5 New Messages
Digest #4686
Messages
Tue Apr 23, 2013 6:10 am (PDT) . Posted by:
"Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff
http://www.stripes.com/news/na
Stars and Stripes
April 18, 2013
First littoral combat ship arrives in Singapore
By Matthew M. Burke
====
The Freedom is slated to participate in the International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference in Singapore next month, the statement said. In the months that follow, the ship is scheduled to join other 7th Fleet units and regional navies in select phases of the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training and Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training exercises.
By the end of 2021, the Navy expects to have 24 littoral ships under contract, with 16 assigned to the Pacific Fleet.
====
SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan: The U.S. Navy’s first littoral combat ship USS Freedom arrived in Singapore on Thursday to officially begin its maiden overseas deployment.
The first-in-class ship departed San Diego on March 1 and had port visits in Hawaii, Guam and the Philippines en route to its new home, according to a Logistics Group Western Pacific statement.
The Freedom will participate in exercises, visit foreign ports, conduct maritime security operations and allow the LCS Council — a working group established in August by chief of naval operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert — to evaluate crew rotation, maintenance plans and the program as a whole.
“We plan on spending most of our time here in Southeast Asia — this will be Freedom’s neighborhood for the next eight months,” commanding officer Cmdr. Timothy Wilke said in the statement...
...
Littoral combat ships have a shallow draft so they can operate where bigger ships cannot. They are fast and can be fitted with different mission modules, such as surface warfare, minesweeping and anti-submarine warfare, depending on the mission.
The Freedom arrives in Singapore fitted with a surface-warfare mission package and maritime-security module, Navy officials said. The 91 sailors include mission package personnel and an aviation detachment to operate an embarked MH-60 helicopter.
...
The Freedom is slated to participate in the International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference in Singapore next month, the statement said. In the months that follow, the ship is scheduled to join other 7th Fleet units and regional navies in select phases of the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training and Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training exercises.
...
By the end of 2021, the Navy expects to have 24 littoral ships under contract, with 16 assigned to the Pacific Fleet.
==============================
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==============================
Stars and Stripes
April 18, 2013
First littoral combat ship arrives in Singapore
By Matthew M. Burke
====
The Freedom is slated to participate in the International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference in Singapore next month, the statement said. In the months that follow, the ship is scheduled to join other 7th Fleet units and regional navies in select phases of the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training and Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training exercises.
By the end of 2021, the Navy expects to have 24 littoral ships under contract, with 16 assigned to the Pacific Fleet.
====
SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan: The U.S. Navy’s first littoral combat ship USS Freedom arrived in Singapore on Thursday to officially begin its maiden overseas deployment.
The first-in-class ship departed San Diego on March 1 and had port visits in Hawaii, Guam and the Philippines en route to its new home, according to a Logistics Group Western Pacific statement.
The Freedom will participate in exercises, visit foreign ports, conduct maritime security operations and allow the LCS Council — a working group established in August by chief of naval operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert — to evaluate crew rotation, maintenance plans and the program as a whole.
“We plan on spending most of our time here in Southeast Asia — this will be Freedom’s neighborhood for the next eight months,” commanding officer Cmdr. Timothy Wilke said in the statement...
...
Littoral combat ships have a shallow draft so they can operate where bigger ships cannot. They are fast and can be fitted with different mission modules, such as surface warfare, minesweeping and anti-submarine warfare, depending on the mission.
The Freedom arrives in Singapore fitted with a surface-warfare mission package and maritime-security module, Navy officials said. The 91 sailors include mission package personnel and an aviation detachment to operate an embarked MH-60 helicopter.
...
The Freedom is slated to participate in the International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference in Singapore next month, the statement said. In the months that follow, the ship is scheduled to join other 7th Fleet units and regional navies in select phases of the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training and Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training exercises.
...
By the end of 2021, the Navy expects to have 24 littoral ships under contract, with 16 assigned to the Pacific Fleet.
==============================
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==============================
Tue Apr 23, 2013 6:10 am (PDT) . Posted by:
"Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff
http://en.rian.ru/world/201304
Russian Information Agency Novosti
April 23, 2013
Russia to Deploy Fighter Jets in Belarus - Defense Minister
MINSK: Russia plans to base fighter jets at a military airbase in Belarus, with a first wing due to arrive there later this year, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday.
“In 2013 we will establish a military commandant’s office and provide a wing of combat fighters on alert duty,” he said, adding more jets could be based there later.
“We hope that an Air Force regiment will be here by 2015 to protect our borders,” he said.
Russia will also deliver four battalions of S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Belarus in 2014, Shoigu said.
The decision to deliver the missiles was made at a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Shoigu said.
Belarus borders NATO nations Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. NATO nations now fly combat air patrols from the Baltic states close to Russian airspace, an issue that has previously been viewed with concern in Moscow.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russian-led military alliance of six former Soviet republics, plans to build an integrated air and missile defense system, the chief of the Russian military’s General Staff said in December.
So far Russia has signed agreements on creation of joint regional air defense systems with Belarus and Kazakhstan.
==============================
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==============================
Russian Information Agency Novosti
April 23, 2013
Russia to Deploy Fighter Jets in Belarus - Defense Minister
MINSK: Russia plans to base fighter jets at a military airbase in Belarus, with a first wing due to arrive there later this year, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday.
“In 2013 we will establish a military commandant’s office and provide a wing of combat fighters on alert duty,” he said, adding more jets could be based there later.
“We hope that an Air Force regiment will be here by 2015 to protect our borders,” he said.
Russia will also deliver four battalions of S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Belarus in 2014, Shoigu said.
The decision to deliver the missiles was made at a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Shoigu said.
Belarus borders NATO nations Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. NATO nations now fly combat air patrols from the Baltic states close to Russian airspace, an issue that has previously been viewed with concern in Moscow.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russian-led military alliance of six former Soviet republics, plans to build an integrated air and missile defense system, the chief of the Russian military’s General Staff said in December.
So far Russia has signed agreements on creation of joint regional air defense systems with Belarus and Kazakhstan.
==============================
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==============================
Tue Apr 23, 2013 6:10 am (PDT) . Posted by:
"Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/
Itar-Tass
April 23, 2013
Pacific Fleet naval force to enter Mediterranean Sea in mid-May
MOSCOW: The naval force of the Russian Pacific Fleet consisting of the big anti-submarine ship Admiral Panteleyev, big landing ships Peresvet and Admiral Nevelskoy will round off a routine visit in the Iranian port Bandar Abbas on April 24, will enter the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal in May and may probably call at the Syrian port Tartus, spokesman for the Russian Pacific Fleet Captain First Rank Roman Martov told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
“On April 24 upon the end of the visit to the port Bandar Abbas these three warships will set out in the Indian Ocean, they will meet with auxiliary ships from the Pacific Fleet naval force, namely the tanker Pechenga and the sea-going rescue ship Fotiy Krylov in the designated area. In this designated area the warships will stay for some time to undergo the technical maintenance and a minor repairs with the diving works, and if it is needed, for the struggle against the pirates. Then, according the action plan, the Pacific Fleet naval force will enter the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal in the middle of May. The Pacific Fleet task force will be acting within the Russian inter-fleet naval force at least for 1–2 months,” Martov said.
He admitted a possible call of the Pacific Fleet warships in the Syrian port of Tartus, where the Russian naval logistic base is deployed. “If it is needed and if such task is set, our warships will certainly fulfil it and will call at Tartus,” the spokesman said.
The Pacific Fleet warships set out from Vladivostok on March 19 for a combat duty mission in the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. During the voyage the Russian naval task force was temporarily divided in two parts – the big anti-submarine ship Admiral Panteleyev, the big landing ships Peresvet and Admiral Nevelskoy that have been on a visit in the Iranian city Bandar Abbas since April 22, the tanker Pechenga and Fotiy Krylov called at the port Salalah in the Sultanate of Oman to replenish the stocks of fresh water, fuel and food on April 18. The ships are to meet on April 24.
==============================
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==============================
Itar-Tass
April 23, 2013
Pacific Fleet naval force to enter Mediterranean Sea in mid-May
MOSCOW: The naval force of the Russian Pacific Fleet consisting of the big anti-submarine ship Admiral Panteleyev, big landing ships Peresvet and Admiral Nevelskoy will round off a routine visit in the Iranian port Bandar Abbas on April 24, will enter the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal in May and may probably call at the Syrian port Tartus, spokesman for the Russian Pacific Fleet Captain First Rank Roman Martov told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
“On April 24 upon the end of the visit to the port Bandar Abbas these three warships will set out in the Indian Ocean, they will meet with auxiliary ships from the Pacific Fleet naval force, namely the tanker Pechenga and the sea-going rescue ship Fotiy Krylov in the designated area. In this designated area the warships will stay for some time to undergo the technical maintenance and a minor repairs with the diving works, and if it is needed, for the struggle against the pirates. Then, according the action plan, the Pacific Fleet naval force will enter the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal in the middle of May. The Pacific Fleet task force will be acting within the Russian inter-fleet naval force at least for 1–2 months,” Martov said.
He admitted a possible call of the Pacific Fleet warships in the Syrian port of Tartus, where the Russian naval logistic base is deployed. “If it is needed and if such task is set, our warships will certainly fulfil it and will call at Tartus,” the spokesman said.
The Pacific Fleet warships set out from Vladivostok on March 19 for a combat duty mission in the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. During the voyage the Russian naval task force was temporarily divided in two parts – the big anti-submarine ship Admiral Panteleyev, the big landing ships Peresvet and Admiral Nevelskoy that have been on a visit in the Iranian city Bandar Abbas since April 22, the tanker Pechenga and Fotiy Krylov called at the port Salalah in the Sultanate of Oman to replenish the stocks of fresh water, fuel and food on April 18. The ships are to meet on April 24.
==============================
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==============================
Tue Apr 23, 2013 6:10 am (PDT) . Posted by:
"Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff
http://www.lithuaniatribune.co
Baltic News Service
April 22, 2013
Collective defence war games in the Baltic region to involve 5,000 NATO soldiers
Up to 5,000 NATO soldiers will attend Steadfast Jazz 2013, an exercise to be held in the Baltic States and Poland this fall, a NATO officer has said.
...
Steadfast Jazz 2013 will be the so-called Article 5 exercise; i.e., a training of a joint NATO response against aggression against any member of the Alliance. The exercise should follow a special scenario to practically implement the defence plans for Poland and the Baltic states.
...
“This year, our Baltic partners have offered to host the exercise in that part of the world. So we’re going to see activity in some of the Baltic countries, as well as in Poland. There’s going to be a naval component to the exercise and an air component. So it is going to be encompassing a number of different countries a lot of different territories...,” the NATO official said.
Asked whether it was merely a coincidence that Steadfast Jazz 2013 would take place at the same time as the large-scale strategic exercise Zapad 2013 in Russia and Belarus, he replied that Russia also had to train and prepare its soldiers.
...
“In addition I believe that it’s quite likely that Ukraine may be joining us in the exercise,” he noted.
==============================
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==============================
Baltic News Service
April 22, 2013
Collective defence war games in the Baltic region to involve 5,000 NATO soldiers
Up to 5,000 NATO soldiers will attend Steadfast Jazz 2013, an exercise to be held in the Baltic States and Poland this fall, a NATO officer has said.
...
Steadfast Jazz 2013 will be the so-called Article 5 exercise; i.e., a training of a joint NATO response against aggression against any member of the Alliance. The exercise should follow a special scenario to practically implement the defence plans for Poland and the Baltic states.
...
“This year, our Baltic partners have offered to host the exercise in that part of the world. So we’re going to see activity in some of the Baltic countries, as well as in Poland. There’s going to be a naval component to the exercise and an air component. So it is going to be encompassing a number of different countries a lot of different territories...,” the NATO official said.
Asked whether it was merely a coincidence that Steadfast Jazz 2013 would take place at the same time as the large-scale strategic exercise Zapad 2013 in Russia and Belarus, he replied that Russia also had to train and prepare its soldiers.
...
“In addition I believe that it’s quite likely that Ukraine may be joining us in the exercise,” he noted.
==============================
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==============================
Tue Apr 23, 2013 3:40 pm (PDT) . Posted by:
"Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff
http://www.act.nato.int/news-
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Tranformation
April 23, 2013
SACT on visit to Hungary: A key NATO ally in Central Europe
Written by ACT PAO
General Paloméros praised Hungary as "...an invaluable member of the Alliance that has shown its full capability to fulfil duties and obligations of a NATO member". Paloméros also expressed his appreciation for Hungary's support to Smart Defence and CFI.
During his visit, which was hosted by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Tibor Benkő he also met the Minister of Defence, Mr Csaba Hende and Mr Peter Sztaray, Deputy State Secretary responsible for security policy. Additionally, SACT took part in a roundtable meeting with senior Defence Staff to discuss the national transformation and planned modernisation of the Hungarian Defence Forces, 'Smart Defence', and the Connected Forces Initiative (CFI).
Regarding Smart Defence, he explained that "Multinational cooperation already exists and is sometimes working very well," praising the success of the Strategic Airlift Capability consortium of 12 nations (10 allies and 2 partners) in which Hungary is fully involved as the host nation for Pápa Air Base.
Speaking about CFI, General Paloméros thanked Hungary for the involvement in Steadfast Jazz, a live training event that will take place in the fall of 2013 in Poland and the Baltic states.
The discussion was also the opportunity to highlight the active role of Hungary in the development of regional partnerships in both central Europe and through the Visegrád Group (an alliance of four Central European states: The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia).
[He] saluted the Hungarian Defence Forces (HDF) for having proven their commitment and expertise, particularly in Afghanistan and Kosovo.
SACT also took the opportunity to visit the HDF Non Commissioned Officers (NCO) Academy where he discussed the involvement of Hungary in support of ongoing operations. General Paloméros praised Hungary for the country's continuous involvement – especially with the support to C-IED [Counter Improvised Explosive Devices] training and as the host nation of the Military Medical Centre of Excellence, which aims to improve medical capacity and capability through multinational interoperability and standardisation.
Before departing, General Paloméros expressed satisfaction with the productive talks and said that he looked forward to increased cooperation between Hungary and ACT.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Tranformation
April 23, 2013
SACT on visit to Hungary: A key NATO ally in Central Europe
Written by ACT PAO
General Paloméros praised Hungary as "...an invaluable member of the Alliance that has shown its full capability to fulfil duties and obligations of a NATO member". Paloméros also expressed his appreciation for Hungary's support to Smart Defence and CFI.
During his visit, which was hosted by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Tibor Benkő he also met the Minister of Defence, Mr Csaba Hende and Mr Peter Sztaray, Deputy State Secretary responsible for security policy. Additionally, SACT took part in a roundtable meeting with senior Defence Staff to discuss the national transformation and planned modernisation of the Hungarian Defence Forces, 'Smart Defence', and the Connected Forces Initiative (CFI).
Regarding Smart Defence, he explained that "Multinational cooperation already exists and is sometimes working very well," praising the success of the Strategic Airlift Capability consortium of 12 nations (10 allies and 2 partners) in which Hungary is fully involved as the host nation for Pápa Air Base.
Speaking about CFI, General Paloméros thanked Hungary for the involvement in Steadfast Jazz, a live training event that will take place in the fall of 2013 in Poland and the Baltic states.
The discussion was also the opportunity to highlight the active role of Hungary in the development of regional partnerships in both central Europe and through the Visegrád Group (an alliance of four Central European states: The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia).
[He] saluted the Hungarian Defence Forces (HDF) for having proven their commitment and expertise, particularly in Afghanistan and Kosovo.
SACT also took the opportunity to visit the HDF Non Commissioned Officers (NCO) Academy where he discussed the involvement of Hungary in support of ongoing operations. General Paloméros praised Hungary for the country's continuous involvement – especially with the support to C-IED [Counter Improvised Explosive Devices] training and as the host nation of the Military Medical Centre of Excellence, which aims to improve medical capacity and capability through multinational interoperability and standardisation.
Before departing, General Paloméros expressed satisfaction with the productive talks and said that he looked forward to increased cooperation between Hungary and ACT.
