Amid U.S. tension, Iran builds fake aircraft carrier to attack
As tensions remain high between Iran and the U.S., the Islamic Republic appears to have constructed a new mock-up of an aircraft carrier off its southern coast for potential live-fire drills.
The faux foe, seen in satellite photographs obtained June 9 by The Associated Press, resembles the Nimitz-class carriers that the U.S. Navy routinely sails into the Persian Gulf from the Strait of Hormuz, its narrow mouth where 20 percent of all the world’s oil passes through.
While not yet acknowledged by Iranian officials, the replica’s appearance in the port city of Bandar Abbas suggests Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard is preparing an encore of a similar mock-sinking it conducted in 2015. It also comes as Iran announced Tuesday it will execute a man it accused of sharing details on the movements of the Guard’s Gen. Qassem Soleimani, whom the U.S. killed in a January drone strike in Baghdad.
The replica carries 16 mock-ups of fighter jets on its deck, according to satellite photos taken by Maxar Technologies. The vessel appears to be some 650 feet long and 160 feet wide. A real Nimitz is over 980 feet long and 75 meters (245 feet) wide.
The fake carrier sits just a short distance away from the parking lot in which the Guard unveiled over 100 new speedboats in May, the kind it routinely employs in tense encounters between Iranian sailors and the U.S. Navy. Those boats carry both mounted machine guns and missiles. AP
India, China military commanders meet on frontier dispute
Indian and Chinese military commanders met June 6 to try to resolve a bitter standoff along their disputed frontier high in the Himalayas where thousands of troops on both sides are facing off.
The meeting at a border post was attended by senior commanders and was the highest-level encounter so far. Local border commanders held a series of meetings in the past month but failed to break the impasse.
On June 5, Indian and Chinese foreign ministry officials discussed the border tensions.
There were no immediate details available on the June 6 meeting. Both India and China have provided little official information on the standoff, but media in the two countries have closely covered the escalating tensions.
Indian officials say the standoff began in early May when large contingents of Chinese soldiers entered deep inside Indian-controlled territory at three places in Ladakh, erecting tents and posts. They said the Chinese soldiers ignored repeated verbal warnings to leave, triggering shouting matches, stone-throwing and fistfights.
India also mobilized thousands of soldiers. AP
France announces $16.9 billion in aid to aviation industry
France’s government announced 15 billion euros ($16.9 billion) in rescue money on June 9 for the pandemic-battered aerospace industry, including plane maker Airbus and national airline Air France.
The ministers of finance, transport, defense and environment unveiled the rescue plan for an industry that employs hundreds of thousands of people in France, whose livelihoods have been thrown into uncertainty by travel restrictions prompted by the virus.
In exchange for the aid, companies will be required to invest more and faster in electric, hydrogen or other lower-emission aircraft, as France aims to make its aviation industry the “cleanest in the world.”
“We will do everything to support this French industry that is so critical for our sovereignty, our jobs and our economy,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said.
The money includes direct government investment, subsidies, loans and loan guarantees. It also includes a special fund jointly financed by the government, Airbus and other big manufacturers to support small suppliers.
It includes 7 billion euros in loans and loan guarantees that the government had already promised to Air France, whose planes were almost entirely grounded by the virus.
Airlines around the world have sought government bailouts as they struggle to survive the near-shutdown in their activity prompted by the virus.
Airbus said it is cutting production by 35 to 40 percent, and rival Boeing announced during the virus lockdown that it would cut 10 percent of its 161,000-person work force through attrition, early-out offers and layoffs.
“The recovery will be long,” Le Maire warned. The government predicted it will be 2023 before the industry reaches pre-crisis levels. AP
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