To be fair, the JF-17 is a modern cheap, decent mid-range fighter, but admittedly pretty basic and low-tech compared to the latest fighter planes. But looks like it's doing its job just fine. The Pakistan Air Force already has more than 100 of those operating now.

Six PAF fighter Squadrons receive their JF-17 fighters



Indian Air Force meanwhile has gambled big on 5th gen and lost big.

This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: Apr 26 2018, 04:54 PM

Meanwhile Rafale IAF bila nak sampai ni?
sos

What a dangerous show-off la this feller....

Many ways to check barrel that doesnt involve somebody's head being blown off.

Well, u know la malaysian attitude: Bila dah kena baru tanya kenapa.

Anyhow, this how it's supposed to be done.



This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: May 11 2018, 06:21 PM

Never ever look down a weapons barrel of an intact weapon. Even if there is no ammo in chamber a broken or incorrectly installed firing pin can potentially detach from the bolt and come out of the muzzle if the bolt suddenly slams forward.

Wonder what will the new gov do with current defence policy.

Can we expect any significant changes?

Wondering more on the issues regarding national sovereignty. To me recently we serve issues like ESSCOM and Spratly island very passively.

Can we expect the status quo or maybe we will be a bit more assertive on these issues? As I remember Tun M used to be very bullish on national interest matters and hardly relents on such issues.

I hope we can concentrate more on buying off-the-shelf military assets. These custom-requirement assets we are used to having costs way too much. We pay so much for so few assets only.

Also I hope the asset procurement method & process can be reformed and streamlined. There's currently too many middlemen and too much 'agent's fees' being paid out.

Hope improvements can be made.

All this while damn sakit hati when another country buy some assets that's the same as us but they spent less on them. Sometimes as much as 30%-40% less.

Last month's TDM recruitment drive poster for Perajurit Muda. Can see what latest physical & academic requirements are needed.

Also what kind of starting wages & allowances are offered for recruits with qualifications of SPM and above.

British Army numbers fall below threshold of 82,000 as intakes drop despite new recruitment campaign



British Army troop numbers have fallen again, leaving the Army nearly 5,000 short of its target strength.

The number of full-time soldiers dropped to 77,120 this month down from 78,410 at the same time last year, according to figures released by the Ministry of Defence.

The Army has said it needs 82,000 to operate effectively but that target has been missed every month for three years.

The fall in numbers comes despite a new recruitment campaign that emphasised it is acceptable for soldiers to cry and pray in an attempt to reach out to a much broader base.

A growing recruitment crisis has been blamed on an online application system beset by blunders, low morale, lack of frontline fighting, and better paid jobs elsewhere.

The British Army needs around 10,000 new soldiers a year to maintain its size.

Other military branches are also experiencing decreasing numbers. According to figures released yesterday, the full-time strength of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines is at 29,300 down from 29,580 at the same time last year.

The full-time trained strength of the Royal Air Force is at 30,350, down from 30,850 at the same time last year.

Sos

Sweden issues 20-page 'war & crisis preparation' pamphlet to every household amid heightened tensions between Russia and the West



The Swedish government has given out an emergency pamphlet to prepare millions of citizens for a war, natural disaster or cyber attack amid soaring tensions between Russia and the West.

Entitled 'If Crisis or War Comes', the brochure is published in 13 languages at the request of the government and gives advice on how to take shelter, what foods to store and what information to trust.

It will be sent to 4.8 million Swedes between May 28 and June 3.

The 20-page document outlines with simple illustrations the threats which the Nordic nation is facing such as military conflict, natural disasters, cyber and terror attacks.

The last time such a brochure was printed was in 1961 during the Cold War. While the latest booklet does not point to any country, its release comes amid fears of an open conflict between NATO and Russia over Moscow's military activities along its borders.

In December, a defence commission representing all parties in the Swedish parliament published a report entitled 'Resilience', which presented military proposals between 2021 and 2025.

The commission recommended investing 400 million euros per year to modernise the military and civilian defence systems, allowing people to store water and food for a week so the nation could stand a blockade for three months.

On a related news, Stockholm announced in March last year that it would reintroduce compulsory military service as early as this summer, seven years after it was abolished. The nation also resumed military activities on Gotland, an island in the Baltic Sea.

Elite units: Fallschirmjäger Airborne Infantry

Background


Reichsmarschall Herman Göring, founder of the Fallschirmjäger meets decorated paratroopers

The Fallschirmjäger ( Paratroopers) were the airborne infantry branch of the German Luftwaffe before and during World War II. They, together with the Heer's Gebirgsjäger (Mountain troops) are considered the elite infantry units of the Wehrmacht.

In the 1930s Hermann Göring, Chief of the Luftwaffe, after having observed Soviet airborne infantry maneuvers, became committed to the creation of Germany's airborne infantry. in 1935, Göring created Germany's first dedicated airborne regiment. The unit was incorporated into the newly formed Luftwaffe later that year and training commenced. Göring also ordered that a group of volunteers be drawn for parachute training. These volunteers would form a cadre for a future Fallschirmtruppe ("parachute troops"). For the entirety of WW2, the Fallschirmjäger was commanded by General Kurt Student.

In addition to parachute units, the Fallschirmjäger also deployed glider-borne and airmobile troops in its forces.


Equipment & Weapons

The Fallschirmjäger units usually used the standard Wehrmacht weapons such as the Kar98k rifle, MP38 & MP40 sub-machine guns and the MG34 & MG 42 medium machine guns. Also in use are heavier support weapons such as the 82mm mortar and the 150mm infantry gun. However, some specialized weapons were created for the Fallschirmjäger to better improve their combat performance. Two of these was the FG 42 light machine gun/automatic rifle and the 75mm Leichtgeschutz 40 recoilless gun. Parachute units were also issued a gravity knife, used to quickly cut away parachute lines. However, due to reason that will be elaborated later, paratroopers made their combat jumps mostly unarmed, with only carrying a pistol, knives and grenades during the jump. Weapons and other equipment are dropped separately from the paratroopers in crates and light trailers.


Fallschirmjäger at a rally point retrieving their weapons. Note the camouflaged jump smocks and paratrooper helmets.

Uniform-wise, the Fallschirmjäger wore the light blue uniforms of the Luftwaffe, instead of the field grey uniforms of the Heer. A green jump smock (later camouflaged) were worn over the uniform. This jump smock is originally supposed to be disposed after landing, but due to the camouflage being so effective for concealment, paratroopers usually wore them for combat. Paratroopers wore side lacing jump boots, while other units usually wore standard Wehrmacht jackboots. Knee and elbow pads are also issued to the paratroopers. A special helmet was also designed, based on the standard Stahlhelm but with its brim removed and with extra padding & more secure chinstraps more suited to parachuting.

Parachutes

The Fallschirmjäger used the RZ-16 and RZ-20 series parachutes. These design suspended the paratrooper from a single strap on his back, instead of the more recognizable double straps that suspended a paratrooper from his shoulders. This single-strap design forced the paratrooper to forcefully jump from the airplane in a horizontal manner to ensure the parachute deploys correctly. This also meant that the paratrooper descended on a facedown angle that made landing dangerous: instead of landing on their feet, the facedown angle forced the paratrooper to do a forward roll while landing. Although padded knee pads were standard issue, landing caused many knee injuries.


A descending Fallschirmjäger. Note the single strap parachute and the paratrooper's face-down angle.

Because of the rough landing expected for the paratroopers, this forced the paratroopers to jump 'clean' without any weapons or equipment that can potentially hurt the paratrooper during his forward roll. Only smaller weapons can be carried, causing considerable danger to the unarmed paratroopers from the enemy as they attempted to retrieve their heavier weapons from containers dropped separately, especially during opposed landings.

Why these types of parachutes were used by the Fallschirmjäger in the first place is certainly puzzling, since Luftwaffe pilots and flight crews used the double strap parachute designs.

Operations

The Fallschirmjäger were used extensively during the earlier western campaign of WW2. Fallschirmjäger units participated in the invasion of Norway, Denmark, Belgium and The Netherlands. A particularly impressive operation is the capture of the Belgian fort of Eben Emael, which controlled the crossing of the Albert canal, one of the primary routes of the Wehrmacht.

The fort consisted of a massive concrete shell with multiple gun emplacements and was manned by 1,200 Belgian troops. The Fallschirmjäger actually landed part of their forces on top of the fort and rapidly attacked the artillery casements and pillboxes with flame throwers, demolition charges, and hollow charge grenades. Due to the surprise and despite being at both a numerical and firepower disadvantage it took the Fallschirmjäger only hours to take control of the fort.


Fallschirmjäger landing during the Invasion of Crete

The invasion of Crete during Operation Merkur eventually became the apex and also the undoing of the Fallschirmjäger. Crete needed to be captured to control the Mediterranean sea, but the presence of the British Royal Navy around the island precluded any Axis amphibious landings. Göring suggested an airborne invasion would be feasible. This would be different from the Fallschirmjäger's earlier campaigns where it was only part of the invasion forces. This time the entire invasion force is to be based on the Fallschirmjäger alone. During the invasion 14,000 Fallschirmjäger was landed against 15,000 commonwealth & Greek troops.

The first wave of landings achieved some initial surprise, but determined enemy resistance in the rough terrain of the island caused many casualties among the paratroopers. The delay in capturing Maleme Airport also meant that heavy weapons and troop reinforcements were unable to be flown in from the mainland during the first days of the invasion, exacerbating the losses. In the end however, the airborne invasion was a success and the Commonwealth-Greek units was forced to retreat by sea to Egypt but at a heavy price was paid, with nearly 7,000 casualties were suffered by the Fallschirmjäger and hundreds of transport airplanes shot down or damaged beyond repair.

Although the invasion of Crete was a success, Hitler was horrified at the losses sustained by the elite Fallschirmjäger and decreed no more large-scale drops will be allowed in the future. As of that moment, the Fallschirmjäger lost their airborne capabilities and thereafter operated as ground-based elite light infantry. However, they retained their combat prowess and later commonly deployed as dependable combat 'firemen', ready to be rapidly deployed wherever the Wehrmacht needed a breakthrough or to resolutely defend a strategic position.

Which forces the vehicle to go slower and doesn't last very long. Not very ideal for combat conditions.

People think run flat tyres are the be-all/end-all for normal pneumatic tyre replacement, when actually they only allow you to get to the nearest repair shop without removing the tyre.

People go like "I don't mind being shot in the tyres, I got run-flats".



This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: May 24 2018, 08:47 AM

There is no such thing. As long as the tyre is made of rubber and is a pneumatic one, it will puncture if penetrated. Even if you line the tyre with ballistic nylon or Kevlar, the shock of a direct bullet impact can significantly weaken the rubber and can even blow the tyre without even penetrating it. There are some tyres with built in cell systems that bleed liquid sealant to automatically seal a puncture, but that is more about damage control rather than proofing the tyre against projectiles in the first place. Not to mention this will be useless against the blast effect of mines or IEDs.

Best you could do to protect your tyres against gunfire is to have a steel plate installed over the rims that covers most of the tyre's sidewall, but even with this the tread area will still be vulnerable. Plus it will still do nothing against mines or IEDs.



This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: May 24 2018, 02:59 PM

I find wheeled military vehicles are not as versatile as tracked ones though. For one they are mostly restricted to roads or hard paths and not so good going off-road. This makes them more prone to ambushes and mines/IEDs at those places.

For rear-area/internal security work wheeled AFVs are still ok, but for conventional battles right at the front line they are more vulnerable.

This type doesn't use air-filled pneumatic tyre, but still physically vulnerable as normal tyres nonetheless.

You're referring to manually detonated IEDs or mines that needs a triggerman close by to choose his target. That's how they can time the explosion to target the vehicle itself.

Most times mines/IEDs use a pressure detonator triggered by vehicles tyres/tracks pressing down on them. Heck, even a special anti-tank mine isn't needed to disable a vehicle: anti-personnel mines has enough explosive power to shred any tyre to bits, run-flats or not.

Also, anyone with a sound understanding of military tactics would try to destroy/disable the patrol's lead vehicle (and the last one, if possible) first, to create a blockade for other vehicles to prevent them from moving anywhere.

Plus, isn't the usual response to an ambush is to counter-attack and charge the ambush itself? Most (competent) commanders would position secondary ambush teams or have already planted more mines/IEDs further down the road from the killzone just in case the target tries to escape. So by running away instead of charging the ambush, you're liable to get into more trouble.

This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: May 25 2018, 08:04 AM

People do ambushes usually because they cannot take on an enemy directly for some reason. Most of the time if the target seems strong enough to resist the ambush, for example if the patrol has a lot of armored vehicles or it has a UAV/air unit screening it, the ambusher will cancel the ambush altogether and let everyone pass.

However, a well-planned ambush executed correctly would ideally wipe out a small enemy patrol within seconds. If the ambush takes too long, most of the time the ambusher will withdraw the ambush to prevent the enemy from using the delay for counter-attacking or getting assistance from nearby units. Getting into extended firefights and close-range engagements will be the last thing an ambusher will want. It's usually either kill everyone in the first seconds of the ambush or withdraw immediately when you clearly can't accomplish that. That's why most army doctrines say you must counter-attack immediately towards the suspected ambusher. Most of the time this will be enough to scatter any ambushers or at least eliminate the element of surprise & concealment the ambusher had.

Staying put in the killzone and returning fire from there is the most dangerous thing you can do in an ambush, the ambusher may have multiple fields of fire or already marked the entire kill zone for heavy weapons like mortars. Running away isn't such a good option either as there might be multiple secondary ambush points further along the road or the ambusher may have positioned small units to surround the ambush point and pursue anyone who escaped the killzone. In the case of an ambush of a patrol vehicles, the ambusher will try to destroy/disable the first and last vehicles in the column, creating a roadblock to prevent the escape of vehicles in the center anyway.

Plus, the ambusher will usually pick ambush points where the terrain or physical features can help prevent or make it harder for the enemy to escape.



Disclaimer: Different situations may require different responses.

This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: May 25 2018, 12:40 PM

Can. 6x6 or 8x8 wheeled APCs weight are supported enough by multiple tyres. Even if you blow a tyre, you will still be upright and balanced (two tyres or more then it wont la). Also these 8x8 types are usually steered by the four front tyres instead of two.

But if a 6x6 still has one working front tyre, I can't see why it wouldn't still move or steer.