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Mexico has decided to modernize all of its air and land forces. Over the years attrition and obsolescence has caused limited usefulness of the 200,000 man defense force. The other large military branch of the Mexican forces is the Mexican Navy Secretariat also known as SEMAR. The Mexican Navy is also outlining plans for modernization and will be changed to become a first line of defense against terrorists and organized crime. The Navy is very important in Mexico, since it has about 7000 miles of coastline and a large body of territorial water to patrol.

When we think of the equipment that the US uses, we tend to think that it is problem free with a five star rating, unfortunately that is not always the case. Take the Burke class destroyers for example. It is odd to believe that a modern-day destroyer would buckle, but this is exactly what is happening. The destroyer is known as the DDG 51 Arleigh Burke class destroyer. An embarrassed Navy has announced that the problem is not serious and will not effect its operations. Some how I find that hard to believe. BAE Systems has signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Army to continue to enhance and maintain its M109A6 Paladin 155 mm self-propelled artillery system. This system was built for the Army from the ground up in only nine months, which has to be some kind of record in the defense industry. Guided munitions are becoming quite the thing today. The US has begun testing the ODAM 60 mm guided mortar bomb. ODAM stands for Optically Designated Attack Munition. So far the device is being developed under a ten million-dollar contract, again by BAE Systems. This company seems to really be raking in big bucks. The US is about to perform a first, it is going to station a nuclear powered aircraft carrier in Japan. As we all know, Japan is very touchy about anything nuclear and who can blame them after what they went through?

The United States Navy is converting four Ohio class submarines to become cruise missile platforms. One has been converted already and is about to execute its new role. The crew have been sent to be retrained for the a new mission. The new US Army's non-line of sight cannon is now known as the XM1203. It is about to be subject to all sorts of revisions and a couple of demonstration models have been ordered. The US military is pushing the British military to collaborate on future weapons systems that would entail modernization of Britain's land forces. The US has grounded most of its fleet of F-15 aircraft following the crash of a National Guard F-15 C. during a training mission. The US has been using Predator unmanned aircraft against ground-based rocket and mortar attacks. The .Predators carry a very lethal AGM-114 hellfire antitank missile. The United States has launched a program to cut the cost of building nuclear submarines by at least 30%. Whether this will be successful is yet to be seen, given the record of the defense industry. Military shipbuilding has been given a shot in the arm by the US government . A new bill will pump over $3 billion into that area and the biggest beneficiaries will be General Dynamics Electric Boat and Northrop Grumman Newport News.

Taiwan has been producing its own missiles, but they have never been seen by the public before, until their National Day military parade which was held in October. One was an anti-ship missile, the other was a ballistic missile interceptor. It is hard to believe that a small country like Taiwan would be able to develop a missile on its own, that can intercept ballistic missiles. Could it be that they may have had some help in developing this missile from Uncle Sam? The Ministry of Defense in Czechoslovakia is unhappy with some of the vehicles it acquired under a contract with General Dynamics land systems Europe and wants them to correct some of the deficiencies in these vehicles. They claim that some of the technical specifications are not in accordance with documents initially agreed on. Raytheon has recently experienced a failure with its test on the Network Centric Airborne Defense Element missal trial. They blamed the failure on range issues. They stated that the host aircraft had radar on it that lost tack of the target at a very critical stage and therefore they had to stop the testing. The U.S. Navy has had to terminate its contract with General Dynamics to build Litoral combat ships. The Litoral program was just rising in cost too rapidly and General Dynamics was not agreeable to renegotiate the cost.

Norway is experiencing problems trying to fund its military. A panel has recommended that the Norwegian forces have their funds increased by the equivalent of $185 million dollars and even with this a further recommendation has been made that Skjold class fast attack class vessels be discontinued, because they are just too expensive to fund. Norway had hoped to maintain a fleet of six of these fast ships. Budget shortages are not the only problems that nation faces with their weapons programs. Australia is in a dispute with one of its prime contractors. It has budgeted almost $2 billion to upgrade for guided missile frigate's. When the first one was received it did not preform as advertised, because of problems with its underwater warfare system and electronic support systems. Needless to say this has upset Australia's National Audit Office to no end. I guess they expected to get what they pay for.

The Danes are about to purchase the Smart 5 Mk 2 radar system, which has performed very well in recent trials. Thales Netherlands expects the purchase somewhere around December of this year. Officers aboard the test ship confirmed that not only did the radar meet expectations, but also exceeded them in many areas.

Britain is now testing its first new Astute class nuclear powered attack submarine. The test lasts for two days, while the crew of 60 are on board the craft. The crew consists of military and BAE personnel. Britain has told the United States that it wants to stretch out the deliveries of the Martin F35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter so that the last one will be delivered in 2027. I guess there is no denying the fact that this plane is projected to still be effective 20 years from now. A new jamming system that can jam enemy radar has been demonstrated in Britain. The project has been ongoing for three years and has finally reached the stage where it is effective. A test bed has been built and was used for the demonstration, which all seem to agree was very effective. It is said that a new carrier group will be headed to the Middle East in early 2008, no it will not be a US carrier group, but a British one headed by the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious. The very first Reaper unmanned flying vehicle developed in the UK has taken up station in Afghanistan.

Israel is continuing to build up and expand its stock of air and ground-launched missiles. They are purchasing $1.3 billion worth of ammunition from the US under the foreign military sales program. Israel has decided to increase its fleet of unmanned aircraft by purchasing an unspecified number of new Hermes 450 LE UAVs, that have been dubbed Zk.

Japan seems to be very interested in the US airborne laser system. The Japanese made their interest known to Boeing, the company that is developing the laser system. It uses a Northrop Grumman high energy laser to shoot down ballistic missiles right after they take off from their launching pads.

The European Parliament has put out a report stating that many of the European Union's battle groups are not sufficiently equipped or trained to handle many different types of missions.

The French government has decided that it has to prevent its military contractors from losing many military contracts. It has decided to become more flexible by creating a sort of quick response unit that will be able to help contractors with contracts by making fast decisions on policies. This was all brought about by France losing a contract to sell Rafael fighters to Morocco. Rafael has a new system called SpotLight. It is supposed to be able to pick out where firing is coming from while it is positioned on a mobile platform. The company admits that there are still some problems and accuracy due to the movement of the platform, but states that it is still suitable for use.

Spain has decided to purchase 575 mine resistant ambush protected vehicles known as MRAPs. The government found that these types of vehicles were vital when they used them in Afghanistan and Lebanon.

Poland is going to acquire more light tactical aircraft. The craft known as C-295M are being acquired by exercising an option included in the original purchase contract of 2001.

The Royal Malaysian Navy has cleared up most of the problems with the Meko Kedah Class offshore patrol vessels, known as OPVs.