WDIF

Archive for January, 2007

Russian military aircraft were intercepted by British and Norwegian jets Friday after they breached NATO airspace close to the U.K. and Finland, defense officials said.

Finland’s prime minister demanded an explanation from Moscow. Interception of Russian warplanes in NATO patrolled-airspace has become increasingly common since the Kremlin ordered strategic bombers to carry out long-range missions for the first time since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Read the rest of this entry »

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the United States of applying a double standard in dealing with terrorism by its lack of action against Kurdish rebels who launch attacks against Turkey from northern Iraq.

Ahmadinejad’s comment came in a phone conversation with Turkish President Abdullah Gul on the same day Turkey’s prime minister said his country would not hesitate to send troops across the Iraq border if needed to pursue the rebels — formally named the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) — who are seeking to carve an independent state out of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. The Turkish government — which so far has restrained itself from undertaking a full-scale military operation amid diplomatic pressure — wants Iraq to handle the rebels inside their territory and has been saying it can’t wait indefinitely for Iraq to do so. Read the rest of this entry »

The FC-1 (Fighter China-1) ‘Xiaolong’ is the single-seat, single-engine, multirole fighter aircraft developed by Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (CAC) for export market. Currently three prototypes are flying. A joint venture between CAC and Pakistani Aeronautical Complex (PAC) will begin initial production of 16 aircraft in 2006. The designation of the aircraft in the Pakistani Air Force (PAF) is Joint Fighter-17 (JF-17) Thunder. The PLA Air Force (PLAAF) has yet confirmed whether it would order any FC-1 fighter. Read the rest of this entry »

India carried out a successful test Dec. 13 of its surface-to-air Akash missile at an eastern coastal testing range, defense officials said.

The missile blasted off from the Chandipur-on-Sea testing site, 200 kilometers (125 miles) northeast of Orissa state capital Bhubaneswar and hit a flying target successfully, a defense ministry official.
The locally developed missile was lasted tested in January. The 700-kilogram (1,540-pound) Akash, meaning “sky” in Hindi, can track 100 targets simultaneously with onboard radar, move at 600 meters (yards) a second and deliver a 55-kilogram warhead across 27 kilometers in 50 seconds. Read the rest of this entry »

Saudi Arabia will soon start taking delivery of Eurofighter jets from Britain, its crown prince said Jan. 6, after London dropped a controversial probe which reportedly threatened the deal.

The 72 warplanes “will be sent to the kingdom very soon at specific dates” and in close succession, Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, who is also defense minister, was quoted by the official SPA news agency as saying. Read the rest of this entry »