VÁN CỜ CHIẾN LƯỢC

[DrNo]

Liệu VC và TC có tránh khỏi cống rãnh hông?



Tin cho biết một loạt các vụ nổ nhỏ đã xảy ra ở bên ngoài một văn phòng Đảng ủy của Đảng Cộng sản Trung Quốc ở miền bắc nước này.

Theo hãng tin nhà nước Tân Hoa Xã thì vụ nổ ở thành phố Thái Nguyên, thủ phủ tỉnh Sơn Tây, là do một loạt thiết bị nổ nhỏ gây ra.

Ít nhất một người chết và tám người khác bị thương, truyền thông nhà nước Trung Quốc cho biết. Hai chiếc xe hơi đậu gần đó cũng bị hư hại.

Các hình ảnh trên mạng xã hội cho thấy khói bốc lên và xe cứu hỏa có mặt tại hiện trường.

Hồi tuần trước một chiếc xe đã đâm vào một đám đông du khách ở Quảng trường Thiên An Môn ở trung tâm Bắc Kinh trong một hành động mà chính quyền cho rằng là một vụ ‘tấn công khủng bố’ do những ‘kẻ cực đoan’ đến từ khu tự trị Tân Cương thực hiện.

Công an Sơn Tây cho biết vụ nổ xảy ra vào khoảng 7h40 giờ địa phương, tức 6h40 sáng thứ Tư ngày 6/11 giờ Việt Nam.

“Các thiết bị nổ nhỏ đã phát nổ ở đường Anh Trạch gần trụ sở Tỉnh ủy,” công an Sơn Tây cho biết trong trên tài khoản mạng xã hội của họ.

“Các lãnh đạo tỉnh đã đến hiện trường ngay lập tức và công an đang điều tra vụ việc.”

Tân Hoa Xã cho biết một số viên bi bằng thép được tìm thấy tại hiện trường và đây là dấu hiệu cho thấy chúng được dùng để chế bom tự tạo.
Khói bốc lên từ hiện trường

Các bằng chứng cho thấy vụ nổ là do bom tự tạo

Các thiết bị nổ được giấu trong một luống hoa bên đường, theo đài truyền hình nhà nước Trung Quốc.

Các nhân chứng nói với Tân Hoa Xã rằng họ nghe ‘bảy tiếng nổ lớn’ và nhìn thấy rất nhiều khói tại hiện trường.

Hiện giờ chưa có lời giải thích nào được đưa ra về vụ việc. Trước đây từng có trường hợp những công dân Trung Quốc bất mãn tấn công vào các cơ quan công quyền ở địa phương.

An ninh ở Bắc Kinh đang được thắt chặt kể từ khi xảy ra vụ đâm xe ở Quảng trường Thiên An Môn.

Vụ việc xảy ra trong bối cảnh Ban chấp hành Trung ương Đảng Cộng sản Trung Quốc sắp họp hội nghị toàn thể lần thứ ba vào cuối tuần này để khởi động các cải cách quan trọng.

[DrNo]

Doãn Hòa - Nguyễn Duy (Dân trí) - Sau khi khám nghiệm hiện trường, lực lượng công an huyện Nghi Lộc (Nghệ An) đang ráo riết truy tìm hung thủ gây ra vụ nổ tại phòng làm việc của Bí thư Đảng ủy xã Nghi Long. Nhiều người dân sống gần trụ sở UBND xã chưa hết hoang mang sau vụ việc.

Như Dân trí đưa tin, khoảng 2h sáng 5/11, nhiều người dân sống gần trụ sở UBND xã Nghi Long, huyện Nghi Lộc (Nghệ An) đang ngủ thì bất ngờ nghe tiếng nổ lớn.

Phòng làm việc của Bí thư Đảng ủy xã Nghi Long nghi bị đặt mìn trong đêm

3h30 sáng 5/11, lực lượng công an xã Nghi Long phong tỏa khu vực trụ sở UBND xã. Lực lượng công an huyện, Bộ chỉ huy Quân sự huyện Nghi Lộc cũng nhanh chóng có mặt tại hiện trường để điều tra vụ nổ.

Có mặt tại hiện trường, PV Dân trí ghi nhận, vị trí xảy ra vụ nổ tại phòng làm việc Bí thư Đảng ủy xã Nghi Long, nằm ở cuối tầng 2 của dãy trụ sở hành chính UBND xã Nghi Long. Sức ép từ vụ nổ làm thổi tung hai cánh cửa chính, các khung kính cửa sổ bị bắn tung tóe. Tại hiện trường, có cánh cửa văng khoảng 30 mét, nhiều mảnh vụn kính rơi vãi xung quanh khuôn viên trụ sở. Nhiều đồ đạc trong phòng làm việc bị hư hỏng sau vụ việc.

Giờ làm việc buổi sáng 5/11 tại UBND Nghi Long được tạm nghỉ để phục vụ công tác điều tra. Lực lượng công an xã phong tỏa từ vòng ngoài ngăn cấm người dân đến gần hiện trường. Nhiều phóng viên báo chí có mặt tại hiện trường vấp phải sự ngăn cản quyết liệt từ lực lượng công an xã không cho quay phim, chụp ảnh.

Do vụ nổ xảy ra vào thời điểm buổi đêm nên không có thương vong về người. Tuy nhiên sự việc khiến nhiều người dân hoang mang. Nhà bà Nguyễn Thị Hoa nằm cách hiện trường khoảng 70 mét nhưng trong vườn vẫn đầy mảnh vụn kính bắn tung tóe từ hiện trường vụ nổ. Bà Hoa kể lại: “Khoảng hơn 2h tôi đang ngủ thì nghe tiếng nổ lớn như bom nhưng không biết nổ từ đâu. Tôi cứ tưởng bình gas trong nhà bị nổ nhưng chạy xuống thì không phải. Đến sáng nay khi dậy đi tập thể dục thì tôi mới biết vụ nổ bên phía ủy ban xã”.

Đến 11h sáng 5/11, cơ quan công an huyện Nghi Lộc vẫn đang khám nghiệm hiện trường, điều tra nguyên nhân vụ nổ xảy ra tại trụ sở UBND xã Nghi Long. Trao đổi với PV Dân trí, Đại tá Trần Sỹ Phàng, Trưởng công an huyện Nghi Lộc cho biết: “Đây có thể là một vụ đặt mìn. Chúng tôi đang khám nghiệm hiện trường và truy tìm hung thủ gây ra vụ việc”.

[DrNo]

US To Spend Billions 'Modernizing' Nuclear Arsenal


WASHINGTON — The United States plans to spend billions to upgrade a decades-old atomic bomb designed to stop a Soviet invasion of Europe, as part of a controversial project to modernize its nuclear arsenal.

Some lawmakers and experts dismiss the effort as a colossal waste of money that could derail arms control talks with Russia.

But top commanders and government officials argue the B61 nuclear gravity bomb needs to be maintained so other weapons can be scrapped and to ensure America retains a “credible” force.

“The B61 is the only weapon in the stockpile that fulfills both tactical and strategic missions,” General Robert Kehler, head of Strategic Command, told a congressional hearing last week.

Designed as a short-range “tactical” weapon to deter Soviet forces from overrunning Western Europe, the bomb has been in service for the US Air Force since the 1970s.

There are five versions of the bomb, which has an estimated yield of 0.3 to 360 kilotons, equivalent to 360,000 tons of TNT.

Washington removed thousands of tactical atomic weapons from Europe after the Cold War ended. But 180 of the B61 bombs remain in Europe, the only American nuclear weapon still deployed on the continent, at NATO bases in Germany, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.

Under President Barack Obama’s planned upgrade, the various models of the bomb would be replaced by a modified version, the B61-12, which would have a smaller yield and more accuracy.

A tail kit would be outfitted for the bomb, which officials say would enable more precision and therefore reduce the quantity of fissile material needed to destroy a target.

The improvements are needed as the weapons are aging and will gradually deteriorate, according to the Pentagon.

“The average B61 is over 25 years old, contains antiquated technology, and requires frequent handling for maintenance,” General Kehler said.

The modernization also will allow the Obama administration to retire the most powerful atomic bomb, the B83, and reduce the overall amount of nuclear material in the arsenal, officials said.

“This approach will allow, in time, reductions in the total number of (nuclear) weapons,” Madelyn Creedon, assistant secretary of defense for global strategic affairs, told lawmakers.

Obama has called for more progress in scaling back US and Russian nuclear stockpiles and in a speech in Berlin in June, he promised to work with NATO allies “to seek bold reductions” in tactical nuclear weapons in Europe.

Some members of Congress are wary of the price tag, as the estimated cost for modernizing the B61 bomb keeps rising, from an initial $4 billion to $8.1 billion. And a Pentagon panel has projected the cost could reach $10 billion to $12 billion.

“The case against the B61 life extension is simple: it is unaffordable, unworkable and unnecessary,” said Kingston Reif of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

For skeptics, the project looks overly ambitious at a time of budget austerity, when the Air Force is already planning major spending on the new F-35 fighter jet, a new long-range bomber and a new cruise missile.

The cost of the program is coming under particular scrutiny because Obama himself is pushing to scrap tactical weapons in Europe, prompting criticism that the whole undertaking is unnecessary.

“To me, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to spend billions of dollars to extend the life of weapons that the president has already said he wants to get rid of,” said Tom Collina, director of research at the Arms Control Association.

In an editorial, the New York Times denounced the effort as a “Faustian bargain” Obama made with Senate Republicans in 2010, promising modernization of the nuclear arsenal to secure approval of the New Start arms reduction agreement with Russia.

Obama has touted fresh arms control negotiations with Russia as a priority but making improvements to the B61 bomb could undermine prospects for any deal with Moscow, Collina and other experts said.

“Certainly, if the United States puts upgraded B61 bombs that are more accurate in Europe, Russia will probably have a response,” Collina said.

“I don’t know what that would be, but it certainly won’t be very positive.”

[Viet xưa]

Ở vào SHOE HOA KỲ BẮT BUỘC PHẢI LÀM VẬY.

Không còn choices nữa .

Hoa Kỳ đã lở sanh ra mang danh là nước "đàn anh" lại muốn có một quân đội "đại ca" để giử vững vị trí "Anh Hai" mãi mãi trên trái đất bắt buộc phải nâng cấp thường xuyên kỹ nghệ vũ khí của mình.

Cũng như một vô địch về bộ môn thể thao nào đó muốn giữ vững chức vô địch năm này sang năm nọ bắt buộc phải cực khổ training mỗi ngày bộ môn thể thao đó .

[DrNo]

Hàng không mẫu hạm Mỹ tiếp sĩ quan TQ trong khi tuần tra Biển Đông




08.11.2013
Hàng Không Mẫu Hạm USS George Washington của Hoa Kỳ nhân chuyến tuần tra trên Biển Đông hôm 7/11 đã đón tiếp sĩ quan của Quân đội Giải phóng Nhân dân Trung Quốc, một động thái nhằm duy trì các mối quan hệ quân sự êm thắm giữa hai nước Mỹ-Trung.

Bốn sĩ quan cao cấp của Trung Quốc cùng đoàn ký giả được mời đi tham quan tàu trong lúc một tàu khu trục nhỏ của Trung Quốc tháp tùng chiếc hàng không mẫu hạm Mỹ khi tàu này tiến vào các vùng biển gần duyên hải Trung Quốc.

Thủy thủ đoàn Mỹ phô diễn các hoạt động huấn luyện và công việc hằng ngày trên tàu với các siêu phản lực chiến đấu liên tục cất cánh, hạ cánh trên boong tàu rộng 4,5 mẫu Anh.

Đề Đốc Hải quân Mark C. Montgomery, Chỉ huy trưởng Hàng không Mẫu hạm USS George Washington, nói Hoa Kỳ mong muốn xây dựng một đối tác chiến lược với Trung Quốc.

Ông Montgomery cũng cho biết thêm rằng Hạm đội Thái Bình Dương Hoa Kỳ sẽ tăng các hoạt động giao tiếp quân sự với các nước đồng minh và đối tác trong vùng Châu Á-Thái Bình Dương. Đây cũng là chiến lược mới của Ngũ Giác Đài chuyển 60% tổng số tàu chiến Mỹ sang khu vực Thái Bình Dương trước cuối năm 2020 trong khuôn khổ sách lược ‘trục xoay’ Châu Á mà Washington loan báo hồi năm rồi.

[Viet xưa]

Đời là thế .

Khi em nhỏ khg cho anh lớn mướn hải cảng Cam Ranh,thì anh lớn có quyền giận lẩy đi rù rì với anh lớn khác .(theo thuyết :<KHG ai là kẻ thù vĩnh viễn> ) và chửi thầm trong bụng (suy đoán cho vui thôi );

" Chúng bây ,your F...gook's face, khoái sống dưới nách Beijing lắm phải khg? Được, thì chúng ông chìu cho toại nguyện như vậy.. Đẹ méo chúng bây thằng Cuba bày đàn của chúng bây còn cho chúng ông mướn Guantanamo đây nè mà chúng bây còn bày đặt diễn như đĩ Pác Pó chui ra Hanoi làm chảnh ...Hứ.. để chúng ông bắt tay với Anh Cả chúng bây coi cuộc đời chúng bây ra thế nào nhé ?"



KHi có hai anh nhớn rù rì (bề ngoài thì gầm gừ như cọp trong sở thú) mí nhau thì theo facts phải có một hay vài em nhỏ nào đó lảnh đủ ..

Đây là luật thiên nhiên ,khi sư tử rù rì bắt tay với chó rừng hyena thì bắt buộc Nai, Ngựa vằn, Hưu cao cổ phải lảnh đủ về sự giảm "dân số" .

Ngày nay dân Mỹ yêu chuộng Hòa bình hơn (nhìn bề ngoài) tiền bối của họ thời ww2 .
Họ khg còn ghét chệt Cộng như Mc Arthur (lại ưa chệt Đài )nữa ,khg còn muốn "Bình thiên hạ" nguyên trái đất nữa ,sẳn sàn chia hai với anh nhớn CC . Để áp dụng câu của Ng minh triết :

Chúng ta hai đứa ,một anh đằng Đông một anh đằng Tây. Washington ngủ thì Péking thức ,Péking ngủ thì W thức , hai đứa mình cùng nhau thay phiên canh chừng HB thế giới .

[DrNo]

This article appears in the November 8, 2013 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.
China, Russia Respond to
Anglo-American War Threat

Special to EIR

[PDF version of this article]

FLASH: On Oct. 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin invalidated a 2011 order that created a group tasked to work with NATO to develop cooperation on missile defense. The action follows years of refusal by the Obama Administration to provide written guarantees that it is not targeting Russia with its own missile-defense program. The latest such refusal was delivered by U.S. Acting Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller at a conference in Warsaw on Oct. 31.

Nov. 3—Russia and China are moving forward with a strategic defense alliance in response to growing concerns that the Anglo-Americans are heading toward a confrontation. Whether or not the Russian and Chinese leadership equate the growing war provocations with the financial and economic disintegration of the trans-Atlantic region, it is precisely that breakdown process that is driving the world toward a conflict that could escalate into a thermonuclear war of extermination.

Both China and Russia, each in its own way, have been upgrading their conventional and strategic nuclear forces to be ready for war, as a component of their resistance to the Anglo-American provocations. Moreover, the two countries are conducting their preparations in coordination with each other, as the meeting between President Putin and Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission Xu Qiliang on Oct. 31 underscores.

Putin indicated, according to Xinhua, that military cooperation plays a pivotal role in the strategic partnership between Russia and China, and he expressed the hope that the two defense ministries could improve their coordination to advance bilateral ties in the future. Xu replied that the China-Russia strategic cooperation has entered a new phase because of the efforts of both countries. Xu added that China is willing to deepen the military exchange and expand cooperation with Russia to boost bilateral ties to a new high.
China Sends a Signal

China, for the first time, went public Oct. 28, about its strategic nuclear missile submarines, when a number of articles began appearing in the Chinese media. People's Daily, on Oct. 31, quoted Chinese military expert Yin Zhuo characterizing China's strategic missile forces as components of a "counterattack strategy." That is,

"Only when our opponents use nuclear weapons to attack us, will we use nuclear weapons to counterattack them."

While China, like Russia and the U.S., operates a nuclear triad, the strategic missile submarines are considered the most important leg, because their chances of survival, should a conflict break out, is in the realm of 85-90%, compared to no more than 5-50% from the land-based missile and bomber forces.

The Chinese were also clear as to whom they are deterring, as a Global Times article on Oct. 28 made the point. A Chinese nuclear attack on the U.S. would mainly target population centers. Submarine-launched missiles fired from the Pacific would mainly be aimed at West Coast cities, while the land-based DF-31 ICBMs, fired over the North Pole, would primarily be aimed at major East Coast cities. The message in such statements is clear.
Russian Preparations

The Russians, meanwhile, have been conducting their own preparations. This week, President Putin ordered a no-notice snap exercise of the strategic missile and submarine forces, combined with an air and missile defense exercise on the Kapustin Yar testing range. Two ICBMs and two submarine-launched missiles were fired, as were about 15 S-300 and S-400 air defense missiles, during the exercise, which was overseen by Putin himself. Putin has ordered at least four such no-notice snap drills this year, and both he and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu have indicated that there will be more. The purpose of the drills is to test the war readiness of Russian forces.

While the strategic forces exercise was taking place, two TU-160 nuclear bombers were operating in South America. They arrived in Venezuela on Oct. 28, after a 13-hour flight from their base in the Volga region. On Oct. 30, they landed in Nicaragua, and are scheduled to carry out patrols over the region.

These Russian and Chinese actions coincided with long-scheduled NATO maneuvers that were aimed explicitly at targets in the East. Entitled "Steadfast Jazz," the maneuvers purport to test measures to defend NATO's eastern flank, i.e., the one that faces Russia. According to quotes reported in Polish newspapers (Poland and Latvia are hosting the maneuvers), the NATO exercise will be taking place in areas less than 30 seconds flight time by jet from Russian territory.

While these superpower machinations were playing out with little public notice, a much more visible conflict has been underway between U.S. national security circles and the Saudi monarchy. The Saudi leadership is furious at the Obama Administration for backing off from promises to launch military action against the Assad government in Syria, and taking up the Putin proposal for Syria to dismantle its chemical weapons program.

The Saudis, along with the other Gulf Cooperation Council countries, believe that the U.S. has not only entered into a deal with Russia to prevent a new U.S. military action in Southwest Asia. They believe that the Obama Administration is prepared to make a deal with Tehran that will give Iran cover to continue covertly building toward a nuclear weapon, while the U.S. expands its regional clout with an end to Western sanctions. What the Saudis and the others stubbornly refuse to realize is that the pushback against war is coming from the American military and some factions in the intelligence community, who are themselves terrified that a desperate President Obama will bring the world to the brink of general war.
Steps Toward Peace

As of this moment, the P5+1 is scheduled to meet again with top Iranian negotiators in Geneva Nov. 7-8 to continue the talks that resumed in that city in early October. Last week, Iran's top nuclear negotiator met with the IAEA in Vienna, Austria, and both sides agreed that substantial progress had been made in solving the remaining issues of dispute. A follow-up meeting is scheduled later this month in Tehran.

Secretary of State John Kerry was sent on short notice on an 11-day, 9-nation tour of the Middle East, to tell Israeli and Saudi leaders, among others, that the United States is not about to sell them out in a deal with Tehran. Kerry will attempt to assure the regional allies that Washington will not ever allow Iran to get close to obtaining a nuclear weapon, and that all countries of the region would benefit if a deal were reached assuring that Iran will never get be allowed to develop such weapons. This will be a tough sell in both Riyadh and Tel Aviv, where Obama is seen as having betrayed his closest friends by failing to bomb Syria, by abandoning longtime American ally Hosni Mubarak in Egypt during the January 2011 revolution, and most of all, by negotiating with Iran.

Israel is also furious at the U.S. for leaking evidence to the media that Israel carried out missile strikes against a Syrian airbase near the coastal city of Latakia last week. This is the second time that the United States made clear that Israel had carried out the covert assaults, in order to distance Washington from the Israeli actions.

Even though the U.S. is working with Moscow and Beijing on the P5+1 talks with Iran, and is also working bilaterally with Russia on upcoming Geneva II talks aimed at ending the Syria conflict, the level of distrust of Washington is high, and will continue to be so, as long as Obama is in office, and the U.S. opposes the kind of Glass-Steagall reform of the entire financial system that is the only durable war-avoidance and war-prevention option.

[DrNo]

A global conflict between the US, Russia, and China is likely in the coming months should the world powers fail to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, an American analyst says.


“If the talks fail, if the agreements being pursued are not successfully carried forward and implemented, then there would be enormous international pressure to drive towards a conflict with Iran before [US President Barack] Obama leaves office and that’s a very great danger that no one can underestimate the importance of,” senior editor at the Executive Intelligence Review Jeff Steinberg told Press TV on Wednesday.

“The United States could find itself on one side and Russia and China on the other and those are the kinds of conditions that can lead to miscalculation and general roar,” Steinberg said.

“So the danger in this situation is that if these talks don’t go forward, we could be facing a global conflict in the coming months and years and that’s got to be avoided at all costs when you’ve got countries like the United States, Russia, and China with” their arsenals of “nuclear weapons,” he warned.

The warning came one day after the White House told Congress not to impose new sanctions against Tehran because failure in talks with Iran could lead to war.

White House press secretary Jay Carney called on Congress to allow more time for diplomacy as US lawmakers are considering tougher sanctions.

"This is a decision to support diplomacy and a possible peaceful resolution to this issue," Carney said. "The American people do not want a march to war."

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry is set to meet with the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday to hold off on more sanctions on the Iranian economy.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Kerry "will be clear that putting new sanctions in place would be a mistake."

"While we are still determining if there is a diplomatic path forward, what we are asking for right now is a pause, a temporary pause in sanctions. We are not taking away sanctions. We are not rolling them back," Psaki added.

The analyst also noted that Israel and Saudi Arabia are “the usual suspects,” which are “working hand in hand to try to prevent” an interim nuclear agreement with Iran.

AGB/AGB

[DrNo]

South Korea to Go “All In” on F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
Plus, the Navy’s top officer is only slightly worried about sequester’s impact on the pivot. Wednesday defense links.

Myriad sources in recent weeks are reporting that South Korea’s military has decided that its country needs the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. According to one report from Reuters, in a meeting on Friday South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff will endorse an “all F-35 buy” of 40 of the aircraft for its FX-III fighter jet competition. The same report said that they will also include an option to purchase 20 additional F-35s in the future. Some notable figures are recommending that Seoul should purchase a combination of F-35s and F-15s.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy is looking at purchasing more F/A-18 fighter jets even as it reiterates its commitment to the F-35.

Real Clear Defense’s Dustin Walker has an excellent (and Asia-centric) interview with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert. In the interview Greenert admits to worrying about being “out-sticked” in the Asia-Pacific due to China’s growing anti-ship capabilities. Nonetheless, Greenert contends that despite sequestration “we are continuing our focus, our priority in that budgetary environment to the Asia-Pacific. And there will be growth in that arena as opposed tojust less reduction.”

Per usual, War on the Rocks has featured some excellent analyses in recent days. One such piece by Matthew Hipple considers how a war between the U.S. and China would start. Frank Hoffman also asks some hard questions about Air-Sea Battle in the context of the new QDR.



As part of its “Asia-Pacific Oversight Series,” the House Armed Services Committee held what Breaking Defense is calling an unprecedented gathering of Asia-Pacific ambassadors last week.

Feng at Information Dissemination runs through some of the new projects the Chinese military is working on.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel are meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Defense Minister David Johnston in Washington, DC today for the annual Australia-U.S. Ministerial (AUSMIN).

[DrNo]

Dubai Air Show: Boeing leads order books race
A Boeing executive talks about its 777X aircraft Boeing has got off to strong sales of its 777 mini-jumbo


Airlines in the Gulf have placed a number of high-value plane orders on the first day of the Dubai Air Show, with US giant Boeing a major winner.

Dubai-based Emirates airline placed an order for 150 of Boeing's new 777 mini-jumbos, in a $76bn (£47bn) deal.

Other orders from Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways and Lufthansa for some 109 of the new 777, previously codenamed 777X, brought its sales total to $95bn.

Emirates has also ordered 50 Airbus A380s, in a deal worth $23bn.

The airline is already the biggest customer of the A380 and the new deal will bring its total orders for the plane to 140.

And local rival Etihad Airways has also announced a firm order for 87 Airbus aircraft - some 50 A350 XWBs, 36 A320neo aircraft and one A330-200F as part of its fleet modernisation strategy.

The deal - valued at $19bn - includes options for 30 more planes.
'Astounding'

Boeing said its 777 mini-jumbo sales represented "the largest product launch in commercial jetliner history by dollar value".

"The response to the 777X has been astounding," Boeing chairman James McNerney added at the official launch of the new plane in Dubai.

The 777 will come in two models, one seating 350 passengers, and another seating 406 people.

Boeing's new aircraft is designed to compete with the largest version of Airbus's A350 in the mini-jumbo market.

European rival Airbus has launched a campaign for a minimum standard seat width of 18 inches on long trips, as it seeks to draw the focus of airlines to what it says will be the 777's narrower seats.

Meanwhile, Airbus will be looking to sell more of its A380 super-jumbo aircraft, the world's biggest passenger aircraft, which is facing a potential cut in production unless some more orders are secured.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has visited the airshow site, with the UK competing with France for a potential 60-plane fighter jet deal with the United Arab Emirates.

Mr Cameron welcomed the Airbus orders from Emirates and Eithad Airways, as well as the news that Rolls-Royce had won a $5bn order from Etihad Airways to supply Trent XWB engines for the 50 Airbus A350s.

"This is a great day for the British aerospace industry," he said. Earlier, Airbus had said the order from Emirates would protect 2,500 jobs at its UK bases in Flintshire and Bristol.