Industry: Finmeccanica signs contract worth over 100 million Euros with the Philippine Navy for AgustaWestland AW159 Helicopters

• The helicopters will be delivered in 2018 and will perform anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare primary missions
• The contract also includes support and training package  
• The Philippine order adds to those in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Korea, bringing the total orders for AW159s to 72 
• The most advanced helicopter today available for maritime and naval operations in the most modern and challenging scenarios

Finmeccanica has been awarded a contract, valued at over 100 million euros, to supply the Philippine Navy with two AgustaWestland AW159 helicopters. The aircraft will be built and delivered from the Finmeccanica Helicopter Division’s Yeovil plant, in the United Kingdom, in 2018. The order includes training and multi-year support and adds to those by the United Kingdom and the Republic of Korea. It is a testament to the long standing relationship between the Philippine Armed Forces and Finmeccanica following previous aeronautics and helicopter programmes.

The two helicopters will be equipped with sophisticated state-of-the-art mission equipment and sensors, primarily dedicated to anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare roles. The helicopters will also be capable of performing other roles including search and rescue, maritime security and maritime surveillance. 

Mauro Moretti, Finmeccanica’s Chief Executive Officer and General Manager, said: “This contract confirms the confidence of the Philippines in Finmeccanica’s products as key to its national security and is a further recognition, in the international market, of the company’s leadership in the maritime and naval helicopter segment. We will deliver to the Philippine Navy a state-of-the-art product, unmatched in the modern operational scenarios, and customized to meet their specific needs. Also, we will provide the customer with support and training solutions that will enable them to take full advantage of the capabilities of its new helicopters.”

Finmeccanica

News Report: Myanmar Army And Rebel Soldiers Engage in New Clashes in Rakhine State

New clashes flared between government troops and an armed ethnic group in northern Myanmar’s Shan state on Wednesday, the same day as a new civilian president was sworn into office, vowing to work towards peace and national reconciliation in the country.

Major Mai Aik Kyaw, spokesman of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), told RFA’s Myanmar Service that his forces engaged in fresh hostilities with government troops in the early morning at Khokat village in Mantong township.

There were casualties on both sides and two villagers were wounded, but no further details were known, he said.

Nearly three hours later, a second clash occurred near Nangpar village in Kyaukme township.

“We didn’t suffer any casualties, but the Myanmar army had some wounded,” he said.

Later in the day, Htin Kyaw of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, took his oath of office and accepted the presidential seal from former President Thein Sein, pledging that the new government will pursue national reconciliation and peace to end Myanmar’s decades of civil war.

Thein Sein’s administration signed a nationwide cease-fire agreement (NCA) with eight of the country’s armed ethnic groups last October, but excluded the TNLA because it was engaged in hostilities with the Myanmar army.

Fighting in the region since late last November has forced thousands of people in Kyaukme and Namkham townships to flee their homes.

News Story: DPRK blames U.S. for escalating tensions on Korean Peninsula

PYONGYANG, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Thursday blamed the United States for escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula, citing the U.S. nuclear threat, U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises and sanctions against Pyongyang as examples.

An unnamed spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry attributed the current tense situation to the United States in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

"The U.S. nuclear threat and blackmail, joint military exercises, sanctions and other moves to stifle the DPRK are the root cause of pushing the situation on the peninsula to the brink of a clash of nuclear weapons," the statement said.

The statement condemned the United States for making the DPRK a target for "preemptive nuclear attack," adding that the threat from the United States has existed for the past several decades.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Kangnam Selected by India To Build Minesweepers

Vivek Raghuvanshi

GOA, India — South Korea's Kangnam Corporation has emerged as a sole bidder to respond to a global expression of interest (EOI) floated by India's state-owned Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) last year to jointly build 12 mine countermeasure vessels (MCMV).

A source with GSL described the response and said the joint effort would cost the Indian Navy $5 billion.

Since Kangnam is the sole respondent to the EOI, leading to a single vendor situation, GSL had sought special permission from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) last month to go ahead with selecting the South Korean company as its technology transfer partner.

Last week, the MoD accepted the GSL's proposal, paving the way for inking the contract with Kangnam, a GSL source said.

Kangnam will transfer technology and help in the production of the MCMVs. However, no details of the business arrangement between the South Korean company and GSL is known.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: Philippines Order British Helos for Anti-Sub Capabilities

Andrew Chuter

LONDON — Finmeccanica has added a third country to its list of AW159 customers with a deal to equip the Philippines Navy with an anti-submarine version of the helicopter.

The UK arm of Finmeccanica’s Helicopter Division has secured a €100 million contract with the Philippines Department of National Defense to supply two helicopters along with training and support.

Britain and South Korea both operate versions of the AW159. The new deal brings orders for the helicopter to 72.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: India's Bid To Join Missile Control Group Remains Stalled

Tom Kington

The failure of a series of diplomatic and legal efforts to solve a dispute between Italy and India over the deaths of two fishermen has left India’s bid to become a major global military player on hold, sources said.

A visit by Indian leader Narenda Modi to Brussels on March 30 for an India-European Union summit saw no easing of the standoff between Italy and India in the wake of the Asian nation’s arrest in 2012 of two Italian marines accused of shooting Indian fishermen while guarding an oil tanker.

That means Italy looks set to continue to veto India’s entry into the key Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), an exclusive club which counts 34 member states and controls access to missile and UAV technology by nonmembers.

“I am not 100 percent pessimistic and I know the two countries are talking, but I am doubtful anything is moving,” said a source with knowledge of talks between Italy and India on the MTCR.

The stalemate in Brussels was revealed when Indian leader Modi and the EU issued a cautious, joint statement March 30:

"The EU shares Italy's concerns to find an expeditious solution for the prolonged restriction of liberty of the two Marines," said the statement.

"India stressed the need for rendering due justice for the families of the Indian fishermen who were killed," it added.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: N. Korea still years from solid-fuel missile system - US expert

North Korea's recent solid-fuel rocket engine test suggests a step forward in missile technology, but it remains many years from using such advanced motors for a long-range missile capable of striking the US mainland, a US missile expert said Wednesday.

Last week's test was personally monitored by leader Kim Jong-Un, who said it would allow for a major upgrade of the North's missile delivery systems that would "strike great horror and terror into the hearts of our enemies", according to state media.

Solid-fuel missiles would have distinct advantages -- including greater mobility and the ability to launch within minutes -- over Pyongyang's current, largely liquid-fuelled inventory.

Analysing official pictures of the test, John Schilling, an aerospace engineer specialising in rocket and spacecraft propulsion, said it appeared to be of an engine "roughly three times more powerful" than any solid motor the nuclear-armed North had previously demonstrated.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: Khamenei says missiles, not 'negotiations' key to Iran security

Iran's supreme leader said Wednesday that missile power was key to the country's future security, slapping down moderates who say the focus should be on diplomacy.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all matters of state in Iran, praised the powerful Revolutionary Guards for their "show of advanced and precise missiles" in recent tests that drew Western criticism.

"In this jungle-like world, if the Islamic republic seeks negotiations, trade and even technology and science, but has no defence power, won't even small countries dare threaten Iran?" Khamenei said in remarks published on his official website.

"Our enemies are constantly enhancing their military and missile capabilities and given this how can we say the age of missiles has passed?"

His comments appeared aimed at ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a senior leader of the reformist and moderate camp, who last week tweeted: "Tomorrow's world is the world of dialogue not missiles."

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: Islamic State threat raises stakes for US nuclear summit

By Andrew BEATTY

The specter of the Islamic State group obtaining a "dirty bomb" will loom over a top-level nuclear security summit hosted by President Barack Obama in Washington on Thursday and Friday.

Obama welcomes several leaders from countries as diverse as China and Nigeria, as well as representatives from nearly 50 other nations, for the summit aimed at elevating the problem of shaky safeguards from the desks of technocrats to the highest corridors of power.

The meeting comes just days after 32 people were killed and 340 were injured in bombings at Brussels airport and the Belgian capital's metro.

The attacks featured conventional explosives, but two of the suicide bombers -- Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui -- have been linked to possible efforts by the Islamic State (IS) group to secure fissile material.

Late last year, Belgian police investigating the November 13 Paris terror attacks found 10 hours of video surveillance detailing the comings and goings of a senior Belgian nuclear official.

Belgian media have since reported that the brothers were linked to the surveillance.

The incident has only heightened existing concerns about IS efforts to get nuclear material.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: Philippines mulls submarines as China row simmers - Aquino

By Joel GUINTO

The Philippines may invest in its first-ever submarine fleet to help protect its territory in the disputed South China Sea, President Benigno Aquino said Wednesday.

The impoverished nation, which has never before operated submarines and until now relied largely on US surplus ships, has been ramping up defence spending in response to China's military expansion in the region.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea despite conflicting claims from the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.

Aquino said the Philippines could lose control of its entire west coast should China succeed in enforcing its claims.

"We've had to accelerate the modernisation of our armed forces for self-defence needs," he told reporters.

"We are a natural transit point into the Pacific and we are now studying whether or not we do need a submarine force," he said.

Beijing has reclaimed more than 2,900 acres (1,174 hectares) from the South China Sea in less than two years in an intensive island-building campaign, and has deployed surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island there, according to Taipei and Washington.

Read the full story at SpaceWar