"President Erdogan and his entourage believe that Nineveh province was illegally annexed from Turkey in 1920. … Taking advantage of the attenuation of the central Iraqi authority and de facto division of the country into three parts (Shiite south, Sunni center and Kurdish north), Mr. Erdogan cherishes the idea of restoring 'historical justice,'" the analyst explained.

These factors "explain Ankara's desire to take advantage of the power vacuum in the north of Iraq and take control over these territories after the liberation of Mosul and Nineveh," Ivanov stated. "And it will not necessarily look like a direct occupation of Nineveh and its subsequent annexation from Iraq."

"The US administration is very much pleased that Turkey and Kurds have close ties," the analyst noted. "The reason the US supports this partnership is because as long as Turkey and Kurds have an affinity, the influence of Iran and of the pro-Iranian lobby in Baghdad will be kept at bay."

Apache meets Hind

20/12/2015 Brian Hartigan 

An AH-64E Apache Guardian from 1st Armed Reconnaissance Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, and a Mi-35 Attack Helicopter from 31st Squadron, Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Darat, take off for a flight together during an attack/reconnaissance training mission in Semarang, Indonesia, Sept. 9. The training is part of Garuda Shield 2014, where units from United States Army Pacific are focusing on peace support training capacity and stability operations with the TNI-AD. (U.S. Army photo courtesy of 25th Combat Aviation Brigade – modified by CONTACT)

Malaysia Eyes Buying Pakistani JF-17 Fighter Aircraft

Source : Our Bureau ~ Dated : Monday, December 21, 2015 @ 08:22 AM

Malaysia is considering to buy the JF-17 Thunder multi-role fighters from Pakistan.

Malaysia’s High Commissioner to Pakistan Dr Hasrul Sani bin Mujtabar was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune news daily that his country is interested in the JF-17 and “a decision about numbers would be taken very soon by the Malaysian government.”

The Chinese-Pakistan joint development of the fighter jet has already seen an unidentified customer during the Dubai Airshow in November.

The Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and the Aviation Industries Corporation of China (AVIC) partnership has signed a contract with a third party customer for the purchase of the JF-17 Thunder, AVIC Executive Vice President Liu Yu had said in a statement. However, the customer was not identified nor details of the sale revealed.

Malaysia is the midst of a fighter replacement program and is being courted by France for the Rafale, Boeing for the F/A-18 and Lockheed Martin for the F-16 V.

Stealth is of secondary for RMAF requirement.  What's more important is naval strike and night attack capability. Basically and upgrade to our F/A-18D

Fast and Accurate: Best-Kept Secrets of Russia’s 'Sniper' Howitzer



http://sputniknews.com/russia/20151220/103...ails-video.html

The Philippines has become the latest ISIS target for expansion after the jihadi group released its first propaganda video of a terror training camp in the Filipino jungle.

The Filipino government has long said that support for ISIS in the Philippines was limited to local bandits claiming allegiance to the group.

The larger Abu Sayyaf group has also pledged its allegiance to ISIS and is holding at least four foreign nationals hostages.

While the relatively new Ansar al-Khalifa had extorted from businessmen and stolen cattle from farmers, it had no proven links with Islamic State - also known by the acronym ISIS - national milita

well new jet now direction going to full Stealth or partially Stealth .... with Stealth you have more advantage to attack enemy.
new multi-role jet i don't  think have any issue on naval strike and night attack capability, except for those air superiority jet.

"Today only Russia opposes the Iblis gang, while other countries sometimes deliver the shipment of arms to the wrong place, or sometimes buy oil in the wrong place, or forget to block their borders for terrorists," the Chechen head wrote.

Saudi Arabia said it had shot down a missile fired from Yemen, hours after peace talks in Switzerland finished with no breakthrough and the failure to renew a largely unsuccessful ceasefire.

In a brief statement, the Saudi-led coalition said air defences stopped the missile from reaching the kingdom's southern Jazan district. "Air forces immediately destroyed the launch pad inside Yemen," the coalition said.

Saudi Arabia has deployed Patriot missile batteries designed to counter ballistic missiles fired by Houthis in Yemen, who are fighting the Saudi-backed government of Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.

Physically weak women won’t try out in the first place for these roles and even if they do, they will fail the rigorous entry tests if they aren’t up to it. You know, just like the men?

No one, male or female, qualifies for any part of the military if they aren’t up to the task.

Britain has found itself in an increasingly lonely position by banning women from the front line until now. Most militaries around the world have opened up all parts of their armed forces to both sexes - from Australia to France, Germany to South Africa and Israel to America. And from 2017, the Brazilian Army are also allowing women into the final military all-boys club.

Which is why I said it's of secondary importance.

Naval strike aircraft is quite different than normal fighter aircraft because have uprated engine output and stronger resistance to salinity. Which is why RMAF is really keen on another F/A-18 (both F variant as well as D variants to complete existing underequipped 18th squadron)

A recent report in Foreign Policy magazine claims that India is building a massive new nuclear research facility. The facility would also help produce fuel for the country’s nuclear submarines and reactors.

Pakistan’s estimated stockpile nuclear weapons is about 120, while China is said to possess about 260 nuclear warheads.

India is currently estimated to have about 110 nuclear weapons after creating a nuclear program in 1974.

India is not a signatory to either the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) but a rapprochement between the U.S. and India in 2007 over nuclear issues has at least seen its civilian nuclear reactors come under inspection by the IAEA.

MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. Russia’s Sukhoi Su-27 (NATO reporting name: Flanker-B)/Su-30 (Flanker-C) fighter jets are the third most popular aircraft in the world, according to a report on the prospects of the global air force development published by the Flight International analytical center on Monday.

According to the report, there are 943 fighter jets of the Su-27/Su-30 families, which makes up 6% of the total number of combat aircraft in the world. These fighter jets are the third most popular combat aircraft in the world.

The US-made F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet has been ranked 1st with 2,264 aircraft of this type making up 16%. The F-16 fighter jet is followed by the US-made F-18 Hornet/Super Hornet aircraft. There are 1,047 F-18 fighter jets in the world or 7% of the total number of combat aircraft operational globally.

The US-made F-15 Eagle fighter jet holds the 4th position. As many as 858 aircraft of this type are currently operational, which makes up 6%.

The Top-10 rating of the most popular combat aircraft worldwide covers another two Russian-made fighter jets and one attack aircraft. The Mikoyan MiG-29 (Fulcrum) fighter jet has been ranked 5th with 819 aircraft of this type making up 6%.

The MiG-21 (Fishbed) fighter jet ranks 6th. As many as 551 MiG-21 fighter jets are operational in the world, which makes up 4% of the total number of combat aircraft in the world.

The MiG-21 fighter jet is followed by the Su-25 (Frogfoot) attack aircraft with 503 planes of this type making up 3% of the total number of combat aircraft in the world.

Chinese-made aircraft hold the 8th, 9th and 10th positions in the Top-10 rating.

The Chinese-made F-5 fighter jet has been ranked 8th with 482 aircraft of this type making up 3% of the total number of combat aircraft in the world.

The J-7 fighter jet has been ranked 10th in the rating with 418 aircraft of this type making up 3%.

As many as 6,208 aircraft of other types are operational with air forces of other countries, which makes up 43% of the total number of combat aircraft in the world.

As of late 2015, there are 14,552 combat aircraft operational in armed forces across the world.

basically we maritime nation, fighter we buy sure will have stronger resistance to salinity ... even helicopter we got, all will meet out environment and weather ....
like Su-30 also no issue on Naval strike, all multi-role fighter no issue on Naval strike capability.
i don't think RMAF will keen other F18.
buying new F-18 is more not worth ...end life product..... end technology. no more future upgrade. both D/F block2 already end production only have is F block3 which no one buying yet.

In the early hours of December 20, a Hezbollah commander, along with several civilians, were killed by airstrikes in Damascus, calling up questions as to whether or not this was the result of opposition groups in Syria or another targeted assassination by Israel.

Regardless of who fired the missile, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, has already made his decision: this was Israel. Now, the question is, how will Nasrallah respond to another high-level assassination?

The Indian government has cleared the procurement of five regimental units of Russian-made S-400 Triumf advanced Air Defense Systems (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) at an estimated price of $ 4.5 billion

A contract could be signed during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow on December 24-25.

It is unclear, however, whether the S-400 batteries will be equipped with the 40N6 or 48N6 missile series. The 40N6 missile allegedly has an operational range of 400 kilometers (248.5 miles), although it is unclear whether the weapon is operational in Russia yet. The range of the 48N6 missile is more limited at 250 kilometers (155 miles). The S-400 can purportedly fire three types of missiles at a rate 2.5 times faster than its predecessor the S-300.

Kementerian Pertahanan Tidak Rancang Beli Jet Pejuang Pakistan - Hishammuddin

KUALA LUMPUR, 21 Dis (Bernama) - Kementerian Pertahanan tidak mempunyai perancangan membeli jet pejuang Joint Fighter-17 (JF-17) Thunder dari Pakistan seperti yang dilaporkan media antarabangsa hari ini.

"Saya tidak pernah mendengarnya sebelum ini. Ini pertama kali saya mendengarnya. Kami tidak mempunyai perancangan membelinya," kata Menteri Pertahanan Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

Beliau berkata demikian sewaktu ditemui di lobi Parlimen hari ini ketika diminta mengulas laporan media antarabangsa yang memetik Pesuruhjaya Tinggi Malaysia ke Pakistan Datuk Dr Hasrul Sani Mujtabar yang berkata kerajaan Malaysia berminat membeli pesawat JF-17 dari Islamabad.

"Jet pejuang JF-17 dianggap produk sektor pertahanan yang sangat baik dari Pakistan dan keputusan mengenai jumlah pembelian akan diputuskan segera oleh kerajaan Malaysia," kata Dr Hasrul Sani yang dipetik media antarabangsa.

Mengulas lanjut mengenai Bajet 2016 untuk kementeriannya, Hishammuddin berkata fokus akan diberikan kepada perolehan aset baharu untuk Angkatan Tentera Malaysia termasuk 6 kapal tempur pesisir 'Littoral Combatant Ship'.

Selain itu, sistem persenjataan 'Very Short Range Air Defence', kereta perisai serta pesawat Airbus A-400M dan kelengkapan tekonologi terkini.

"Seperti yang saya katakan sebelum ini, kami akan menumpukan peruntukan RM17.304 bilion yang diterima dalam Bajet 2016 kepada aspek kebajikan anggota pesara veteran, keselamatan, kesiapsiagaan dan transformasi program latihan dan isu-isu dasar," katanya.

-- BERNAMA

PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has instructed for a Royal Malaysian Air Force C130 transport aircraft to be sent to Thailand to retrieve the remains of Malaysians killed in the Chiang Mai bus crash.

“At the same time, Malaysian officers from our embassy in Bangkok are already at the accident site to give victims and their families any form of help they need,” said the Najib in a Facebook post on Monday night.

“I share the families’ grief. If any family members or acquaintances of the accident victims in Malaysia want to get further information, you can contact the Foreign Affairs Ministry operations room at 03-88874570,” he added.

Thirteen Malaysians were killed in a bus crash in Chiang Mai, Thailand on Sunday. They were among 22 Malaysian passengers on board the bus, which was travelling from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai along Highway 118 when it crashed into another vehicle before falling into a ravine.