DTN News - SAUDI ARABIA DEFENSE NEWS: BAE Systems Signs Saudi-Eurofighter Deal

DTN News - SAUDI ARABIA DEFENSE NEWS: BAE Systems Signs Saudi-Eurofighter Deal
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Rhys Jones - Reuters
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 4, 2012: British defence contractor BAE Systems said a contract to build 48 Typhoon aircraft in Britain for the Saudi Arabian air force had been signed but changes to the price of the deal had yet to be agreed.

BAE had expected changes to the terms of the deal to be signed off in 2011, but it warned in January this year that talks over proposed adjustments to the final assembly of the last 48 of the 72 Typhoon aircraft would continue into 2012 and could hit 2011 profit.

The proposed changes -- such as the creation of a maintenance facility in Saudi Arabia, the addition of new capability to some aircraft and the formalisation of price changes -- could affect the price of the deal.

The Salam deal to build a total of 72 aircraft was signed in 2007 and is worth around 4.5 billion pounds ($7.21 billion), with the first squadron of 24 already delivered to the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF).

"The contract for the final assembly of 48 Typhoon aircraft in the UK has now been signed and final assembly has commenced at our Warton facility, discussions are ongoing with regard to the creation of a maintenance facility in Saudi Arabia and the formalisation of price variations," BAE said in an email sent to Reuters on Tuesday.

"In terms of ... conversion to Tranche 3 and formalisation of price escalation, good progress has been made with budgets approved in December 2011 through the royal decree. Negotiations on price escalation will continue into 2012."

Conversion of the jets to a Tranche 3 variant will see new missile and radar technology added to the Typhoon.

The Saudi royal decree, which was signed off at the end of 2011, releases some 1.5 billion pounds ($2.40 billion) on top of the existing Salam programme commitment for a series of enhancements, BAE said.

Saudi Arabia's Defence Minister Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz is due to meet British Prime Minister David Cameron and Defence Secretary Philip Hammond in London later on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia is a key Arab ally and a major buyer of British-made defence equipment.

Prince Salman is responsible for securing multi-billion dollar arms purchases, which have been used to cement Saudi Arabia's ties with the West. He is also seen as a possible candidate to one day rule the conservative Islamic kingdom.

Earlier this year two Western defence sources said Saudi Arabia, which placed a $29.4 billion order for new Boeing F-15 jets in late 2011, was in the early stage of talks to increase its Typhoon order by as many as 48 aircraft.

Earlier this year BAE said talks with Saudi over changes to its order for 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets would continue into 2012. The delay hit its earnings last year, which fell 7 percent.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Rhys Jones - Reuters
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DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Pakistani Islamist Leader Hafiz Saeed Mocks U.S. Over $10Million Bounty At News Conference

DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Pakistani Islamist Leader Hafiz Saeed Mocks U.S. Over $10Million Bounty At News Conference
*Lashkar-e-Taiba founder decries 'ridiculous' US bounty
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources BBC News
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 4, 2012: The founder of Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has described a $10m (£6.2m) bounty on his head - announced by the US on Tuesday - as "regrettable and misdirected".

In an interview with the Associated Press news agency, Hafiz Saeed said that such rewards "are usually for those who live in caves and mountains".

Mr Saeed travels widely in Pakistan from his base in the city of Lahore.

He now heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) group, widely seen as a LeT front.

LeT is blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks in India. The three-day rampage by 10 gunmen in November 2008 left 165 people dead. Nine of the attackers were also killed.

Local media on Wednesday quoted Pakistan interior ministry sources as saying that the government cannot proceed against Mr Saeed without "hard and undeniable evidence that can withstand judicial scrutiny".

He has consistently denied any suggestion that either he or JuD - which he says is a charity - played any role in militant violence.

Pakistan arrested LeT's senior leaders after the Mumbai attacks. But most of them, including Mr Saeed, were later freed on appeal.

'Regrettable'
In his interview with AP, Mr Saeed said that the US only announced the reward because of his demonstrations against reopening supply lines through Pakistan to Nato troops in Afghanistan.

The supply routes were closed down in November when 24 Pakistani soldiers on the border with Afghanistan were accidentally killed in a US air strike.

"We are organising massive public meetings to inform the nation about all the threats which Pakistan will face after the restoration of the supplies," he told AP in a mosque in Islamabad on Tuesday.

"With the grace of God, we are doing our work in Pakistan openly. It is regrettable that America has no information about me. Such rewards are usually for those who live in caves and mountains."

The US has designated both LeT and JuD as foreign terrorist organisations. Intelligence officials say LeT has extended its focus beyond India in recent years - plotting attacks in Europe and Australia.

Correspondents say that the reward represents a change in US thinking - previously it was thought that pursuing the JuD leadership would cause too much friction with the Pakistani government.

The US State Department says that Mr Saeed continues "to spread ideology advocating terrorism, as well as virulent rhetoric condemning the United States, India, Israel and other perceived enemies".

It said that six of the 166 people killed in the 2008 attacks were American citizens.

The sole surviving gunman, Pakistani national Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, was captured and sentenced to death by a court. His appeal is pending.

India has welcomed the reward, saying it sent a strong signal to LeT members that "the international community remains united in combating terrorism" and bringing to justice those behind the Mumbai attacks.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources BBC News
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DTN News - AIRLINES NEWS: Boeing Delivers Air France's 60th 777 Passenger Jetliner

DTN News - AIRLINES NEWS: Boeing Delivers Air France's 60th 777 Passenger Jetliner
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Boeing
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada / EVERETT, Wash - April 4, 2012: Boeing (NYSE:BA) and Air France are celebrating the delivery of Air France's 60th Boeing 777 passenger jetliner. The airplane, a 777-300ER (Extended Range) model, landed in Paris this morning.

Air France's newest 777-300ER seats 468 passengers in a three-class configuration. The brand-new cabin includes 14 business class lie-flat seat beds measuring over 78.74 inches (2 m) in length, plus an in-seat entertainment system with 15-inch (38 cm) wide screens in 16:9 format. It also features 32 "Alize" new premium economy fixed-shell seats offering 40 percent additional space compared with seats in economy class.

Air France, a member of Sky Team, will operate this 777-300ER between Paris and the French Overseas Departments in the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean regions, including Fort de France, Pointe a Pitre and St-Denis de la Reunion.

By summer 2012, Air France will operate a total of 62 777 passenger jetliners and two 777 Freighters.

The 777-300ER is 19 percent lighter than its closest competitor, greatly reducing its fuel requirement. It produces 22 percent less carbon dioxide per seat and costs 20 percent less to operate per seat.

Last year was the best year on record for 777 sales with 200 orders from 24 customers, topping the previous record of 154 set in 2005. Production is at an all-time high for the program and a 20 percent rate increase begins this fall, increasing from seven to 8.3 airplanes per month. The program will begin building 100 airplanes per year beginning in 2013.   

To date, Boeing has recorded orders for 1,367 777s to 64 customers around the globe. 

Contact:

Antoine Balas
Boeing Communications, France
+33 1 70 37 07 07
antoine.balas@boeing.com

Debbie Heathers
777 Communications
+1 206 579 5159
debbie.heathers@boeing.com.

Photo and caption are available here: http://boeing.mediaroom.com

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Boeing
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DTN News - CANADA DEFENSE NEWS: Canada May Re-Think Acquisition Of F-35 JSF On Damning Report By Auditor General

DTN News - CANADA DEFENSE NEWS: Canada May Re-Think Acquisition Of F-35 JSF On Damning Report By Auditor General 
*DND's buying power curbed after AG says military kept Parliament in dark on F35
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 4, 2012: The Harper government froze spending Tuesday on the multi-billion-dollar plan to buy new jet fighters minutes after the auditor general produced a withering report accusing the Department of National Defence of keeping Parliament in the dark about spiralling problems with the F-35 purchase.

The government also announced it would take away DND's ability to buy new weapons systems and hand it to Public Works — all in an effort to shield itself from the ensuing assault in the House of Commons that followed the release of the report by new Auditor General Michael Ferguson.

The Defence Department faced wide-ranging scorn over its management of the a plan to buy 65 new F-35 radar-evading stealth fighters for what the military initially insisted would cost $9 billion. The cost of the purchase, which is already the largest single purchase of military hardware in Canadian history, will almost certainly be far higher than originally budgeted, Ferguson said.

He added that Public Works should have done a better job of overseeing the purchase, but Ferguson was particularly scathing about DND's failure to come clean on potential problems with buying the F-35.

“Briefing material did not inform senior decision makers, central agencies, and the Minister of the problems and associated risks of relying on the F-35 to replace the CF-18," Ferguson said in his report. "Nor did National Defence provide complete cost information to parliamentarians."

DND pointedly rejected criticism that it did not exercise due diligence in managing the project.

The auditor general's criticism does not mean the government will scrap the F-35 purchase or even consider opening up the sole-source procurement to other competitive bids.

Ferguson's mandate limits his criticism to the conduct of bureaucrats, but his findings could be incendiary for the Harper government. The audit came just one week after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced $5.2 billion in cuts to public spending in his deficit-fighting budget.

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said the report raised ethical questions with its "litany of poor public administration, bad decision making and lack of accountability by Conservative ministers.

"But the key question to the prime minister is: how could he allow Parliament to be intentionally misled on the F-35s? Either he knew, and it's unconscionable, or he didn't know and it's incompetence. Which is it?"

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that was a misrepresentation of Ferguson's findings.

"The government has not yet purchased this airplane, and has not yet signed a contract. The auditor general has identified a need for greater independence and supervision over some of the activities of the Department of National Defence. in this regard, the government will put that supervision in place before we proceed."

Harper left the remaining barrage of questions from the NDP and Liberals to two of his ministers, Associate Defence Minister Julian Fantino and Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose. Both ministers stuck closely to the government's earlier talking points — the freezing of funding and the creation of a new secretariat of top bureaucrats to shepherd the jet purchase from now on. Defence Minister Peter MacKay did not respond to any queries on the auditor general's report.

The Conservatives steadfastly defended the F-35 purchase during last year's election campaign that gave them a majority despite a growing body of evidence that suggested the project could never be kept on budget. The program is designed to replace the country's aging fleet of CF-18 jet fighters.

The late NDP leader Jack Layton, as well as ex-Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, repeatedly attacked the F-35 purchase during last year's election campaign.

At one campaign event, Harper affirmed his support for the F-35 purchase, and said "latitude" had been built into the government's cost estimates.

"I think it's in a way sad that the new jets have become an issue in this campaign," the prime minister said during an April 8, 2011, stop in British Columbia.

"We've got our men and women in uniform up there flying airplanes that we know at the end of this decade are going to have to be replaced, and the thing we owe to them is to replace those airplanes.''

Ferguson's report vindicates parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page, who became embroiled in a heated public battle with the Defence Department in March 2011 when he released a report that said the cost of the F-35 could reach $30 billion over three decades.

An assistant deputy minister at Defence told an elaborate briefing for journalists that Page made a "mathematical error'' in calculating the unit cost of the planes, and that his estimates on long-term maintenance were erroneous as well.

Ferguson said Tuesday that Defence should have come clean with the real figures at that time. He pegged the projected 20-year cost of the program, including maintenance, at $25 billion.

"As a response to what the Parliamentary Budget Office did, that's when National Defence should have brought forward that full costing," Ferguson said.

Liberal defence critic John McKay accused the government Tuesday of trying to hide the true cost of the program from Canadians.

"Now they appear ready to throw bureaucrats and our armed forces under yet another bus, but Canadians won't be fooled. Responsibility for this fiasco lies squarely on the prime minister's desk."

The United States oversees the nine-country Joint Strike Fighter Program. The planes would be built by the U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin, but the rollout of the plane has been plagued by delays, technical problems and a 64-per-cent cost increase. Those problems have been well-documented in reports by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, an investigative branch of Congress.

Harper and his government were briefed in advance on the criticisms in the auditor general's report, allowing them to prepare their response in advance. Along with a freeze on spending above $9 billion, the government created a new oversight mechanism for the F-35 procurement — an inter-departmental secretariat of deputy ministers to oversee the project.

The Tories received accolades for establishing such a secretariat to administer its recently announced $33-billion National Shipbuilding Program.

The Harper government has said it expects to pay US$75 million dollars for each of the F-35s. But others — including Canada's parliamentary budget officer — have said the actual cost could be close to double that figure.

The government has not signed a contract with the U.S. to buy the F-35s. But it has invested $335 million so far to meet various commitments over the 15-year history of the U.S.-led JSF initiative.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press
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