allies | Common News Update

Dec302019 by adminNo Comments

Lockheed surpasses 2019 F-35 delivery goal with 134 for U.S., allies

Business

Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Lockheed Martin announced the delivery of its 134th F-35 fighter plane in 2019 on Monday, exceeding its goal of 131 for the year. The last F-35 delivery of 2019 is a vertical-takeoff-and-landing plane, the most expensive of its three variants, and is destined for the U.S. Marine Corps, the company said in a statement. Deliveries this year included 81 aircraft for the U.S. military, 30 to international partners and 23 to Foreign Military Sales customers. Ten countries currently have the plane in their air forces. Over 450 of the aircraft have been built overall, with hundreds more ordered for future production. The United States expects to eventually have over 2,000 of its three F-35 variants, to replace aging planes and outmoded designs. Sales of the F-35 have been part...

Dec42019 by adminNo Comments

NATO allies issue strongest warning yet over Russia threat

World

Britain and its NATO allies have used their strongest language yet against Russia, mentioned China for the first time and agreed to a rethink about the future.In a joint declaration, the 29 heads of state and government also pledged to ensure that each country's next-generation 5G communications networks, which have been dogged by suspicion over Huawei, rely "on secure and resilient systems". The document was published at the end of a half-day mini-summit at a golf resort in Watford, northwest of London, to mark NATO's 70th anniversary. Its content was overshadowed by a public fallout between US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over a video that emerged of the latter apparently gossiping about his US counterpart to other leaders.But despite the public r...

Sep122019 by adminNo Comments

In rebuke to China, Taiwan calls for closer ties with U.S., allies

Business

Sept. 11 (UPI) -- A report released on Wednesday by Taiwan's defense ministry calls for closer alliances with the United States, Japan and other countries in a rebuke to China's military threat. The annual National Defense Report of the Ministry of Defense outlines strategies for countering China, and Taiwan's continued role as a "defender of peace" in the region. It encourages the Indo-Pacific Strategy of defense -- which involves the United States, Australia, Japan, Singapore South Korea and the Philippines -- and notes the growth of the indigenous Taiwanese defense industry. Taiwan, formally known as the Republic of China, is an island nation off the coast of China and is regarded by China as a breakaway province, eventually to return. Its 2019 defense budget of $ 11.1 billion is dwar...

Jun272019 by adminNo Comments

NATO allies agree to partner on acquiring maritime munitions

Business

June 27 (UPI) -- Eight countries, including seven NATO allies and one partner nation, on Thursday reached a memorandum of understanding on multinational cooperation for maritime battle decisive munitions. The defense ministers of Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Finland signed the agreement at a meeting in Brussels, Belgium. Finland is a partner nation. NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller said at the signing ceremony that the memorandum was "a significant first step towards establishing European stockpiles of high quality maritime munitions. In time, this initiative will enhance our forces' interoperability, our ability to share munitions, and our capacity work together in an effective and efficient way." As part of the agreement, the eight...

May12019 by adminNo Comments

Northrup Grumman to integrate countermeasures system on aircraft for U.S., allies

Business

May 1 (UPI) -- Northrup Grumman Systems Corp. was awarded a contract to integrate the U.S. Navy's Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures onto aircraft of the U.S. military and two allies. The Department of Defense announced the contract, to be completed by June 2021 and not to exceed $ 132.2 million, on Tuesday. The contract calls for obtaining the equipment, analysis and technical support required to integrate the Navy's LAIRCM system onto aircraft for the Army and Navy, as well as those of Britain and Norway. LAIRCM is an active countermeasure to defeat threat missile guidance systems by directing a high-intensity laser beam at an incoming missile. It has heat-seeking capabilities, automatically countering an incoming missile system by honing in on its infrared light emission. Under t...