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Posts Tagged ‘aircraft’

US to upgrade F-16s, KMT lawmaker says

July 4, 2011 1 comment

taipeitimes

The US is expected to announce soon that it will help Taiwan upgrade its current F-16 aircraft rather than sell it more advanced aircraft, a senior legislator said yesterday.

The move to upgrade the F-16A/B combat aircraft rather than sell Taiwan the more advanced F-16C/Ds it wants will generate less pressure from Beijing, which strongly opposes any arms sales to Taiwan, analysts say.

“This will be a compromise deal,” said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), who chairs the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee.

Taiwan has repeatedly pressed the US to sell it F-16C/Ds, as China embarks on a rapid drive to build up its offensive military capability.

However, it is feared that such a sale would “anger” Beijing, which reacted furiously in January last year when US President Barack Obama announced a US$6.4 billion arms package for Taiwan.

That package included Patriot missiles, Black Hawk helicopters and equipment for Read more…

Categories: China, Taiwan, United States Tags: , , , , , ,

CBP set to deploy new surveillance aircraft

June 14, 2011 Comments off

gsnmagazine

CBP’s MEA

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is set to deploy the first of 30 new patrol aircraft that bristle with passive and active surveillance systems capable of supporting a variety of land and water-based operations.

The CBP’s new King Air 350, twin engine Multi-role Enforcement Aircraft (MEA) will replace an aging fleet of surveillance aircraft, providing the Department of Homeland Security with new capabilities to patrol the skies along the nation’s land and maritime borders.

The first MEA is slated for deployment to the southwest border in mid-June 2011 to undergo initial test and evaluation and to conduct missions aimed at enhancing ground tactics and enforcement coordination, said CBP in a June 10 statement.

The aircraft is built by Hawker Beechcraft Corp and modified for CBP missions by the Sierra Nevada factory in Hagerstown, MD. CBP could eventually have up to 50 MEAs patrolling the land and maritime Read more…

Categories: spy, Technology Tags: , , , ,

China to expedite delivery of 50 fighter jets to Pakistan: WSJ

May 20, 2011 1 comment

reuters

Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani (L) speaks to China's Premier Wen Jiabao after a singing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, May 18, 2011. REUTERS/Jason Lee

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani (L) speaks to China’s Premier Wen Jiabao after a singing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, May 18, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Jason Lee

BEIJING (Reuters) – China has agreed to expedite the delivery of 50 fighter jets to Pakistan, a newspaper reported on Friday, as Islamabad tries to deepen ties with Beijing as an alternative to increasingly fragile relations with the United States.

Pakistan’s already strained ties with its ally and major donor were battered after U.S. forces on May 2 killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a garrison town near Islamabad.

The fact that bin Laden was found in Abbottabad, and had been living there for years, has prompted many in Washington to call for a review of the billions of U.S. civilian and military aid that Read more…

Categories: China, Pakistan, United States Tags: , , , , , , , ,