04.09.2013 Helen Chachaty - journal-aviation.com

La Força Aérea Brasileira a réceptionné son premier chasseur A-1M modernisé hier, lors d’une cérémonie qui s’est tenue sur le site industriel d’Embraer à Gavião Peixoto, près de São Paulo. C’est le premier exemplaire du programme qui prévoit la rénovation et la modernisation des 43 chasseurs subsoniques AMX. Seize avions se trouvent actuellement à l’usine d’Embraer pour être modernisés.

Plusieurs nouveaux équipements sont intégrés aux A-1M : systèmes de navigation, armement, génération d’oxygène, radar multimodes, contremesures électroniques, similaires à ceux présents sur les F-5M et les A-29 Super Tucano. Le programme de modernisation devrait permettre aux avions d’être opérationnels jusqu’en 2025.

Sep. 1, 2013 By USMAN ANSARI   – Defense News 

ISLAMABAD — Brazil and Pakistan have begun to explore ways to expand their defense industrial relations.

The move could broaden the market for Brazilian arms and help Pakistan widen the range of its defense suppliers, analysts said.

Brazil’s ambassador to Pakistan, Alfredo Leoni, and Pakistan’s federal minister for defense production, Tanveer Hussain, met here in early August to discuss the increased cooperation.

“The scope of relations between the two countries is quite vast. The need is to collaborate, extend support and establish relations in areas of defense production,” Leoni told the Associated Press of Pakistan.

Brazil has a generally more high-tech defense industry than Pakistan, but observers say greater industry cooperation could be mutually beneficial.

“Brazil-Pakistan defense ties seem to be driven by a commercial interest, but have a broader political-strategic side,” said Antônio Sampaio, a research analyst for Latin American issues at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“Brazilian interest in the Pakistani defense market fits into Brasilia’s broad strategy of securing buyers for the country’s growing defense industry,” he said, which is “a strategic priority to stimulate a technologically advanced base for economic growth.”

New programs such as the Embraer-led KC-390 airlifter give Brazil a pressing reason to expand its markets, Sampaio said.

Pakistan is also “a key emerging country, acting in several international arenas that Brazil sees as strategically important for its foreign goals,” he said.

Improving commercial and political ties with such states “is a key objective as [Brazil] seeks a greater influence in world affairs,” he said. “In this front, the sheer volume of trade between Brazil and Pakistan is considered low (less than US $300 million in 2012), although it has grown rapidly in recent years.”

Trevor Taylor, a professorial fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and expert in defense industries, said it is natural for the two countries to to improve defense relations.

“Pakistan is not under any UN or EU conventional arms embargo and there is therefore no reason why Brazil, which is trying to build a significant range of defense industrial capabilities with only a limited national defense budget, should not seek to market in Pakistan,” he said. “Brazil will presumably be wary, however, of offering things that might put at risk its nuclear submarine cooperation with France and the success of its commercial aircraft business in Western markets.”

Taylor thinks Pakistan’s motives are more straightforward: “Pakistan for its part must be interested in widening its range of defense suppliers while not damaging its ties with China.”

Pakistan’s most high-profile purchase from Brazil thus far is a 2008 deal for 100 Mectron MAR-1 anti-radiation missiles to equip Pakistan’s Mirage and JF-17 Thunder fighter aircraft. Deliveries are underway and the missile has already been integrated onto Mirage.

Usman Shabbir, an analyst with the Pakistan Military Consortium, said another missile may be in Pakistan’s sights already.

“I am sure we will see the A-Darter short-range missile in [Pakistan Air Force] service once production commences in 2014,” he said. The missile is being developed by Mectron in cooperation with South Africa’s Denel Dynamics.

Shabbir said it may be some time, however, before Brazil can offer a greater variety of defense products that would interest Pakistan.

“Pakistan, on the other hand, can supply anything from small arms and ammo to tactical and medium range UAVs,” he said.

Analyst and former Australian defense attaché to Islamabad Brian Cloughley said that although the recent meeting was likely more of a “courtesy call,” the two countries’ defense industrial relationship will improve in time, and small arms may be a way to start for Pakistan.

Joint development of a fifth-generation fighter, and production in Brazil of Turkey’s T-129 gunship, are just two of the defense cooperation efforts that Brazil and Turkey have agreed to explore. (TAI photo)

Aug. 23, 2013 defense-aerospace.com

(Source: Brazil Ministry of Defence; issued Aug. 22, 2013)

(Issued in Portuguese only; edited unofficial translation by defense-aerospace.com)

ANKARA --- Brazil and Turkey will strengthen bilateral cooperation in defense through the creation of five working groups to study partnerships in the naval, aeronautics, space, command and control and cyber defense fields.

The decision is the result of an official trip this week by Defense Minister Celso Amorim,

Over three days, Amorim and his entourage met with Turkish political, military and corporate executives in Ankara. The decision to create working groups was taken after talks between Amorim and the Minister of National Defence of Turkey, Ismet Yilmaz.

The groups will consist of civil and military representatives of both governments, and should also count on the participation of defense manufacturers from both countries. In the coming weeks, it is expected that dates should be agreed for inaugural technical meetings, which take place in Brazil and Turkey before the end of this year.

Defense cooperation with Turkey is based on the central idea that the two countries -- nations with similar levels of development, with no conflicts of interest and pursuing increasing participation in the international arena -- have much to gain from the development of common projects, both economically and strategically. "Our relationship has already achieved the status of strategic partnership. The defense industry of my country has carried out major projects and we are ready to cooperate," Ismet Yilmaz told Amorim during a meeting at the Defense Ministry in Ankara.

Joint projects

In the naval area, the teams will study the feasibility of exchanging information and the possible joint development of escort ships, like frigates and corvettes. Turkey has designed and built a corvette whose requirements and characteristics are of interest to Brazil. Brazil also has a local corvette design that served as the basis for the construction of a new class of Navy corvettes, the Barroso. This group will also discuss possible cooperation in fields such as sensors electronic warfare.

The aeronautics group will focus on aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs) projects. Turkey has undertaken military attack helicopter and UAV projects using nationally-developed avionics, and also has experience in integrating and manufacturing parts and components of civil and military aircraft. Brazil, for its part, is also developing UAVs and, through Embraer, has extensive experience in the manufacture of both civil and military aircraft.

The idea is to discuss partnership opportunities in this segment, essentially for dual-use (civil and military) aircraft, including negotiations on Turkey’s plan, now in initial development, to develop a 5th-generation fighter. In this field, one of the possibilities to be studied is the assembly of Turkish helicopters in Brazil and of Brazilian aircraft in Turkey.

The space group will address the possibility of cooperation on launch systems and satellite (sensing and communications). Command and control will have a central focus on military communications (with possible civilian applications), through a technology called Software Defined Radio (SDR). Brazil is interested in developing this technology, which will, among other things, provide significant gains for direct communications between the Brazilian armed forces, thereby improving their performance, for example, in military operations.

The fifth group will address the area of cyber defense, based on the experience gained so far by the military forces of the two nations. Brazil will send a delegation to attend the International Cyber Warfare and Security that Turkey will organize in November in Ankara.

Other partnerships

Besides the creation of working groups, the two defense ministers also agreed to strengthen partnerships in other areas of defense. Amorim and Yilmaz, who was in Brazil on an official visit last year, agreed to increase cross-enrollment in military schools, so as to foster exchanges between officers and enlisted men of the two nations. "I consider it very important to strengthen this cooperation," said the Turkish minister.

Also discussed was the possibility of opening new spaces in courses in peacekeeping operations and combating terrorism, an area where Turkish forces have extensive experience.

Celso Amorim also held important meetings with some of the leading Turkish political leaders.

…/…

The Brazilian delegation included, among others, general officers of the Department of Defense Products (Seprod), the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces (EMCFA) and Navy of Brazil, General Aderico Mattioli, Brigadier Nilson Carminati and Admiral Antonio Carlos Frade Carneiro.

22/07/2013 Par LEXPRESS.fr (AFP)

Le navire nord-coréen, arraisonné par les autorités panaméennes alors qu'il quittait Cuba, ne transportait pas seulement des composants de missiles usagés mais aussi deux avions de chasse en état de marche.

Les autorités panaméennes ont découvert deux avions de chasse soviétiques MiG-21 à bord du navire nord-coréen intercepté ce mois-ci alors qu'il tentait de passer par le canal de Panama après son départ de Cuba. 

Les avions supersoniques ont été trouvés à côté de missiles et autres pièces d'armement cachées dans une cargaison de sucre, ce qui pourrait constituer une violation des embargos sur la Corée du Nord décidés par l'ONU. Cuba a affirmé que la cargaison ne contient que des armes "obsolètes" que le pays communiste envoyait à son allié nord-coréen pour qu'elles soient rénovées puis renvoyées. 

Les experts de l'ONU sur les sanctions ont prévu de se rendre à Panama pour inspecter la cargaison le 5 août. 

"Apparemment ces avions étaient utilisés puisqu'ils contenaient du carburant", a déclaré le président Panaméen Ricardo Martinelli pendant une visite dans le port de Manzanillo, où le navire est en train d'être déchargé. L'équipage de 35 hommes du navire baptisé Chon Gang battant pavillon nord-coréen, a été arrêté et pourrait être accusé de trafic d'armes.

10 juillet 2013 Info-Aviation

Des représentants de la FAdeA (Argentine aerospace company Fabrica Argentina de Aviones) ont confié lors du salon du Bourget 2013 qu’ils avaient eu plusieurs discussions avec des responsables chinois sur la co-production éventuelle du chasseur multirôle JF-17/FC-1 de la Chengdu Aircraft Corporation.

L’accord est loin d’être conclu. Les responsables de la FAdeA sont notamment confrontés aux problèmes du « transfert de technologie ». Néanmoins, ces discussions sont une première tentative formelle qui pourrait conduire à la co-production d’un chasseur chinois moderne en Amérique latine.

Les responsables de la FAdeA ont ajouté que la version co-produite en Argentine pourrait être appelée « Pulqui-III », en référence au Pulqui-II qui fut le premier chasseur à réaction conçu par l’ingénieur allemand Kurt Tamk pour le gouvernement de Juan Peron en 1950.

Démarré en Chine à la fin des années 80 sous le nom FC-1, le programme JF-17 est devenu un projet de chasseur sino-pakistanais en 1999 visant à réduire la dépendance du Pakistan à l’égard des entreprises occidentales pour les avions de combat de pointe. L’objectif est de mettre en service un chasseur léger multirôle d’un faible coût (moins de 20 millions de dollars) mais équipé d’une électronique moderne. Ce positionnement répond à un marché que l’Occident a dominé, mais a presque abandonné au cours des dernières décennies.

25/6/13 LaCroix.com (AFP)

L'Otan a conclu mardi un accord d'échange d'informations avec la Colombie, une initiative inédite entre l'Alliance de l'Atlantique nord et un pays d'Amérique latine qui pourrait déboucher sur une coopération plus poussée.

Cet accord, signé à l'occasion de la visite du ministre colombien de la Défense, Juan Carlos Pinzon Bueno, au siège de l'Otan à Bruxelles, "permettra à l'Otan et à la Colombie d'examiner la possibilité de coopérer et de se consulter dans les domaines d'intérêts communs", selon un communiqué. Les forces colombiennes pourront ainsi participer à des exercices menés par l'Otan.

"En tant qu'Alliance démocratique, nous sommes honorés lorsque des pays partageant des valeurs communes se rapprochent de nous", a déclaré le secrétaire général adjoint de l'Otan, Alexander Vershbow.

M. Pinzon a affirmé que l'objectif de la Colombie n'était pas "de faire partie de l'Otan" mais d'"apprendre de l'Otan" et de "partager" des expériences, notamment dans la lutte anti-drogue ou anti-terroriste.

En mai, l'annonce par le président colombien Juan Manuel Santos de la perspective d'un rapprochement avec l'Alliance, au sein de laquelle les Etats-Unis jouent un rôle dominant, avait provoqué de vives réactions de la part de plusieurs dirigeants latinos-américains de gauche.

L'Otan avait alors affirmé qu'une adhésion de la Colombie était impossible car elle ne répondait "pas aux critères d'adhésion" à l'Alliance, dont le traité établit que celle-ci "est ouverte aux pays de la région de l'Atlantique nord".

L'Otan, qui compte actuellement 28 pays membres, a développé des partenariats avec de nombreux pays, certains très éloignés comme l'Australie ou la Mongolie.

Jun. 11 , 2013 by Dave Majumdar – FG

Washington DC - Embraer will display its A-29 Super Tucano at the Paris air show for the first time, a top company official says. The aircraft will not fly, but will be on static display.

"We are going to bring our Super Tucano to Le Bourget," says Luiz Carlos Aguiar, chief executive of Embraer Defense and Security. "This is the first time in history the airplane will be there."

The A-29 that will be on display at Paris is an aircraft destined for Mauritania, Aguiar says. The nation has so far taken deliver of two light-attack aircraft from a three-unit order signed in March 2012.

Aguiar says it is important for Embraer to showcase the Super Tucano after the company's victory over Beechcraft's AT-6 during the US Air Force's Light Air Support (LAS) contest. While the 20 aircraft that are to be delivered for the LAS contract are for Afghanistan rather than for the USAF's own use, the service's selection is an important endorsement of the Super Tucano's capabilities.

"After our win in the US, it seems to me that the interest from other countries is increasing," Aguiar says. "We expect to have more sales of the A-29."

There have already been two new customers for the aircraft since the LAS selection: Guatemala and Senegal, he notes. Moreover, there is growing interest in the Super Tucano in Africa, Asia and Latin America. So far, Embraer has delivered 175 Super Tucanos out of a total order book for 216 aircraft, and the company hopes to add more sales.

Currently, Embraer builds 12 Super Tucanos per year, but Aguiar expects production to ramp up to 20 per annum in the future. The company will have the capacity to build 24 additional aircraft per year at its new US-based facility in Florida, Aguiar says. The first example to be built in the USA will start assembly towards the end of 2013 and will be delivered by June 2014, he adds.

Meanwhile, Embraer is making headway on its other flagship project, the KC-390 tanker/transport. Engineering drawings have been released to component suppliers and parts for the first two prototypes are under construction, says Aguiar, who adds that the company expects to make a big announcement about the programme during the Paris air show.

SANTIAGO, Chile, June 6 (UPI)

Chile will buy surplus U.S. stock of a dozen AAV7 armored amphibious vehicles for its new sea-borne Amphibious Expeditionary Brigade, defense industry media reported.

Officials say the vehicles are being acquired from excess inventory of U.S. stockpiles but will be upgraded before they are put into service. The cost of the AAV7 acquisition was not mentioned.

The upgrade is likely to be carried out by BAE Systems' Global Combat Systems unit, Defense Market Intelligence and Chile's Defense and Military blog reported. Independent comment on the acquisition and upgrade was not immediately available.

The first of the AAV7s is set to be delivered in 2014 after the upgrade, likely to involve installation of more powerful engines. Chile's purchase includes 10 AAVP7 A1 troop transports, one AAVC7 command vehicle and one AAVR7 recovery vehicle, the reports said.

Manufactured by U.S. Combat Systems, the AAV-7A1 is the current amphibious troop transport of the U.S. Marine Corps.

The vehicles, once commissioned, will be part of a 1,400-strong brigade Chile operates aboard its Sargento Aldea multirole assault ship, acquired from France in a $80 million deal. The Sargento Aldea previously operated in the French navy as the Foudre and served allied forces in NATO Yugoslavia operations in 1992-93 and French military action in Ivory Coast.

Analysts said the tracked AAV7 could work well with the Sargento Aldea and other Chilean navy vessels but might not be suitable for peacekeeping missions requiring faster, wheeled vehicles.

It was not immediately clear if the BAE upgrade would extend to weaponry.

A standard AAV7 is usually equipped with a .50-caliber machine gun and a 40mm grenade launcher.

Chile is also looking into acquiring new helicopters, landing craft and other hardware for its armed forces.

The Chilean military, recently spotlighted for its alleged failure to spend enough of its allocations channeled through the copper export tax and other financial instruments, is aiming to catch up with military advances made by South American neighbors Brazil and Argentina.

However, the military is also hamstrung by low response to its recruitment drive. Chile's economic growth has opened new career opportunities and turned the military into an employer of last resort.

The armed forces enlistment numbers are set to be the lowest this year since 2007, the Santiago Times reported.

The number of Chileans volunteering to join the military is down 21 percent from 2012 and is the lowest since the rules on military service were reformed in 2007, the newspaper said on its website.

"The explanation for the decrease is similar to previous years, as we have been a country with full employment and a wide range of educational opportunities," Armed Forces Undersecretary Alfonso Vargas told La Tercera newspaper. "There has been a strong competition that has changed the landscape."

Chile's economy has continued to grow by more than 5 percent each year since 2009 and the average unemployment rate is 6.4 percent, the Santiago Times said, citing 2012 data.

The military announced new incentives including higher pay, bonuses and scholarships as part of the effort to reverse falling recruitment.

Jun. 4, 2013 Defense News (AFP)

BRUSSELS — Colombia cannot be considered for NATO membership but the alliance is exploring ways of boosting ties with the country, a NATO official said Tuesday after an uproar in Latin America over the possibility.

Colombia “does not meet the geographically limited membership criteria,” the official said, noting that the NATO Treaty “states that membership is open to states in the North Atlantic area.”

At the weekend, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said his country would sign a cooperation agreement this month with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization with a view ultimately to membership.

On Monday, a senior US State Department official, Roberta Jacobson, said “our goal is certainly to support Colombia as being a capable and strong member of lots of different international organizations, and that might well include NATO.”

This appeared to go too far for Colombia’s neighbors, with Bolivian President Evo Morales calling the move a “provocation” and a threat to “anti-imperialist” countries such as Bolivia, Venezuela, Nicaragua or Ecuador.

The NATO official said Tuesday the military alliance was “aware of Colombia’s interest to develop cooperation with NATO” but that there was “no immediate plan for establishing a formal partnership.”

Instead, “we are exploring the possibility of carrying out specific activities together,” the official said, citing an accord to allow the exchange of classified information with Colombia.

“The accord would be a precursor for any possible future cooperation with Colombia that allies develop through NATO,” the official added.

NATO counts 28 members in Europe and North America but has a string of security cooperation and partnership accords with many countries, such as Australia and Mongolia, but none in Latin America.

May. 31, 2013 Defense News (AFP)

BUENOS AIRES — Argentine President Cristina Kirchner reshuffled part of her cabinet late Thursday, appointing new defense and security ministers, her spokesman said.

National Deputy Agustin Oscar Rossi, who leads the ruling Front for Victory block in the lower chamber, will replace Arturo Puricelli as defense minister in the surprise move, spokesman Alfredo Scoccimarro told reporters.

Puricelli, in turn, will replace Security Minister Nilda Garre, who will be nominated as ambassador to the Organization of American States.

Kirchner was elected in 2007 and won a second term in 2011 with 54 percent of the vote.

24 mai 2013 Info-Aviation

Le 20 mai, Konstantin Biryulin, le chef adjoint du Service de la coopération militaro-technique fédérale de la Russie, a annoncé que son pays allait signer un contrat de modernisation des MiG-29 péruviens d’ici la fin du mois de mai 2013.

En 1997, la Biélorussie a vendu 20 MiG-29S au Pérou. Onze ans plus tard, le Pérou a signé un contrat avec la Russie pour moderniser huit avions à la norme MiG-29SMT. Ce travail a été achevé en 2012. Il reste donc une dizaine de MiG à moderniser.

Le Pérou est traditionnellement tourné vers la Russie pour se fournir en armes et pas seulement pour des avions de combat. Lima négocie également pour l’achat de camions Kamaz, de chars T-90, d’hélicoptères Mi-17 et des systèmes de défense aérienne à basse altitude Pantsir.

En février 2013, l’Espagne aurait offert de vendre au Pérou 18 chasseurs Eurofighter d’occasion pour environ 45 millions d’euros l’unité.

Le problème du Pérou, c’est que leur flotte de chasseurs est vieillissante. Lima a déjà dépensé 106 millions de dollars pour moderniser 8 MiG-29, mais la facture sera plus élevée pour moderniser les 9-11 autres restants. Une autre dépense de 140 millions de dollars a servi à remettre en état leurs Mirage 2000, et 9 des 12 unités ont terminé le programme, mais ils sont encore bien en deçà des capacités du Mirage 2000-5. Quoiqu’il en soit, ni les MiG ni les Mirage ne sont prévus pour durer après 2025.

Le gouvernement du Pérou envisage donc d’autres options comme l’Eurofighter Typhoon, le Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, le Dassault Rafale, le Gripen de Saab, le MiG-35 ou le Sukhoi Su-30/35. Mais les chasseurs russes sont les seuls avions compatibles avec les stocks actuels de missiles du Pérou.

Les Eurofighter de l’Espagne affichent une moyenne de 600 heures de vol, ce qui signifie qu’ils pourraient voler encore 20 ans, voire plus avec au taux d’utilisation modérée. Mais les premières versions avaient des capacités d’attaque au sol très limitées.

LIMA (Pérou), 19 mai - RIA Novosti

L'Agence russe d'exportation d'armements (Rosoboronexport) souhaite livrer en dehors des appels d'offres des chasseurs de type Su-35 et des systèmes de DCA Pantsir au Brésil, a déclaré Sergueï Ladygine, chef de la délégation russe au salon international de la technologie pour la défense SITDEF 2013 qui se déroule à Lima. 

"Bien que la Russie soit sortie de cet appel d'offres, nous avons fait en parallèle une proposition à la partie brésilienne de participer en dehors des appels d'offres avec nos systèmes Pantsir et chasseurs Su-35. Notre proposition est en train d'être examinée", a précisé M.Ladygine. 

Ce dernier a ajouté que la Russie était prête à transmettre aux Brésiliens l'ensemble des technologies de la production du Su-35, y compris des éléments des technologies dites de 5e génération.

La Russie est sortie en 2009 de l'appel d'offres brésilien pour lequel elle concourrait espérant y placer son chasseur Su-35.