Pakistan Awaits 50 Jets Made With China: Minister

BEIJING - Pakistan hopes to take delivery within the next six months of 50 JF-17 fighter jets manufactured jointly with China, Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar said May 20 during a visit to Beijing.
Mukhtar made the comments on the sidelines of a meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who was wrapping up a four-day visit to China - his country's long-time ally.

"We think there is a good deal," said Mukhtar, who put the price of each JF-17, or Thunder, aircraft at $20 million to $25 million "as compared to $80 million for the F-16", a U.S.-built jet also used by Pakistan's air force.
Mukhtar did not explicitly say whether the deal had been finalized, but it appeared that the agreement was nearing completion.
Further details of the deal were not made public but the agreement was apparently discussed during the visit by Gilani, who met Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao earlier in the week.
China is Pakistan's main arms supplier and a close ally of Islamabad.
Pakistan's air force has a fleet of Chinese aircraft, including F-7PGs and A-5s, but also F-16s and French Mirages.
The neighbors began developing the JF-17 together in 1999 and has said it wants 250 of the jets. In November, Islamabad said it would buy Chinese missiles and flight systems for the jets, Chinese state media reported.

China 'To Target 1,800 Missiles at Taiwan In 2012'

TAIPEI - The number of Chinese missiles targeted at Taiwan is likely to reach 1,800 next year, despite improving ties between the former arch-rivals, Taiwanese media said May 20.
The Liberty Times newspaper cited a military intelligence report as providing the forecast.

Taiwanese experts have estimated that China currently has more than 1,600 missiles aimed at the island, mostly deployed in Fujian and Jiangxi provinces in the mainland's southeast.
The report followed comments made by Taiwan's top intelligence chief Tsai Teh-sheng in March, saying that China was targeting Taiwan with a "new type of powerful missile" known as Dongfeng 16.
"Its range is longer, and it increases the threat to Taiwan," Tsai said then, without giving further details of the weapon or the number that have been deployed so far.
Tensions across the Taiwan Strait have eased since Ma Ying-jeou became Taiwan's president in 2008 on a China-friendly platform.
However, Beijing still refuses to renounce the possible use of force against the island, which has ruled itself since the end of a civil war in 1949, should it declare formal independence.
The Pentagon said in an annual report to Congress last year that China's military build-up against Taiwan had "continued unabated" despite improving political relations.
Taiwan's defense ministry was not immediately available for comment.

NATO Says Its Planes Hit Eight Gadhafi Warships

BRUSSELS - NATO aircraft hit eight warships of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces overnight May 20 in the ports of Tripoli, Al Khums and Sirte, the Atlantic alliance said in a statement.

Flames engulf a ship in the port of the Libyan capital Tripoli following NATO air strikes on May 19. (Mahmud Turkia / AFP via Getty Images)

"NATO and coalition air assets continued their precision airstrikes against pro-Gadhafi regime forces overnight with a coordinated strike against pro-Gadhafi forces in the ports of Tripoli, Al Khums and Sirte," the statement said.

"Overnight, NATO aircraft hit pro-Gadhafi warships, striking eight vessels," it added.
"All NATO's targets are military in nature and are directly linked to the Gadhafi regime's systematic attacks on the Libyan people," said Rear Adm. Russell Harding, Deputy Commander Operation Unified Protector.
"Given the escalating use of naval assets, NATO had no choice but to take decisive action to protect the civilian population of Libya and NATO forces at sea," he further added.
Fresh explosions were heard in the Libyan capital Tripoli early Friday hours after NATO air strikes targeted the city's port, with a ship still ablaze after the raid.
An AFP journalist, part of a group sent by the authorities to a bridge facing the port about a kilometer (less than a mile) away, was unable to determine whether the blazing ship was a military or civilian vessel.
The NATO statement said: "Over the past couple of weeks we have witnessed indiscriminate mining and the escalating use of force by pro-Gadhafi maritime forces.
"This has directly disrupted the safe flow of desperately needed humanitarian assistance and put NATO forces at risk. This development of pro-Gadhafi tactics has also demonstrated a clear intent to attack NATO forces.
"Last night, NATO took deliberate action in carefully planned and coordinated responses to demonstrate our resolve to protect the civilian population of Libya, using appropriate and proportionate force."
Rear Adm. Harding said: "All the vessels targeted last night were naval warships with no civilian utility."
Earlier, regime spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told a press conference in the Libyan capital: "I have just learned that the port of Tripoli is now being targeted by NATO air raids. I am told that a boat has been hit."
He did not give further details on the vessel, but told the journalists: "Whatever the ship that has been hit, it is clearly a message sent by NATO to the international maritime companies not to send any more vessels to Libya."
Witnesses told AFP that they heard at least four explosions in the port and saw columns of smoke rising from the area.
"Military and civilian sites are currently the targets of raids by the colonialist Crusader aggressor," Libyan state television said.
The NATO statement said that on April 29, "pro-Gadhafi forces used pro-Gadhafi maritime assets to mine the entrance to the port of Misrata. On a further three occasions, pro-Gadhafi maritime assets have been intercepted by NATO ships. This included an incident where NATO interdicted a booby-trapped vessel leading to the discovery and subsequent destruction of one tonne of explosives at sea.
"Since the start of NATO's mission, we have been vocal and pro-active in instructing pro-Gadhafi forces to lay down their arms. We have communicated our desire for them to move away from military equipment, military installations and maritime assets," the statement said.
"NATO has constantly adapted to the rapidly changing and dynamic situation in Libya and at sea. This is a complex campaign, which is being conducted within the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973. This mandate legally authorized the use of all necessary measures to protect the civilian population of Libya."
Tripoli is targeted nearly daily with air raids by the international coalition, which launched strikes on March 19 to prevent strongman Gadhafi's forces from attacking civilians.

DoD: Operating Costs Biggest Threat to F-35

The Pentagon estimates the total cost of operating the U.S. military's F-35s through 2065 at more than $1 trillion, and that's the program's biggest long-term challenge, a bevy of top DoD officials told the Senate Armed Services Committee on May 19.
"Over the lifetime of this program, the decade or so, the per-aircraft cost of the 2,443 aircraft has doubled in real terms," procurement Chief Ashton Carter said. "That's what it's going to cost if we keep doing what we're doing. That's unacceptable. That's unaffordable."

And although operating expenses won't really take off for some years, cost-saving efforts must begin.
"Nobody is going to pay that bill," Carter said. "It's way too high."
Still, he said, the $1 trillion number shouldn't be taken at face value because it's such a long-term sum and because various management steps will bring down the cost.
"I truly believe that we can manage out a substantial number of the production and sustainment costs," Carter said.
"Having the thing costs much more than buying the thing. Seventy cents of the cost of every program is having it, 30 cents is getting it," Carter said.
Christine Fox, who leads the Defense Department's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) office, said that the F-35's sustainment costs are not quite as high as that of its larger fifth-generation sibling, the F-22 Raptor, but match those of the older and considerably larger F-15C Eagle. Sustainment costs exceed those of the F-16 and F/A-18, which the F-35 is supposed to replace.
"Given the significant increase in capability, it is not unreasonable that JSF costs more to operate and sustain than some legacy aircraft," Fox said. "However, the fact that it will cost about 33 percent more to operate JSF relative to the F-16 and F/A-18 aircraft it is replacing gives the department a significant bill."
The Defense Department and the F-35 program office are going to analyze sustainment costs through 2065. The current sum is mammoth, but Fox and Government Accountability Office acquisitions director Michael Sullivan warned that it is difficult to accurately estimate sustainment costs.
Vice Adm. David Venlet, who spoke to reporters after his testimony, said that scouring sustainment costs for savings would continue after Carter's formal review.
The Defense Department is scrubbing the program from top to bottom in a "should cost" analysis that will inform a new baseline for the program. The "should cost" analysis numbers are factoring into the negotiations with contractor Lockheed Martin to build the jet.