Japan commissions helicopter carrier Izumo
James Hardy, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly

25 March 2015

The JMSDF commissioned JS Izumo on 25 March. Source: PA/Kyodo News

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) commissioned first-in-class helicopter carrier JS Izumo (DDH 183) in a ceremony in Yokohama on 25 March.

The 248 m-long vessel, which displaces 24,000 tonnes at full load, is the largest Japanese military ship built since the Second World War and can carry up to 14 helicopters. Izumo and its yet unnamed sister ship (DDH 184) are replacing JS Shirane (DDH 143) and JS Kurama (DDH 144), inducted in 1980 and 1981, respectively.

DDH 184 is due to be launched in August by Yokohama-based shipbuilder IHI Marine United. It is scheduled to be commissioned in March 2017.

According to IHS Jane's Fighting Ships , Izumo is equipped with an OQQ-22 bow-mounted sonar for submarine prosecution while air defence is provided by two Raytheon RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile SeaRAM launchers and two Phalanx close-in weapon systems.

While optimised for anti-submarine warfare - it can embark Sikorsky/Mitsubishi SH-60K Seahawk anti-submarine warfare helicopters and the Izumo class's air wing will also include two airborne mine countermeasures versions of the Kawasaki Heavy Industries/AgustaWestland MCH-101 helicopter - JMSDF officials claim that the ship will be deployed mainly for border surveillance and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions.

Officials in Tokyo have also suggested it will embark Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and could play a command-and-control role in any operations to protect Japanese territories in the East China Sea.

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Link:http://www.janes.com/article/50196/japan-commissions-helicopter-carrier-izumo

Their much touted DDH finally launched. Anyway, does anyone have any idea about the destroyer under construction in the background?

Probably Kongo class doing refit work

P8 from Philippine. US Navy P8 station in Philippine , P8 can fly over 7000 km range, P8 to Hainan just 1000km, small matter for P8.

Mah hand sweating watching this

9:03 looks like the pilot having a hard time to recover the aircraft, fuuu that is the most scariest part

This post has been edited by OvenBaked: Mar 29 2015, 06:19 PM

NESCOM Burraq UCAV (CH-3)

Tough, fish scale-like material with soft flexibility could protect soldiers, astronauts


"The secret behind this material is in the combination and design of hard scales above with soft, flexible tissue below," says Technion Assistant Professor Stephan Rudykh, pictured here.

Credit: Image courtesy of American Technion Society

A team of researchers has developed a revolutionary material that has superior anti-penetration properties while remaining flexible. The new material, inspired by the way nature designed fish scales, could be used to make bulletproof clothing for the military and space suits that are impervious to micro-meteorites and radiation when astronauts embark on spacewalks. The joint research effort was conducted at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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A paper outlining the characteristics, test results and applications of the new material was published in a recent issue of the technology journal Soft Matter, a publication of the Royal Society of Chemistry. The research was led by Assistant Professor Stephen Rudykh, head of the Technion's Mechanics of Soft Materials Laboratory.

"Many species of fish are flexible, but they are also protected by hard scales," said Prof. Rudykh. "Taking inspiration from nature, we tried to replicate this protecto-flexibility by combining two layers of materials -- one soft for flexibility and the other with armor-like scales. The secret behind this material is in the combination and design of hard scales above with soft, flexible tissue below."

Generally, strength and flexibility are competing properties, explained Professor Rudykh. You can't have both. However, the research team found a way to increase the penetration resistance by a factor of 40, while the flexibility of the soft material was reduced by only a factor of five. If the application is, for example, a military uniform for combat, more flexibility can be built into the areas needing flexibility, such as the elbows and knees, while the anti-penetration properties elsewhere, such as in the upper body, can be beefed-up.

"That attribute allows for the fabric to be tailored to the wearer's body and the environment that the wearer will be facing," explained Professor Rudykh, who carried out post-doctoral studies at MIT where he worked with 3-D printing technology before joining the Technion. "This work is part of a revolution in materials properties. Once we can gain control over a material's micro properties, using 3-D printing we can create materials of an entirely different type, each with the ability to be adjusted to fit the wearer, the need, and the environment."

The researchers have conducted initial testing on the material and are moving into dynamic tests using fast-moving projectiles, both bullets and small particles, and also testing the flexibility attribute under pressure.

"Our findings provide new guidelines for developing simple material architectures that retain flexibility while offering protection with highly tunable properties," concluded the researchers. "The tailored performance of the protective system -- with characteristics that can be tuned according to the required movements at different regions of the body -- draws its abilities from the microstructural geometry. The ability for a given microstructure to offer different deformation resistance mechanisms is key to achieving the multifunctional design of stiff plates and soft matrix. We found that careful selection of microstructural characteristics can provide designs optimized for protection against penetration while preserving flexibility."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/...50312122602.htm

This post has been edited by BorneoAlliance: Mar 29 2015, 07:21 PM

China's Nightmare: Vietnam's New Killer Submarines





Read more:- http://nationalinterest.org/feature/chinas...ubmarines-12505

From undersea drones to $1M satellite launches: DARPA outlines its priorities





http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog...a.html?page=all

DARPA Launches 'Plan X' to Defeat Chinese and Russian Hackers





http://www.chinatopix.com/articles/44108/2...ese-hackers.htm

On the lighter side of news



Servicemen will get cheaper everyday stuffs now

Dont they get tax free stuff at army base? Eg tax free booze and ciggs?

Army Chief welcomes anything
the MD are also quite aggressive in promoting the 530

IINM the moves was called the falling leaf
but in any case or movement, the MKM pilot will have a up to 45 second of recovery time
that is the safety requirement set by TUDM

Everytime the MKM going up all the kokesen will go to the tarmac
esp the US pilot

they do, but they still got tax upon purchase in GST

Islamic Republic of Texas? How Jade Helm Could Be a Mock Invasion of Iran

















http://sputniknews.com/us/20150329/1020185282.html

This post has been edited by BorneoAlliance: Mar 30 2015, 06:17 AM

Face to face, they keep conciliatory tone to alay Iran's fear, while behind the scene, they sharpen their dagger to strike.

India Okays 5K-cr project for next-gen airborne warning system





More reading:- http://www.brahmand.com/news/India-Okays-5...13743/1/10.html

I think TLDM will need heli carrier for Marine Corps...

ya, just no budget to get it and operation. get small LPD first.

This post has been edited by waja2000: Mar 30 2015, 11:01 AM

marine plan is also on hold as i was told... that why no any update till now

Plus, mrss is no longer a priority but will be inserted in the joint proposal. Nothing wrong to try their luck to see if they might get it or not

Afghan Air Force receives six MD 530F helicopters



The Afghan Air Force in Kabul has received six MD 530F Cayuse Warrior scout attack helicopters from MD Helicopters, the company announced on 20 March.

The helicopters were delivered within six months of MD Helicopters receiving the order in October 2014. The Cayuse Warrior was developed in response to the drawdown of coalition forces in the region.

MD Helicopters developed a purpose-built, close attack helicopter to meet the capability requirements identified by the International Security Assistance Force - Afghanistan for light scout attack helicopters.

This post has been edited by thpace: Mar 30 2015, 01:17 PM

South Korea opts for KAI-Lockheed in $7.8 bln fighter deal

Seoul (AFP) - South Korea on Monday selected Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and partner Lockheed Martin for a multi-billion-dollar contract to develop 120 "indigenous" fighter jets to replace Seoul's ageing fleet.

The bid from KAI and the US aerospace giant, which is subject to a screening process before being officially approved, was always seen as the favourite for the 8.6 trillion won ($7.8 billion) deal over a rival bid by civilian carrier Korean Air (KAL) teamed with Airbus.

The Defence Ministry also approved a separate $1.28 billion deal to buy Patriot PAC-3 missiles and upgrade its air defence system aimed at intercepting North Korean ballistic missiles.

The KF-X fighter project is designed to develop and produce 120 fighter jets of a new, indigenous type to replace South Korea's ageing fleet of F-4s and F-5s.

"We have chosen KAI as the preferred bidder based on our review of... cost, development plans and development capabilities of the two bidders," the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said in a statement.

"We are planning to sign the (final) contract during the first half of this year after negotiating with the preferred bidder over technology... and the price," it said.

The South Korean government is to provide 60 percent of the development costs, with the rest to be shared by the winning consortium and Indonesia, whose involvement is the result of a bilateral defence treaty.

The KAI-Lockheed alliance always had the upper hand, as the same partnership developed the T-50 trainer, which is South Korea's first homegrown supersonic aircraft.

Lockheed, which won a contract in 2013 to sell 40 F-35A joint strike fighters to South Korea, has promised to transfer key technologies for the KF-X project to Seoul.

South Korea's military procurement needs, especially where the air force is concerned, have overwhelmingly been met by US suppliers in the past -- a reflection of their close military alliance.

KAL had talked up its bid by highlighting the technical support available from Airbus, which is part of the European consortium that developed the Eurofighter.

Airbus has made a number of bids for the South's military contracts, including a $1.38 billion deal to provide air refuelling tankers.

The defence ministry's request for the KF-X project required a new design, although experts say a heavily modified version of an existing fighter model would also be acceptable.

DAPA officials said South Korea would also buy an unspecified number of "hit-and-kill" PAC-3 missiles from Lockheed Martin by 2020 to improve its anti-ballistic missile capabilities.

US defence contractor Raytheon has been selected to upgrade South Korea's PAC-2 fire control system to launch both PAC-2 and PAC-3 missile, DAPA spokesman Kim Si-Cheol told reporters.

http://news.yahoo.com/south-korea-opts-kai...tory&soc_trk=tw