FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1990
1990 - 3094.PDF
0 PERATIONS: D EFENCE USA/USSR agree on CFE limits BY MIKE GAINES Soviet Foreign Minister Edu-ard Schevarnadze and US Secretary of State James Baker have "agreed in principle" on virtually all the outstanding is sues impeding the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) reduc tion talks. The USA negotiated on behalf of the Western nations follow ing three meetings with allies in New York but the USA and the Soviets stressed that their re spective allies must be re- consulted before the agreement in principle can actually be turned into a treaty for signing by all 23 NATO and Warsaw Pact member countries. The overall equipment ceil ings for both NATO nad the Warsaw Pact have been set at 2,000 combat helicopters, 20,000 tanks, 20,000 artillary tubes and 30,000 armoured combat vehicles. The overall ceiling for combat aircraft is still to be decided; it is likely to be 5,150 plus an additional number, probably 1,000, for non-Soviet Warsaw Pact nations. Within the overall ceiling, any one country in either pact can have up to 5,150 combat aircraft, 1,500 helicopters, 13,300 tanks, 13,700 artillery tubes and 20,000 armoured combat vehicles. Both sides haves have con ceded that land-based naval air craft would not come under the provisions of CFE but will be limited by a, later, politically binding agreement to 400 per side. This figure does not in clude land-based maritime pa trol aircraft. The two countries also agreed on verification procedures but a few "peripheral" issues remain to be resolved on the question of zones — areas where pre- agreed numbers of equipment and aircraft are permitted to be based. The CFE Treaty is expected to be ratified and signed before a conference on security and co-operation in Europe (CSCE) opens in Paris on 19 November. • Finland looks at German MiG-29s BY GERALD O'DWYER IN HELSINKI The Finnish Air Force has expressed an interest in ac quiring MiG-29 Fulcrum inter ceptors previously operated by the East German Air Force. The idea has been made pos sible by changes in Finnish gov ernment foreign policy on two major treaties involving the So viet Union. The government has declared that it views parts of the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty (PPT) deal ing with military capability as obsolete. The disengagement from sec tions of the PPT appertaining to the air, army and naval strength of Finland's armed forces coin cided with a parallel initiative in amending specific clauses in the 1948 Finno-Soviet treaty of Friendship Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (FCMA) al luding to Germany as an aggres sive power and potential enemy. The dramatic foreign policy change was agreed following talks with the main signatories to the PPT, Britain and the Soviet Union. Alterations made to the FCMA treaty were ac ceded during separate discus sions with Soviet officials. The dual impact of the changes will combine to alter the Finnish Armed Forces' tra ditional procurement strategy, which allocated one-third of military purchase requirements, respectively, to Western, Soviet and domestic manufacturers. This practice will now help making way for a more open- market based policy. One immediate consequence of the treaty amendments has been the interest voiced by the Finnish Air Force in the possib- lity of acquiring MiG-29 fighters from East Germany. The FCMA treaty specifically prohibited purchase of fighters and other military hardware from "Ger many". The reinterpretation of the treaty now opens the door to what one MoD official described as "bargain basement" pur chases of aircraft, helicopters, minesweepers and other mili- -" , -*»" East Germany's 24 MiG-29 Fulcrums became redundant on reunification tary equipment. The Finnish Air Force sought and received offers on replace ment fighters from the Soviet Union, France with the Mirage 2000, General Dynamics with the F-16 and Saab's JAS 39 Gripen manufacturers earlier this year. Finland had also been ex pected to buy MiG- 29s from the Soviet Union but this deal is now in doubt. Air Force officials believe that East Ger man MiG-29s will be made redundant as a result of the reunification of Germany and realise only a quarter of their original price. "It would not be impossible at all to buy East Germany's surplus defence equipment. It is sigificant that the PPT's military provisions are now being seen as obsolete" says Finnish Armed Forces Commander Adm Jan Klenberg. The "German" clause in the FCMA treaty coupled with the military capability sections in the PPT had bridled any hopes Finland had of developing its defence forces independently of outside powers. Finland had been limited to 60-frontline fighters. This ceiling is no longer relevant in the light of the new changes. The reinterpretation of FCMA and PPT agreements are un likely to have any immediate impact on defence spending patterns. Higher budgetary spending on defence will be precluded by recessionary and other economic, pressures. There is also liable to be strong political resistance to demands for more spending on defence. Defence chiefs can be ex pected to counter these argu ments by recommending that replacement military equipment including aircraft be bought from "low-cost" East European sources, suggesting that savings could be used to develop other areas of air, naval and land defences to their true potential, now that the treaty constraints have been removed. • Japan outlines E-3 and MLRS plans The Japanese Defence Agency (JDA) plans to start pro curement of airborne early warning aircraft and the LTV Multiple Launch Rocket System in Fiscal Year 1992. The JDA says it wants to buy the E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft from Boeing and is seeking to negotiate a deal whereby Nissan builds at least 60% of the MLRS under licence in Japan. However, the US Department of Defense says it wants at least 60% of the Japanese MLRS buy to be built in the USA and wants the AWACS to be intro duced to Japan as a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) package. The Japanese want to avoid an E-3 FMS deal, as a straight commercial buy would give them more customer leverage for product support in the long term. Japan has a requirement for four E-3s and plans to purchase one a year from FY1992. • 14 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 10 - 16 October, 1990
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
