If your mechanized infantry is fighting another mechanized infantry unit, you're not deploying them correctly. Mechanized units should (theoretically) rely on speed, penetration and mobility to exploit holes in the enemy defence line or outflanking the enemy. They are the wolves, they should be hunting rabbits, not fighting another wolfpack.

In short, if you are mechanized infantry unit and you have to shoot your way through, you're doing it wrong.

Remembering the Sabra and Shatila massacre (16-17 September 1982)

The Sabra and Shatila massacre was the killing of between 762 and 3,500 civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese muslims, by Christian right-wing militias close to the Kataeb Party, also called the Phalangists, in the Sabra neighborhood and the adjacent Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war.


Lebanese President-elect Bachir Gemayel, during his days as a Phalangist militia commander

The massacre was presented as retaliation for the assassination of newly elected Lebanese president Bachir Gemayel, a Maronite Christian and the leader of the Lebanese Kataeb Party & former militia commander when his office building was blown up by a hidden bomb. It was wrongly assumed that Palestinian militants had carried out the assassination (in fact the assassination was done by pro-Syrian factions and later, Habib Tanious Shartouni, a Lebanese Christian admitted he was the mastermind behind the bombing).

On the evening of 14 September, following the news that Bashir Gemayel had been assassinated, Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Minister for Defence Ariel Sharon and Chief of Staff Yamos Eitan agreed that the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) should invade West Beirut. The public reason given was to be that they were there to prevent chaos. In a separate conversation, at 20:30 that evening, Sharon and Eitan agreed that the IDF should not enter the Palestinian refugee camps but that the Phalange should be used.The only other member of the cabinet who was consulted was Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir. Shortly after 6.00 am 15 September, the Israeli army entered West Beirut.

By noon on 15 September, Sabra and Shatila had been surrounded by the IDF, which set up checkpoints at the exits and entrances, and used a number of multi-story buildings as observation posts. Hours later, IDF tanks began shelling Sabra and Shatila. The following morning, 16 September, Ariel Sharon and Chief of Staff Rafael Eitan met with Phalangist militia units and invited them to enter Sabra and Shatila, accusing that the PLO was responsible for Gemayel's assassination. An hour later, 1,500 Christian militiamen assembled at Beirut International Airport, then occupied by Israel. Under the command of Elie Hobeika (Bachir Gemayel's close ally, a prominent figure in the Phalanges, the Lebanese Forces intelligence chief and liaison officer with Mossad), they began moving towards the area in IDF-supplied jeeps, with extra weapons and ammunition provided by the IDF (after the massacre, ammunition boxes with IDF markings and discarded ration packs with hebrew writing was presented as proof of Israeli support). Ostensibly the orders given to the militiamen was only to escort civilians to the football stadium for questioning by Lebanese intelligence services and Mossad on the whereabouts of PLO fighters and the existence of weapons caches inside the camps.


Phalangist militiamen during the Lebanese civil war

What followed was a 72-hour orgy of violence and bloodshed. Eyewitnesses report of families being gunned down in their homes, women publicly stripped and gang-raped, children and babies bayonetted or hacked with axes & machetes and young men being lined up and executed, ganglang-style, at every street. Nurses at the UN-run hospital report of militiamen gunning down and bayonetting patients in their hospital beds. In the inquiries done following the massacre, former IDF veterans recall Phalangists borrowing an IDF bulldozer to dig a large hole and dumping bodies into the impromptu mass grave, in plain sight of soldiers not 300 meters from an IDF observation post. Meanwhile, IDF checkpoints denied passage and in some cases shot at people trying to flee the massacre and IDF mortar crews fired illumination flares over the camps at night to aid the Phalangists' operations in the blacked-out camps. During this time reports of massacres and indiscriminate killings started to filter out to journalists & foreign observers and questions were started to be asked. By the time the IDF ordered the Phalangists to clear out on the morning of 18 September, it is estimated by eyewitnesses and foreign observers that anywhere up to 3,500 Palestinians, Lebanese muslims and a few foreign medical and aid personnel had died in the massacre.


The bodies of the massacre victims littering the streets


The aftermath. Bodies of the victims of the massacre are collected for identification

In an attempt to find out what happened, several commissions were created to determine the events. The independent commission headed by Sean MacBride, however, did find that the concept of genocide applied to the case as it was the intention of those behind the massacre "the deliberate destruction of the national and cultural rights and identity of the Palestinian people". Individual Jews throughout the world also denounced the massacre as genocide.

The MacBride commission's report, Israel in Lebanon, concluded that the Israeli authorities or forces were responsible in the massacres and other killings that have been reported to have been carried out by Lebanese militiamen in Sabra and Shatila in the Beirut area between 16 and 18 September.

Israel's own Kahan commission found that only "indirect" responsibility befitted Israel's involvement. The Kahan Commission concluded Israeli Defense minister Ariel Sharon bears personal responsibility "for ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge" and "not taking appropriate measures to prevent bloodshed". Sharon's negligence in protecting the civilian population of Beirut, which had come under Israeli control, amounted to a non-fulfillment of a duty with which the Defense Minister was charged, and it was recommended that Sharon be dismissed as Defense Minister.

At first, Sharon refused to resign, and Begin refused to fire him. It was only after the death of Emil Grunzweig after a grenade was tossed by a right-wing Israeli into the dispersing crowd of a Peace Now protest march, which also injured ten others, that a compromise was reached: Sharon would resign as Defense Minister, but remain in the Cabinet as a minister without portfolio. Notwithstanding the dissuading conclusions of the Kahan report, Sharon would later become Prime Minister of Israel. The Kahan commission also recommended the dismissal of Director of Military Intelligence Yehoshua Saguy, and the effective promotion freeze of Division Commander Brig. Gen. Amos Yaron for at least three years.

The commander of the Phalangist militia, Elie Hobeika was assassinated by a car bomb in Beirut on 24 January 2002. Lebanese and Arab commentators blamed Israel for the murder of Hobeika, with alleged Israeli motive that Hobeika would be ‘apparently poised to testify about Sharon’s role in the massacre'.

Older T-55 and T-62 still used human loader though. Only T-64 start develop autoloader.

Bizarrely, in these older tanks the loader's position is on the right side of the turret (thus on the right side of the main gun), meaning if the loader is not left-handed the main gun-loading process is awkward & tiring as hell as he would have to operate the breech and ram in the shell home with his left hand/arm.

Plus the ammo storage racks was placed all over the place in the fighting compartment instead of a central location and the loader had to reach in every sort of nook and cranny all over the turret to take out the shells to load his gun. To do this in a notoriously cramped Soviet-era tank turrets only made the job harder.



Why they though this design would be a good idea in the first place is beyond me.

It's pretty common back then, a holdover from the early days when tanks had only 2-man turrets (tank commander/gunner and a loader).

Dunno why but I think all european tanks of that era always had the tank's commander/gunner on the left side of the turret with the loader on the right side. Even later tanks with 3-man turrets like the T-34/85, Churchill and Tiger tanks positioned their turret crew the same way, with all its inherent problems, like forcing right-handed loaders to operate a cannon breech and load a heavy shell into it with their left hands.

Meanwhile the US looked at these european designs and said: "screw this, you guys are weird" and designed the M4 Sherman which actually placed the tank commander and gunner on the right of the main gun and the loader on the left, ensuring right-handed loaders could work more efficiently and the tank had better reaction time from acquisition and firing.

Later most post-war MBTs followed this turret design. Except the Russians, of course.


This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: Sep 28 2017, 10:06 AM

Rheinmetall to upgrade Bundeswehr Leopard 2 tanks to the Leopard 2A7V standard



Rheinmetall has been contracted by Germany's army, the Bundeswehr, to perform a combat performance upgrade to 104 Leopard 2 tanks.

The upgrades under the contract, worth nearly $139.4 million, will modernize the tanks to state-of-the-art design status, the company announced on Wednesday.

Rheinmetall, based in Dusseldorf, said the contract involves 68 Leopard 2A4, 16 Leopard 2A6 and 20 Leopard 2A7 main battle tanks, which will be brought up to the A7V standard. Rheinmetall will eliminate obsolescent features in the tank's fire-control computers and control consoles and install new laser rangefinders and thermal imaging devices.

The company will also supply the new L55A1 gun for the 68 Leopard 2A4 MBTs to be modernized, enabling them to fire the latest high velocity armor-piercing ammunition.

The Leopard 2A7V aka Leopard 2 A7V (v for “verbessert”, German for “improved”) is the latest version of the Leopard 2A7. The main improvements to the Leopard 2A7 Tank is a new armored modular system for the upper front glacis plate of the hull and a more powerful Auxiliary Power Unit of the current APU used on the A7 model.

Other Leopard 2A7V Tank Upgrades include:

Hull mine protection
20 kw Auxiliary Power Unit
Air-Conditioning Unit
Solar reducing Barracuda matting
Battlefield Management System
FLW 200 Remote Weapons System
Third-generation Attica thermal imaging unit for both Commander’s Independent Sight and Gunner's Sight
Spectus multi-spectral driver’s vision device
Fire Control System modifications to program DM 11 High Explosive 120mm round
Upper Glacis added modular Armor

The upgraded tanks will be delivered back to the German army beginning in 2020.

Russia's new elite tank force took part at Zapad 2017 exercises, causing consternation in western Europe


Russian T-72B3 tanks during the Zapad 2017 military exercises

At the recently concluded Russian military exercise 'Zapad 2017', the most threatening aspect of the exercises to some parties is the participation of the 1st Guards Tank Army, which resurrects a legacy of aggression and occupation.

The First Guards Tank Army, has an extensive and storied pedigree. The unit, originally called 1st Tank Army (Stalingrad Front) battled the Germans during World War 2 on the Eastern Front in the battles of Stalingrad, where it was nearly destroyed and was disbanded in August 1942. Joseph Stalin reconstituted the unit on 30th January 1943, personally appointing Lieutenant-General Mikhail Katukov (popularly nicknamed as 'The Russian Guderian' from his skillful command of tank units during the Battle of Moscow) as its commander. The unit later participated in the Battle of Kursk, fighting on the Southern part of the salient against the 4th Panzer Army. As commendation for the unit's successes during the battle, the 1st Tank Army was raised to 'Guards' status and Katukov promoted to Colonel-General.

The unit's most famous war exploit is how it helped destroy the crown jewel of the Wehrmacht tank forces, the 1st Panzer Army under Field Marshall Erich von Manstein during the battle of Kamenets-Podolsky (only 45 German armored vehicles escaped the pocket, the German troops however, managed to cut their way out of the pocket on foot). The unit eventually spearheaded the relentless Soviet Red Army advance into Eastern Europe, Germany and finally Berlin before becoming part of the Soviet force that occupied Germany. After the war, the unit was awarded the order of the Red Banner for its spectacular war records.

During the Cold War, the unit was stationed in Dresden and thus was one of the Warsaw pact crack units expected to spearhead and break through NATO defenses during an invasion of Western Europe. Indeed, its commander, General Katukov was appointed the Supreme commander of Mechanized Units of the Soviet Forces Group in Germany. In 1968, the unit participated in the invasion of Czechoslovakia to ruthlessly crush the Prague Spring. The unit returned to Germany afterwards and stayed until the fall of the Berlin wall and Russian withdrawal from Eastern Europe.

After the end of the Cold War, the unit was withdrawn to Smolensk, near the border with Belarus, losing its 'tank' designation before being disbanded in 1998 due to budget cuts. But the unit has been reconstituted by order of President Vladimir Putin in November 2014 to give the Russian military more offensive punch and present a visible demonstration of Russian power. The unit is currently being commanded by Lieutenant-General Alexander Chayko and comprises of the 4th Kantemirovskaya Tank Division and the 2nd Tamanskaya Motor Rifle Division, both decorated elite units with a long history.

“That name was chosen for a reason,” said former NATO Supreme Commander General Philip M. Breedlove. “It sends a very clear message to the Baltics and Poland.”

As fitting for the unit, the Russian military has accorded itself to ensure the 1st Guards Tank Army received the best and latest Russian military equipment. Indeed, the unit is slated to be the first to receive the T-14 Armata battle tank and the Kurganetz IFV when they come into full production. The unit is also one of the few Division-level Russian units on permanent 'standby mode', with 80% unit readiness at all times.

While war is not imminent, the deployment of the First Guards Tank Army on the western border of Russia is sending a message of intimidation to Europe.

“There is only one reason you would create a Guards Tank Army, and that is as an offensive striking force,” said General Ben Hodges, USAEUR commander. “This is not something for homeland security."

Russian Army tinkering with specialist 'Urban Assault Battalion'


Russian combat engineer with Urban Assault protective vest system

Russian Federation Combat Engineers Chief, Lieutenant General Yuriy Stavitskiy, announced that the first assault engineer-sapper battalion has been established in the Russian Armed Forces on the basis of the 1st Combat Engineer Brigade in Murom.

"We have assault units within the Airborne Forces, and from this model we formed a specialized battalion of this type within the 1st Combat Engineer Brigade. So far it's the only one. We'll see how it operates," he said on Tuesday.

The new battalion is manned only by professional soldiers and is subordinated directly to the Chief of Combat Engineer Forces. It will include two assault companies and one heavy specialized equipment company. It will also receive specialized urban assault and engineering equipment being developed for the unit. "For the moment it will not participate in exercises. The battalion has already been formed and staffed, now we have to train and prepare it--it's all new methodology. We are still experimenting. We have to create new assault training lanes, materiel depot, equipment," Stavitskiy summed up.

He emphasized that the idea represents the embodiment of the unique experience of the Great Patriotic War, when the Combat Engineer Forces had 10 sapper armies and about 20 special purpose assault sapper brigades.

"Any urban area, any fortified area, which came under assault by our forces, was accompanied by our sappers. They had special body armor, the troops were specially selected, no more than 30 years of age, preferably sportsmen, with a high level of fitness", " We aim to replicate this" Stavitskiy said.

haha nice try but Fuze is the real combat engineer. Tachanka is just a guy with a machinegun.

Russia to receive its first operational BMP-T 'Terminator' Urban Assault vehicle units in 2018



The Russian Federation is set to receive an unknown number of tank support vehicles dubbed "Terminators" in 2018. Designed to support tanks on the battlefield with a withering amount of firepower, Terminators carry a mix of missiles, light cannon, and machine guns that can engage everything from enemy tanks to ground troops.

The BMP-T armored vehicle is the result of Soviet and Russian experiences in Afghanistan and post-Cold War conflicts in Chechnya. Soviet and later Russian tanks such as the T72 were optimized for engaging NATO tanks on the battlefield and were not as efficient at battling guerrillas and light infantry. Guerrillas and light infantry, however, with anti-tank weapons such as the RPG-16 and Kornet missiles, are very efficient at battling tanks, especially in close areas such as cities.

The Terminator is designed to escort Russian tanks and rake the battlefield with firepower, killing enemy infantry anti-tank teams or suppressing them so they are unable to aim properly. The BMP-T's main weaponry are two 30-millimeter 2A42 autocannons (one loaded with armor-piercing ammunition and another with HE-Frag ammunition) with 850 rounds and two 7.62-millimeter PKTM co-axial machine guns with 2,500 rounds. The BMP-T will use them to engage probable and identified infantry anti-tank positions. This allows Russian tanks to focus on the job of engaging enemy tanks and achieving breakthroughs.

In addition to anti-personnel weapons the BMP-T is also equipped with four 9M20 Ataka (NATO: AT-9 Spiral 2) laser guided missiles, which can engage tanks or low-flying helicopters to ranges of up to 4 miles. Anti-Personnel (Thermobaric) and anti-aircraft (HE-Frag) versions of the missile also exists. The BMP-T is also equipped with two hull mounted automatic anti-personnel grenade launchers.


BMP-T target ranges

Defensively, the protection level of the BMP-T will also be improved with the installation of a modified 'Relikt' ERA system. Instead of only focusing the ERA armor to the front of the vehicle, as in the tank 'Relikt' systems, this modified version will also extensively cover the sides and rear of the BMP-T. A bulldozer blade can also be installed so the BMP-T can clear out rubble or barricades.

An unknown number of Terminators are on order, but TASS reports the contract for the armored vehicles placed in 2017 is worth $417 million. That's probably worth at least 100 Terminators, enough for two tank divisions. Reports state that during urban combat operations, 2 BMP-Ts will escort a tank, while in open country a BMP-T will escort 2 tanks.

Also on a related note, countries such as Algeria, Syria and even Israel is reportedly very interested in the BMP-T. Besides the actual vehicles themselves, Uravagonzagod is also developing a retrofit BMP-T kit, known as the BMP-T72, that is able to be installed in any Russian-built T72 hull as a cheaper alternative to foreign customers.


BMP-T72 kit

Soldiers furious British Army's £440 Million Foxhound Armored cars keep breaking down in Afghanistan



The Army's £440million upgrade on the much-maligned 'Snatch' Land Rover breaks down in the heat of Afghanistan, it has been revealed.
The British-made Foxhound had been earmarked as a replacement for the Northern Ireland-era Land Rovers.

Designed to withstand damage from arsenal used by IRA insurgents, they failed to protect soldiers from IEDs in Basra and Helmand, with 37 squaddies dying while inside the trucks. The Foxhound was designed specifically to operate in the hot and dusty climate of Helmand in Afghanistan, with each vehicle costing nearly £1m.

But troops say there are serious problems with their reliability and the vehicles "cannot handle the heat".

An army source told The Sun: 'They're a massive waste of money. It's a speed boat engine in a truck."

The sergeant, who did not want to be named, said the vehicles keep overheating.

"They break down all the time. They cannot handle the heat, they have a massive problem with it.

"At 50 degrees the engine cooks out."

He said he was having to strip the vehicles down every five or six weeks to keep them running. Normally, this would only be done twice a year.

The soldier also said he had had to alter the bonnets to try to increase the air supply to cool down the engines. However, tools were not provided to deal with this so he bought his own specialist equipment, he said.

Tthe MoD later disputed that claim. However defence sources did not dispute there had been reliability issues.

Wah, so many exposed flat surfaces. Perfect impact points for anti-tank projectiles.

That frontal armor, in particular, is very disturbing to me.


This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: Oct 3 2017, 08:03 AM

One word, slant armor. Look it up, boi.

Basic tank design is minimizing hull exposure. The more you show, the more stuff you're giving the enemy to aim at.


This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: Oct 3 2017, 08:31 AM

Germany, Netherlands to develop integrated joint Air-Defence System



The Luftwaffe's Flugabwehrraketengruppe (Surface-to-Air Missile Group or SAM-Group) 61 will be subordinated to the Dutch Ground Based Air Defence Command in Vredepeel, the Netherlands, at the end of August, the German Air Force announced on 14 August.

The step is part of Project Apollo, under which Germany and the Netherlands will co-operate on ground based air defence. The project consists of six different colour-coded areas of co-operation, which are linked.

The subordination of the Luftwaffe's SAM-Group 61 to the Dutch Ground Based Air Defence Command is taking place under Green Apollo, which aims to form a bi-national task force for short- and very short-range air defence. An additional aim of this sub-project is to set up a competence centre in Vredepeel for the further development of the task force's capabilities.

Purple Apollo is developing a bi-national command capability, which includes networking communications and data exchange.

Black Apollo is working on common doctrine, concepts, and standards. The sub-project has developed standard operating procedures, which are being tested and further developed through various exercises.

Red Apollo foresees setting up a Bi-national Air & Missile Defence Academy using existing facilities in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. New courses are being developed, the first of which was the Senior Leadership Academic Course held in parallel with Tactical Firing 2016 at the NATO Missile Firing Installation (NAMFI) on Crete. It will be followed by the second course this year.

The two framework nations are planning joint ground based air defence projects and procurement under the Blue Apollo sub-project. The Luftwaffe sees the possibility of cost-saving synergies in joint procurement. The sub-project is considering the possible joint procurement of a counter-rocket, artillery, mortar (C-RAM), and short range air defence system.

Yellow Apollo is setting up a bi-national air and missile defence task force, which reached an initial capability in 2016 on Crete, with the ultimate aim of a full operational capability for a task force that could be offered to NATO.

WTF, have you ever actually seen an uncooked papadam?

This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: Oct 3 2017, 04:20 PM

Bundeswehr G36 replacement shortlisted to five rifles



The G36’s replacement is now known to be one of five guns – or at least that’s the report coming from reputable defense outlet IHS Jane’s. Competing in Germany’s System Sturmgewehr Bundeswehr (Bundeswehr Assault Rifle System) will be the Rheinmetall RS556, Heckler & Koch HK433, Haenel Defence MK556, SIG MCX, and FNH SCAR. For four contestants, no known 7.62mm variants exist; only the FN SCAR has a 7.62mm variant – the SCAR-H.

The testing and evaluation segment of the program was begun in July of this year, and is expected to be completed by November 2018. Between December of 2018 and April of 2019, the Bundeswehr will deliberate on the winner of the contract, which is expected to be awarded the following month in May. Final testing and troop trials will be conducted over the course of the next year, and fielding is expected to occur starting in September of 2020. Notably, it seems the new weapon is certainly not considered an “interim” item, as it is expected to serve through 2046.

The SSB program requires that the winning weapon have both a long and short barrel, which must be interchangeable, as well as ambidextrous controls, and 1913 rails on the top, and on the sides and bottom of the handguard. It also specifies a receiver life of 30,000 rounds, and a barrel life of 15,000 rounds (with lead cored or SS109 ammunition), barrel life of 7,500 rounds (with hard core ammunition). Interestingly, it is not specified whether the new rifle should be in caliber 5.56mm or 7.62mm, instead leaving the decision to the manufacturers. However, the requirement does include a 3.6 kilogram weight limit, making it very unlikely that the winner will be a 7.62mm platform. The solicitation references, but does not require, suppressors, additional magazine stowage, and a maintenance shot counter.

PLA-Navy Frigates visit London on goodwill European tour



PLA Navy frigates Yangzhou and Huanggang had arrived to make a port call at London's Canary Wharf at the start of a five-day goodwill visit.

After visiting the Belgian port of Antwerp and making a stop in Denmark, naval frigates from the 26th Escort Task Group of the People's Liberation Army Navy berthed at London's Canary Wharf on Monday.

Rear Admiral Alex Burton, Commander United Kingdom Maritime Forces, said such bilateral military exchanges reflect the lengthy, strong and close relationship between the nations.

"We have both confronted common challenges: counter-piracy, natural disasters and peacekeeping. The need to work in partnership, as we have done for so many years, to find common solutions to these challenges, is way more important today," he said.

It will make a port call in France after its visit to the British capital.

Russian defence firms offer upgrades to international T-55 and T-62 users


T-55 Tanks of the Nicaragua Army on parade

Several Russian defense firms are offering a radical upgrade of ageing Soviet T-55 and T-62 main battle tanks (MBT) to developing nations, according to a military-industrial source.

"Despite their age, both T-55 and T-62 tanks still remain the workhorses of national armed forces of several developing nations. The last partial upgrade of the tanks was performed in the late 1980s. Our experiences in the conflict in Syria has shown that easy-to-learn, easy-to-maintain and easy-to-use tanks, such as T-55 and T-62 still have many uses and are still in high demand. We offer developing nations to enhance the aforementioned tanks' performance, bringing them close to the level of modern MBTs with lower costs" the source said.

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies` (IISS) report, approximately 6,671 T-55 and 1,482 T-62 main battle tanks have been deployed in the national armed forces all over the world. While many are still in use, most of these tanks are not upgraded.

These modernized T-55 will be installed with the modern Relikt ERA which increases the tank`s resistance by 700 mm of RHA against HEAT and by 450 mm of RHA against APFSDS rounds. The side skirts of upgraded T-55 are reinforced by passive armour similar on the pattern of T-80U MBT. Offensively, these T-55 will be armed with the modernized 100mm D-10E2S fully stabilized main gun with an extended effective firing range and accuracy. The gun will also be chambered with improved armor-piercing and HE ammunition.

The tank retains the capability to fire modernized 9M117M (AT-10 Stabber) anti-tank missiles, being able to pierce 550-600 mm of RHA behind ERA. The vehicle will be equipped with a laser rangefinder, a new FCS system and also night-vision & IR driving/targeting systems. The upgrade will also equip these tanks with the new V-46-5MS diesel engine (690 h.p.) which offers better speed and range compared to the original engines.The combat weight of the upgraded T-55 will be increased to 40 tons after the modernization. It should be noted that the T-62 tank can also be upgraded in the same manner.

OmskTransMash is offering modernization of T-55 tanks at the global arms market. Several countries, which have deployed a huge fleet of such tanks are supposed to have shown their keen interest in the upgraded T-55 variant, including Vietnam (850 T-55 MBTs), Algeria (270 T-55 MBTs) and Iran (approximately 300 T-55 MBTs).

Russian Muslim Military Police helping to keep order in Syria



Formed only in 2011, the Voennaya politsiya or VP military police force is now 20,000 strong and increasingly professional. With distinctive red berets and black brassards, they fill a long-discussed need in addressing crime and indiscipline within the ranks. Under Lt. Gen. Vladimir Ivanovskii, head of the Ministry of Defense’s Main Directorate of Military Police, their effectiveness is still the subject of some public debate, however they do represent a different face of the Russian army, and a potential instrument of a robust kind of soft power for Russia.

The first deployment of these military police to Syria began in December 2016 with a force from Chechnya, drawn largely from the so-called “Kadyrovtsy” — the security forces loyal to Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov. Although some accounts put their number as high as 500, their real strength was probably just under 400. The Chechens filled a variety of roles, ranging from convoy security to hearts-and-minds aid distribution missions in the ruins of Aleppo. Much was made of their ability to find common ground with the locals because of their Muslim faith and a number are also fluent in Arabic, enabling them to relate better to the local Syrians.

The Chechen-based VP units were withdrawn in March 2017, their duties having been since replaced with a battalion of military police from neighboring Ingushetia (also a Muslim-majority Russian Republic). The Ingush troops, who were especially visible guarding Hmeymim Air Base and in Damascus, were also involved in some fighting alongside Syrian Arab Army troops in the Jobar neighborhood.

The VP's primary missions are providing security for Russian facilities and personnel, and manning checkpoints and observation stations monitoring the “de-escalation zones” being established in line with an agreement reached in Kazakhstan in May between Russia, Iran, and Turkey.

According to the accounts of both journalists and others who have seen them on the ground, these military police appear to be relatively effective and professional, and they are likely to stay. (Recent photos of their Tigr light armored vehicles have shown them labeled in both Russian and Arabic.)

Finally, using military police allows Moscow to send soldiers able to fight if need be — although their primary role is not to be front-line grunts — but also burnish its battered reputation. Russia is considered in many countries in essentially negative terms, as an agent of anarchy on the global scale. However, the use of forces such as the military police which also have a potentially positive, even humanitarian, role is considered a way in which the Kremlin can balance deploying hard power assets with maintaining a soft power capacity.

President Jokowi warns the TNI to 'stay away from politics'


General Gatot Nurmantyo (left) with President Joko Widodo

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Thursday urged the Indonesian military to keep away from politics and remain loyal to the government, amid growing controversy over recent comments made by his top general.

Military analysts say that the President's warning was a response to the controversial comments made by the head of the TNI, General Gatot Nurmantyo, that Indonesia is under siege from 'proxy wars' and his insistence that the communist threat to Indonesia has resurfaced.

“We cannot afford to be reckless, we must unite,” Jokowi said in a speech celebrating the 72nd anniversary of TNI, in Cilegon city, in the western province of Banten, as Gatot sat near him on the stage. “The TNI with other institutions in the government and with all other components in the nation have to be in synergy, solid, united and work together.”

The military, Jokowi said, “should always ensure its political neutrality in the current democratic era.

“To be loyal to the state is to be faithful to the legitimate government,” he added.

In September, Gatot told retired military officers that a plan had been in place by a 'non-military organization' to import 5,000 firearms illegally “on behalf” of Jokowi.

The statement later was clarified by the president’s top security minister, Coordinating Political, Security and Legal Affairs Minister Wiranto, who said the national intelligence service had ordered only 500 nonmilitary-type firearms from PT Pindad, the state-owned firearms manufacturer, for “training purposes.”

Analysts also speculate that general Gatot may have ambitions to be in the running for the President's post in a future general election.

WTF military dun provide helicopter.