Ten years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and smashed Iraq's military, the country has become a major buyer of military equipment, spending billions to rebuild its armed forces.

Singapore is in the final stages of evaluating the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as a possible replacement for its older fighters, the defence ministry said Tuesday.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke by phone with his Egyptian counterpart to hear an update on the tense political situation in Cairo and the "role" of the army amid recent street demonstrations, a Pentagon spokesman said.

A US air force F-16 fighter jet based in northern Italy went missing over the Adriatic Monday after the pilot reported a problem in his last radio communication, the Italian news agency Ansa reported.

Turkish jets have pounded Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq in the fiercest aerial campaign in years, military sources said Wednesday, as the bodies of three Kurdish activists who were killed in Paris arrived home.

Turkish jets have pounded Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq in the fiercest aerial campaign in years, military sources said Wednesday, the same day the bodies of three female Kurdish activists who were killed in Paris were due home.

The formation of a new military headquarters covering disputed territory in northern Iraq has sent already-poor relations between Baghdad and its autonomous Kurdish region plummeting.

Baghdad cancelled a $4.2 billion arms package with Russia on Saturday citing graft concerns and instead opted for new talks, ending a deal that would have made Moscow Iraq's second-biggest arms supplier.

Iraq called for the US to speed up its weapons deliveries on Thursday as the two countries near a deal on a second set of 18 F-16s, days after Baghdad signed $4.2 billion in arms deals with Moscow.

China said Saturday that US politicians should cease "groundless" criticism of the country, stay out of its internal affairs and promote better relations, as the US presidential election race heats up.

China's official news agency on Wednesday criticised what it called a "blame-China game" by US presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a day after he formally secured the Republican nomination.

Iraq expects to receive the first group of F-16 warplanes next year, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's spokesman said on Thursday, after US officials said the aircraft would not arrive until 2014.

Top US military officer General Martin Dempsey insisted during a quick trip to Iraq that Washington was still playing an important role there, eight months after the last American troops departed.

British arms manufacturer BAE Systems on Monday said it had won a contract to upgrade more than 130 South Korean F-16 fighter jets.

A high-ranking Iraqi official on Sunday said security agencies have uncovered a secret weapons deal between the autonomous Kurdistan region and an unnamed foreign country.

For over a decade US fighter pilots have become accustomed to "owning the sky" in wars against insurgents who have no air defenses, but now the air force is trying to get back to basics reminding pilots how to fly against a sophisticated enemy.

The Pentagon said Wednesday it plans to send a US air force detachment to Poland to support fighter jets and transport planes, marking the first time that US soldiers have been stationed there.

Two F-16 fighters were scrambled Thursday after three small planes violated a flight ban imposed for a fundraising visit by President Barack Obama in California, officials said.

Two F-16 fighters were scrambled Thursday after three small planes violated a flight ban imposed for a fundraising visit by President Barack Obama in California, officials said.

Two F-16 fighters were scrambled Thursday to intercept two small planes violating a flight ban imposed for a visit by President Barack Obama, in the latest such incident, officials said.