British Forces Test Ridgback MRAP For Afghanistan / Ridgback Tested For Helmand

British Forces Test Ridgback MRAP For Afghanistan / Ridgback Tested For Helmand

(NSI News Source Info) March 17, 2009: The first batch of the new Ridgback protected vehicles are currently being tested by the Army, and are expected to be going to work in Afghanistan later this year.

Lighter and more agile than the Mastiff Armoured Fighting Vehicle, the Ridgback, though very similar, is nearly two metres shorter but, crucially, a metre slimmer than its big brother, allowing troops greater access and mobility within built-up environments.

The British Army is testing the first batch of Ridgback protected vehicles due for deployment in Afghanistan. Although lighter than the Mastiff, Ridgback weighs 19.5 metric tonnes.

While manoeuvrability is its special feature, it is passenger-protection that remains paramount. Ridgback is mine and IED (improvised explosive device) strike-proofed to the same level as a Mastiff 2; just as heavily armoured but nine tonnes lighter. As with Mastiff, the base vehicle is the American Cougar. These are shipped to Coventry where NP Aerospace up-armours then unleashes the new beasts for the Ministry of Defence.

The 4x4s become Ridgbacks and the 6x6s become the Mastiffs soldiers know and love. In sharing the same basic platform and major components, Ridgback benefits from the proven support and training regimes already in place for Mastiff.

Among the upgrades fitted at Coventry, Ridgback incorporates an impressive electronics pack including Bowman communications, electronic countermeasures, night vision and thermal imaging. The multi-camera feeds to the TV screens inside give the crew impressive situational awareness from within the vehicle.

Some vehicles will be fitted with a remote weapons system allowing the crew to operate Ridgback's weapons via a camera and joystick from inside the vehicle.

Other attributes include run-flat tyres, modified seats offering superior protection from bomb blasts, and easy gear selection and driveability.

Jason Purveur, Ridgback project manager, said:

"We had infantry support us throughout the whole design and development process. All of the attributes that they think they will need in theatre we try and accommodate within the build of the programme. My hope is that they get exactly what they want."

Once out of the factory, Ridgback is put through its paces in a series of tough mobility tests at the Army's Combat Support Trials and Development Unit (CSS TDU) at Long Valley, Aldershot. To enable it to carry out different roles within Afghanistan Ridgback will be introduced in four variants: a troop-carrying protected weapons station, a remote weapons station, a battlefield ambulance, and a command post vehicle.

Although the vehicles are very tough, they are certainly not indestructible, and the Ridgback team is keen that its drivers and battlefield commanders "don't try to write cheques the vehicle can't cash by putting it to uses it's not designed for".

Mr Purveur had the following message for front line troops and commanders eagerly awaiting the arrival of the vehicles in theatre:

"Bear with us - we're getting them out to you as fast as we possibly can. Fingers crossed, when you receive them you'll appreciate everything that we've done, and most importantly, that they'll keep you guys safe."

RIDGBACK VITAL STATISTICS:

-- Top speed: 55mph (90km/h)

-- Weight: 19.5 tonnes

-- Weapons: A mixture of weapons systems, including a 7.62mm Heavy Machine Gun; General Purpose Machine Gun; and Grenade Machine Gun mounted.

DTN News: Canada To Pay Salaries Of 3,000 Afghan Police Officers

DTN News: Canada To Pay Salaries Of 3,000 Afghan Police Officers

(NSI News Source Info) KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - March 17, 2009: Canada will pay the equivalent of all the police salaries in the province of Kandahar for two years, two federal cabinet ministers announced Monday after touring law-enforcement sites in Kandahar city. Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon and International Trade Minister Stockwell Day, who also chairs the cabinet committee on Afghanistan, announced that $21-million would be spent to strengthen the rule of law in this country where security conditions have markedly deteriorated. Canadian armoured vehicles from the NATO-led coalition cover soldiers as they search for IED (Improvised Explosive Device) during a mission in the Taliban stronghold of Zhari district in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan March 15, 2009. Assisting police, courts and corrections officers is one of Canada's top six priorities for Afghanistan's development, said Mr. Cannon. The announcement, he said, includes $19-million to pay for the salaries of police officers of the Afghan national police and $1-million for the salaries of Afghan correctional officers. Because the money will be distributed through the law-and-order trust fund of the United Nations Development Program, it will not be targeted specifically to the province of Kandahar where the Canadian military is stationed. But “Canada's contribution will pay for approximately 3,000 Afghan police salaries for two years – and this is comparable to paying the salaries of all Afghan police forces in Kandahar until 2011,” said Mr. Cannon. He and Mr. Day spent a little more than 24 hours on the ground in Kandahar city. They visited a training centre at the camp of the Canadian Provincial Reconstruction Team where police officers and corrections workers are being taught better ways of doing their jobs. They stopped at a police substation built with Canadian money in one of the most dangerous sections of the city. And they toured the Sarposa prison where a spectacular Taliban attack last June freed 1,200 prisoners, most of whom have never been caught. The giant hole in the wall surrounding the jail has been repaired, with the help of Canadian funds, but the jail break remains a dark lesson in the growing strength of the insurgency. Inside the prison, the men are kept in large open cells that allows for interaction with other inmates, they questioned a couple of the prisoners about their conditions and whether their rights were being respected. The repeated answer was yes. But one man, who was behind bars for political crimes, claimed he had been falsely accused. Mr. Cannon said improving the court system in Afghanistan is an objective of his government. Mr. Day, who also visited Afghanistan two years ago, said he was impressed with the progress that has occurred in the interim. “We have seen the results of increased training. We've seen how that's taking hold. We heard positive reports from prisoners themselves about the good treatment that they get, about their respect for the leadership at the prison itself,” he told reporters. As recently as 2007, inmates at the prison said they had been abused. “There will also be $1.3-million that will go to the human rights fund to continue the promotion of human rights and instruction along those lines,” said Mr. Day, “and we are also announcing $347,000 to go to the reconstruction of the prison which was significantly damaged some time ago in the terrorist attack.” Mr. Day said he was encouraged by the security situation in Kandahar. The people of the city “are actually beginning to see enough stability that relative prosperity and economic progress is now within their grasp.” That jars with the assessment of a top Canadian military commander. Brigadier-General Denis Thompson, who headed the military mission in Kandahar until last month, said in early in March that “people's sense of security has absolutely plummeted.” In fact, a press conference with Mr. Day and Mr. Cannon on Sunday had to be moved from the governor's palace in downtown Kandahar to the PRT grounds for security reasons. And on Saturday, a remote-control bomb exploded as a convoy carrying the city's mayor was passing by, killing one man and wounding seven. The mayor was mildly hurt. A report by the Canadian government released on March 4 found that security in Kandahar deteriorated in late 2008 as Taliban militants stepped up their attacks and crime spiked. “In Afghanistan generally, and in Kandahar specifically, security conditions remained especially dangerous and by some measures deteriorated during the quarter,” the report said. “Insurgency activity continued in and around Kabul. Criminal and factional violence compounded the insecurity generated by the insurgency in the capital and surrounding areas.”

Russia Backs US Operations In Afghanistan: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

Russia Backs US Operations In Afghanistan: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

(NSI News Source Info) Kabul - March 17, 2009: Russia supports US operations in Afghanistan and is ready to contribute to stabilising the country, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview published Monday during his visit to Kabul. U.S. and Afghan soldiers are seen at the site following a suicide attack in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan on Sunday, March 1, 2009. Lavrov however criticised "indiscriminate" Western air raids in the war-torn country in comments published in an Afghan government newspaper, a transcript of which was distributed by the foreign ministry in Moscow. "At this stage the presence in Afghanistan of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), uniting basically the US military contingent and NATO allies, is a factor restraining terrorism and in this regard is in Afghanistan's interests," Lavrov said according to the transcript. "On this basis Russia decided to allow the use of its territory for over-land transit of non-military supplies to ISAF," he said. Earlier this month, Russia allowed a first shipment of US equipment bound for Afghanistan to cross its territory in support of Western operations here. The minister visited Afghanistan 20 years after the withdrawal of the Soviet Union following a bitter resistance to its 10-year occupation which left about 1.5 million people dead and many more in exile. He added that "together with the United States, we are examining the possibility of carrying out in Afghanistan projects in the energy and transport sphere." But he went on however to criticise civilian deaths caused by Western air strikes. "Repeated instances of deaths among the civil population as a result of foreign military operations are a cause for serious concern," Lavrov said. "In this respect we consider an agreement reached between NATO and the Afghan defence ministry to coordinate anti-terrorist activities an important step towards preventing further indiscriminate strikes," he added. After talks with his Afghan counterpart Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, Lavrov told reporters that help to Afghanistan would not only come from deploying more troops. "Therefore, we support the Afghan leadership stand in wanting more support in reconstruction efforts," he said through a translator. The United States, Afghanistan's main Western partner, is planning to deploy around 17,000 more troops this summer and has called on other allies to also step up their contributions as the insurgency deepens. There are already about 75,000 foreign soldiers in the country, most of them Americans and Europeans and none from Russia. The ministers signed an agreement to increase bilateral efforts to fight drug-trafficking in the region. Afghanistan supplies the bulk of the world's illicit drugs that are smuggled to many countries, including Russia. Lavrov was due to meet President Hamid Karzai later, the Afghan government said. They were to discuss possible Russian arms supplies to the country, Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency reported from Kabul, citing diplomats.

In Defense Of The F-22 Raptor : Part #2

In Defense Of The F-22 Raptor : Part #2 *Young Signs F-22 ADM To Keep Options Open / US Must Have An Edge On Fifth Generation Jet Fighters Over Other Countries By Maintaining F-22....Defence-Technology News March 6, 2009 *U.S. Must Maintain Leadership In Aeronautical Technology With Fifth Generation Fighter Jets F-22 And F-35, Dropping F-22 Would Be The Biggest Blunder In Military History....Defence-Technology News February 22, 2009 *In Defense Of The F-22 Raptor....Defence-Technology News February 20, 2009 (NSI News Source Info) March 17, 2009: Deterrence isn't in the daily headlines when Afghanistan and Iraq loom large, but behind the scenes, it's become a big preoccupation for the national-security leaders of the United States in the last few years. The likelihood is that in the coming years deterrence will put much more emphasis on America's airpower and on the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor, for the Raptor is the one fighter designed to make sure U.S. forces can always do their appointed tasks from surveillance to strike. Deterrence is all about influencing a potential aggressor's cost-benefit calculation. In the Cold War, nuclear deterrence was called the balance of terror. Of course, the threat levels have changed, and arms-control agreements allow smaller numbers of nuclear warheads. However, the United States armed forces keep nuclear-armed bombers and submarines ready for alert, along with several hundred nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles. However, today's challenges are different from those of the Cold War era. What is emerging is how conventional deterrence may dominate the U.S. government's hard- and soft-power options in the years ahead. Just look at the landscape. Russia has been engaging in Cold War-style antics. China's "peaceful rise" policy is buttressed by its military buildup. Many nations are pursuing sophisticated technologies from stealthy unmanned systems to advanced air defenses capable of finding and destroying targets 100 miles away. Rogue states are getting closer to nuclear-weapons arsenals of their own, and most already have significant conventional forces. As Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, put it: "It is way past time to re-examine our strategic thinking about deterrence." Mullen made the comments in his article "From the Chairman: It's Time for a New Deterrence Model," in the fall 2008 issue of the Joint Forces Quarterly. Conventional deterrence is a concept that needs to be defined. It is the ability of one nation -- or a group of allies -- to show they have and will use stronger forces to make sure an aggressor state can't achieve its ends. Calculation is everything, so conventional deterrence works only when aggressors are certain that they can't get away with what they are contemplating because they will be stopped cold by superior force. Airpower is one of the important tools for conventional deterrence. It is certainly a credible instrument. The United States and its Air Force put on displays of air mastery in Iraq in 1991, in Kosovo in 1999, in Afghanistan in 2001 and again in Iraq in 2003. That dependence isn't going to change in the foreseeable future.

Taliban Says No Peace Talks With Leader Mullah Omar / Taliban Deny Reports Of Negotiations With Afghan Government

Taliban Says No Peace Talks With Leader Mullah Omar / Taliban Deny Reports Of Negotiations With Afghan Government

(NSI News Source Info) KABUL - March 17, 2009: The Taliban rejected reports on Monday its leader Mullah Omar was willing to hold peace talks aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan, saying it would continue attacks until all foreign forces withdrew from the country. Former Taliban soldiers display their weapons during a ceremony in the western city of Herat March 10, 2009. Forty Taliban fighters surrendered to the government on Tuesday, according to local authorities. Afghanistan's Taliban on Tuesday turned down as illogical U.S. President Barack Obama's bid to reach out to moderate elements of the insurgents, saying the exit of foreign troops was the only solution for ending the war. "If you wait for 3,000 years, our position is that the Taliban will not enter into any kind of talks in the presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan," Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told the Pakistan-based AIP news agency on Monday. More than seven years after U.S.-led and Afghan forces removed the Taliban from power, violence in Afghanistan is at its highest levels with Taliban-led insurgents launching increased attacks on foreign and Afghan forces. Ahmadi's comments came a day after Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported Omar, the leader of the hardline Islamists, had given his approval for and had sent representatives to attend Saudi-sponsored peace talks. Omar had given a "green light" for talks to go ahead, the Times quoted a former friend of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Anas, as saying. But Taliban spokesman Ahmadi rejected the claims. "These reports are baseless. Our position remains unchanged. We will conduct jihad and continue resistance as long as foreign forces are present in Afghanistan," Ahmadi told AIP. There are some 70,000 foreign troops, including 38,000 U.S. soldiers, stationed in Afghanistan. The United States is due to send 17,000 more troops to tackle a strengthening insurgency mainly in the south and east of the country. Since the weekend, nine foreign soldiers have been killed in a series of Taliban raids, the deadliest week for foreign forces in recent months. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said this month the West was not winning the war while some Western politicians and military officers agree the war cannot be won by military means alone. President Barack Obama has said he is open to the idea of reaching out to more moderate elements of the Taliban after what he called the success of working with Islamist fundamentalists in Iraq who had been alienated by the tactics of al Qaeda. But the International Crisis Group in a report last week warned the new Obama administration any talks with the militants should be approached with "great caution", saying previous peace agreements in both Afghanistan and Pakistan had collapsed.

Russia Shows Concern Over Chinese Weapons Piracy

Russia Shows Concern Over Chinese Weapons Piracy *Russian-Chinese Su-33 Fighter Deal Collapses / Russia Refused To Sell Su-33 To China, Fears Being Duplicated And Exported: Report....Defense-Technology News March 11, 2009 (NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW - March 17, 2009: Several years ago, the media reported plans to sell between 30 and 50 Russian-made Sukhoi Su-33 Flanker-D carrier-borne fighters to China, which in turn planned to deploy them aboard its advanced aircraft carriers. Subsequent media reports mentioned only 14 Su-33s and the mandatory purchase of two fighters for "familiarization" purposes. But several wire services recently said the Su-33 deal did not go through. China has already copied the hard-hitting Su-27 Flanker fighter and its engine parts, re-designating the plane as the Shenyang J-11 (JianJi-11), an advanced fourth-generation fighter now serving with the Chinese Air Force. Russia was not very happy about such developments and probably got the impression that Beijing could copy the Su-33 after comparing its specifications with those of the T-10 prototype version. After it had been receiving stockpiles of Soviet weapons and production equipment from the 1940s and until the 1960s, Beijing continued to manufacture their own technologically Soviet weaponry and equipment even after its relations with Moscow had gone sour in the 1960s. China produced and upgraded all types of weapons, namely, firearms, mortars, artillery systems, armored fighting vehicles (including tanks), air defense systems and aircraft (including the famous Tupolev Tu-16 Badger intermediate-range bombers, which were re-designated as the Xian H-6s). Beijing actively exported copies of Soviet weapons to the Third World, Albania, the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia and to other countries that were unable to buy Soviet or Western weaponry for political reasons. These types of weapons are still in use today. From 1979 to 1989, China supplied 90% of mortars to Mujahedin insurgents battling Soviet forces in Afghanistan. However, Beijing continued to copy Soviet weaponry even after relations with Moscow had normalized in the late 1980s. China displayed copies of modern cruise missiles, aircraft engines, the aforesaid Su-27 fighter and many other military-equipment models. The signing of contracts for the delivery of large weapon batches that would meet Chinese demand in specific areas could serve as a guarantee against unauthorized copying. However, Beijing is no longer interested in such purchases. What's more, this option does not rule out the copying of previously supplied weapon systems and their subsequent exports to third countries. Such exports can only be prevented by signing a legally binding Russian-Chinese intellectual property protection agreement. But the experience of the last few years shows that very few countries pirating Russian weapons are inclined to respect Moscow's copyright.

North Korean Premier Arrives In China For Talks

North Korean Premier Arrives In China For Talks

(NSI News Source Info) BEIJING - March 17, 2009: North Korean Premier Kim Yong-il arrived in Beijing on Tuesday on a five-day visit to discuss bilateral and international issues. The official's visit will include talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.

Kim will also take part in the opening ceremony of the Year of Friendship between China and North Korea, and celebrations of the countries' 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Before the start of his trip, the North Korean official told Chinese state media that his country appreciates the "vigorously friendly relations with China during the current complex and changeable international trends," and that North Korean-Chinese relations "make a real contribution to ensuring the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula, the northeast Asia region and the world". China is North Korea's main ally and trading partner, and also the host of the six-nation talks on the North's denuclearization program, which also involve Russia, the United States, South Korea, and Japan. The official's visit to China comes amid international concerns over North Korea's launch of what it says is a satellite, but what is widely suspected in the West as a cover-up for testing of ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Last week North Korea announced plans to launch a communications satellite between April 4 and April 8. Tensions remain high on the Korean Peninsula due to the expected satellite launch, as well as South Korean-U.S. military exercises that end on Friday. North Korea earlier said it could not guarantee the safety of civilian aircraft near or over its airspace, because of the exercises. Relations between Seoul and the communist North have deteriorated since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office in February 2008, rolling back the so-called Sunshine Policy of the previous 10 years. North Korea said recently it would scrap all political and military agreements with South Korea, including a non-aggression pact, over its neighbor's "hostile intent." The two countries are still technically at war as their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.

Russian Destroyer Heads Home After Somali Anti-Piracy Mission

Russian Destroyer Heads Home After Somali Anti-Piracy Mission

(NSI News Source Info) VLADIVOSTOK - March 17, 2009: Russia's Admiral Vinogradov destroyer and the Boris Butoma tanker have completed their anti-piracy mission around the Horn of Africa and are on their way home, Russia's Pacific Fleet press service said on Tuesday. The ships from Russia's Pacific Fleet have been involved in the anti-piracy operation off the Somali coast since the beginning of January and are heading to Indonesia, where they will visit the port of Jakarta on March 24-28 before returning to their main base in Vladivostok. Earlier a Navy spokesman said that the Admiral Panteleyev destroyer would set sail from Vladivostok in April to take part in the anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden. Both warships are Udaloy class missile destroyers, armed with anti-ship missiles, 30-mm and 100-mm guns, and Ka-27 Helix helicopters. According to the UN, Somali pirates carried out at least 120 attacks on ships in 2008, resulting in combined ransom payouts of around $150 million. Around 20 warships from the navies of at least a dozen countries, including Russia, India, the United States, China and Arab states are involved in anti-piracy operations off Somalia, which has been ravaged by years of civil war. Somalia's new unity government plans to tackle the problem of piracy by creating a maritime corridor through the country's territorial waters with international

Pakistan Came Back From The Brink: US

Pakistan Came Back From The Brink: US *Pakistan To Reinstate Top Judge, Defusing Crisis / Pakistan Reinstates Judge, Averts Clash / Pakistan Reinstates Sacked Judge....Defence-Technology News March 16, 2009 *Afghan NATO Supply Terminal Attacked In Pakistan....Defence-Technology News March 15, 2009 *Pakistan Ex-PM Nawaz Sharif Ignores 'Arrest' / Anti-Government Protests Turn Violent In Pakistan....Defence-Technology News March 15, 2009 (NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - March 17, 2009: The United States said on Monday that the decision to reinstatement the chief justice brought Pakistan from the brink but declined to take credit for helping defuse a potentially explosive situation. ‘This was basically a decision made by Pakistanis for Pakistanis. And they deserve all the credit,’ said State Department spokesman Robert Wood. But he also disagreed with the suggestion that the United States stood by and allowed the violence to escalate. Supporters of political parties chant slogans as they celebrate the government's announcement to reinstate Iftikhar Chaudhry as chief justice at his residence in Islamabad March 16, 2009. Pakistan's government agreed on Monday to reinstate Chaudhry to defuse a political crisis and end a street agitation that was threatening to turn into violent confrontation. Chaudhry became a cause celebre after being dismissed in late 2007 by then-president and army chief General Pervez Musharraf. ‘I take issue with the fact that we stood by … the Secretary (of State Hillary Clinton), (special US envoy) Richard Holbrooke and (the US ambassador in Islamabad) Anne Patterson were very involved in trying to calm tensions in Pakistan. So the US was involved in that regard,’ said Mr Wood. ‘But these were decisions that had to be taken by the Pakistani leadership. And in the end, I believe they acted in the best interests of the Pakistani people, and that's what's important here.’ The spokesman’s refusal to take credit for what was an obviously a high-profile US involvement; reflects Washington’s fear that a public acknowledgement of an American role could discredit the solution that it helped forge. The State Department also emphasized the need for further political reconciliation in Pakistan. ‘There's been a build-up of political tensions for quite some time … these decisions were good steps that were taken. But, clearly, more has to be done, in terms of getting a real substantive political dialogue back on track in Pakistan,’ said Mr Wood. The US spokesman, however, said he could not be more specific on how to bring about this political reconciliation. It was for the Pakistani government and the opposition to decide how they ‘can move closer to each other, instead of further away from each other,’ he said. Meanwhile, Ambasador Holbrooke gave credit to President Asif Ali Zardari, saying the United States applauds ‘the statesmanlike act by President Zardari and hopes that it will help defuse a dangerous confrontation.’ He also hoped that Pakistan, with the help of its many friends, could now address the nation’s pressing and urgent needs. Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator John Kerry, who has proposed tripling US aid to Pakistan, described the CJ’s reinstatement as ‘an important moment’ for the country. He said by restoring Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to his position as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Pakistani people had shown their commitment to an independent judiciary and to the rule of law. ‘Now, Pakistan's civilian leadership must avoid divisions and work together to further strengthen the nation's democratic institutions,’ he said. At the State Department, spokesman Wood insisted that ‘this was not something that the US helped bring about’ and that the United States only made sure that the Pakistanis understood the importance of avoiding violence and the need for political dialogue. But he acknowledged that Secretary Clinton made several telephone calls to key Pakistani players, including both Mr Zardari and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif. ‘The United States was very concerned about how the situation was developing, and she wanted to make clear that nonviolence was the way forward,’ Mr Wood said. ‘She wanted to emphasize the importance of nonviolence and that there be no impediments to peaceful, democratic assembly. And that was the essence of the secretary's phone call.’ Asked to describe why he was saying Pakistan was on the brink, Mr Wood said there was potential for political violence, particularly over the weekend. ‘It was a very difficult weekend. It was very politically charged; we're all aware of that,’ he said. The situation ‘certainly could have been a lot worse were it not for the leadership of the Pakistani government and the willingness of its people to take the steps necessary to back down from this crisis,’ said Mr Wood. ‘And the important thing now is to move forward, bringing about further reconciliation amongst Pakistanis and getting back to a real substantive political dialogue.’

US forces Shot Down An Iranian Drone In Iraq

US forces Shot Down An Iranian Drone In Iraq

(NSI News Source Info) March 17, 2009: US forces shot down an Iranian drone 60 miles (100km) north-east of Baghdad last month, the US military says. A military spokesman said the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was in Iraqi airspace for almost an hour and 10 minutes before it was engaged. The US accused Iran of deliberately sending the spy drone into Iraqi airspace, but a top Iraqi official suggested it had been a mistake. There was no immediate comment from Iran on the 25 February incident. The US has long accused Iran of military interference inside Iraq. "This was not an accident on the part of the Iranians," said US military spokesman Lt Col Mark Ballesteros, who identified the drone as an Iranian-made Ababil 3. Pilots "were directed to shoot the UAV down after determining there would be no possibility of collateral damage", he added. Maj Gen Abdul Aziz Mohammed Jassim, head of military operations at the Iraqi defence ministry, told Reuters news agency he believed the plane's entry into Iraq had probably been a genuine error. "It crossed 10km into Iraq," he said. "It's most likely that its entrance was a mistake." The Ababil 3 is a reconnaissance drone. Israeli forces reported downing several Hezbollah Ababils during the 2006 Lebanon War.

US President Barack Obama has pledged to offer diplomatic engagement with US foes, including Iran, to test if there might be scope for negotiated solutions to conflicts. Last week, however, Obama said he had extended one of the many levels of sanctions against Iran, imposed in 1995 over charges that Tehran dealt in terrorism and sought weapons of mass destruction. And Washington remains cautious about the growing ties between the two Shiite-majority neighbours, repeatedly accusing Iranian-linked groups of attacking US troops in Iraq. It also worries about Tehran's future influence on the now Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad as relations strengthen. Under executed president Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led regime, Tehran and Baghdad fought a devastating 1980-1988 war in which around one million people died.