Here is a chance that India blew to send a strong message for peace with both Pakistan and China. An Egyptian diplomat based in New Delhi apparently offered recently to help Indian Air Force overcome its shabby pilot training program.
According to a report by the Indian magazine Business Standard, the Egyptian official offered a novel solution: An Egyptian Air Force training crew flown from Egypt to India to train Indian pilots using Karakoram-8, the multirole trainer jointly developed by both Pakistan and China and now used by a growing list of countries, including Egypt, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Zimbabwe, Myanmar, Namibia, not to mention the air forces of both Pakistan and China.
Says the Indian magazine: “Since the offer was not followed up in writing, the Indian Air Force (IAF) was spared the embarrassment of having to reply.”
ISLAMABAD: The first squadron of JF-17 Thunder aircraft formally joined the fighter fleet of Pakistan Air Force on Thursday.
“The formal induction of JF-17 aircraft in the PAF is in line with our resolve to face all challenges with poise and self-confidence,” Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman said while speaking at the induction ceremony held at a PAF operational base.
He said the PAF had invested in force multipliers like air-to-air refuellers, unmanned aerial vehicles and airborne early warning and control aircraft to enhance its capability to undertake complex operations.
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Air Force on Tuesday received first of its four Saab-2000 Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft from Sweden. According to an official announcement, the aircraft landed at one of main operating bases, marking a major milestone in PAF’s overall modernisation plan.
Not many modern armed forces unite in their inventory, and particularly among their key assets, technology from two – in political terms – entirely opposite origins. It is more common in the countries of the former Soviet bloc where, since the fall of the iron curtain, Western technology slowly but ever increasingly found its way into countries primarily equipped with Russian weapon systems. In the past two decades the Middle East and southern countries of the Asian continent have become areas in which Western state-of-the-art weapon systems competed next to weapon systems from Russia or other former antagonists to lead these countries’ armed forces into a new age – globalisation in the political and industrial defence world.
These countries – not only geographically in between history’s current major players – slowly revolve the old political and economic structures in a natural process and, with their growing political self-confidence, create a new link between the cumbersome super powers which, mostly from behind the scenes, will shape the next decades.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has lost 265 MiG fighter jets in crashes during the last two decades leaving 140 people dead, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said Wednesday. “In the last two decades (since April 1989 and up to Nov 26, 2009), 265 MiG fighter aircraft of the IAF have crashed. A total of 96 service personnel and 44 civilians were killed in these cases,” Antony told the parliament in a written reply.
Dubbed “flying coffins” for their frequent crashes, only 150-160 of the over 450 single-engine MiG-21s with the IAF are still in service. A large number have been lost in accidents during peace time. Antony said that all precautions are being taken before flying the aircrafts. “Each aircraft accident in the IAF is investigated through a court of inquiry and remedial measures are undertaken accordingly to check their recurrence in future.
Today is the day I lost you
amid the blood and tears, your angelic face
your beautiful form wreathed in the scent of a martyr
I didn’t know you but I will always love you
for you are the glory of this land that I hold dear.
People all around us ask a thousand questions
But you sleep the most peaceful, blessed sleep
Your soul shines through the white layers of your shroud
and angels descend from the heavens to witness a love so deep
China has agreed to sell Pakistan at least 36 advanced fighter jets in a deal worth as much as $1.4bn, according to Pakistani and western officials.
Beijing will supply two squadrons of the J-10 fighter jet in a preliminary agreement that could lead to more sales, said a Pakistani official. The official said Pakistan might buy “larger numbers” of the multi-role aircraft in the future, but dismissed reports that Islamabad had signed a deal to purchase as many as 150 of the fighter jets.
The Army is winding up the first phase of Operation Rah-i-Nijat by this weekend by capturing all major towns and villages in the Taliban heartland of South Waziristan, senior military officials said. The lightning speed with which the military has been able to seize major towns and villages, taking over Sherwangi, Kotkai, Kaniguram and Sararogha and secure main supply routes in the embattled tribal region has taken many an analyst, and even some military planners, by surprise.
The security forces are already inside Makin from the Razmak access but the area is said to be infested with minefields and will take some time before it is declared safe. In 20 days since the launch of the operation on the night of October 16, the military is now poised to march into Mehsuds’ regional headquarters of Laddah.
A lot can be achieved in two and a half decades. For an individual, its roughly one-third of the average lifespan. For a nation, its enough time for an entire generation to come through. A nation can be transformed from a marshy swamp into one of the largest economies of the world – as in the case of Singapore.
What did Indian Air Force (IAF) achieve in twenty six years while consuming over $2 billion? the answer to that is Zilch; Zero; Nada; Nothing – except a failed project and a continued embarrassment in the shape ‘Tejas’. Tejas LCA (Light Combat Aircraft, also known as Last Chance Aircraft) has gone many trials and tests and there’s no sign of induction as yet. It has now been announced to enter IAF in 2010.
Pakistan’s own ambitious JF-17 project was launched in partnership with China in 1995. In just eleven years and with just $500 million spent, the JF-17 was flying in Pakistani Airspace on March 23rd 2007 – with the maiden flight having taken place much earlier in 2003.
Pakistani Terrorist chief Baitullah Mehsud, who led a violent campaign of suicide attacks and assassinations against the Pakistani government, has been killed in a US missile strike, a TTP commander and aide to Mehsud said Friday.
‘I confirm that Baitullah Mehsud and his wife died in the American missile attack in South Waziristan,’ Kafayatullah told The Associated Press by telephone. He would not give any further details. [Source]
In February this year, PKKH had reported on how Baitullah Mehsud had outlived his shelf-life, and was of no further use to his American masters. With the TTP defeated in Malakand, he had been cornered in his hometown in South Waziristan and it would only have been a matter of days before he was captured.
It now increasingly looks like Baitullah Mehsud is living on borrowed time. It would be interesting to see who gets to him first, the Pakistanis or the Americans. Pakistan Army would be well advised to attempt to capture him alive, something that the Americans and Indians would try and ensure does not happen.
A handout picture released by Pakistan Air Force (PAF) shows Pakistan’s Air Force Chief, Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar (R) shaking hands with Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani, after he had a surprising sortie over the Swat region in a two-seat F-16 jet aircraft, at an operational base of PAF, in Pakistan on 15 June 2009. General Kayani on 15 June, flew a fighter jet F-16 with a co-pilot to take part in an air operation against militants in the country’s northwest.
For the first time in the history of the country, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani flies F-16 and targeted militants’ hideouts. The Air Chief Marshall Rao Qamar Suleman was also accompanied with COAS. Later, Air Chief Rao Qamar Suleman see off General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani from operational base.
‘We have the capability – Government needs to make the decision’
Air Chief Marshall on India’s purchase of AWACS, Pakistan’s own plans of purchasing AWACS, Swat Operation and ability to shoot US drones in Pakistani airspace.
Guest speakers:
Former Air Marshall Kaleem Sadaat,
Lt. General (R) Hamid Nawaz Khan, and
Akram Zaki.
Kaleem Sadaat mentions that in 2002 Pakistani Air Force shot down an Israeli made Indian drone, denies Drones take off from Pakistani land and puts forward certain technical aspects.
General (r) Hamid Nawaz Khan says ”stopping Drones attacks inside Pakistan is a test for current government”, specifies US aims for Baluchistan.
Akram Zaki mentions “elections in US and Pak were based on promises of “change” in fact, there is NO change at all in both countries”. Talks of the importance of Baluchistan and American lust for this resource-rich region of Pakistan, he further adds “Americans are prepared to make amphibious landing in Baluchistan”.
Speakers conclude that Baitullah Mehsud is CIA asset in Pakistan to create room for US strikes inside Pakistan.
We should criticize the Swat flogging [if it isn’t fake] without endorsing ‘Asma Jehangirism’. Understand the problem of these terrorists masquerading as ‘Pakistani Taliban’ and you’ll understand enemy from friend in our tribal region.
We had predicted in the immediate aftermath of the Mumbai attacks:
We can now expect an intense and sustained terrorism campaign in Pakistani cities in an attempt to destabilize the country along ethnic / sectarian lines – New Delhi’s time-tested method. On the diplomatic front India will be lobbying hard to have the ISI (and Pakistan Army) declared as terrorist organisations. We can also not rule out another false flag attack in the next few weeks.
Seeing his influence wane in recent days in face of Pakistan Army’s continued offensive against the TTP and fearing his capture, the US had tentatively struck, for the first time since his emergence, camps run by Baitullah Mehsud earlier this year. Taking heed of these warning shots, Agent Mehsud has sprung into action.
The American CIA almost killed Musharraf. The ISI is familiar with terrorism inside Pakistan by the spy agencies of many countries. Even Libya’s Gaddafi once ordered a couple of bombings here after the execution of his friend Mr. Bhutto. But this is the first time that the CIA is found directly involved in working against Pakistani interests. The U.S. spy organization is sponsoring the multibillion dollar Afghan drug trade, helped by the Indians. CIA’s latest trash is a statement by a U.S. congresswoman and a book by a third-rate American journalist both aimed at discrediting the ISI in the eyes of its own people. The million dollar question is this: Why is CIA sponsoring the campaign to tarnish Pakistani image worldwide, from the nuclear scare to the breakup scare to the ‘terrorist’ scare? The answer is astonishing.
France helped India master liquid-fuel technology by selling India the technology used to build the “Viking” engine used on the Ariane space launcher. India calls its version the “Vikas.” The Agni also needed a guidance system. The German Space Agency obliged with a long tutorial in rocket guidance, which allowed India to develop a guidance system and learn how to produce its components (gyroscopes, accelerometers and so forth). The German Space Agency also tested a model of the first stage of the SLV-3 in one of its wind tunnels in Cologne and helped India build its own rocket test facilities. Germany also trained Indians in how to make composite materials.
Thus, India’s biggest nuclear-capable missile is an international product. Under the mantle of peaceful space cooperation, the United States, France and Germany all helped create the most advanced nuclear missile in South Asia.
This is an Indian report, reproduced without editing. It disregards any Pakistani indigenous contribution to its strategic programs and gives China and North Korea the entire credit. This might be a good way for the Indians not to feel too sorry for themselves. But the fact is that Pakistan has made tremendous progress in its domestic scientific research capabilities and indigenous industrial manufacture. India cannot simply dismiss the Pakistani progress in missile technology over India to foreign help. After all, the Indians have more access to foreign help than Pakistan and yet their program lags behind Pakistan.
The most striking point about the dossier is its vague and unprofessional character. Enormous reliance is placed on the interrogation of the captured terrorist, Mohammed Amir Kasab, despite the fact that there is an abundance of other evidence – eyewitness accounts, CCTV and TV footage, forensic evidence, etc. – which could have been called upon to establish when, where, and what exactly happened during the attacks. This gives rise to the suspicion that the interrogation is being used as a substitute for real investigation because it can be influenced by intimidation or torture, whereas other sources of evidence cannot be influenced in the same way.
CIA’s involvement in campaigns against the Military / ISI
February 17, 2009The American CIA almost killed Musharraf. The ISI is familiar with terrorism inside Pakistan by the spy agencies of many countries. Even Libya’s Gaddafi once ordered a couple of bombings here after the execution of his friend Mr. Bhutto. But this is the first time that the CIA is found directly involved in working against Pakistani interests. The U.S. spy organization is sponsoring the multibillion dollar Afghan drug trade, helped by the Indians. CIA’s latest trash is a statement by a U.S. congresswoman and a book by a third-rate American journalist both aimed at discrediting the ISI in the eyes of its own people. The million dollar question is this: Why is CIA sponsoring the campaign to tarnish Pakistani image worldwide, from the nuclear scare to the breakup scare to the ‘terrorist’ scare? The answer is astonishing.
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