DTN News - ITALIAN DEFENSE NEWS: Obama Set To Arm Italy's Drones In Milestone Move

DTN News - ITALIAN DEFENSE NEWS:  Obama Set To Arm Italy's Drones In Milestone Move

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 31, 2012: President Barack Obama's administration appears set to notify the U.S. Congress of plans to arm a fleet of Italian MQ-9 Reaper drones, a step that may spur a wider spread of remotely piloted hunter-killer aircraft.

The administration could move ahead within two weeks on the proposal to let Italy join Britain in deploying U.S. drones with weapons such as laser-guided bombs and Hellfire missiles, American officials said.

Italy has a fleet of six Reapers. The sale of the technology to arm them, including bomb racks and "weaponization" kits costing up to $17 million, would help the United States redistribute the burden of its global military operations as the Pentagon's budget is being squeezed by deficit-reduction requirements.

Aides to Obama have been informally consulting the House of Representatives' and Senate's foreign affairs committees about the proposed sale to Italy since last year, congressional staff said.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/05/dtn-news-italian-defense-news-obama-set.html

DTN News - AZERBAIJAN DEFENSE NEWS: Azerbaijan Spent $1.6 Bln On Israeli Arms In 2011

DTN News - AZERBAIJAN DEFENSE NEWS: Azerbaijan Spent $1.6 Bln On Israeli Arms In 2011

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 31, 2012: Azerbaijan purchased a variety of weaponry, including aerial drones and an advanced anti-missile capable radar, from Israel under a $1.6 bln contract signed in 2011, the APA news agency said on Tuesday, citing data provided by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

According to the SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, Baku bought an unknown number of Gabriel anti-ship missiles, five Heron and five Searcher UAV’s, a Barak-8 air defense system with 75 missiles, and an EL/M-2080 Green Pine radar. Israel uses Green Pine for its national missile defense system.

Analitika.az website speculated that the purchases could be linked to a cooling in relations with Iran, after ties between Baku and Tehran deteriorated recently.

Last month, police in Azerbaijan said they had arrested an unspecified number of people linked to Iran and to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on suspicion of planning attacks in the country.

Tehran later accused Azerbaijan, which borders Iran and has friendly relations with the United States and Israel, of colluding with Israeli intelligence services in the killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist in January.

At the end of February, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Tehran Javanshir Akhundov to explain the arms deal with Israel and to provide assurances that the Israeli weaponry would not be used against Iran.

Akhundov reportedly said the weapons were bought “to liberate occupied Azerbaijani land,” most likely hinting at the ongoing conflict with Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh which was seized from Azerbaijan by Armenian forces during a war in the 1990s.

Baku and Tehran attempted to soothe building tensions during a visit by Azerbaijan Defense Minister Safar Abiyev to Iran earlier in March when both sides made public assurances of good neighborly relations.

Israel has persistently denied any connection between current tensions in the Persian Gulf and military supplies to Azerbaijan. Israeli experts point out that such transactions take months, or even yearsto complete.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/03/dtn-news-azerbaijan-defense-news.html

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Canada Bails Out Of NATO Airborne Surveillance Programs

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Canada Bails Out Of NATO Airborne Surveillance Programs

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 18, 2012: The Canadian Forces hope to save $90 million a year by pulling out of NATO programs operating unmanned aerial vehicles as well as airborne early warning planes, according to documents obtained by the Citizen.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay gave U.S. officials a heads-up last year about the withdrawal, pointing out that it will free up 142 Canadians assigned to NATO for new jobs, the documents show.

The shutdown of Canada’s contribution to NATO’s airborne warning aircraft, known as AWACS, will save about $50 million a year, according to the records obtained under the Access to Information law. Another $40 million a year will be saved as a result of Canada’s withdrawal from NATO’s Alliance Ground Surveillance Program, which would see the purchase of advanced unmanned aerial vehicles to conduct surveillance and intelligence gathering.

Canada has been involved in NATO’s AWACS program for more than 25 years and the aircraft were seen as key to the alliance’s success during the recent war in Libya.

U.S. unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs as they are known in military parlance, were also used to gather intelligence information during the Libyan conflict. NATO wants to ease the strain on the U.S. UAVs by having a pool of Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles at the alliance’s disposal.

Canada’s pull out from the UAV program will be done by the end of April, the Defence Department confirmed in a recent email. The withdrawal from the AWACS program is expected to take much longer.

The Canadian Forces contingent assigned to the AWACS aircraft is the last major Canadian military presence in Europe.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.ca/2012/03/dtn-news-defense-news-canada-bails-out.html