organization:defence ministry

  • Russian navy put on high alert off Ukraine coast : sources | Reuters
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-soccer-worldcup-russia-ukraine-milita/russian-navy-put-on-high-alert-off-ukraine-coast-sources-idUSKBN1JA2BS

    Sources close to the Russian military said on Thursday that Russian naval forces in the Black Sea had been put on heightened alert to discourage Ukraine from trying to disrupt the soccer World Cup as the tournament got under way.

    However, the Defence Ministry itself dismissed the reports, saying in a statement: “The forces of the Black Sea Fleet are working in routine mode. No measures to put (them) on high combat alert have taken place.

    Reuters was not able to verify a Ukrainian build-up independently, and there was no confirmation of that from officials in Kiev.

    One of the military sources said there were concerns that Ukraine was building up its military presence in the area as a “provocation” during the tournament.

    Three sources said Russia’s forces around the Black Sea Crimea peninsula had been put on a state of high combat readiness. Two of them said it was linked to the tournament.

    Trois sources russes insiders, longuement rapportées, pas de vérification indépendante, même pas côté ukrainien…

    Comment qu’c’est déjà ?
    « toute allégation ou imputation d’un fait dépourvu d’éléments vérifiables de nature à rendre l’information vraisemblable »
    ah non, ça c’est le projet initial, le dépourvu d’éléments vérifiables est tombé, sans doute parce que trop facilement … vérifiable : Reuters lui-même l’annonce. Actuellement, c’est :
    « toute allégation ou imputation d’un fait, inexacte ou trompeuse, constitue une fausse information »

    Vous en pensez quoi, M’dame la juge ?

  • Sri Lanka Bans Private Floating Armouries - The New Indian Express
    http://www.newindianexpress.com/world/Sri-Lanka-Bans-Private-Floating-Armouries/2015/11/16/article3130540.ece

    Sri Lanka has banned private floating armouries, but Private Maritime Security Companies (PMSCs) will be allowed to function (...) following a major scandal over the functioning of the Lanka-based PMSC, Avant Garde Maritime Security Services Ltd (AGMSL).

    (...) the controversial company, which ironically was a Joint Venture (JV) with the Defence Ministry’s security firm Rakna Arakshaka Lanka Ltd (RALL). The JV, entered into in 2012, has since been cancelled. (...)

    From 2009 to 2012, the Navy was the repository of weapons that were lent to the PMSCs for anti-piracy operations in the Red Sea area. After the setting up of the RALL-AGMSL JV, which acquired two floating armouries, the Navy lost revenue to the tune of LKR 1.2 billion (US$ 8.4 million), according to a report.

    Several illegalities in the operation of the RALL-AGMSL JV were discovered after the exit of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government in January this year. The AGMSL’s floating armouries had sailed in the high seas with weapons that were not authorised, police and the Navy alleged.

    In October, one of its floating armouries had sailed into Indian waters off Minicoy, and also entered Maldivian waters, thus exposing itself to punitive action by the Indian and Maldivian navies.

    Permission to enter Galle port was taken from the Defence Ministry, but only at the end of the journey. When the vessel entered the port, it had 861 weapons on board, but authorisation had been given for only three specified weapons and three Sea Marshals. The vessel’s crew had kept its route a secret and also lied about their captain’s identity. Besides, there are money laundering and corruption cases against the AGMSL, which are being investigated.

    #arsenaux_flottants #piraterie #Sri_Lanka #Inde

  • #MH370 il y aura de (sérieux) comptes à rendre en Malaisie…

    Malaysian military withheld radar data on Flight MH370 as nations searched wrong area, sources say | National Post
    http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/04/11/malaysian-military-withheld-radar-data-on-flight-mh370-as-nations

    “The initial assumption was that the aircraft could have diverted due to mechanical issues or, in the worst case scenario, crashed,” said a senior Malaysian civilian source. “That is what we were working on.”

    Officials at Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation, which oversees air traffic controllers, the Defence Ministry and the air force directed requests for comment to the prime minister’s office, which did not respond.

    One senior military official said air traffic control had informed the military at around 2:00 a.m. that a plane was missing. The standard operating procedure was to do so within 15 minutes, he said. Another military source said the notification was slow in coming, but did not give a time.
    (…)
    Another contentious issue has been whether the military was slow in passing on its radar data that showed an unidentified plane had re-crossed the Malay peninsula.

    Two civilian aviation officials said military bureaucracy delayed the sharing of this information, although they gave no precise timeframe for when it was handed over.

    “The armed forces knew much earlier that the aircraft could have turned back. That is why the search was expanded to include the Strait of Malacca within a day or two,” said a second senior civilian source, who was familiar with the initial search, referring to the narrow stretch of water between Indonesia and Malaysia, on the western side of the peninsula.

    “But the military did not confirm this until much later due to resistance from senior officers, and the government needed to step in. We wasted our time in the South China Sea.”

    Government sources have said Prime Minister Najib Razak had to force the military to turn over its raw radar data to investigators during the first week after the flight’s disappearance.

    (…)
    The accounts given to Reuters reveal growing tensions between civilian officials, the military and Malaysia Airlines over whether more could have been done in those initial hours.
    (…)
    In his interview with Reuters, Malaysia Airlines chief Ahmad Jauhari played down talk of tension, saying there were “ #slight_differences_of_opinion. ”

    • Et ça continue dans l’à peu près : coup de fil ou reconnexion ?

      MH370 : le mystérieux coup de fil du copilote - Le Point (en vrai, AFP)
      http://www.lepoint.fr/monde/mh370-le-mysterieux-coup-de-fil-du-copilote-12-04-2014-1812410_24.php

      Le copilote du vol MH370 a tenté de passer un appel de son téléphone portable juste avant que l’avion ne disparaisse des écrans radars, a rapporté samedi un journal malaisien, citant des enquêteurs anonymes. L’appel a été coupé, peut-être « parce que l’avion s’est rapidement éloigné du relais (de télécommunications) », écrit le New Straits Times (NST), sans indiquer qui était le destinataire de l’appel.

      Selon une autre source, également citée par le quotidien malaisien, le téléphone mobile de Fariq Abdul Hamid a été « reconnecté » au réseau, sans qu’il soit certain qu’un appel ait été effectivement passé à partir du Boeing 777 disparu le 8 mars. L’avion assurant le vol MH370 aurait volé assez bas près de l’île de Penang, sur la côte ouest de la Malaisie - après avoir changé de cap - pour qu’un relais de télécommunications capte le signal du téléphone du copilote.

      La liaison téléphonique a été « reconnectée » entre le moment où l’avion a dévié de sa route et celui où il a disparu des écrans radars, affirme le quotidien contrôlé par le gouvernement, citant la deuxième source. « Une reconnexion ne signifie pas nécessairement qu’un appel a été passé. Elle peut aussi être le résultat de la remise en marche du téléphone », selon cette source.

    • Il y a deux ans, chez Malaysia Airlines, les enregistreurs de voix du poste de pilotage continuait à fonctionner sans arrêt après l’incident, effaçant les données…

      Malaysia Airlines jumbo jet had to return to Heathrow - and all black box cockpit voice recorder data was lost - Mirror Online
      http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/malaysia-airlines-jumbo-jet-return-3395734

      The jumbo jet had a cockpit voice recorder (CVR) - a device which can record the last two hours of cockpit conversations.

      The AAIB, which classed the incident as “serious” in its report today, said the CVR continued to run for some time after the aircraft landed “and as a result all relevant CVR recordings were lost”.