Canada offers to lead new NATO operation in Iraq
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his country is offering to lead NATO’s new military training mission in Iraq for the first year and stands ready to provide 250 troops plus helicopters for the effort.
Trudeau said July 11 that it is important to help build the conflict-ravaged country’s resilience against the Islamic State group.
Speaking at a German Marshall Fund event on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Brussels, Trudeau said that “we have to build that democracy and strengthen it,” and doing so “is something that we believe in deeply.”
NATO leaders are expected to announce later Wednesday that the alliance is stepping up its troop training and military academy building effort in Iraq, with hundreds of trainers operating out of the capital, Baghdad. AP
French military helicopter crashes in Ivory Coast; one dead
France’s army says a French military helicopter has crashed in Ivory Coast during a training mission, killing the pilot and injuring another crew member.
The army says the 25-year-old officer died the evening of July 10 of injuries sustained when his Gazelle helicopter crashed about 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Abidjan earlier in the day.
The army says the helicopter had been involved in a joint training exercise with Ivory Coast forces. The circumstances of the crash are being investigated.
France has a supply point in Abidjan for its Operation Barkhane, which combats growing extremism in West Africa.
In October a cargo plane chartered by the French military crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on its approach to Abidjan, killing four crew members from Moldova and injuring six others from Moldova and France. AP
Slovakia approves purchase of F-16 fighter jets from U.S.
Slovakia’s government has approved a Defense Ministry plan to purchase F-16 military jets from the United States.
The 14 fighter jets are meant to replace the obsolete Soviet-made MiG-29 jets that Slovakia’s air forces have used.
The ministry preferred the U.S. offer of F-16 Block 70/72 jets over a competing Swedish offer of JAS-39 C/D Gripen aircraft.
Defense Minister Peter Gajdos says the U.S. offer was better “in all aspects,” calling it “the best possible solution.”
It’s not immediately clear when the jets can be delivered. Gajdos says the U.S. government is ready to sign a deal with Slovakia.
Prime Minister Peter said Wednesday his government will pay 1.589 billion euros ($1.86 billion) for the aircraft, ammunition, training of pilots and logistics services for two years. AP