en by the private firm Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. [TASL], which struck a joint venture with U.S.-based Sikorsky Aircraft to manufacture helicopters here.
An executive of TASL said the helicopters will be built for both defense and civil purposes, and include utility and strike versions for the armed forces.
Sikorsky is already in the race for India's program to procure 197 utility helos, along with AgustaWestland of the United Kingdom, Eurocopter of France , Kamov of Russia and Bell Helicopter of the United States.
The joint venture between TASL and Sikorsky is being set up near the central Indian city of Hyderabad in an Aerospace Special Economic Zone. The joint venture will be built at a cost of $200 million and the plant will be commissioned in one year, added the TASL executive.
Tata Group, which is the parent of TASL, already has an agreement with U.S. aerospace major Boeing to handle an initial $500 million of defense-related aerospace component work in India for export to Boeing.
Last year, TASL announced that it is joining hands with EADS to bid for the Indian Army's $1 billion advanced tactical communications system project. TASL also signed a memorandum of understanding last year with Israel Aerospace Industries to set up a defense technology company in India to jointly produce a wide range of defense and aerospace products.
Termination of the VH-71 Presidential helicopter program means the Pentagon will have to write off the $3 billion spent to date, in addition to termination fees, and will still have to develop a new program. (AgustaWestland photo)
The VH-71 was intended to replace both the VH-3D and VH-60N aircraft currently used to conduct presidential support missions.
Navy contract N00019-05-C-0030 and associated work with Lockheed Martin Systems Integration – Owego (LMSI-O), Owego, N.Y., awarded Jan. 28, 2005, for the SDD of the VH-71 program, has been terminated for the convenience of the government.
The under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics issued a VH-71 program acquisition decision memorandum on May 15, 2009, which directed the program be cancelled, to include both Increment 1 and Increment 2.
An Army Air Corps Apache launches CRV-7 rockets at a target during operations in Afghanistan [Picture: Staff Sergeant Mike Harvey]
Mullah Mansur was killed in the early hours of Monday, 1 June 2009, in an isolated area near Nahr e-Saraj, north east of Lashkar Gah.
He is thought to be behind a number of suicide bomber attacks that have targeted and killed British and Afghan forces in and around Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province.
These include two suicide bomber attacks last month in Gereshk: one that killed Sergeant Ben Ross of the Royal Military Police and Gurkha Corporal Kumar Pun on 7 May; the second on 11 May that killed 13 Afghan police and civilians and wounded 27 other people.
He is also believed to be behind the suicide bomber attack on the Helmand Police Headquarters in March that killed nine Afghan policemen and two civilians, with 28 people wounded.
Yesterday's Apache helicopter attack is also thought to have killed and injured a number of other prominent insurgent leaders and accomplices of Mullah Mansur.
He was known to have strong links to insurgent commanders from the Baluch tribe in the south and acted as the link between the insurgency in the south and central Helmand.
"The attacks [Mullah Mansur] helped plan and execute have probably killed or wounded hundreds of people, and most of them have been either Afghan civilians or police."
Lt Col Nick Richardson
Task Force Helmand spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nick Richardson said:
"UK forces conducted a successful precision strike against one of the most dangerous men in Helmand, and what we consider to be the most dangerous man in the central area around Lashkar Gah.
"Mullah Mansur's illegal activities included the supply and construction of improvised explosive devices [IEDs] and planning IED attacks in an area stretching from Lashkar Gah to Gereshk.
"The attacks he helped plan and execute have probably killed or wounded hundreds of people, and most of them have been either Afghan civilians or police. This operation was the culmination of months of effort and the strike itself was carefully co-ordinated and checked to ensure there were no civilians in the area.
"The death of Mullah Mansur is the latest in a series of prominent insurgent commanders and signals another serious blow to the insurgency."
Helmand Security Chief, Colonel Assadullah Sherzad, said:
"Our duty is the maintenance of security for the people of Helmand and to clear a path to progress. These kinds of operations will continue so that people like Mansur, who throw obstacles in our path, are removed."
"Mullah Mansur was the heart of the insurgents' attempts to kill and injure British and NATO troops in Afghanistan and his presence brought misery to innocent Afghan civilians. This is a significant blow to the Taliban."
Defence Secretary John Hutton said: "Mullah Mansur was the heart of the insurgents' attempts to kill and injure British and NATO troops in Afghanistan and his presence brought misery to innocent Afghan civilians. This is a significant blow to the Taliban.
"British forces will continue to work with international partners to improve security across Helmand to prevent the export of terror from Afghanistan to the UK."
This operation comes within days of a major operation striking at the Taliban in northern Helmand. Over the weekend, Op MAR LEWE was conducted by soldiers from 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, which pushed the Taliban further away from the villages around the town of Musa Qaleh.
The BTR-80 8x8 armoured personnel carrier, manufactured by the Arzamas machinery Construction Plant of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, is intended to carry personnel on the battlefield and provide close fire support. It can also carry out reconnaissance, combat support and patrol missions.
It entered service with the Russian Army in the late 1980s and has since been used in a number of military conflicts, including UN peacekeeping operations. The vehicle is in production and the Russian Army ordered 100 in 2006. The vehicle is also in service with the Ukraine and has been sold to Hungary, Turkey, Macedonia and Bangladesh.
"The delivery of the armored troop transport vehicles has been negotiated with all the countries involved. They will be delivered by sea from July to September," said the officer, who declined to be named.
The 50 armored vehicles, which are being provided by the Russian Defence Ministry, are ready to be dispatched, he added.
The announcement came on the day Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was visiting Moscow, where he was received by the Russian leadership.
In late May the Israeli ambassador to Russia, Anna Azari, told Interfax that the Jewish state had agreed to the delivery of armored vehicles to the Palestinian Authority, which controls parts of the West Bank. 
Hummer is a brand of off-road vehicles sold by General Motors (GM). The original Hummer H1 was based on the military High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV, or Humvee). However, the Hummer H2 and the Hummer H3 were based on other, smaller civilian-market vehicles.
On June 1, 2009, as a part of the General Motors bankruptcy announcement, the company revealed that the Hummer brand would be discontinued. However, the following day GM announced that instead it had reached a deal to sell the brand to an undisclosed buyer. On June 2, 2009 GM announced the sale of Hummer to an undisclosed Chinese company. The New York Times reported that day that the buyer would be the Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company Ltd., a machinery company in western China, and later that day, Sichuan Tengzhong itself posted it on their own website.The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of this year and is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Financial terms of the agreement will not be disclosed at this time. Credit Suisse is acting as exclusive financial advisor and Shearman&Sterling is acting as international legal counsel to Tengzhong on this transaction. Citi is acting as financial advisor to GM.
GM, a day after filing for bankruptcy, said in a statement that it reached a memorandum of understanding with Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co for the sale. Tengzhong said it will retain Hummer's senior management and operational team.
GM said Tengzhong will also enter into a long-term contract assembly and key component and material supply agreement with GM.
Under the deal, which is subject to regulatory review and is expected to close in the third quarter, Tengzhong will assume Hummer's existing dealer agreements.
Financial terms were still under discussion and will not be disclosed, GM said. Bankers have said Hummer could fetch about $100 million in cash in addition to other commitments.
The deal marks the first time that a Chinese buyer has acquired a brand from one of the struggling U.S. automakers.
Chinese parts suppliers and automakers have shopped for U.S. automotive assets, including those at also-bankrupt Chrysler LLC, but no deals have been completed despite the enormous pressure on U.S. automakers in recent years to cut costs.
Based in the Chinese province of Sichuan, Tengzhong makes special-use vehicles, highway and bridge structural components, construction machinery and energy equipment.
Tengzhong was formed in 2005 through a series of mergers and, according to its website has 4,800 employees, compared with GM's 243,000. The Chinese firm said in a joint statement with GM that it would expand into the premium off-road vehicle segment.
"We will be investing in the Hummer brand and its research and development capabilities, which will allow Hummer to better meet demands for new products such as more fuel-efficient vehicles in the U.S.," Tengzhong CEO Yang Yi said.
Tengzhong's website (www.sctengzhong.com:8080/tengzhong/weben/gytz.jsp) did not indicate whether the company has experience running plants overseas or of producing passenger vehicles of any kind.
GM said earlier on Tuesday that the buyer of Hummer, who it did not initially identify, would contract to build the H3 model SUV and the H3T pickup truck at GM's plant in Shreveport, Louisiana, through at least 2010.
In addition, GM said the investor would fund future vehicles for Hummer and invest in alternatives to the heavy gas-guzzling engines that are the hallmark of the brand.
In Shreveport, where 800 workers work on a single shift building Hummer H3 and H3T models, there was relief that a new buyer would keep the line running for at least a while longer.
"We're just excited that Hummer may live on," said Morgan Johnson, president of UAW Local 2166, which represents workers at the GM plant.
DIMINISHED EXPECTATIONS
GM had expected Hummer to fetch more than $500 million when it went on sale a year ago.
The automaker said in a court filing on Monday that the sale could not proceed on "reasonable terms" due to tight credit and concerns about GM's financial condition.
Part of the problem has been that the military-derived Hummer has become an emblem of excess, turning consumer tastes against the brand's macho styling and prices that can top $71,000. U.S. sales fell by more than two-thirds in January-April.
First seen as multipurpose, off-road military vehicles, Hummers were originally built by AM General. Its first model was the Humvee, built for the military. GM bought the Hummer brand from AM General in 1999. AM General still makes the Humvee for the U.S. military.
After losing $88 billion since 2005, GM is in the process of cutting debt, workers and brands in bankruptcy. It is seeking to sell its Saab and Saturn brands this year and plans to discontinue Pontiac by the end of 2010.
That would leave a smaller GM to be rebuilt around the Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick brands. Together those account for more than 80 percent of current sales.
Credit Suisse is acting as exclusive financial adviser and Shearman & Sterling is international legal counsel to Tengzhong on the transaction. Citi is financial adviser to GM.
(Additional reporting by Kevin Krolicki in DETROIT, Chris Kaufman in NEW YORK and Fang Yan in SHANGHAI; Editing by Matthew Lewis & Ian Geoghegan)
Brazilian Air Force remote sensing aircraft R99 is sat at Fernando de Noronha airport, Brazil, on June 2, 2009, after the search mission to find the Air France flight 447 which disappeared on June 1 over the Atlantic while en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. Search aircrafts on Tuesday found a seat and other debris from a plane in a remote stretch of the Atlantic and there is "no doubt" that it came from the missing Air France flight carrying 228 people, Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said Tuesday.
Defence Minister Nelson Jobim said he had no doubt the debris was from the Air France jet carrying 228 people.
A Brazilian search plane saw a band of wreckage along a 5km (3m) strip, Mr Jobim told reporters in Rio de Janeiro. There was no report of survivors. 
A Brazilian Air Force Black Hawk H-60 arrives at Fernando de Noronha airport, Brazil, on June 2, 2009, after the search mission to find the Air France flight 447 which disappeared on June 1 over the Atlantic while en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. Search aircrafts on Tuesday found a seat and other debris from a plane in a remote stretch of the Atlantic and there is "no doubt" that it came from the missing Air France flight carrying 228 people, Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said Tuesday.
Flight AF 447 was heading from Rio to Paris when it was lost early on Monday.
The discovery of the debris confirmed "that the plane went down" in the area, Mr Jobim said.
He gave few details of the wreckage, saying only that it included metallic and non-metallic pieces. Earlier, Brazil's air force said it had spotted an airplane seat, an orange buoy and signs of fuel.
Mr Jobim's words will come as grim confirmation of the worst for the families waiting for news both in Paris and Rio, the BBC's Gary Duffy reports from Brazil.
If it is confirmed that all 228 people on Flight AF 447 are dead, it will be the worst loss of life in Air France's history.
Ships on hand
Naval boats are due to arrive in the crash zone on Wednesday, while three merchant vessels are already in the area, the Brazilian defence minister said.
If any bodies are found, they will be transported by ship to the nearest airport, on Brazil's archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, he was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
The defence minister warned that the recovery of the plane's cockpit voice and data recorders could be difficult because of the depth of the ocean.
"It could be at a depth of 2,000m or 3,000m [6,500ft-9,800ft] in that area of the ocean," he said.
He made the announcement after visiting relatives of those aboard the flight, who were being looked after in a Rio hotel by teams including psychological and medical personnel. 
In this photo released on June 2, 2009 by the French Defense Ministry, a Breguet Atlantique is seen on a runway. Wreckage spotted in the Atlantic Ocean is "without a doubt" from the Air France jet that disappeared en route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro with 228 people on board, Brazil's defense minister said on Tuesday.
France is also sending a research ship equipped with two mini-submarines to the disaster area.
Distress call mystery
Most of the missing people are Brazilian or French but they include a total of 32 nationalities. Five Britons and three Irish citizens are among them.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy will attend a religious service for the families and friends of the missing passengers and crew at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon told the French parliament that the cause of the plane's loss had still to be established. See a map of the plane's route. 
"Our only certainty is that the plane did not send out any distress call but regular automatic alerts for three minutes indicating the failure of all systems," he said.
Experts remain puzzled that there were no radio reports from the Airbus and they say that such a modern aircraft would have had to suffer multiple traumas to plunge into the sea, the BBC's Adam Mynott reports from Paris.
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