China Eyes U.S. Defense Contracts
Hoping to Compete on Cost, Stealth-Jet Maker AVIC Teams With Tiny U.S. Firm; Any Bid Likely to Draw Fierce Resistance

BEIJING—The maker of China's new stealth fighter jet has teamed up with a tiny, unprofitable California company to try to launch bids for U.S. defense contracts, possibly including one to supply Chinese helicopters to replace the aging Marine One fleet used by the president, according to people involved in the partnership.

Any Chinese bids for this or another contract under discussion would be certain to meet intense political resistance and would appear to have very little chance of success given mounting U.S. concern about China's military power and long-term strategic goals, and the often-prohibitive opposition in the past to Chinese attempts to enter other strategic U.S. sectors, such as energy and telecommunications.

However, the fact that state-run China Aviation Industry Corp., known as AVIC, is even considering bids for these contracts, which industry insiders expect to be awarded in the next two to three years, reflects the rapid development and lofty ambitions of China's aerospace industry.

Pie in the Sky AVIC Milestones


1998 First flight of the J-10, China's first indigenous fighter jet

2003 First flight of the Z-10 attack helicopter

2007Unveiling of the J-11B, the Chinese version of Russia's Su-27

2009The L-15 trainer jet displayed for the first time overseas at Dubai Air Show

2010AC-313 helicopter makes its first flight.

AVIC has been in talks for more than a year with California-based U.S. Aerospace Inc. about offering the AC-313—China's largest domestically produced helicopter—as the next generation of Marine One, the people involved in the partnership say.

They say the two companies have also been discussing putting forward AVIC's new L-15 trainer jet as a candidate to replace the U.S. Air Force's fleet of Northrop T-38s, which entered service 50 years ago and on which American fighter pilots learn skills such as how to fly at supersonic speeds.

That contract is expected to be one of the most lucrative military aviation contracts this decade, with the U.S. likely to buy about 400 and other allied countries about 600 more as the jet will become the standard for training pilots to fly the U.S. F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters.

AVIC already supplies civilian aircraft components to U.S. companies, but U.S. officials and lawmakers have expressed concern about U.S. technology being diverted to AVIC's military arm through such cooperation.

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FROM ABC NEWS (also made in US of Amerisrael)

Egyptian riot police are firing tear gas canisters bearing the label "Made in U.S.A" against street demonstrations in Cairo


The protestors said the tear gas canisters were recovered in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo on Tuesday.

The label urges anyone who comes in contact with the gas "to seek assistance as soon as possible."

According to the canister labels, the tear gas is produced by Combined Systems International of Jamestown, Pennsylvania.

The company's web-site says it sells "non-lethal weapons" to foreign governments, without specifying Egypt.

A company spokesperson did not return calls by ABC News seeking comment.

The United States provides $1.3 billion a year in military financing for Egypt. According to the State Department's 2010 budget request, the aid is used to help strengthen and modernize the Egyptian army.

Egyptians who are part of the street demonstrations told ABC News that the evidence of the U.S.-made tear gas sends a powerful signal.

"The way I see it the U.S. administration supports dictators," said Aly Eltayeb, 26, who has participated in the protests since Tuesday.

"The way tear gas works is by spreading panic," he said. "Your eyes tear up a lot so you can't see, and you feel like your suffocating. You can actually breathe but you feel like you are suffocating so you try to run, but when you run you inhale more."

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Bad cop paving way for good cop....


Mubarak gives army shoot-to-kill order


Embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has reportedly given his armed forces the authority to shoot-to-kill as anti-government protests gain momentum.

Reports say the army has been ordered to shoot when it sees fit. Military helicopters and jet fighters fly over major locations as the numbers of protesters multiply there. 

Tens of thousands of people have practically taken over the Tahrir Square in the city center despite heavy military presence, a Press TV correspondent reported. 

Clashes between demonstrators and police have left at least 150 people dead and thousands more wounded since anti-Mubarak rallies began in Cairo, Suez and Alexandria on Tuesday. 

Protesters have one demand and that is the resignation of President Mubarak. They want a regime change and have dismissed Mubarak's appointment of a vice-president and prime minister. 

The Egyptian president has visited an army military operations center on the sixth day of the protests against his regime.


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‎Prince warns S. Arabia of apocalypse

"Plans" lol, Saudi Prince Turki bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud has warned the country's royal family to step down and flee before a military coup or a popular uprising overthrows the kingdom.


In a letter published by Wagze news agency on Tuesday, the Cairo-based prince warned Saudi Arabia's ruling family of a fate similar to that of Iraq's executed dictator Saddam Hussein and the ousted Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, calling on them to escape before people "cut off our heads in streets."

He warned that the Saudi royal family is no longer able to "impose" itself on people, arguing that deviations in carrying out the religious concepts that make up the basis of the Saudi government "have gotten out of our hands," so that the opposition views our acts as "interfering in people's private life and restricting their liberties."

"If we are wise, we must leave this country to its people, whose dislike for us is increasing," said Prince Turki, advising Saudi officials to escape with their families.

"Do it today before tomorrow as long as the money we have is enough for us to live anywhere in the world; from Switzerland to Canada and Australia…we should not return as long as we are able to get out safely, we must take our families quickly and pull out," he urged.

"Do not fool yourself by relying on the United States or Britain or Israel, because they will not survive the loss; the only door open is now the exit door of no return. Let us go before it closes."

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FROM SOTT.NET

US National Guard troops heading to Egypt

Groton - Connecticut National Guard Detachment 2, Company I, 185th Aviation Regiment of Groton has mobilized and will deploy to the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, to support the Multinational Force and Observers. 

The unit left Connecticut Jan. 15 for Fort Benning, Ga., for further training and validation. The unit operates C-23C Sherpa aircraft and has deployed three times in the last seven years in support of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

The unit will provide an on-demand aviation asset to the Multinational Force and Observers commander to support its mission of supervising the security provisions of the Egypt/ Israel Peace Treaty. 

Chief Warrant Officer Four James Smith of Ivoryton commands the aviation unit.

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FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Egypt protests: America's secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising

The American government secretly backed leading figures behind the Egyptian uprising who have been planning “regime change” for the past three years, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

The American Embassy in Cairo helped a young dissident attend a US-sponsored summit for activists in New York, while working to keep his identity secret from Egyptian state police.

On his return to Cairo in December 2008, the activist told US diplomats that an alliance of opposition groups had drawn up a plan to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak and install a democratic government in 2011.

He has already been arrested by Egyptian security in connection with the demonstrations and his identity is being protected by The Daily Telegraph.

The crisis in Egypt follows the toppling of Tunisian president Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali, who fled the country after widespread protests forced him from office.

The disclosures, contained in previously secret US diplomatic dispatches released by the WikiLeaks website, show American officials pressed the Egyptian government to release other dissidents who had been detained by the police.

Mr Mubarak, facing the biggest challenge to his authority in his 31 years in power, ordered the army on to the streets of Cairo yesterday as rioting erupted across Egypt.

Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets in open defiance of a curfew. An explosion rocked the centre of Cairo as thousands defied orders to return to their homes. As the violence escalated, flames could be seen near the headquarters of the governing National Democratic Party.

Police fired rubber bullets and used tear gas and water cannon in an attempt to disperse the crowds.

At least five people were killed in Cairo alone yesterday and 870 injured, several with bullet wounds. Mohamed ElBaradei, the pro-reform leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was placed under house arrest after returning to Egypt to join the dissidents. Riots also took place in Suez, Alexandria and other major cities across the country.


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FROM NEW ZCIENTIST

Has China's new jet launched a stealth arms race?

China's first flight test of its new high-tech J-20 stealth military jet on 11 January has drawn a lot of attention, particularly because it came during the visit of US defence secretary Robert Gates. What it means is another question, and the answers are complex.

Military analysts had known China was developing a combat plane in the class of the US F-22 Raptor stealth fighter, but they had not expected it to make its first appearance in December, Aviation Week and Space Technology reported. Several high-speed ground tests, in which the craft's front wheel rose off the ground, preceded the first flight.

China has released videos of the new jet on the ground, taking off, and landing at Chengdu. The New York Times quoted a Hong Kong analyst as saying the plane flew for 15 minutes over the airfield. With two distinctive angled tail fins like those of the F-22, it's clearly intended to be stealthy. The Times also reports it is intended carry missiles and fly long distances when refuelled in the air.

The demonstration worries some analysts because it's the first aircraft to challenge the performance of the F-22, the top of the US air force's fleet. "We have become accustomed to a world where our air power is dominant," Rand Corporation analyst Roger Cliff told Newsweek.

"But that dominance is now in question." Once the J-20 is deployed, in that scenario, US top guns would lose their high-performance stealth advantage and no longer rule the skies.

No so fast, says Aviation Week. New, more powerful radars using active electronically scaled arrays can pick up fainter and fainter targets, and are fast catching up to stealth technology. "Anti-stealth will bring into question all stealth designs," it says, hinting that the US may already have airborne radars able to spot stealth aircraft.


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Secret payload launched on largest West Coast rocket


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The largest rocket ever launched from the U.S. West Coast blasted off on Thursday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, carrying a top secret satellite into orbit, military officials said.

The Delta IV Heavy rocket stood 23 stories tall, and its engines produced 2 million pounds of thrust, according to the 30th Space Wing of the U.S. Air Force.

Blasting off at 1:10 p.m. Pacific time from Space Launch Complex-6 at Vandenberg in California, the rocket carried a payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, military officials said. The nature of the payload was secret.

But the Los Angeles Times cited analysts who said it was a spy satellite, capable of snapping pictures detailed enough to distinguish the model of a car hundreds of miles below. (YEAH LIKE 15 FUCKING YEARS AGO, WHAT BULLSHIT!!!)


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