Northrop Grumman says it will consider a range of options, including legal action, to compel Boeing to release pricing information that could prove critical in the US Air Force's (USAF's) USD35 billion aerial refuelling tanker competition. Northrop Grumman and its European partner, EADS, say that the pearl jewelry USAF's draft request for proposals (RfP) calls for a "cost shoot-out" that focuses the KC-X tanker acquisition decision on best price rather than on both cost and capabilities. The team said at a 28 October press conference in Washington, DC, that a cost-focused competition would be unfair because the USAF released its pricing data for its KC-45 tanker to Boeing during the biwa pearl previous tanker competition, which was cancelled because of concerns about fairness. The company has asked the US Department of Defense (DoD) to release Boeing's pricing information to level the playing field. However, Boeing declined a request for release from the DoD's legal counsel, according to Northrop Grumman spokesman Randy Belote. The Northrop Grumman/EADS team is attempting to work through the issue with the DoD, but team officials said that other options - including legal action - were also on the table. The DoD said that the previously released KC-45 pricing information does not put Northrop Grumman/EADS at a competitive disadvantage because the data in question is "inaccurate, outdated and not germane" to the akoya pearl new acquisition process. However, Belote said that the pricing information is still relevant, since while some tanker capabilities will be changed to accommodate the USAF's new requirements, the team is still offering the same basic airframe.

Japan and the United States have tentatively agreed to expand co-operation in the missile defence field, the Japanese Ministry of Defence (MoD) told Jane's on pearl jewelry 29 October.

Although details have not been mapped out, an MoD spokesman said its scope is not expected to include Japan allowing the export of the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA, which is biwa pearl currently being jointly developed by the two countries.

In meetings between Japanese Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, which concluded on 21 October, both sides said they wanted to further co-operation in jointly developing missile defence systems.

The spokesman did not deny local news reports that Gates had requested Japan to akoya pearl expand this co-operation into exploring the potential for exporting the SM-3 Block IIA.

The Australian government has rejected suggestions that economic pressures forced it to cancel its participation in the US Navy-led Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) programme.

A government source told Jane's on 3 March that the decision not to proceed with the pearl jewelry project - which would have provided Australia with a maritime unmanned surveillance system based on the Global Hawk umanned aerial vehicle - was "driven by personnel issues".

The project was worth between AUD1.1 billion and AUD1.5 billion (USD679 million and USD950 million).

"Despite media reports suggesting otherwise, I can assure you that this decision was not a biwa pearl result of the economic crisis," said the source. "If the Royal Australian Air Force had said that the project was manageable, then it is probable that we would have continued. But that wasn't the case."

In announcing the decision on 2 March, a akoya pearl statement by the Australian Department of Defence (DoD) said that delays in the BAMS programme meant that the earliest in-service date was 2015.

Image: The Global Hawk forms the basis of BAMS (Jane's/Patrick Allen)

The US Air Force (USAF) Special Operations Command (AFSOC) has confirmed that it will receive the pearl jewelry first of 10 Polskie Zaklady Lotnicze (PZL) Mielec M28 Skytruck short take-off and landing (STOL) light twin passenger and cargo aircraft in June.

They will be tasked as medium special operations forces (SOF) mobility aircraft and assigned to 318th Special Operations Squadron, 27th Special Operations Wing, at biwa pearl Cannon Air Force Base (AFB) in New Mexico. The squadron was reactivated in May 2008.

The Skytruck order was confirmed in February by Colonel JD Clem, deputy director of plans, programmes, requirements and assessments at the AFSOC. Explaining the order, Col Clem said: "If I want six guys to akoya pearl land on an unimproved strip the [Pilatus] PC-12 is not the plane to use."

Skytruck may also be used for the airdropping of equipment or small infiltration teams. The M28 has a maximum take-off weight of 7,000 kg, a 1,365 km range with a 1,000 kg payload and can carry a crew of three plus 12 paratroopers (or 18 passengers).

Iran's defence minister made a day-long official visit to Moscow on 16 February to press again for the sale of the S-300 surface-to-air missile system to Tehran to go forward, amid a restructuring of the pearl jewelry Iranian military aimed at strengthening air defence capabilities.

Iran signed a contract with Russia in 2005 to purchase 29 Tor-M1 low- to medium-altitude surface-to-air missiles under a USD700 million contract; they were delivered during 2006 and became operational in early 2007.

Talks are under way for the complementary purchase of the biwa pearl medium-range Buk-M1 system, according to press reports from Russia.

At the same time, Tehran has expressed repeated interest in up to five units of the S-300PMU-1 (SA-20A or SA-20 Gargoyle) or S-300PMU2 Favorit systems and has moved to sign a contract that thus far has remained unimplemented owing to substantial political pressure on Moscow from both Washington and Tel Aviv.

A spokesman for the Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport told the Commersant newspaper that "nothing has changed" with respect to the delivery of the S-300 system to Tehran before the akoya pearl visit by Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammed Najjar, "and it will hardly be changed even after [his] visit".