News Story: Six terrorists killed in Pakistan's Karachi

ISLAMABAD, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Six suspected terrorists were killed in an encounter during a raid at the suspects' hideout, police in the Pakistani port city of Karachi said Thursday.

Senior Superintendent of Police Rao Anwar said police along with intelligence officials conducted the raid on a tip-off about the presence of the terrorists in Sachal area of Karachi, the capital of the country's southern Sindh province.

"All six of the terrorists were killed in retaliatory firing after they opened fire on the raiding team," Anwar said.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Philippine Coast Guard to beef up patrol fleet beginning 2018

Japanese made patrol boat for Philippines Coast Guard

MANILA, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) will beef up its patrol fleet with more brand new and modern patrol boats, a helicopter and weapons beginning next year as it plans to further strengthen its maritime patrol capability, a lawmaker said on Sunday.

Rep. Johnny Pimentel, a member of the House appropriation committee, said the government has set aside 6.7 billion pesos (130.1 million U.S. dollars) of its 3.767 trillion pesos (73.15 billion U.S. dollars) budget for 2018 to build up the PCG with a fleet of new boats, helicopters and weapons.

"The fresh funding will help pay for the acquisition of 10 newly built 44-meter patrol boats from Japan, of which five have already been delivered to the PCG," said Pimentel in a statement.

He said the PCG is also acquiring four 24-meter fast boats for delivery in 12 months, an 82-meter boat for delivery in 2019, and two 94-meter, high-endurance boats for delivery in 2020 and 2021.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Huge arms cache found in Bangladeshi militant hideout

DHAKA, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- A huge cache of arms and ammunition, including bombs, improvised explosives, bomb-making materials and a stash of local weapons, was recovered Friday from a militant hideout in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka.

"We've recovered 17 strong bombs, 30 improvised explosive devices, 100 home-made weapons and chemicals used in explosive making from the militant hideout," Bangladesh's anti-crime elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) spokesman Mufti Mahmud Khan told reporters.

Security forces Wednesday afternoon found seven bodies burned beyond recognition inside the militant hideout that was devastated by a fire triggered by several heavy explosions Tuesday night.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Militant captured near foreign forces' base in Afghan province

KABUL, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's police detained a militant overnight in Bagram district of eastern Parwan province, which is located near foreign forces' base, the country's Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

"Last night, one suspected militant was arrested with 35 kg of explosives and two pistols following a security operation in Nasrat village, Bagram district, Parwan province," the ministry said on a statement.

The Bagram Airfield, some 50 km north of Kabul, has been serving as a main U.S. and NATO military base in Afghanistan over the past 16 years.

The arrest of the targeted militant would further improve the public security in the provinces, the statement added.

Afghan security forces have beefed up security operations against militants, as Afghans have been witnessing a surge in attacks by Taliban and Islamic State (IS) militants across the country.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Philippines, Russia enhance defence cooperation

Hanoi (VNA) – Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu is expected to visit the Philippines to sign a cooperation deal in bilateral defence industry, said Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin on August 22.

Speaking with reporters, Fomin affirmed that the deal has been discussed. The two countries currently have no cooperation agreement on the defence industry. Meanwhile, the Philippines is struggling to buy new weapons from the US.

Read the full story at VietnamPlus

News Report: Turning Away From US, Philippines Plans to Buy Russian Weapons This Year

The Philippines intends to buy small arms from Russia before the end of the year and plans to discuss the details in Moscow, Defense Undersecretary Raymundo DV Elefante told Sputnik on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The news comes amid a political rift between the Philippines and the US, its traditional supplier of weapons.

"In Moscow we will discuss in detail what [small arms] we will be buying by the end of the this year. We already have budget intended for that," Elefante said on the sidelines of the Army-2017 expo.

The official added that the representatives of the Southeast Asian nation would hold a number of meetings with the Russian officials on the issue.

News Story: Rody to soldiers - Die rather than surrender

By Christina Mendez

MANILA, Philippines - President Duterte ordered soldiers to be ready to die fighting enemies of the state rather than surrender as he led the turnover of 3,000 .45-caliber pistols to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) at Malacañang yesterday.

“Ang ayaw ko doon, patayin nila yung tao walang kalaban-laban. Sabi ko hindi puwede ito,”

Duterte said, stressing he does not want soldiers to be killed without a fight, and neither should they surrender but die holding their guns. “Wag kayo mag surrender ng buhay, makuha man yang baril niyo, patay na kayo (Don’t surrender, if they get your gun, you’re dead).”

Each soldier will get a .45-caliber pistol with two extra magazines, the President said.

Duterte lamented how soldiers were sidelined by a past order that banned members of the military from carrying their firearms outside their camps.  

“I do not mind losing the gun to the enemy. But do not give it to them alive, especially in Jolo and Zamboanga area. Don’t let the enemies behead you,” he said.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: Rody admits US supplying weapons to Philippines

By Edith Regalado

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – After repeated tirades against the United States, President Duterte admitted the US has been supplying weaponry to the Philippine government to fight the Maute terrorists in Marawi City.

Duterte added China is also supplying weapons and ammunition.

But the President was also quick to point out there are no new military alliances with other nations even if he has other sources of weapons and ammunition, citing the decades-old defense treaty between the US and the Philippines.

“So I cannot enter into military alliances with other nations because I would be violating the US-RP agreement. We would stay with the Americans. So what are my misgivings? You know I have a duty to perform. As I have said…my duty is to preserve and defend the Filipino nation,” Duterte said. 

“We just bought additional firepower. No more bidding. And besides, I have two sources of weaponry and to my credit, let us give where credit is due. The United States helped the Armed Forces in this fight. And China committed and delivered a lot of firearms for us,” he said.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: Pakistani forces recover cache of weapons, foil terror plot

ISLAMABAD, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani security forces on Tuesday seized a cache of weapons in the country's northwest and frustrated a major terror plot, the military said.

The weapons were being transported to Wana, a main town in South Waziristan tribal region, but the security forces recovered the consignment when they searched a truck near Kohat city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The weapons were loaded in the truck at Darra Adam Khel, a town some 45 kilometers from Peshawar. Darra Adam Khel is famous for locally-made arms.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Privatizing arms manufacturing has India's federal workforce seeing red

By: Vivek Raghuvanshi

NEW DELHI — The Indian government is contemplating major changes in the state-owned Ordnance Factory Board, which administers 42 armament and ammunition factories across the country, but the workforce is opposing the move. 

The government has already opened some noncore areas of weaponry to the private sector, including ammunition production, and now the plan is to identify some factories and tie up these with private-sector defense companies, thus breaking the monopoly of the Ordnance Factory Board, or OFB, a Ministry of Defence official said. 

The move could eventually lead to privatization of the OFB at a later date, say analysts. However, the workforce, numbering 90,000 in these 42 factories, is opposing the move. 

C Srikumar, general secretary of the All India Defence Employees Federation, told Defense New: "The government is trying to create a monopoly through private models. When price cannot be determined, it is better to have public monopoly as per market principles." 

With a turnover of over $2 billion, the 42 factories under the OFB produce arms, ammunition, artillery guns, tanks, combat vehicles and troop comfort items. Nearly 80 percent of the production goes to the Indian Army, six percent each to the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy and the remaining eight percent for paramilitary forces. 

Besides opening up products to the private sector, the government is also identifying weapon factories of OFB that can be corporatized resulting in a tie up with private sector defense companies, MoD official said.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: Myanmar plans to modernize police force

YANGON, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar has planned to equip the country's police force with modern weapons and firearms for use in suppressing riots, said Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Major General Aung Soe, Myanmar News Agency reported Tuesday.

Aung Soe told the House of Representatives on Monday that the outdated weapons, currently used in the police force, are being replaced in three steps with modern weapons, communication equipment, vehicles, oil, uniforms and other set-up needs under annual budget request raised to the parliament.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: Philippines Eyes Russia-Made Attack Helicopters, Smart Weapons - Ambassador

The Philippines is interested in purchasing Russian-made attack helicopters and smart weapons, Ambassador of the Philippines in Moscow Carlos Sorreta told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — He added that Manila was looking into procuring arms "that can be carried by soldiers."

"We are also looking at the possibility of helicopters. Attack helicopters and attack smart weapons," Sorreta said in an interview published Monday.

The Philippines looks to purchase a portion of Russian weapons directly and take advantage of loans for more advanced arms, Sorreta added.

"We have a budget to buy certain items immediately. For the bigger items Russia has offered a system of loans, very good loan [terms]," Sorreta said in an interview published Monday.

News Story: Philippine forces face ferocious IS fighters - president

MANILA, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Saturday that the Philippine forces are now facing a formidable and ferocious Islamist militants who are out to kill "all nonbelievers."

Speaking to troops in Butuan City in the southern Philippines, Duterte said the Maute militants managed to secretly slipped into Marawi City a huge cache of ammunition and high-powered firearms before they launched the attack on May 23.

"We have a conglomeration of ISIS (IS) fighters there (in Marawi City)," Duterte said, justifying the need to use fighter jets and other air assets to defeat the remaining militants holed up in parts of the city.

The military has said troops are trying to flush out up to 200 militants who continue to wage a fierce fight using civilians as shields.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: ‘No failure of intelligence in Marawi’

MANILA, Philippines - The crisis in Marawi City was not caused by a failure of intelligence but by connivance between local warlords and terrorists who stockpiled firearms in the city and the “soft” policy towards rebels, President Duterte said yesterday.

Duterte said the government was aware that firearms were being stockpiled in Mindanao but took it for granted because of the peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). 

“We have adopted a very soft policy towards the rebels and this came about because they were bringing firearms. Since we are thinking of getting peace with the MNLF and MILF. The game there involves firearms. We took it for granted. We just allowed it to happen because we never knew until that time who was really the enemy,” Duterte told the troops in Butuan City. 

“When they see firearms and they were told that it’s for MILF or MNLF, the standing order was maybe we can talk to our brothers so there will be no trouble (but) it turned out that the Maute were bringing the firearms surreptitiously and we did not know how much ammunition and firearms were stockpiled, and besides it was not a failure of intelligence,” he added. 

Appearing in public for the first time in nearly a week, Duterte said the terrorists seem to have an “endless supply” of firearms and ammunition because of the assistance of corrupt local warlords.

“But all the while, the Maute (was conniving with) politicians there, the warlords, and were stockpiling. That’s why they do not run out of M203 bullets,” he said, noting many soldiers were hit by that type of bullet. 

Duterte confirmed extremists from Indonesia, Syria, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Kuwait joined the Maute terrorists in the clashes with government troops. 

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Report: India Plans Purchasing Weapons to Protect Air Force Bases Across Country

India's Defense Ministry issued a request for information (RFI) from arms manufacturers, aiming to beef up the Garud Commando Force, a special unit of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

New Delhi (Sputnik) — Suppliers will have to respond to the IAF by July 8. The RFIs suggest the IAF will recruit 8,000-10,000 more people for the Garud force to protect 54 IAF base stations. The terror attack on Pathankot air base last year forced India to provide advanced weapons and equipment to the IAF commandos.

The request points to likely acquisition of 50-60 armored vehicles along with military equipment to protect its personnel during operations. The IAF needs a 5-meter-long vehicle with a crew capacity of six for its special forces. Among other specifications, the IAF has demanded a minimum 350-kilometer operating range with a speed of 100 kmph on a level highway. The vehicles will be designed in such a way that the Garud forces would be able to mount and fire a 5.56mm light machine gun.

The IAF will also equip its commandos with 600 7.62mm rifles with sights and accessories and 200 40mm under-barrel grenade launcher compatible with it.

Garud Commando Force will also receive approximate 1,800 sub-machine guns and 2,000 9mm pistols, according to the RFI issued by the Indian Air Force.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

News Story: US helps Philippines fight militant groups in Marawi

Hanoi (VNA) – US special forces are assisting the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the fight against militant groups in Marawi city in southern Mindanao islands, said the spokesperson of the US embassy in the Philippines on June 10. 

Previously, on June 5, the US government handed over to the Philippines hundreds of machine guns, pistols and grenade launchers to help the country combat Islamic gunmen who were battling troops in Marawi city. 

The weapons will enhance the Philippine Marine’s counter-terrorism capabilities, and help protect troops engaged in counter-terrorism operations in the southern Philippines, said the US Embassy. 

Read the full story at VietnamPlus

Industry: GLOCK Asia Pacific Wins Philippine National Police Solicitation

Image: Wiki Commons

NIOA congratulates Glock Asia on their win to supply Philippine National police. NIOA is the Australian distributor for Glock Pistols.

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​​SMYRNA, GA. – Jun 7th, 2017 The Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management of the Republic of the Philippines has declared the GLOCK 17 Gen4 as the winner of its solicitations to buy new service pistols for the Philippine National Police.  GLOCK won this solicitation against competition from Sig Sauer and a local manufacturer.

“The Bids and Awards Committee of the Procurement Service set a global standard for transparency and professionalism through the manner in which the testing was performed pursuant to this solicitation,” said GLOCK Asia Pacific’s Managing Director Sven De Souter. The endurance tests performed were some of the toughest in the world: 20,000 rounds of ammunition had to be successfully fired through a single pistol, without any failures or stoppages, and without having to change any parts. The GLOCK 17 Gen4 successfully passed this testing twice, with two different pistols. In the interest of full transparency of the entire solicitation process, all tests were performed in public. The PNP will not only have the most reliable pistol on the market, but will also be the benefactor of extremely low pistol maintenance costs. 

NIOA

News Story: US to turn over counterterror equipment to Philippine Marines

By Jaime Laude

MANILA, Philippines - The United States government is handing over military equipment in support of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)’s counter terror campaign.

The equipment, which will be turned over to the Philippine Marines on Monday, include 300 M4 Carbines, 200 Glock 21 pistols, 25 units combat rubber raiding craft, 100 M203 rail-mounted grenade launchers, 30 outboard motors and four M134D Gatling-style machine guns.

“These counter terrorism equipment will further enhance the capabilities of the Philippine Marine Corps to counter terrorism and address threats posed by various groups,” Capt. Ryan Lacuesta, Marine spokesman, said yesterday.

Battalions of Marines, Army and Air Force troops are currently battling Maute terrorists and their Islamic State cohorts in Marawi City.

The turnover of equipment will be held at the Marine headquarters at Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, Lacuesta said.

The US support comes as the Philippine government is pivoting toward Russia and China.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: Rocket lunchers, guns among huge arms cache found in Bangladesh

DHAKA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- A huge cache of arms and ammunition including two rocket launchers and scores of guns was recovered Friday from Purbachal on the outskirts of Bangladesh capital Dhaka, official said.

"We've recovered two rocket launchers, 61 SLRs (self loading rifle) and five boxes loaded with ammunition from a canal in the area," said Ismail Hossain, officer-in-charge of Rupganj Police Station in Purbachal.

Acting on a tip-off, he said, law enforcers searched the spot on Thursday night and arrested three persons.

Read the full story at Xinhua

New Story: Security forces foil terror bid in southwestern Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani security forces foiled a terror bid by confiscating heavy cache of weapons in Quetta, the provincial capital of the country's southwest Balochistan Province, the military said.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Pakistan army's media wing, said in a statement that the security forces raided a hidden weapons depot on Saturday and seized a huge quantity of a variety of weapons in the outskirts of Quetta.

The statement said that the weapons, including locally-made improvised explosive devices, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, hundreds of hand-grenades and other weapons and ammunitions.

Read the full story at Xinhua