(UPI) — Lockheed Martin was awarded a $151.3 million contract to sell 15 F-35 Lightning II aircraft to Australia and six to Norway. The contract for the 21 planes comes in the wake of the United States halting delivery of equipment related to the F-35 jet to Turkey because of the nation’s decision to purchase… read more
CNBC: The United States has halted delivery of equipment related to the stealthy F-35 fighter aircraft to Turkey, marking the first concrete U.S. step to block delivery of the jet to the NATO ally in light of Ankara’s planned purchase of a Russian missile defense system. U.S. officials told their Turkish counterparts they will not… read more
Jerusalem Post: Turkey is seeking to take delivery of the S-400 missile defense system, even as US opposition grows in Congress. Russia’s state news agency TASS said that discussions were ongoing for the “time frame” of when the missiles and the system would be delivered. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has been in contact regularly… read more
Air Force Technology: The US military space force sounds like something out of a science fiction film. Yet, in as little as five years’ time, it could be established as the sixth and newest branch of the US Armed Forces. The 2020 defence budget announced by President Donald Trump allocates $500m annually for the space… read more
CNN: Seoul, South Korea (CNN)United States President Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, are set to meet for a summit next month amid uncertainty over the future of nuclear negotiations with North Korea. Moon and Trump are scheduled to hold talks April 11 in Washington to “discuss the latest developments regarding the… read more
Reuters: WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Four U.S. senators on Thursday introduced a bipartisan bill to prohibit the transfer of F-35 fighter aircraft to Turkey until the U.S. government certifies that Ankara will not take delivery of a Russian S-400 air defense system, a statement on the move said. Turkey is a production partner in the trillion-dollar… read more
Days after India announced A-SAT missile launch, Russia has urged India to join the idea of developing a multilateral legally binding instrument for keeping outer space peaceful based on the Russian-Chinese draft treaty, with the support of a solid group of like-minded nations to prevent weaponization of outer space. In a statement, Russia said, “We… read more
Strategy Page – Saudi Arabia has made a billion dollar down payment on its $15 billion order for a THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) anti-missile system. The down payment is to enable the manufacturer to start production on items that take a long time to produce. The Saudi order is the largest ever for… read more
One India – The US is working with India to provide potential alternatives to S-400 air defence systems that New Delhi has decided to purchase from Russians, a top Pentagon official said on Wednesday. India inked an agreement with Russia in October last year to procure a batch of the missile systems at a cost… read more
(Reuters) – Excluding NATO-member Turkey from the trillion-dollar F-35 fighter jet program would be challenging due to Ankara’s integral role in the stealthy jet’s production process, but not impossible, U.S. sources familiar with the situation said. Last week Reuters reported that the United States could soon freeze preparations for delivering F-35 fighter jets to Turkey,… read more