Indian Military Aviation News and Discussion

[Arun_S]

BTW there is new CoAS after retirement of ACM PV Naik. ACM NAK Browne is now at helm.



Let us see if he has the balls to take decision that will stop erosion of IAF (not just aircrafts, but multidimensional: capability, cost effectiveness, people, information security and organization)





[url="http://www.kforcegov.com/Services/IS/NightWatch/NightWatch_11000156.aspx"]http://www.kforcegov...h_11000156.aspx[/url]

India: For the record. Indian Defence Ministry officials signed a $2.4 billion deal with French companies Thales and Dassault Aviation on 29 July to upgrade their fleet of 51 Mirage 2000 fighters, company officials said. The Indian Air Force inducted Mirages in the mid-1980s. [color="#A0522D"]The aircraft will serve 20-25 more years[/color].



Comment: In the inventory of more than 700 fighters and attack aircraft, the Mirage 2000s were the only multi-role fighter capable of effective offensive operations at high altitudes during the 1999 Kargil War against Pakistan. The Air Force intends to retain that capability, upgraded and modernized.







Afghanistan: During an unannounced visit to Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, Admiral Mullen, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave a pep talk to the allied forces in which he mocked the significance of the recent assassinations of key Afghan officials in the south, including President Karzai's half-brother, Wali Karzai. He said some believe this is all the Taliban can do, thereby quoting but not owning a highly controversial statement.



Special comment: The US military, for understandable reasons of morale, continues to put a positive spin on security developments, but Readers need to know that the facts continue to run in the other direction. The US military is engaging in a perception management operation apparently for English and American speakers. The message is the job is getting done and it's time to leave.



It is time to leave because the US civilian political leadership has made that decision and is holding the military leadership to their agreement in 2008 that they could make significant gains in 18 months. The time has passed; the gains are local and impermanent, according to every tactical-level interview; and the Taliban know it. Resident reporters have described the situation in Kabul as a fragile structure waiting to collapse.



[color="#FF0000"]Assassination of stalwarts of the Karzai regime cannot be minimized. If Wali Karzai, Jan Mohammed and Hamidi can be assassinated, so can President Karzai.[/color]



[color="#FF0000"]This is a warning: the Taliban and other anti-government fighting groups are engaged in their own decapitation campaign … without drones, but up close and personal in Kabul and Kandahar. They appear to be capable of killing anyone they decide to target[/color].







Yemen: President Saleh is ready to transfer power through an early election, Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi said on 29 July. He described the deal negotiated by the United States and the Gulf Cooperation Council as not practical and said if elections do not take place before the president resigns, a constitutional vacuum will exist.



The government is trying to negotiate with the opposition a reasonable date for an election under regional and international supervision, al-Qirbi said. Al Qaida benefits most from anarchy in Yemen, which could lead to a takeover of Abyan province, he added. Failure to reach an agreement could lead to a civil war.



Comment: Saleh's position remains unchanged. Nevertheless, his commitment to elections and a constitutionally prescribed manner of transferring power is noteworthy, despite his manner of rule.







Turkey: Turkey is experiencing stress because the Chief of the General Staff, the Commander of the Land forces, the Air Force Commander and the Navy Commander resigned on 29 July to protest the anti-military actions of Prime Minister Erdogan's government.



General Isik Kosaner, the Chief of the General Staff, said he resigned from his post in protest of the jailing of military officers in a variety of court cases. Kosaner reportedly said it is impossible for him to continue in his post because he is unable to fulfill his responsibility to protect the rights of his personnel.



The senior officers who resigned with Kosaner are Land Forces Commander General Erdal Ceylanoglu; Air Force Commander General Hasan Aksay; and Navy Commander Admiral Esref Ugur Yigit.



Turkish President Abdullah Gul signed a decree appointing Gendarmerie Commander General Necdet Ozel as Chief of Land Forces. A reporter said Ozel would later be appointed the Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish armed forces in the place of General Kosaner.





Comment: The overarching issue is civilian control of the Turkish armed forces. Control of promotions and promotion policy is central to any military leadership structure. The resignations were as a reproach and a challenge to the Erdogan government for meddling in the military promotion system.



Kosaner's position and that of the other service chiefs is that officers under arrest but no brought to trial should be promoted on schedule because they have committed no crime. There are some 400 officers in this condition as the result of the AKP government's discover in 2007 of a coup plot in 2003 that never took place. This is the Ergenekon or Sledgehammer coup plot by the military to overthrow the pro-Islamist AKP government a year after its election.



Since coming to power in 2002, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has worked to break the political power of the armed forces and to erode its ethos as the guardian of the secular traditions of Ataturk. It has used a rising standard of living, relative prosperity and application for membership in the European Union, increased influence in Europe and the Middle East and promotion of more devout Islamic practices in public to marginalize the armed forces.



Outside the cities, the mass of Turks have proven in two elections that they support pro-Islamist and fundamentalist policies. The AKP has won both elections easily.



It also has used the Ergenekon investigation to keep the military leadership on the defensive and in the barracks under threat of arrest and prosecution for supporting a coup, now eight years ago. Respect for the military has declined significantly as a result.



Today's resignations are without precedent and appear aimed at arousing sentiment against the strongly Islamist tendencies of the government. Grand gestures such as resignations almost always are sophomoric and fail to make a difference because no one is inexpendable and replacements, such as General Ozel, are always waiting for their chance to lead.



[color="#A0522D"]The exceptions are when mass military leadership resignations are precursors to popular uprisings or to a military takeover of the government. There are no signs and no chances of a popular uprising in support of the armed forces. The time for a coup would seem to have passed, but analysts said that about Pakistan in 1999 right before General Musharraf overthrew the Nawaz Sharif government.[/color]