New patrol gunboat for Thai navy

23rd September 2016 - 7:14 by Sompong Nondhasa in Bangkok



The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) commissioned HTMS Laemsing (PGB 561), a domestically built patrol gunboat, on 21 September after sea trials.

The RTN bought its plans and materials from Marsun in a $20 million deal (excluding weapon systems). It was built by the Royal Thai Naval Dockyard to gain more experience in shipbuilding under a self-reliance policy.

The 520t vessel, launched on 25 August 2015, will cooperate with other Thai services for both anti-surface and anti-air missions. As well as these combat missions, HTMS Laemsing can intercept suspicious vessels, perform anti-piracy and antiterrorist operations, harbour security and search and rescue.

HTMS Laemsing is 58m long, and has a 9.3m beam and 2.9m draft. Three Caterpillar 3516C engines offer a maximum speed of 23kt, and it has a range of more than 2,500nm. Able to operate in Sea State 5, the vessel accommodates 53 crewmen for up to seven days. 

Armament is a refurbished OTO Melara 76/62 naval gun, 30mm MSI DS-30 cannon and two 12.7mm machine guns. Fire control and the combat management system are the Thales Mirador and TACTICOS respectively. Elbit Systems supplied the CoMPASS electro-optics.

The vessel has a wide stern deck able to install more equipment and weapons (e.g. missiles) in the future.

VAdm Sutthinan Sakulpuchapong, commander of the naval dockyard, said ‘It took 1,003 days to build HTMS Laemsing. We previously built four classes of patrol vessel, the latest being the Krabi-class OPV, so we have more experience in development and maintenance. We plan to build two more Laemsing-class boats in the future.’

The last domestically built patrol gunboat was the Hua Hin class, with three vessels entering service 15 years ago. 

The Laemsing class is expected to replace all ageing medium-range patrol boats under the navy’s 2008-17 strategic plan.

* 7.8 billion Euros, of which 15 % will be paid upfront.
* Meteor is included in the deal (which, IMHO, will seriously piss off China and most importantly Pakistan, since now India can snipe Pakistanese airborne targets deep inside their territory without ever crossing the border).
* The first planes will be delivered within 18 months of the signature, and apparently will be testbeds to integrate more weapons from India's arsenal, among which... Bhramos NG, a smaller version of the high-supersonic AShM. [Rufus: I would really like for us to get a few of them.]
* 50 % offsets, 30 % investment in Indian aerospace programs and 20 % in local manufacture of Rafale spare parts.
* The plane comes with its AESA radar and the full software code.

Edit:
Out of 7.8 billion €, 1.8 are for associated supplies, 1.7 are for India-specific enhancements, 0.353 for performance-based logistics and 0.710 for the weapon package. So it seems the planes themselves, plus the code, had a cost of 3.3 billion euros, meaning less than 100 M per plane.

Edit 2:
28 of the planes will be single-seaters, 8 double-seaters.

Published: Saturday, 24 September 2016 09:00

Indonesia Marine Corps could purchase new version of BTR-4 amphibious armoured from Ukraine

Ukraine defense industry has tested a new version of its 8x8 amphibious armoured vehicle personnel carrier BTR-4 fitted with anew remotely operated weapon station, according Andrei BT Live Journal Blog. Some of these vehicles were send to Indonesia to perform a series of tests.

   
The new BTR-4 amphibious 8x8 armoured personnel carrier during trial tests in the sea.
     
The New BTR-4 has showed very good capacities in amphibious conditions during tests in Ukraine.

The new version is motorized with German Deutz engine, and new modules were added to the sides of the vehicle to increase the characteristics for river crossing and amphibious operations in the sea.

According some rumors, the Marine Corps of Indonesia could be interested to purchase 50 vehicles able to perform amphibious operations and that can carry into combat ships.

After the trial tests, Indonesian armed forces could take quickly a decision to purchase combat vehicles for its Marine Corps.

The BTR-4 is a 8x8 wheeled armoured personnel carrier designed in Ukraine by the Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau as a private venture.

The vehicle layout is similar to Pandur, Piranha and AMV — the driver and commander are sitting in the front of the hull, the engine is in the middle, troops are in rear. The troops egress is through the rear door. The BTR-4 hull consists of three compartments: front compartment is the driving station; middle compartment contains the vehicle's powerplant; and rear compartment which acts as the troops and fighting compartment.

The BTR-4 is fully amphibious, and he is propelled in the water with two propellers mounted to the back side of the hull.

   
The new BTR-4 is fitted with a remotely operated weapon station and new modules are added on the sides of the hull to increase amphibious capacities.

edit: woops wrong tered

edit: woops wrong tered

Walk Like An Egyptian

Marhalim Abas September 26, 2016 Malaysia -RMN

SHAH ALAM: Walk Like An Egyptian was a song made famous by an American band the Bangles. However, in building the Gowind corvette, the French firm DCNS and maybe the Egyptians, are beating our boys in Lumut.

Boustead Naval Shipyard started building RMN’s LCS, four months earlier than the first Gowind corvette build by DCNS for Egypt. The steel cutting ceremony for the first LCS was conducted at the IHX Metallix plant in Holland on Dec 3, 2014.

DCNS cut the first steel for the first Egyptian Gowind corvette on April 16, 2015. And some 18 months later on Sept. 17th, the vessel – Elfateh – was launched at the DCNS shipyard at Lorient.

Compare that to the LCS. Fabrication started in Lumut in late December, 2015 or early January, this year while the keel laying ceremony was only held on March 8. And almost six months later, no one will say officially about the launch date.

It was expected that DCNS will beat BNS to the punch. Lorient is a “hot” yard complete with steel cutting facilities while BNS is a “cold” one – it has not build any ships since the last Kedah-class, KD Selangor. Work on KD Selangor started in 2006 while the ship was launched in 2009 and commissioned a year later.

Furthermore, BNS has to rely on sub-contractors for the supply of steel and to cut them. It takes around three months for the shipyard to get the cut steel before it could start building any part. And that without any change in the production line.

If they are changes, invariably they will be in a new ship build, the steel cut three months ago has to be re-work or discarded completely, delaying the building process.

It is likely that DCNS also faced the same difficulties but with all the facilities within a shouting distance, any problems could be hammered out quickly.

Like us, Egypt is also building more Gowind corvettes in their own shipyard – three actually – but they had the presence of mind to get DCNS to build the first vessel so the French could sort out all of the problems first.

And problems have crop up, as in any new build. DCNS was expected to deliver the first Egypt Gowind in 2017 but now it could be delayed to 2019.

For the record, work on the first Gowind corvette to build in Egypt started at the Alexandria Shipyard on April 16, this year where the first metal, was cut.

BNS was supposed to deliver the first LCS also by 2019 but the word in the industry that it will only happen if we are very lucky.

"RMN To Receive First Littoral Combat Ships In 2019 – Hishammuddin

LUMUT, March 8 (Bernama) — The efficiency of the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) will be further increased when it received the first batch of its
Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) in 2019, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussein said."

I was told that BNS are having production difficulties (as explained in the 5th paragraph) and progress is not as smooth as have been projected.

Who knows what stage of the LCS will be now if the first vessel was build at Lorient instead of Lumut. But that’s water under the bridge now .

I have stated before that I am not very optimistic about the delivery time of the LCS. I sincerely hope I am proven wrong this time around.

* Note. The post on the steel cutting ceremony were among those that went missing after Malaysian Defence server crashed last year.

On the heavy industries division, whose activities include shipbuilding and repair and oil and gas-related heavy engineering, Boustead told Bursa Malaysia: “Boustead Naval Shipyard recorded a higher deficit in the current quarter, mainly due to downward revision of margin for the LCS (littoral combat ship) project and increase in operating costs.

http://www.thestar.com.my/business/busines...steads-results/

Weapon of choice: France picks German-made HK 416 assault rifle to replace iconic FAMAS

Published time: 24 Sep, 2016 13:37

France has chosen the German-made Heckler & Koch HK 416 carbine to replace its iconic FAMAS assault rifle, which has been used by the French Army for over 40 years. The weapon became synonymous for its use by French soldiers.

The legendary but old-fashioned FAMAS, designed in France by the Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Etienne (MAS), will be replaced by the Heckler & Koch HK 416 by 2017, the French Directorate General for Armaments (DGA) announced in a statement on Friday.

Heckler & Koch, the German manufacturer, will deliver 100,000 rifles as well as accessories, ammunition and provide weapons training to all parts of the French military, including the Army, Navy and Air Force. The value of the 10-year contract is estimated to be around €300 million ($336 million).

"The contract contributes to the further strengthening of the solid ties between Germany and France in defense and in the armaments industry in particular," the DGA statement said, according to German news outlet N-TV. 

The HK 416 won an EU-wide tender for the French bid. It was competing against other competitors, such as the ARX160 made by the Italian company Beretta; the MCX manufactured by the German-Swiss company SIG Sauer, the VHS2 made by the Croatian firm HS Produkt and the SCAR, manufactured by Belgium's FN Herstal.

The FAMAS, known for its distinctive bullpup design, is incompatible with NATO standard ammunition, along with the age of the current rifles used by the military.