Pakistan's PM warns US and its NATO allies over future cross border attack; Lockheed Martin signs F-35 Joint Strike Fighters contract with the US military
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    • According to reports, Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani warned the U.S. and its NATO allies that any future cross-border attack would meet with a "detrimental response". Gilani made these comments while meeting army chief of staff Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, the Prime Minister's secretariat said in a statement. According to the statement, Gilani stated, "The democratic government would not allow similar attack on the country's sovereignty and any attempt in future will definitely meet the detrimental response,". Meanwhile, Pakistani security officials earlier said they had upgraded the air defense system on the Afghan border to make it capable of shooting down aircraft. "The government and the people of Pakistan were ready to provide the armed forces all the necessary resources to bolster its defense and professional capabilities," Gilani said. The government also ordered the United States to leave the Shamsi air base in the southwest, widely reported to be a hub in the covert CIA drone war against the Taliban and al-Qaida in Pakistan's border area with Afghanistan. U.S.-Pakistani relations plunged to a new low last month after a cross-border NATO air strike which killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. 1

    Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin has signed an undefinitized contract that establishes a price ceiling for the fifth low rate production lot for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. The Pentagon awarded Lockheed Martin an undefinitized contract to produce 30 more F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. "Lockheed Martin has signed an undefinitized contract that establishes the funding for Lot 5 up to the level announced by the DoD today," said Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Laurie Quincy in an email. "The final Lot 5 contract amount will not be known until we have a definitized contract sometime in 201," she said in a statement. Broken down by service, two-thirds of the value of the contract - $2.65 billion - is for the Air Force; $937 million, or 23 percent, for the Navy; and $426 million, or nearly 11 percent, for the Marine Corps. The contract also provides for "associated ancillary mission equipment and flight test instrumentation" for the planes, and flight test instrumentation for the United Kingdom.2

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