surveillance aircraft was also locked on for shootdown by DPRK Airforce in international airspace.Japan Air Self Defense forces scrambled (several) F-15s from Komaki Air Base in Western Japan to challenge the DPRK MiGs, which backed down and released their radar "Lock On". Later and soon after, the DPRK enemy aircraft harrassed US Navy Aircraft for nearly 20 minutes,...

Dreaded instruments of Cold War now in U.S. dogfights By Asher Price AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Saturday, July 17, 2004 When Scott Stephens climbs 6,000 feet per minute over Central Texas in his L-39C Soviet bloc fighter-trainer, the Hill Country receding quickly below, or spins a combat-ready barrel roll, there is only one CD he'll blast on his cockpit stereo: the soundtrack to "Top Gun." Stephens, a Wimberley resident who made his millions in oil field engineering and exploration, bought the Cold War leftover from a retired Ukrainian air force general for $100,000 in 2001. The plane, disassembled, was shipped in a...

Insight on the News - National Issue: 03/02/04 Special Report Saffuri's Ties to Terror Suspects By Kenneth R. Timmerman The rise of Khaled Saffuri to political prominence within the U.S. Muslim community has all the ingredients of a Horatio Alger success story. Brought up as a stateless exile in Kuwait, Saffuri came to America as a student in 1982, went to college in San Diego, and soon gravitated into the world of Muslim activism. A talented fund-raiser and behind-the-scenes power broker, Saffuri built bridges to politicians in both parties by generously contributing to their election campaigns, from California libertarian Rep....