Analysis: China copter deal -- Part 1 By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, May 13 (UPI) -- The long freeze in Russia's enormously lucrative arms trade with China may be coming to an end as the Kremlin has agreed to sell Mi-171 transport helicopter assembly kits to Beijing.

Military Matters: A time to cut -- Part 2 By WILLIAM S. LIND WASHINGTON, May 13 (UPI) -- How can the United States seriously cut its military spending while retaining and improving its national security?

Defense Focus: Numbers count -- Part 2 By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, May 13 (UPI) -- Wars destroy lots of weapons systems as well as lots of people. That is why major powers still need lots of soldiers and lots of relatively cheap, easily manufactured and easily replaced weapons systems.

Outside View: Russian-Iran nuke moves By PYOTR GONCHAROV UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, May 13 (UPI) -- Has Russia decided to join the U.N. sanctions against Iran? Will the new president shift Russia's policy regarding Iran to the West?

Analysis: European defense contracts By LEANDER SCHAERLAECKENS UPI Correspondent BRUSSELS, May 12 (UPI) -- U.K. Ministry of Defense announces FRES contract; After France, U.K. sells to Libya; Saab profits drop on back of Gripen costs

Military Matters: A time to cut -- Part 1 By WILLIAM S. LIND WASHINGTON, May 12 (UPI) -- At a recent book party for Winslow Wheeler's new history of the military reform movement of the 1970s and 1980s, I was asked for my views on the prospects for genuine reform. I replied, "So long as the money flow continues, nothing will change." Chuck Spinney, a reformer who spent decades as a polyp in the bowels of the U.S. Department of Defense, agreed.

Analysis: Chinese subs in S. China Sea By ANDREI CHANG HONG KONG, May 9 (UPI) -- Over the past 20 years, China's military investment has grown faster than any other country. The bamboo curtain that formerly enveloped the country has become a copper curtain.

BMD Watch: Japan plans BMD warning sats By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, May 9 (UPI) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda belied his mild-manner low-key image Friday when he OK'd a new measure that would transform Japan's decades-old policy supporting the demilitarization of space.

Outside View: Vietnam weapons -- Part 1 By ILYA KRAMNIK UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, May 9 (UPI) -- A red flag was raised over the Palace of Independence in Saigon at 11:30 a.m. on April 30, 1975, signaling the official end of the second Indochinese war, which broke out in the late 1950s.

Military Matters: Armor lessons -- Part 2 By WILLIAM S. LIND WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army has designed its tanks, especially the M-1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, for tactical utility with little thought for operational mobility.

Defense Focus: Numbers count -- Part 1 By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) -- In weapons procurement, demanding only the best is usually a recipe for disastrous defeat.

Military Matters: Armor lessons -- Part 1 By WILLIAM S. LIND WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- Bruce Gudmundsson, author of "Stormtroop Tactics," has a new book out: "On Armor."

Defense Focus: High-tech limits -- Part 3 By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- The United States, Russia, China, France and Britain have all found that pushing their high-tech capabilities too far has sometimes given them weapons systems that are turkeys instead of eagles.

Thompson Files: Delay U.S. defense review By LOREN B. THOMPSON ARLINGTON, Va., May 6 (UPI) -- There is no overwhelming threat around which to organize our defense preparations, despite U.S. attempts to make the global war on terrorism that crusade.

Outside View: Russia's Blackjack power By NKITA PETROV UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, May 6 (UPI) -- On April 29 representatives of the Kazan Aircraft Production Association presented the 121st Heavy Bomber Regiment of the Russian Air Force's 37th Army with a brand-new Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bomber.

BMD Focus: West trumps East -- Part 2 By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, May 6 (UPI) -- In the struggle over ABM defense bases in Central Europe, Washington finds Western Europe supports it while Poland and the Czech Republic are wavering.

Analysis: European defense contracts By LEANDER SCHAERLAECKENS UPI Correspondent BRUSSELS, May 5 (UPI) -- Spending up, troop numbers down in Europe; Russia backs India into aircraft carrier corner; Boeing drops out of Swiss fighter competition

BMD Focus: West trumps East -- Part 1 By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, May 5 (UPI) -- U.S. President George W. Bush's plan to build two antiballistic missile bases in Central Europe -- one in the Czech Republic and the other in Poland -- is forging along more strongly than ever. In so doing, it is confounding the conventional wisdom of the past 20 years about the future dynamics of the Atlantic Alliance.

Outside View: Iran and ABMs By ANDREI KISLYAKOV UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, May 5 (UPI) -- On May 2, the foreign ministers of Russia, China, the United States, Britain, France and Germany met in London to discuss a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear problem.

BMD Watch: SASC agrees to fund BMD bases By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- U.S. President George W. Bush's hard-driving determination to build anti-ballistic missile bases in Central Europe cleared another hurdle Thursday when the Armed Services Committee of the U.S. Senate approved funding for the coming Fiscal year 2009 to construct them.

Analysis: China to get SAMs from Russia By ANDREI CHANG HONG KONG, May 2 (UPI) -- Russia will deliver to China four battalions of 200-kilometer-range S-300PMU2 surface-to-air missiles this summer, the last batch in a series ordered by China. The first batch of four battalions of the same missiles was delivered in July 2007.

Outside View: China's obsolete fighters By ILYA KRAMNIK UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, May 2 (UPI) -- Earlier this year reports appeared in the media that China had copied Russia's Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker fighter and that its J-11 version, now manufactured in China, would be sold to third countries, undermining Russia's positions on the global arms market.

BMD Focus: Czechs back BMD plan -- Part 2 By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, May 1 (UPI) -- President Bush racked up not one but four major foreign policy triumphs in his drive to deploy effective ABM bases in Central Europe.

Outside View: Nuke power future -- Part 2 By SERGEI GOLUBCHIKOV UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, May 1 (UPI) -- Uranium prices are increasing throughout the world and have doubled over the past three years.

BMD Focus: Czechs back BMD plan -- Part 1 By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, April 30 (UPI) -- The Czech government's decision to approve the building of a U.S. ballistic missile defense radar base on its territory is an important strategic victory for the Bush administration.

Outside View: Nuke power future -- Part 1 By SERGEI GOLUBCHIKOV UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, April 30 (UPI) -- On April 22 in Yerevan, Russia and the former Soviet republic of Armenia signed a treaty to set up a joint venture for the exploration and mining of uranium and other minerals in Armenia.

BMD Focus: Patriot power -- Part 2 By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, April 29 (UPI) -- The latest Patriot missile purchases and upgrade deals by Taiwan and South Korea point to a widespread expectation of growing tensions and expectations of eventual war on Asia's Pacific Rim.

Thompson Files: Boeing at war with USAF By LOREN B. THOMPSON ARLINGTON, Va., April 29 (UPI) -- If you want to understand how former allies end up going to war -- or former lovers end up getting divorced -- take a look at how Boeing and the U.S. Air Force are treating each other in their angry confrontation over the award of a next-generation tanker program to Northrop Grumman.

Outside View: Iran nuke deadlock -- Part 2 By PYOTR GONCHAROV UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, April 29 (UPI) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry said before the six-nation meeting in Shanghai on the Iranian nuclear issue between Russia, China, the United States, Britain, Germany and France that the talks should focus on developing new "positive" proposals for Iran this time.

Defense Focus: C21 sub threat -- Part 2 By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, April 28 (UPI) -- Anyone who has watched any World War II movies or History Channel documentaries knows what a wolf pack was: It was the massed attack carried out by Nazi submarines against British and American convoys of merchant ships in the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II. China is looking at a modern, 21st century of wolf pack tactics for any future war it might have to fight against the United States. But the wolf packs and their tactics would be very different.

Analysis: European Defense Contracts By LEANDER SCHAERLAECKENS UPI Correspondent BRUSSELS, April 28 (UPI) -- EADS moves into U.S. civil security market; EADS envisions huge Airbus heavy-lifter military planes; Norway concerned over Lockheed, calls back Eurofighter; BAE wins $47 million Torpedo contract with Britain

Outside View: Iran nuke deadlock -- Part 1 By PYOTR GONCHAROV UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, April 28 (UPI) -- The latest meeting in Shanghai of the six international mediators in the Iranian nuclear issue has been a fiasco, as is suggested by the meager news reports.

BMD Focus: Patriot power -- Part 1 By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, April 25 (UPI) -- In the past week, South Korea and Taiwan have invested more than $320 million in new purchases of Patriot ballistic missile defense technologies.

Outside View: UAV options By ILYA KRAMNIK UPI Outside View Commentator MOSSCOW, Russia, April 25 (UPI) -- An Israeli-made Hermes-450 unmanned aerial vehicle owned by the former Soviet republic of Georgia was shot down over Abkhazia on April 21, aggravating regional tensions.

Defense Focus: C21 sub threat -- Part 1 By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, April 24 (UPI) -- An important article in the current issue of National Defense magazine echoes the warnings we have been giving in these columns over the past three years about the growing tactical threat of China's diesel-electric submarines to U.S. surface warships in the Western Pacific Ocean.

Thompson Files: Rolling back Reagan By LOREN B. THOMPSON ARLINGTON, Va., April 24 (UPI) -- Remember the Reagan Revolution? It's over. For 30 years the political system has been dismantling the burden of taxes and regulations imposed on the economy by the New Deal.

Defense Focus: Weapons evolution -- Part 4 By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, April 23 (UPI) -- Weapons systems in the 21st century are evolving in different directions: They are getting bigger and smaller, vastly more high tech and far simpler -- all at the same time.

Outside View: Su-34 strategy -- Part 2 By ILYA KRAMNIK UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, April 23 (UPI) -- The Sukhoi Su-34 Fullback aircraft's remarkable qualities give Russia the option of using a relatively small number of them as an elite strike force.

BMD Watch: Raytheon wins radar base deal By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, April 22 (UPI) -- Raytheon said Tuesday it has a $5 million U.S. Missile Defense Agency contract to start initial planning for the European mid-course radar system to be deployed in the Czech Republic.

Military Matters: Iraq state fantasy By WILLIAM S. LIND WASHINGTON, April 22 (UPI) -- When Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki sent his "army" to fight the Mahdi Army in Basra, U.S. President Bush called it "a defining moment." It turned out instead to be a confirming moment. It confirmed that there is no state in Mesopotamia -- the geographical territory known as the nation of Iraq.

Outside View: Su-34 strategy -- Part 1 By ILYA KRAMNIK UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, April 22 (UPI) -- Russia's rearmament program, approved in 2006 for a period until 2015, provides for supplying modern weapons to its armed forces. One of them is the Sukhoi Su-34 Fullback fighter-bomber, which will replace the Sukhoi Su-24 Fencers.

Analysis: European Defense Contracts By LEANDER SCHAERLAECKENS UPI Correspondent BRUSSELS, April 21 (UPI) -- France eyes arms export increase; France buys integrated infantry soldier equipment suites from Sagem; EADS to expand in U.S.

Outside View: BMD Tensions -- Part 2 By ILYA KRAMNIK UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, April 21 (UPI) -- Standard Missile-3 missiles deployed on U.S. Navy cruisers and destroyers and equipped with the Aegis information and control system are the second echelon of ballistic missile defense.

Defense Focus: Weapons evolution -- Part 3 By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, April 21 (UPI) -- When it comes to the evolution of weapons, designers make things bigger when they can't think of anything else to do with them.

Chinese spies in the West By ANDREI CHANG HONG KONG, April 18 (UPI) -- China's intelligence agency has reinforced its infiltration activities in Europe, North America, Japan and Russia in recent years. An analysis of numerous cases leads to the conclusion that China has shifted its tactics in recruiting citizens of Western countries.

Defense Focus: Weapons evolution -- Part 2 By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, April 18 (UPI) -- The evolution of land weapons systems appears more like life in a tropical jungle.

Outside View: BMD tensions -- Part 1 By ILYA KRAMNIK UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, April 18 (UPI) -- On par with NATO's expansion, deployment of a U.S. missile defense system has already become the most sensitive issue in Russia's relations with the West.

Outside View: Centrifuges for Iran By PYOTR GONCHAROV UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, April 17 (UPI) -- Two years ago Tehran officially declared the first batch of low-enriched uranium required for the production of fuel for nuclear reactors had been produced at the Natanz nuclear facility in Isfahan.

Defense Focus: Weapons evolution -- Part 1 By MARTIN SIEFF UPI Senior News Analyst WASHINGTON, April 17 (UPI) -- Charles Darwin was right -- at least for weapons systems: Principles of evolution and the struggle for survival of the fittest apply there all the time. Weapons systems have to keep evolving. And when they can't evolve any more -- they die.

Outside View: ABMs for Europe -- Part 2 By NIKITA PETROV UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, April 16 (UPI) -- Those in charge of NATO's BMD project can't decide what air defense systems they should buy -- but they insist they should be American rather than Russian.