NATO Defense Ministers Agree on Regular Exercises From 2016; Discuss Future Afghan Role

 NATO defense ministers meeting here Oct. 21-22 agreed to hold regular major training exercises with a broader scope under what it calls its “connected forces initiative” beginning in 2016; announced progress with plans for its post-2014 support mission in Afghanistan; and discussed cyberdefense and missile defense.

With regard to the connected forces initiative, “there will be more troops, assets and command structures. The idea is to keep up the interoperability between NATO nations built up in Afghanistan so that this does not suffer when the Afghan mission ends. It is also to encourage partner nations to stay involved,” said a NATO official.

“An even more rigorous and systematic approach to our training and exercises is key in reaching our goal of NATO Forces 2020: Modern, tightly connected forces, equipped, trained, exercised and commanded so that they can operate together, and with partners, in any environment,” NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a press release.

Rasmussen also announced that the alliance will hold a major live exercise in 2015 that will involve numerous deployed forces on land, sea and in the air. Spain, Portugal and Italy offered to host the exercise.

“From 2016 onwards, we will conduct such major live exercises on a regular basis, with a broader scope and covering the full range of alliance missions,” the secretary general said at a press conference. He added, “we have also agreed today to draw up a broader concept for training and exercises up to 2020.

“We have agreed on the key elements of that program. And we have agreed that our experts will now work on it as a matter of priority, ahead of next year’s NATO Summit in the United Kingdom.”

Post-2014 Afghanistan Mission

NATO allies and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) partners discussed with their Afghan counterparts planning for the post-2014 mission to train, advise and assist Afghan Security Forces.

NATO wants say in Turkey-China missile deal

NATO’s chief said Tuesday he hoped Turkey would keep in mind the military alliance’s views as it mulls a missile defence deal with China.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen said NATO member Turkey could buy equipment from any source after Ankara raised the possibility of accepting a Chinese bid to build its first long-range anti-missile system.

“Our position is very clear. It’s a national decision to decide which equipment to purchase,” Rasmussen told a press conference at the close of the first day of a two-day NATO defence ministers meeting.

“However, seen from a NATO perspective, it’s of utmost importance that the systems nations plan to acquire can work and operate together with similar systems in other Allied nations,” he said.

“I feel confident Turkey is aware of this NATO position and… will take that into account before taking the final decision.”

Turkey’s Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz told the Vatan newspaper earlier this month China had provided the best price.

A Chinese company beat competition from a US partnership of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, Russia’s Rosoboronexport, and the Italian-French consortium Eurosamrs for a deal worth some $4.0 billion.

NATO member Turkey is a key regional ally to the United States and currently has US-built Patriot missile systems deployed on its border to deter incoming attacks from Syria.

Rasmussen said ministers from the 28 member states had discussed missile defence against attacks from outside the Euro-Atlantic area, a reference in the past taken to mean Iran although the secretary general named no country.

The next step in the missile defence system will see a “groundbreaking for the land-based Aegis system” in Romania by the end of October,” he said.

Russia has voiced strong opposition to the missile defence plans, fearing they could jeopardise its own security.

Its Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu is likely to raise the issue on Wednesday when he meets his NATO counterparts in the NATO-Russia Council.

Rasmussen said ministers also discussed increased cooperation, a necessary step to offset the impact of ever tighter military budgets, and increased large-scale exercises.

NATO Sending Security Specialists To Libya

NATO said Monday it is sending advisers to Libya to help Tripoli strengthen its security set-up amid chaos two years after the killing of Moammar Gadhafi.

With experts fearing civil war, the Western alliance “agreed to respond positively to the request made by the Libyan Prime Minister for NATO to provide advice on defense institution building in Libya”, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement.

He said that the defense organization “will establish a small advisory team to conduct this effort” following Tripoli’s request in June.

Rasmussen expressed mounting concern two weeks ago when Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan was briefly abducted.

Gadhafi’s 40-year dictatorship ended after Britain and France led the creation of a NATO no-fly zone in 2011.

Firms Race To Fulfill NATO's New IFF Requirement

The Eurofighter Typhoon uses a Selex identification friend-or-foe system. NATO has set a requirement for its members to use a more advance IFF system on its platforms. 

NATO’s mandate of a new standard of identification friend-or-foe (IFF) system has required alliance members to replace or update the old Mode 4 capability. As a result, Britain’s Mode 5 competition, initally a victim of austerity measures, is finally starting to address a critical capability area for the alliance.

Four of the world’s big IFF system players are putting the finishing touches to bids ahead of submitting proposals next month to the British Defence Ministry in the first of a two-stage process aimed at getting to final contract award in 2016.

Cassidian, a Raytheon-Thales team and Selex ES are vying for a deal to supply, integrate and support a Mode 5 requirement. The winner could continue to undertake through-life support work on the British equipment beyond 2040.

By 2019, the British hope to have an initial operating capability on a system covering more than 30 legacy platforms ranging from warships to combat aircraft, UAVs and land-based air defense units.

The British MoD expects to close the bidding Nov. 13, followed by the selection of two teams for a partially MoD-funded yearlong assessment phase, set to get underway next August.

A preferred bidder for the British requirement should emerge by the end of 2015.

The Mode 5 work in Britain will be a follow-on of Raytheon’s Successor Identification Friend or Foe (SIFF) program, which provided much of the Mode 4 capability across more than 1,000 warships, submarines, aircraft, helicopters and missile systems.

Raytheon’s SIFF support program ends in 2020, a company spokesman said.

The British also operate Cassidian and Selex IFF systems across a number of the country’s key assets.

One alliance official cited the UK, along with Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain as countries at different stages of changing to Mode 5.

Several countries have started preparations for implementing Mode 5, but nobody has actually started the transition yet, sources said.

That worries companies concerned about the length of time left to successfully make the switch.

The exact deadline for phasing out Mode 4 is classified but is expected to be about 2020 or soon after.

The new equipment is compatible, but the system would not be fully functional without everyone being on Mode 5.

“The NATO deadline of having completed the Mode 5 refit by early in the next decade is an extremely ambitious goal which requires decisions to be made as soon as possible,” said one executive who asked not to be named.

All of the contractors have undertaken extensive testing to mature their IFF offerings for the British and others.

USAF Chief of Staff Gets a Close Lookup OF J-10 Fighter

USAF Chief of Staff in China

                                                                 USAF Chief of Staff With J-10