After the crash of a Mi-17 of 85th Training Squadron yesterday, Iraqi Army Aviation lost another hélicopter today.

One Bell IA-407 from 21st Armed Reconnaissance Squadron has been shot down near Amiriyat Al-Fallujah.

The two crew members, Major Ahmed Nehru and 1st Lieutenant Oumid, was killed.

Haha this ridiculous thing again....

At least don't call it a tank boat .A tank has very thick armor (that I am sure this boat does not have) to battle enemy tanks. This X-18 is basically a military bimaran boat with a heavy gun for (ship-to-shore?) fire support.

Stop belittle our neighbour, at least they have their own industries. Unlike us.

Cool down, brah.

Criticizing a product is not the same as belittling a country. I criticize F-35 do I also belittle US military industry?
Get your act together.

Singapore Airshow 2016: Indonesia's BAKAMLA shortlists Rajawali-350 for shipborne UAV requirement

Ridzwan Rahmat, Singapore - IHS Jane's Navy International
17 February 2016


UMS SKELDAR's R-350 rotor-wing UAV. The Rajawali-350 is the Indonesian variant of the R-350 that will be co-produced in-country by PT Bhinneka Dwi Persada. Source: UMS SKELDAR

Indonesian maritime security agency (Badan Keamanan Laut, or BAKAMLA) has shortlisted the Rajawali-350 rotor-wing UAV to meet its shipborne UAV requirement, Indonesian defence equipment manufacturer PT Bhinneka Dwi Persada (PT BDP) told IHS Jane's at the Singapore Airshow 2016.

The Rajawali-350 is based on UMS SKELDAR's vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) remotely piloted aircraft system known as the R-350. The system is being marketed under a partnership between PT DBP and UMS SKELDAR that was signed in December 2015.

"Should the Rajawali-350 be selected, we will be working with UMS SKELDAR to manufacture the UAV under licence at our premises in Cipinang, East Jakarta", said Christeven Bong, an executive engineer at PT DBP. BAKAMLA has indicated a requirement for three rotor-wing UAVs to bolster its maritime surveillance and search-and-rescue capabilities.

According to specifications provided by the company, the Rajawali-350 can take a maximum payload of 30 kg and features an endurance level of in excess of 4 hours. The platform is powered by a single turboshaft power plant and has a maximum level speed of 78 kt (145km/h). "The UAV can be equipped with air-droppable SAR pods, electro-optical and infra-red cameras for SAR and maritime surveillance missions", said Bong.

The BAKAMLA is expected to award a tender for the three UAVs by mid-2016.

Singapore Airshow 2016: Malaysia begins preliminary evaluations of AW159

Ridzwan Rahmat, Singapore - IHS Jane's Navy International
18 February 2016

Key Points

* Malaysia is said to have begun initial evaluations of the AW159 anti-submarine helicopter
* Evaluations may be part of the service's effort to consider a wider variety of platforms for the requirement

The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) has begun preliminary evaluations of the AgustaWestland AW159 maritime and utility aircraft for the country's anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters requirement, an industry source close to the matter told IHS Jane's at Singapore Airshow 2016.

The RMN has indicated a requirement for six ASW platforms that will be operated from its new Second Generation Patrol Vessel - Littoral Combat Ships (SGPV-LCSs).

Besides the AW159, the service is also believed to be evaluating other platforms, including the Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk and the Airbus Helicopters H225M, the latter being considered to leverage on commonality in training and operations with the country's air force, which is currently operating the EC 725 (an earlier version of the H225M, then manufactured by Eurocopter).

U.S. Navy Anti-Ship Tomahawk Set for Surface Ships, Subs Starting in 2021

By: Sam LaGrone

February 18, 2016 4:44 AM • Updated: February 17, 2016 9:56 PM

SAN DIEGO – Any U.S. Navy ship or submarine capable of firing a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) could be armed with an 1000-nautical mile anti-ship cruise missile in less than a decade, service officials told USNI News on Wednesday during the West 2016 conference.

Included in the Fiscal Year 2017 budget request to Congress is a $434 million ask over the next five years to modify 245 Raytheon TLAMS with a maritime attack capability, Vice Adm. Joseph Mulloy, deputy chief of naval operations for integration of capabilities and resources, told USNI News in a Wednesday interview.

“It won’t be all the Tomahawks but a good number of them coming off the line will have it,” he sadi.
“It’s going for surface first and the submarines will encapsulate it.”

The budget moves follows a Naval Air Systems command (NAVAIR) proved a Block IV TLAM – a long range land attack weapon — could be guided into a moving maritime target during a test in early 2015.

The Navy had briefly fielded an anti-ship Tomahawk in the 1990s but the lower fidelity of contemporary sensors made the missile risky to use at long ranges for fear of hitting an unintended target.

Following the test, Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work called the prospect of a modified anti-ship Tomahawk, “a game changing capability.”

According to the plan laid out in the Navy budget (and blessed by big Pentagon) the maritime attack modified Tomahawk will enter the surface force in 2021 for live testing and then trickle out to every platform that can fire the missile – currently the Ticonderoga guided missile cruisers, Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyers the Navy’s attack submarine fleet (SSNs) and the four Ohio-class guided missile nuclear guided missile submarines (SSGNs).

The modification will be part of the Navy’s recertification and life extension of older Tomahawks, which – with new FY 2017 funding for new TLAMS – will be ultimately an inventory of 4,000 missiles.

When the service was programming the FY 2017 budget – which dipped three-and-a-half percent below 2016 projections – it told the Office of the Secretary of Defense it would like to have the capability but didn’t have the funds. OSD agreed and added the line item to the service’s budget, Mulloy said.

The move not only fits into the surface Navy’s ongoing distributed lethality philosophy that seeks to improve the offensive power of the service’s surface assets as quickly as finances allow but also adds a new weapon for submarines to take on surface threats.

Both the surface navy and the submarine force have had limited missile space to take on a myriad of threats and the Navy – until recently – had invested little into new ship-launched anti-surface missile efforts . But with the increasing speed of development of both China and Russia’s anti-surface weapons in the last several years, the ability to pierce the so-called anti-access aerial denial (A2/AD) bubbles designed to keep U.S. forces at arms length has become an increasing concern to the service.

“[Along with] our surface brothers and sisters, we got to get the long-range missile so we’re not held out by that A2/AD bubble and we have the stick to hit inside,” said Vice Adm. Joseph Tofalo, commander, Naval Submarine Forces (COMSUBFOR), said on Wednesday.
“We need to diversify the kinds of targets our missiles can hit to include the introduction of an anti-ship version of the Tomahawk missile.”

The Navy’s submarines previously fielded a sub-launched version of Boeing’s Harpoon anti-ship missile (UGM-84A) but retired the line in 1997. The introduction of the anti-ship TLAM would be the first anti-surface weapon in the sub force since the Harpoons left the fleet.

News of the maritime TLAM follows Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s announcement of the development of an anti-surface mode of the super sonic Raytheon Standard Missile 6 anti-air weapon (AAW). Combined with the Tomahawk investment, the pair will be the first new anti-surface system the service has fielded in decades.

“There’s a lot of things that we can do to make smart investments now to continue to change the calculus of our potential adversaries so as we execute the strategy they’ll wake up and say, ‘We didn’t see that one coming’,” said Vice Adm. Thomas Rowden, commander U.S. Surface Forces Pacific (SURFPAC) said on Wednesday.

Ah, MAF digital desert? First time seeing it.

mission specific camo... like singkie...

wat colour was MAF in somalia last time?

From pics it seems that in Somalia MAF used its old woodland brush stroke camo.

Thailand looking to buy Mi-17V-5 helicopters - report

February 19, 2016 Alexander Korablinov, RBTH

Thai officials are in talks with Rosoboronexport.

Thailand is looking at ordering a batch of Mi-17V-5 helicopters, TASS said, citing a Russian defense industry source.

“Thailand has previously bought six Mi-17V-5 helicopters manufactured by the Kazan Helicopter Plant,” the source told the news agency. “The negotiations are conducted through Rosoboronexport (Russia’s state-owed arms exporting company). We hope that the negotiations will bear fruit as early as this year.”

Thailand’s Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwon will visit Russia on Feb. 23-24.

i see, maybe after that mission they decided it is not of best interest to do so..

as expected

i see, maybe after that mission they decided it is not of best interest to do so..