Northrop was notified on Wednesday of the termination, which was "for the convenience of the government," not because of any company performance shortfall, according to a copy of the notice obtained by Reuters.
Northrop had carried out about $1.2 billion of work under its contract for the kinetic energy interceptor, or KEI, which was designed to shoot down missiles soon after their launch.
There is an established process for the resolution of termination costs when the government cancels a contract for its convenience.
"This process is currently under way," said Chris Taylor, a Missile Defense Agency spokesman.
The termination was part of a strategy to "refocus the Ballistic Missile Defense System on a course of overall mission readiness," the agency said in a statement.
Northrop Grumman had no immediate comment.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates had announced plans to cancel the KEI as part of a restructuring of U.S. missile-defense efforts under the proposed fiscal 2010 budget.
Gates and the Missile Defense Agency said the system had limited capability, would have been difficult to fire from ships because of its large size, cost too much and would have to have been launched from close to the target.
After a stop work order was issued last month, Northrop had called on the Pentagon to go ahead with a "booster flight test" to help it reap knowledge that could be put to use on other systems.
Northrop argued it had completed 90 percent of everything needed to do the test when the Pentagon stopped work on May 11.
In its June 10 notification, the government directed Northrop, in an exception to the termination, to present an overview of its progress on the program to Army Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly, who heads the Missile Defense Agency.
Specifically, Northrop was told to report by June 30 on systems engineering, fire control and communications architecture and algorithm development.
"The purpose of this presentation is to support an MDA assessment and determination of how MDA can maximize leveraging of the work conducted to date in these areas for application to future (ballistic missile defense system) work," it said.
The Pentagon also has announced plans to kill Lockheed Martin Corp's Multiple Kill Vehicle, or MKV, which was intended to destroy not only an enemy warhead but any decoys or other countermeasures deployed to spoof U.S. defenses.
"It was designed to deal with a more complex threat that would have come potentially from either China or Russia," Gates told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on May 13.
U.S. missile defenses, as developed to date and deployed since 2004, are to protect against what the United States calls rogue states such as North Korea and Iran.
The military sent jet fighters to bomb suspected militant strongholds in the Bajur tribal region _ extending its military operations against the Taliban in the northwest.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is a multi-Service/international cooperation warplane. The cornerstone of the program is affordability based on a next-generation, multi-role strike fighter aircraft that will have a 70 to 90 percent commonality factor for all the variants, significantly reducing manufacturing, support and training costs. First delivery of operational aircraft is anticipated in fiscal 2008.
It is a projected trillion-dollar enterprise designed to dominate the lucrative global fighter market for decades while plugging its buyers into U.S.-built defense architecture and cementing U.S.-led alliances.
Unlike Lockheed's premier F-22 fighter, which flies faster, and higher and can range further, the radar-evading F-35 was intended for export from the get-go. It will be the first radar-evading, "stealth" U.S. warplane to be exported. And it is the costliest planned acquisition in Defense Department history.
The United States alone plans to spend nearly $300 billion for a total of 2,443 F-35s in three models to be delivered over 28 years. All are derived from a common design and would use the same sustainment infrastructure worldwide.
"The plan has firmed up" with no defections among foreign development partners, says Richard Aboulafia, a fighter-market expert at Teal Group, an aerospace consultancy in Fairfax, Virginia.
The F-35 is co-financed by the United States, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway. All the U.S. partners appear to be largely sticking to plans to buy a combined 750 F-35s, at least for now.
F-35 competitors include the Saab AB Gripen, the Dassault Aviation SA Rafale, Russia's MiG-35 and Sukhoi Su-35, and the Eurofighter Typhoon made by a consortium of British, German, Italian and Spanish companies.
Dassault has been pitching its Rafale to the United Arab Emirates in what would be the first overseas sale of the aircraft.
Brazil has short-listed the Rafale, Gripen and Boeing Co F-18E/F Super Hornet as finalists in a competition that could involve the purchase of more than 100 aircraft.
Next month, India is due to start year-long flight evaluations for the purchase of 126 multi-role fighters worth up to $10.4 billion, the biggest such market in decades. Indonesia and Malaysia are weighing Russian-made Sukhois. Switzerland is looking at the Eurofighter, Gripen and Rafale. Greece is evaluating the Eurofighter and the Super Hornet.
In India, Boeing is pitting its Super Hornet against Lockheed's F-16, Dassault's Rafale, Saab's Gripen, Russia's MiG-35 and the Eurofighter Typhoon.
Of the Swiss and Indian fighter competitions, Stefan Zoller, chief executive of EADS' defense and security division, told Reuters: "Both campaigns are hot; both campaigns are running exactly on schedule".
Chicago-based Boeing, the Pentagon's No. 2 supplier by sales and the top U.S. exporter, says it sees big opportunities for its F-15 and F/A-18 fighters before Lockheed works out kinks in the F-35, production ramps up and the price goes down.
"It's a great time to be in the fighter business," Bob Gower, the head of Boeing's F/A-18 program, told a briefing ahead of the Paris Air show next week.
Not since the days of McDonnell's F-4 Phantom fighter in the 1960s and 1970s has Boeing been entered into so many competitions worldwide, he said.
At the same time, Boeing is shopping for partners to co-fund development of a proposed new F-15 "Silent Eagle", a version aimed at Asian and Middle East markets that would feature special coatings to reduce its radar signature and other survivability improvements to go up against the F-35.
Chris Chadwick, president of Boeing's military aircraft division, told reporters last week: "With F-35 continuing to struggle to a certain extent, we think that we offer ... the right amount of capability at the right cost at the right time for a lot of the international customers."
He described a four-to six-year window of opportunity including potential sales to India, Denmark and Brazil, which have competitions under way that also involve rival Russian and European fighters.
Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Qatar and Kuwait are among other countries that have shown interest in modernizing their fighter fleets in the relatively short term.
Australia has ordered 24 two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornets, with deliveries to start on July 8 and to be completed by 2012, the only Super Hornet export sale so far.
"The worst time you can buy a fighter is during the initial stages because the capability comes along later and the learning comes along later," Boeing's Chadwick said in a swipe at early purchases of Lockheed's F-35.
Boeing has offered the U.S. Navy a multiyear Super Hornet deal with a unit price of about $54 million, including advanced Raytheon Co actively electronically scanned array (AESA) radar systems and "the whole nine yards," Chadwick said.
Chris Geisel, a Lockheed spokesman, says the F-35A conventional take-off and landing model is projected to cost in the upper $60 million range per copy in adjusted 2014 dollars, when full production is due to kick in.
Three single-engine F-35 versions are under development by Lockheed: the conventional version for the Air Force, a short-takeoff-and-vertical landing model for the Marine Corps and a third for the Navy's aircraft carriers.
Lockheed's chief F-35 subcontractors are Northrop Grumman Corp and BAE Systems Plc Two rival, interchangeable F-35 engines are under development. One is built by United Technologies Corp's Pratt & Whitney unit; the other by a team of General Electric Co and Rolls-Royce Group Plc
Projected early F-35 buyers include Israel, which plans to acquire 25 in fiscal 2012 for delivery starting in 2014 with an option for 50 more. A sticking point has been Israel's efforts to add its own electronic warfare know-how.
Singapore, the other non-consortium member linked to the F-35 program through a special status, may start buying as many as 100 a year or two after Israel, Jon Schreiber, the Pentagon official who heads the program's international aspects, told Reuters in a March 17 interview.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates recommended buying 30 F-35s in fiscal 2010, up from the 14 funded this year, boosting funding from $6.9 billion to $11.2 billion. At the same time, the Navy is seeking nine fewer F/A 18s than had been projected last year and the department is planning to cap purchases of Lockheed's top-of-the-line F-22 at 187 planes.
"By accelerating the (F-35's) procurement ramp, we can lower procurement costs while also making the platform more cost competitive for our coalition partners," Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and General Norton Schwartz, the service's top officer, said in a June 3 statement to Congress.
Lockheed says all 24 countries that fly its multi-role F-16 fighter are potential buyers of the F-35, which is designed to replace at least 13 types of aircraft, including the F-16.
Overall, 2,909 fighters worth $163.7 billion are likely to be produced between 2008 and 2017, according to Teal Group, the aerospace consultancy. A total of 2,355 fighters worth $122.4 billion were built between 1998 and 2007, Teal said in a February 2009 market overview, representing a 34 per cent value growth.
"Boeing and the European primes have some strong business opportunities over the next five to 10 years," Aboulafia said in an email exchange. "But beyond these, the fighter market will belong to the F-35."
"It's quite likely that after 2020 the market will comprise the F-35 family and some Russian planes," he added.
The A-10 Thunderbolt II is an American single-seat, twin-engine, straight-wing jet aircraft developed by Fairchild-Republic for the United States Air Force to provide close air support (CAS) of ground forces by attacking tanks, armored vehicles and other ground targets with a limited air interdiction capability. It is the first U.S. Air Force aircraft designed exclusively for close air support.
The A-10's official name comes from the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt of World War II, a fighter that was particularly effective at close air support. The A-10 is more commonly known by its nickname "Warthog" or simply "Hog". As a secondary mission, it provides airborne forward air control, guiding other aircraft against ground targets. A-10s used primarily in this role are designated OA-10.*
Tanker aircraft competition could reopen in July: GatesThe Pentagon could reopen a competition between Boeing and an EADS/Northrop Grumman team to replace the US military's aging fleet of air refueling aircraft as early as next month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday. Gates told lawmakers he expected to make a final decision within a week or 10 days on "the acquisition authority and the structure we're going to put into place to ensure that it is a fair, open and transparent process." The Pentagon's acquisition team hopes to put out a request for proposal "this summer, perhaps next month," he said. "Our hope is to probably try and get the RFP (request for proposal) out mid-summer." The Pentagon awarded the 35-billion-dollar contract for 179 aircraft to the EADS/Northrop Grumman team in February 2008, but Boeing successfully challenged the decision with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which recommended it be recompeted. "Part of the process I'm going through right now is to try and structure this in a way that puts the best people on this program and that provides a supervisory role," Gates said, adding he would ask his deputy to "take a very close interest in this process." Gates had initially said he expected competition for the politically sensitive contract to be reopened in the spring of 2009, and then in the summer.
Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the fate of the plane being built by Airbus, a subsidiary of European aerospace giant EADS, during a meeting at the Elysee presidential palace.
"We talked about the A400M and decided that it would be good to give ourselves a small delay of six months to continue discussions and to find the best possible solution," said Sarkozy at a joint news conference.
The A400M was initially scheduled to start being delivered at the end of 2009 but the programme has suffered from a delay of at least three years and clients have threatened to cancel their orders.
The military transport plane was unveiled last year but it has been hit by delays in building its massive turbo-prop engines, putting the 20-billion-euro (28-billion-dollar) project at risk.
Spain, Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Turkey are participating in the A400M programme.
"We are in full agreement... We will give ourselves a few more months and then we will see," said Merkel, who added that France and Germany "need a transport plane in any case."
French Defence Minister Herve Morin said this month that there would likely be a meeting of ministers from the seven participating countries and EADS to renegotiate the delivery contracts.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seen here in April 2009. Turkey and Iraq have signed a preliminary accord on military cooperation, the Turkish army said.
Turkey's military dialogue with Iraq is possible because the US, currently planning to pull out of the country, has prepared the groundwork for this to happen. As a result, Gen. Ergin Saygun, then deputy chief of general staff, made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Jan. 15, 2008, meeting with Lt. Gen. Nasier Abadi, deputy chief of staff of the Iraqi Joint Forces.
At the time, Abadi described Gen. Saygun's visit to his country as the one that broke the ice in their countries' relations. The ongoing military-to-military talks between the two neighbors resulted in the signing of a military cooperation agreement last Tuesday in Ankara between the visiting Lt. Gen. Abadi and Gen. Hasan Iğsız, Turkey's deputy chief of general staff who replaced Gen. Saygun last year. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on June 9 between Turkey and Iraq paving the way for cooperation in military training, as well as in technical and scientific issues, said a statement posted on the Web site of the General Staff on June 10. The statement said preparations for the MoU had been under way for over a year, but didn't give any further details.
Turkey's signing of a military MoU with Iraq comes soon after an April 29 defense industry cooperation agreement was inked in İstanbul with Syria, another eastern neighbor of Turkey. As Syria and Turkey signed the agreement, their border units launched joint land exercises for the first time, signaling progress in efforts to increase mutual trust between the militaries of the two countries.
The Iraqi-Turkish military cooperation agreement signed last Tuesday following Syrian-Turkish military rapprochement is the continuation of a long-time Turkish effort to create a peaceful environment with its neighbors as a whole and with the volatile Middle East in general.
The Iraqi-Turkish military MoU establishes the basis for the two countries to discuss in depth Turkey's decades-long concerns over the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), whose members are based in the Kurdish-dominated northern part of Iraq. This military cooperation may enable support for Ankara in reducing the PKK threat coming from northern Iraq.
Gen. Abadi said in January of last year, soon after Gen. Saygun's visit to his country, that Turkey also had the potential to help build the Iraqi armed forces with its experience in this field. According to Abadi's remarks at the time, operational military cooperation with Turkey did not only include intelligence sharing on the PKK, but also the training of Iraqi military personnel as well as getting possible logistical support from Turkey.
The Turkish government has also engaged in dialogue with Iraqi Kurds on both the PKK and energy issues as the first oil began flowing from northern Iraq to Turkey's Yumurtalık pipeline in the south recently.
With the supply of US real-time intelligence on the PKK, Turkish warplanes have been bombing PKK hideouts in northern Iraq since December 2007 under parliamentary consent. Last year, Iraq, Iraqi Kurds, Turkey and the United States formed a joint committee and established a command center in Arbil, northern Iraq, to track the activities of the PKK and to carry out measures to curb terrorist activity.
The critical question that arises now as Iraq and Turkey have signed the military MoU is whether both countries will start talks on whether and how the Iraqi government and the military will allow Turkey to stage cross-border attacks inside northern Iraq to pursue the PKK once the US withdraws from Iraq. The US will withdraw most of its combat troops in the next 18 months. Roughly one-third of the troops will stay through 2011 to provide security and training.
There is a necessity for Turkey to obtain Iraqi as well as Iraqi Kurdish permission if it continues cross-border operations after the US withdrawal. Turkey should get this permission before the US troops leave Iraq so that the Iraqi military can learn how to cooperate and coordinate with Turkey in supplying real-time intelligence.
I hope Turkey won't need to stage cross-border operations into northern Iraq in 2011 as many Turks' patience wore thin a long time ago over the continued emphasis on military methods in dealing with PKK violence. But if they remain a necessity, then Turkey has to begin discussions with the Iraqis on the matter before the US withdraws.
A supporter of leading challenger and reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, flashes the victory sign as thousands of supporters from both political groupings roam the streets at night amidst a festive atmosphere, in Valiasr square in central Tehran, Iran, late at night on Wednesday, June 10, 2009. Iranians go to the polls on Friday, June 12, 2009 after a hotly contested election campaign pitting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against leading challenger and reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, amongst others.
In the absence of reliable independent opinion polls, experts predicted yesterday that Mir Hossein Mousavi, the moderate "green" candidate, would probably beat the controversial incumbent so long as the result was not rigged.
Saeed Lalyaz, a respected political commentator, said he believed Mousavi now commanded the support of 55-60% across the country and warned of a possible crackdown on the opposition if Ahmadinejad were re-elected.
"I worry about the impact of any announcement that Ahmadinejad wins in the first round," said Lalyaz. "Whoever wins, these people on the streets will not go home easily. If Ahmadinejad is president for a second time I worry about another Tiananmen Square experience."
Ominously, as three weeks of often passionate campaigning drew to a close, the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRG) warned that any attempt at a popular "revolution" would be crushed.
Underlining the unprecedented scale of public interest in the election, it was reported that more than 10m text messages had been sent on Tuesday alone, apparently reflecting intense efforts to get the vote out and avoid the risk of mass abstentions.
The regime is also encouraging mass participation. "The people of Iran will choose someone who will resist the bullying of those who are arrogant and defend Iran's interest in the world," said a statement from the Basij militia.
The candidate who takes more than 50% becomes president automatically. If none does tomorrow, a second run-off round will be held next Friday. Two other candidates, reformist cleric Mehdi Karoubi and Mohsen Rezaei, another conservative, would drop out if that happened. Ahmadinejad was reportedly losing support to Rezaei, a former IRG commander, and elements of the military were said to be backing Mousavi, who has pledged to increase personal freedoms. A victory for the former prime minister could improve relations with the west, though big policy changes are unlikely. 
The decision to pull IE from Windows comes as a result of an ongoing European Commission case surrounding anti-competition laws and Microsoft's bundling of software.
Windows 7, Browser-Free
Word of the browser-free Windows 7 edition first broke when an apparent memo about the plans was leaked to CNET News Thursday morning. Microsoft acknowledged the memo's authenticity -- it was sent from the company to computer manufacturers and retailers, representatives say -- and Microsoft has since gone on to elaborate about the plans.
"We’re committed to making Windows 7 available in Europe at the same time that it launches in the rest of the world, but we also must comply with European competition law as we launch the product," Dave Heiner, Microsoft's vice president and deputy general counsel, explains.
"Given the pending legal proceeding, we’ve decided that instead of including Internet Explorer in Windows 7 in Europe, we will offer it separately and on an easy-to-install basis to both computer manufacturers and users," he says.
The European Windows 7 E editions, then, will function just like the regular Windows 7 offerings sold in America -- only without Internet Explorer automatically included. With that said, new computer users may still find IE on their systems, given the options Microsoft is providing for manufacturers to preinstall the program before shipping their PCs.
"Microsoft will ... make it easy and convenient for PC manufacturers to preinstall IE 8 on Windows 7 machines in Europe if they so choose," the original Microsoft memo is quoted as stating. "PC manufacturers may choose to install an alternative browser instead of IE 8, and [as] has always been the case, they may install multiple browsers if they wish."
Microsoft's Windows 7 Browser Battle
The browserless approach wasn't Microsoft's only option: The European Commission, Heiner says, also discussed the company including IE and other browsers within Windows 7 by default. It also suggested a concept wherein users would be presented with a "ballot screen" that would allow them to pick their browser of choice during the initial setup process.
"Important details of these approaches would need to be worked out in coordination with the Commission, since they would have a significant impact on computer manufacturers and Web browser vendors, whose interests may differ," Heiner responds. "Given the complexity and competing interests, we don’t believe it would be best for us to adopt such an approach unilaterally."
For now, then, Windows 7 E is the answer -- at least, for Europe. Here in the States, you'll be getting the regular ol' Windows 7, Internet Explorer and all. Current Vista users are expected to be offered a $49.99 upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium or a $99.99 upgrade to Windows 7 Professional. If you recently bought a new PC with Vista preloaded, you may also be eligible for Microsoft's Windows 7 Upgrade Option, which would provide a cheaper or possibly even free upgrade to Windows 7. Microsoft, however, has yet to release the specific requirements of the upgrade program.
The Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) (pronounced "sibirs") is a consolidated system intended to meet United States infrared space surveillance needs through the first two to three decades of the 21st century. The SBIRS program addresses critical warfighter needs in the areas of missile warning, missile defense and battlespace characterization.
SBIRS is an integrated "system of systems" that will include satellites in geosynchronous orbit (GEO), sensors hosted on satellites in highly elliptical orbit (HEO) and ground data processing and control. SBIRS ground software integrates infrared sensor programs of the U.S. Air Force (DSP) with new IR sensors. SBIRS continues to struggle with cost overruns, with Nunn-McCurdy breaches occurring in 2003, 2005, 2006 and most recently 2007. It is now expected to cost over $10 billion.
The original contract consisted of 2 HEO satellite sensors and 2-3 GEO sensors (and satellites) with an option to buy a total of 5 GEOs. In December 2005, following the third SBIRS Nunn-McCurdy violation, the government decided to compete GEO 4 and 5, with an option to buy GEO 3 contingent on the performance of the first two. Additionally, the government started a potential SBIRS High replacement program and proposals are currently being written (as of late June, 2006).
On June 2nd, 2009 Lockheed Martin announced it had been awarded a contract for the third HEO payload and the third GEO satellite, and for associated ground equipment modifications.
SBIRS will provide early warning of ballistic missile launches and support other missions simultaneously, including missile defense, technical intelligence and battlespace awareness.
The GEO-2 bus is the structural foundation of the satellite and includes an integrated propulsion system as well as other critical subsystems for communications, attitude control, thermal control, command and data handling. The GEO-2 payload features a scanning sensor that will provide for short revisit times over its full field of view and a staring sensor that can be tasked for dedicated stare operations over smaller areas.
“The team has been diligent in incorporating lessons learned during the groundbreaking integration and test of the first GEO space vehicle,” said Keoki Jackson, Lockheed Martin's SBIRS GEO-2 program manager. “We have significantly streamlined the integration and test flow, eliminated duplicative testing and developed new support equipment to allow for more precise integration and faster vehicle reconfiguration.”
Lt Col Heath Collins, the Air Force SBIRS Space Squadron Commander said, “this focus on continuous process improvement and disciplined execution will ensure that the joint contractor-US Air Force team delivers superior persistent infrared sensing capabilities for the United States and our allies.”
The successful GEO-2 payload and bus integration allows the SBIRS team to begin system level environmental and acceptance testing in preparation for launch in 2011.
The SBIRS team is led by the Space Based Infrared Systems Wing at the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base in Calif. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Sunnyvale, Calif., is the SBIRS prime contractor, with Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, Azusa, Calif., as the payload integrator. Air Force Space Command operates the SBIRS system.
Lockheed Martin's SBIRS contract includes the two highly elliptical orbit (HEO) payloads now on-orbit, two geosynchronous orbit (GEO) satellites, as well as ground-based assets to receive and process the infrared data. The team was recently awarded a 1.5-billion contract for the third HEO payload, the third GEO-3 satellite and associated ground modifications. A contract to include a fourth HEO payload and potential fourth GEO satellite is expected to be awarded later this year.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 146,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2008 sales of $42.7 billion.
Russian Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile is displayed during a Victory Day parade rehearsal on April 24, 2009 in Alabino, outside Moscow, Russia. On May 9, 2009 Russia will mark the 64th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.
Russia's nuclear triad comprises land-based ballistic missile systems, nuclear-powered submarines equipped with sea-based ballistic missiles, and strategic bombers carrying nuclear bombs and nuclear-capable cruise missiles.
"Topol-M and Bulava ballistic missile systems will be the core of the Russian nuclear triad," said Maj. Gen. Alexander Shevchenko, in charge of Armed Forces' armaments maintenance and support.
At present, six types of silo-based and mobile ICBM system of the fourth and the fifth generation, including the heavy Voyevoda (SS-18 Satan), capable of carrying 10 warheads, and the Topol-M (Stalin) systems, are on combat duty with the Strategic Missile Forces.
According to open sources, the total arsenal of Russia's SMF comprises 538 ICBMs, including 306 SS-25 Topol (Sickle) missiles and 56 SS-27 Topol-M missiles.
In line with a new military doctrine, Russia will completely modernize the naval component of its nuclear triad by 2016.
Fourth-generation Borey-class nuclear-powered submarines armed with Bulava ballistic missiles will form the core of Russia's fleet of modern strategic submarines.
Shevchenko said the Russian Navy would commission two Borey-class nuclear submarines, Yury Dolgoruky and Alexander Nevsky, in the near future.
Each submarine is capable of carrying up to 16 Bulava-M ballistic missiles.
Russia will also modernize and expand its fleet of strategic bombers and create a national air-and-space defense network.
According to various sources, the Russian Air Force currently deploys 141 Tu-22M3 Backfire bombers, 40 Tu-95MS Bear bombers, and 14 Tu-160 Blackjack planes.
Russia plans to build at least one new Tu-160 bomber every one or two years to increase the number of available aircraft to 30.
Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said in February that Russia would continue developing and modernizing its nuclear triad despite the current global economic crisis.
The new, fourth postwar generation Project 677 Lada class diesel-electric submarine is a successor to the Type 877EKM and Type 636 Kilo-class submarines. The Lada type is significantly smaller (1,600 tons D/W) than the previous Kilo type submarines (2,325 tons D/W), and generally configured for anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare, minelaying and special forces deployment.
The Project 1650 Amur, intended for export, is part of the same project and differ only in customer requirements and operational conditions. In 1989 the Rubin Marine Design Bureau in St. Petersburg was commissioned by the Russian Navy to design a new fourth-generation diesel-electric submarine. Rubin completed design work on a whole family of the Amur diesel-electric submarines with a displacement of 550 to 1,850 tons. The designers adopted essentially the same design and layout solutions for entire submarines and their separate subsystems, using unified or modified equipment. 
The Amur class will also include provisions for a fuel cell plant that can be installed during construction or modernisation to give air independent propulsion with oxygen/hydrogen and electric/ chemical generators. However, the first submarines of the type will not be powered with such a plant. The reason is high cost of air-indipendent power plants, as well as higher level of fire safety required to operate them. The submarines powered with air-indipendent power plants may appear in the market not earlier than by 2003-2004. . According to estimates, Kristall-27E AIP system will increase the Amur Class submarines’ submerged endurance by 15 to 45 days (the longer endurance is ensured by a short-term operation of the diesel engine in the snorkeling mode).
The submarines will have high submerged cruising range and endurance, combat efficiency and reliability, and low acoustic signature. The Amur is intended to be the most advanced export design to date, incorporating many of the signature-reduction technologies proven on the Project 636 Kilo, notably anechoic tile coatings and a skewed seven-bladed propeller. Their sonar equipment includes highly sensitive direct-listening transducers at the forward end and a towed transducer array. It will be outfitted with six torpedo tubes, and its 18 weapons will comprise a mix of torpedoes and torpedo-tube launched missiles. Measuring 67 metres in length and 7.2 metres wide, It will include an anechoic tile coating on the outer hull and a skewed 7-blade propeller. The vessel's surface speed will be 10 kt; submerged 21 kt. The submerged cruising range using economic speed is 500 nautical miles at 3 kt. The maximum diving depth is 250 m, with an endurance of 45 days with a crew of 34.
As of mid-1999 no customer had been found for the Amur 1650-class export submarine laid down at Admiralty Shipyard on 26 December 1997, as India had apparently decided it was not interested in the boat. The similar Lada-class (some sources consider this to be a Project 877 boat) Sankt Petersburg was begun the same day at the same facility for the Russian Navy.*
"The Navy will complete trials of the Lada-class submarine equipped with new sonar systems in 2009," said Maj. Gen. Alexander Shevchenko, in charge of the Armed Forces' armaments maintenance and support.
A deputy head of the Navy General Staff said in March that the first Lada-class would enter service with the Russian Navy in 2010.
The Project 677 diesel submarine, developed by the Rubin design bureau, features an advanced anti-sonar coating for its hull, an extended cruise range, and advanced anti-ship and anti-submarine weaponry, including Club-S cruise missile systems.
The construction of the sub began in 1997 at St. Petersburg's Admiralty Shipyards. Two other submarines of the same class - the Kronshtadt and the Sevastopol - are being built by the company.
The Lada-class vessels will gradually replace the Kilo class submarines, which are sometimes called "Black Holes" for their ability to avoid detection, and are considered to be among the quietest diesel-electric submarines in the world.
The UDALOY-II is an improvement on the original UDALOY class that is oriented toward anti-surface ship warfare. Only two sh ips of this design were originally intended to be built and were to be assigned to the KGB Maritime Border Guard. After 1991, they were tranferred to the navy. ADMIRAL CHABANENKO was handed over to the Russian navy in October of 1996, but was not commissioned for two additional years. She departed Baltiysk Naval Base on Feb. 24, 1999, and arrived at Severomorsk on March 10, 1999, for duty with the Northern Fleet. The second ship, ADMIRAL BASISTIY, was laid down in June 1989
The annual exercises traditionally involve France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
"The Severomorsk destroyer left the fleet's main base today and headed to the French coast to take part in the FRUKUS 2009 international naval exercises on June 22-26," the pres service said.
Severomorsk is an Udaloy-class missile destroyer armed with anti-ship missiles, 30-mm and 100-mm guns, and two Ka-27 Helix helicopters.
The French Tourville frigate, the U.S. Klakring missile frigate and the British York destroyer will also take part in the drills aimed to practice interoperability in anti-piracy operations in coastal waters.
Previously called RUKUS, the exercises were launched in 1988 as a vehicle for dialogue between the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States. The exercise name was changed to FRUKUS in 2003, when France formally joined the group.
Following the drills, the Russian warship will pay friendly visits to the French port of Cherbourg and the Irish capital, Dublin.
The village is designed to recreate the experiences that the soldiers may face including village meetings, surprise attacks and searching property for weapons and explosives.
The village was previously designed to recreate locations in Northern Ireland and Bosnia for previous conflicts but is currently solely designed to replicate a typical Afghan environment.
Pakistani police officers collect evidence at the scene after a blast at a check point on the outskirt of Peshawar, Pakistan, Thursday, June 11, 2009. Police in Pakistan say assailants attacked a checkpoint using a grenade. When more police rushed to the scene a suicide bomber ran forward and blew himself up police said.
The attack happened after dark in a northern suburb of Peshawar, a northwestern city still reeling from a commando-style suicide bombing blamed on Taliban militants on a luxury hotel Tuesday, which killed at least nine people.
Senior Peshawar police officer Mohammad Ejaz said that an attacker threw a hand grenade at a police van near a checkpoint.
‘When police gathered a suicide bomber blew himself up. One civilian was killed. Fourteen people were injured, eight of them policemen,’ he said.
Doctor Mohammad Shahid of Peshawar's main Lady Reading hospital said later that one of the injured had also died. 
An attacker threw a hand grenade at a police van near a checkpoint and when police gathered a suicide bomber blew himself up.—AP/File Photo
‘One person died in the hospital —he was a civilian —and three are still in a critical condition, including two policemen,’ he told AFP.
Another local police officer, Mohammad Nisar, said body parts of the suicide attacker had been recovered and sent to a hospital.
Pakistani army troops patrol on a road during curfew in Bannu, Pakistan on Wednesday, June 10, 2009. Authorities have imposed an indefinite curfew in Bannu, a town near South and North Waziristan regions, two major strongholds for al-Qaida and the Taliban, amidst the probability of a security operation.
Meanwhile, dozens of militants attacked three army posts in South Waziristan, triggering shootouts that left 20 insurgents and three soldiers dead early Thursday, intelligence officials told The Associated Press.
Army officials say Taliban fighters are attacking soldiers in South Waziristan to distract the military from its operation in Swat, where they say they have killed more than 1,300 militants since late April.
The coordinated attacks early Thursday targeted bases in Jandola, Chakmalai and Splitoi towns in South Waziristan, said two intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media. The militants used rockets and guns, prompting troops to return fire, the officials said.
‘Late last night about 400 terrorists attacked Siplatoi and Jandola Fort...three soldiers embraced shahadat (martyrdom) and five were injured, while 22 terrorists were killed and a large number injured,’ the army said.
In Swat’s Taliban stronghold of Peochar, 10 suspected militants were killed in the past day, the army statement said, while operations also continued in Dir and Buner districts.
Also on Thursday, Lashkars (militia) continued an exchange of fire with Taliban in two Upper Dir villages, said the officials.
‘This is a war, but the people of this country will not bow to the cowardly acts of terrorists. People are now seeing the real face of those who have been exploiting them in the name of Islam,’ North West Frontier Province senior minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour Bilour told reporters on Wednesday.
Already in the final stages of an operation to clear militants from the Swat valley, the military said it went on the offensive in Bannu after up to 800 militants infiltrated from Waziristan.
There has been speculation that once that was over the focus would switch to Waziristan, long regarded as a hub of Taliban and al-Qaeda activity. 
The military said it went on the offensive in Bannu after up to 800 militants infiltrated from Waziristan. —AP/File photo
According to local military officials and a senior civilian official in Bannu well over 100 militants have been killed since the army swung into action on Wednesday.
‘The operation is going on very well. Helicopter gunships, artillery, everything is being used,’ Kamran Zeb, the top administrator in Bannu, told Reuters.
‘Yesterday, around 100 militants were killed in the operation,’ Zeb said, adding that there had been more killed on Thursday.
Security forces also used artillery and warplanes to obliterate a militant compound in the tribal region of Orakzai, killing at least five people, but probably more, according to the the region’s mayor.
‘It’s been heavy bombing and there must be many more casualties, both militants and civilians. We’re trying to collect the numbers,’ mayor Gul Khitab said.
A pro-Taliban cleric, Maulvi Jameel, said several militants’ positions and hideouts had been struck during the raid. He didn’t have information about casualties.
In South Waziristan, militants fired rockets at a paramilitary base in Jandola killing two soldiers. The military have bottled up the main forces of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in rugged mountains close to Jandola.
A soldier was killed in another attack by the militants in the same region, while Taliban officials said four of their fighters were killed in the fighting in South Waziristan.
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