PUTRAJAYA: The Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) will be getting more assets, according to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
He said the reinforcement was crucial in establishing ESSCom’s omni presence over the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (ESSZone) stretching more than 1,700 kilometres.
The additional assets included a state of the art radar, an attack helicopter and drones.
“Preparedness is not just rhetoric and commitment on paper. We must meet ESSCom’s surveillance requirements and enforcement personnel preparedness,” he told a media conference on ESSCom, today.
Earlier, he chaired a high level meeting on development projects for ESSZone and acquisition for ESSCom at the Home Ministry here.
Also present were Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, Home Deputy Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed and Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.
Ahmad Zahid said ESSZone which comprises 10 districts, namely Kudat, Kota Marudu, Pitas, Beluran, Sandakan, Kinabatangan, Lahad Datu, Kunak, Semporna and Tawau was very vulnerable to intruders.
Hence, he said, to prevent any likelihood of such threat, coordination and recognition of it were emphasised among the enforcement agencies involved.
“Powerful nations had in the past failed to resist guerrilla war tactics; we should not be trapped in the same way,” he said.
On the current security status in the ESSZone, he described it as good, judging from the morale of the personnel.
During the media conference, Ahmad Zahid also introduced ESSCom’s new commander SAC Datuk Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid, who is replacing DCP Abdul Rashid Harun.
Abdul Rashid has been promoted and will assume duties as Sabah Police Commissioner effective Dec 23.
ESSCom also has a new chief executive officer, Noor Alam Khan Abdul Wahid Khan. He replaces Ruji Ubi who has been appointed as Sabah State Development director effective Dec 16.
Meanwhile, Bari who was Kuala Lumpur Traffic and Public Order chief prior to his appointment said he was yet unfamiliar with his new task but would do his best.
As for Noor Alam Khan, he felt his appointment as ESSCom’s CEO would be a bigger challenge compared to his job as Sabah Immigration director.-BERNAMA
Rendi A. Witular The Jakarta Post, Tokyo | December 18 2015 | 6:27 PM
In what appears to be a historic chapter in Indonesian and Japanese bilateral relations, both nations have forged a defense cooperation agreement that will pave the way for Indonesia to procure Japanese military hardware with a possibility of technology transfers as well.
The agreement was announced after the so-called “2 plus 2” ministerial meetings attended by the foreign and defense ministers of both countries on Thursday, which came amid simmering territorial tensions in the South China Sea (SCS) between China and Indonesia’s fellow ASEAN members Philippine and Vietnam.
With a raft of outcomes from the meetings that see Indonesian and Japanese relations achieve a new high, Indonesia is the first ASEAN member to have the privilege of holding such a rare meeting, following similar meetings held by Japan and its allies the US and Australia.
The main outcome of the agreement relates to Indonesia’s potential purchase of advanced Japanese military products, after the latter passed legislation on peace and security that has lifted prohibitions on exporting military hardware imposed since the end of World War II.
“In today’s meeting, we’ve agreed to start negotiations on defense equipment and technology transfers,” said Japan’s Defense Minister Gen Nakatani in an interview at his office after the meeting.
“We like to focus on the holding of discussions [on the procurement] in relation to maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,” he said.
According to Nakatani, Indonesia’s plan to procure US-2 amphibious aircraft used in maritime rescue operations was high on the agenda.
However, he said that when it came to technology transfers a comprehensive and concrete agreement should be forged.
“There should be a clear rule such as how long this cooperation can be conducted and to what extent. Going forward we need more concrete proposals and more coordination with the Indonesian government,” he said. According to an Indonesian official, the cost of one US-2 may amount to Rp 1 trillion (US$71.4 million).
Indonesian newest locally designed & built Light Strike Vehicle on display in an exhibition showcasing Indonesia's indigenous weaponry at TNI Headquarter. The new Light Strike Vehicle was also presented to the Indonesian President during the exhibition.
All photos credit to original uploaders.
This post has been edited by azriel: Dec 19 2015, 11:00 AM
Airbus Defence and Space Delivers High-Performance Radar for Protection of Malaysian Coastlines
(Source: Airbus Defence and Space; issued Dec 17, 2015)
ULM, Germany --- Airbus Defence and Space will deliver five of its newest SPEXER 2000 Coastal radars to Malaysia in order to monitor coastlines and prevent illicit intrusions. Under the multimillion Euro contract, deliveries will be completed in 2016.
"SPEXER 2000 Coastal is the worldwide first security radar using the latest radar technology of Active Electronically Scanning Array (AESA). Its capability to detect even smallest targets in difficult littoral environments ensures a very high level of situational awareness providing security forces with additional reaction time", explained Thomas Müller, Head of Electronics and Border Security at Airbus Defence and Space.
SPEXER 2000 Coastal is optimized for the surveillance of coastal areas and maritime infrastructure such as harbours and oil fields. With an instrumented range of 133 NM (247 km), its high doppler and velocity resolution as well as its high sea clutter suppression, it is able to detect and track even very small and slowly moving objects such as swimmers and rubber dinghies, but also fast objects such as speed boats. The Command & Control system will be provided by Signalis/Bremen.
Due to a unique signal processing architecture, SPEXER 2000 Coastal reliably detects sea, land and air targets alike. Hence, one SPEXER 2000 Coastal radar can replace two or more conventional radars that would be necessary for a simultaneous land and sea surveillance.
The radar has a compact all-in-one design allowing also the integration into surveillance vehicles or the rapid deployment on a tripod for an on-demand surveillance of alternating areas of interest. Furthermore, a camera can be cued to the radar in order to identify suspicious objects. Combined with its high availability and no scheduled maintenance, this ensures a superior performance without any surveillance gaps.
SPEXER 2000 Coastal is part of Airbus Defence and Space’s SPEXER security radar family which consists of several sensors, each optimized for specific applications in the fields of border, infrastructure, perimeter and coastal surveillance.
A specific version for border surveillance, SPEXER 2000, is deployed in a huge border surveillance system in the Middle East; a military version has been developed for the German Army.
looks like compressor stall. The engine sound died before the plunge.
Yes engine sound dead before spiral plunge.
QUOTE(waja2000 @ Dec 20 2015, 08:15 PM)
Indonesia TA-50 Crash ..... surprising no ejection from pilot seems 2-3 sec before crash jet already in horizontal position, maybe pilot try save jet.
There were residential area near the crash site. Maybe they were trying to avoid that area. Still speculative though. Investigation is underway.
QUOTE(KLboy92 @ Dec 20 2015, 08:19 PM)
Their new aircraft? Pilot error maybe?
Yes T50i No.7. Investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of this fatal accident.
Anyway the pilots that were killed from today fatal accident are Lt.Col Marda "Lanner" Sardjono (15th Squadron Commander) & Capt Dwi "Ostrich" Cahyadi.
LoL. AFAIK the Indian Pak-Fa will be a two seater. This was obviously Russian.
QUOTE(MrUbikeledek @ Dec 21 2015, 08:48 AM)
Who will be the panel in the investigation? If I understand Indonesian, they can be quite narcissistic sometimes and will not admit their pilot mistake.
QUOTE(Naskah @ Dec 21 2015, 08:58 AM)
well i think it's completely from pilot error due to insufficient altitude to complete the maneuver.
^^^ Some amateures video of the accident shows that while performing a loop maneuver at descending it seems the engine shuts down (no audible sounds of the engine) and plane went spiraling down. Seconds from impact there was a sounds of the engine starting up but it was too late. Looks like the pilots was trying hard to restart the engine while trying to avoid residential areas and saving the plane. Witnesses also confirmed of the lost of engine sounds while the plane performed a loop maneuver.
Will have to wait for the official investigation report.
With a new aircraft it could be anything. Past errors include pilot tertekan wrong switch, because in the new model its on the left side not the right side, pilot terlupa stall angle, terlupa climb rate, etc.
On the technical side, maintenance crews unfamiliar with the aircraft, terlupa buka dono what, maintain it improperly, left something open/shut, this thing jam that thing blocked.... with the new glass cockpits and fly by wire, electronic faults and system error or refresh or blue screen...
Apalagi during acrobatic manoeuvre. Really no point in pointing fingers in such a case.
Korean KAI is also sending a team to investigates the cause of the accident.
SHAH ALAM: SELAMAT jalan, Fulcrum? With less than 10 days to go before the new year, there is still no word from RMAF whether or not it will retire its Mig-29N Fulcrum fleet. We know however that there is no upgrade planned for the fleet which will extend their service lives.
With the defence budget coming under pressure due to the uncertain economic conditions, it is likely that RMAF had already made its choice. As I have written before due to the sensitivity of the issue no announcement will be made. As the old ballad says: “An old soldier never dies, they just fade away”.
And no, we are not buying the JF-17 from Pakistan, despite reports to the contrary.
As this a photo tribute, I am posting a slew of pictures of the Fulcrums. Some are from my own collection while others courtesy of many Google search especially the air-to-air ones of course.
During my research for this post, I found that many of the images of the Fulcrums on the Internet were the same ones. I cannot find any images of the tail number 17 and 07, which were lost in crashes in 1998 and 2004, respectively.
If you have them or know the link to the images and others not featured here namely 05,06,13,14 and 15, please do so in the comments section.
The Fulcrum with the most images on the Internet is of course the M43-03 as pictured above. I am not sure whether its the same air-frame through out the years. Perhaps it is a couple of Fulcrum air-frames marked as O3 along the years. I could be wrong though I must concede.
And last but not least, a picture of a Fulcrum flying with a US Navy Tomcat. The picture was probably taken in 2004 prior to the retirement of the latter.
For all the men and women who fly and maintained the Fulcrums, through-out the years, thank you for your service. As for the Fulcrums, Paka…
Looks like Ukraine is having trouble supplying Thailand their T-84 Oplot-M. Thailand is now looking alternative MBT by visiting Norinco - China looking at the MBT-3000 MBT and also visiting Uralvagonzavod - Russia looking at the T-90 MBT.
An AH-64E Apache Guardian from 1st Armed Reconnaissance Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, and a Mi-35 Attack Helicopter from 31st Squadron, Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Darat, take off for a flight together during an attack/reconnaissance training mission in Semarang, Indonesia, Sept. 9. The training is part of Garuda Shield 2014, where units from United States Army Pacific are focusing on peace support training capacity and stability operations with the TNI-AD. (U.S. Army photo courtesy of 25th Combat Aviation Brigade – modified by CONTACT)
Malaysia Eyes Buying Pakistani JF-17 Fighter Aircraft
Source : Our Bureau ~ Dated : Monday, December 21, 2015 @ 08:22 AM
Malaysia is considering to buy the JF-17 Thunder multi-role fighters from Pakistan.
Malaysia’s High Commissioner to Pakistan Dr Hasrul Sani bin Mujtabar was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune news daily that his country is interested in the JF-17 and “a decision about numbers would be taken very soon by the Malaysian government.”
The Chinese-Pakistan joint development of the fighter jet has already seen an unidentified customer during the Dubai Airshow in November.
The Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and the Aviation Industries Corporation of China (AVIC) partnership has signed a contract with a third party customer for the purchase of the JF-17 Thunder, AVIC Executive Vice President Liu Yu had said in a statement. However, the customer was not identified nor details of the sale revealed.
Malaysia is the midst of a fighter replacement program and is being courted by France for the Rafale, Boeing for the F/A-18 and Lockheed Martin for the F-16 V.
Kementerian Pertahanan Tidak Rancang Beli Jet Pejuang Pakistan - Hishammuddin
KUALA LUMPUR, 21 Dis (Bernama) - Kementerian Pertahanan tidak mempunyai perancangan membeli jet pejuang Joint Fighter-17 (JF-17) Thunder dari Pakistan seperti yang dilaporkan media antarabangsa hari ini.
"Saya tidak pernah mendengarnya sebelum ini. Ini pertama kali saya mendengarnya. Kami tidak mempunyai perancangan membelinya," kata Menteri Pertahanan Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.
Beliau berkata demikian sewaktu ditemui di lobi Parlimen hari ini ketika diminta mengulas laporan media antarabangsa yang memetik Pesuruhjaya Tinggi Malaysia ke Pakistan Datuk Dr Hasrul Sani Mujtabar yang berkata kerajaan Malaysia berminat membeli pesawat JF-17 dari Islamabad.
"Jet pejuang JF-17 dianggap produk sektor pertahanan yang sangat baik dari Pakistan dan keputusan mengenai jumlah pembelian akan diputuskan segera oleh kerajaan Malaysia," kata Dr Hasrul Sani yang dipetik media antarabangsa.
Mengulas lanjut mengenai Bajet 2016 untuk kementeriannya, Hishammuddin berkata fokus akan diberikan kepada perolehan aset baharu untuk Angkatan Tentera Malaysia termasuk 6 kapal tempur pesisir 'Littoral Combatant Ship'.
Selain itu, sistem persenjataan 'Very Short Range Air Defence', kereta perisai serta pesawat Airbus A-400M dan kelengkapan tekonologi terkini.
"Seperti yang saya katakan sebelum ini, kami akan menumpukan peruntukan RM17.304 bilion yang diterima dalam Bajet 2016 kepada aspek kebajikan anggota pesara veteran, keselamatan, kesiapsiagaan dan transformasi program latihan dan isu-isu dasar," katanya.
Rm17bil ain't much. Majority of it went into operating expenditures like wages, training, fuel and so on. Sgpv and av8 also eats up huge portion of its. I won't be surprise they request for more money next year.
12 variants for the AV8 is too much in my opinion. Why the need for 12 variants? Even the new British Scout-SV if i'm not mistaken only have 6 variants.
Could Malaysian Interest in JF-17 Signal Export Sales for Pakistan?
By Usman Ansari 2:47 p.m. EST December 21, 2015
ISLAMABAD — Malaysia is considering the JF-17 Thunder aircraft as an option for its air force modernization program. However, despite analysts saying the aircraft is well suited to Malaysia's requirements, it's unclear whether the country will actually buy the Sino-Pakistan jet.
The uncertainty is especially so when considering entrenched opposition from other suppliers already well established in this area of defense sales and machinations by Pakistan's arch-rival India.
Malaysian interest in the JF-17 was signaled by its High Commissioner to Pakistan Dr. Hasrul Sani, who according to the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), discussed the fighter against the backdrop of boosting the bilateral relationship in general.
Malay-Pakistani relations are wide-ranging, but Pakistani defense equipment sales to Malaysia have halted at anti-tank and anti-aircraft missile systems.
However, Kaiser Tufail, analyst, and former air force pilot, said he thinks consideration for the JF-17 may move to a higher level.
"I think the Malaysians might be genuinely interested because Pakistan has a respectable defense industry, with the products being considerably cheaper compared to the West due to cheap labor," he said.
"These products have been amply proven in the hands of very professional armed forces. These are reasons enough for many developing countries to look for defense hardware from Pakistan," he added.
Malaysia has long indicated a desire to replace its remaining US supplied F-5E/F fighter aircraft, and the MiG-29s it acquired from Russia in the 1990s. This may result in an order for 36-40 aircraft, according to information available on the program.
Though the JF-17 appears to be very well suited to Malaysia's requirements and would complement the heavier Su-30MKM Flanker fighters in service, Malaysian sources indicate privately that the JF-17 may face an uphill battle because European and US fighters already stated as being under consideration.
However, Brian Cloughley, analyst and former Australian defense attache to Islamabad, said he also believes the Malaysian interest to be genuine, but cautions there is more to consider.
"Heads of diplomatic missions don't usually say things publicly that aren't accurate," he said. "So there is probably something in this, in that interest appears to have been expressed, but the devil is as always in the detail, and there will have to be agreement by Beijing to any movement towards a deal."
Coughley added: "If that is arranged it will be behind well-closed doors and nobody will know what the [Chinese] terms are."
LUMUT, Dec 21 (Bernama) -- The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) plans to reduce class category of its vessels to ensure smooth and cost-effective management.
RMN chief Admiral Datuk Seri Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin said the plan was made after most of the vessels used in their operations had been in existence for ages.
"So far, we have 18 vessel classes and we will try to reduce it to only five, namely Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), New Generation Patrol Vessel (NGPV), Frigates, Corvett, and Mines Counter Vessel (MCMV).
"However, the number of vessels for each class will be increased and this will also reduce the management costs and beef up defence capabilities, especially in the country's waters," he told reporters here today.
Kamarulzaman said all 18 vessel classes which had spanned over 20 years were purchased from various countries like United Kingdom (UK), Germany, France, Italy and Korea, a few years ago.
"Due to the many vessel classes, the level of vessel management has become very challenging and costly.
"We will give priority to the vessels built in the country to enhance the national defence industry, in which foreign companies need to forge collaboration with local companies," he added.
Commenting on the banning of vape or electronic cigarettes at all military camps, Ahmad Kamarulzaman said he would support any decision made by Armed Forces chief Gen Tan Sri Dr Zulkifeli Mohd Zin.
"All naval bases are just waiting for instructions from the higher authorities regarding the ban of vape," he said.
On Saturday, Zulkifeli had announced that the Armed Forces were looking into the possibility of banning electronic cigarettes or vape at military camps nationwide.
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