News Report: Australia Suspends Syria Airstrikes Amid US-Russia Tensions

Ken Bredemeier and Peter Heinlein

WHITE HOUSE — Australia announced Tuesday it has temporarily suspended airstrikes by its forces in Syria.

The move comes days after a U.S. fighter jet shot down a Syrian jet, and Syrian ally Russia responded by threatening to treat planes from a U.S.-led coalition operating in the skies over Syria as targets.

Australia is part of the coalition that began airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria in September 2014.

A statement from Australia's Defense Ministry said it would monitor the "air situation in Syria" and make a decision on resuming airstrikes there "in due course." The ministry said strikes in neighboring Iraq, also part of the U.S.-led coalition campaign, will go on.

The U.S. responded forcefully Monday to the Russian threat.

News Report: 'Waste of Money' - Will Israeli 'Pythons' Make Vietnam's Air Force Any Better?

Image: Wiki Commons

A Vietnamese online paper recently published an article, whose author tries to justify the need to arm the country’s Russian-made Su-27/30 fighters and Su-22 fighter-bombers with Israeli-made Python-5 air-to-air missiles.

The author writes, citing information provided by the Stockholm-based International Peace Research Institute, that an unspecified number of Python-5 missiles have been supplied to Vietnam for use by the country’s Israeli-made Spyder-SR short and medium range mobile air defense system, and that some of these missiles can be installed on Soviet and Russian made warplanes.

In an interview with Sputnik, Moscow-based military expert and a seasoned Air Force pilot Makar Aksyonenko said that even though the Pytnon-5 missile is a versatile weapon currently used by missile defense systems and Israeli F-15, F-16 and Kfir fighter jets, it’s characteristics are equal to the R-73 missiles found on the Su-27 and Su-30 [planes and notably inferior to Russia’s latest R-73M and R-74 missiles.

News Story: Vietnam special forces prep for S China Sea action - media

Su-30MK2 Flanker Fighter

To stop China's land reclamation activities in the disputed South China Sea, the Vietnamese military is preparing to attack the Chinese facilities in the region with special forces, according to Moscow-based Kommersant.

As military exercises held by the Vietnamese military since 2004 have shown, the People's Air Force of Vietnam's Su-22 tactical bomber will be used to launch the first strike against maritime targets with AS-10 air-to-surface missiles. At the same time, the Su-30 fighter is likely to provide cover for the Su-22 bombers during the strike. The bomber can attack the People's Liberation Army Navy's vessels from an attitude of 2,500 to 3,000 meters.

Read the full story at Want China Times