Honorary,
if taken the honorary ranks then he is a Kolonel (Wataniah) anyway and this is not honorary

thanks for the info

costly mistake..

Australia to Invest in RMAF Base Butterworth




Australia will upgrade facilities at the Royal Malaysian Air Force Base Butterworth used by the Australian Defence Force, as part of our long-standing commitment to regional security.

Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon Marise Payne said the $22 million investment will ensure Butterworth remains fit for purpose well into the future.

“Australian Defence Force personnel have had a presence at Butterworth for 60 years and the investment reflects the ongoing importance of the base to Australia and Malaysia,” Minister Payne said.



“Around 50 ADF personnel are hosted at RMAF Butterworth by Malaysia and this can increase to up to 350 during exercises.

“The upgrades to the facilities at the RMAF Butterworth will begin with a detailed assessment, which will be done in consultation with Malaysia.”

The announcement was made at the inaugural Malaysia-Australia High Level Committee meeting on Defence Cooperation held at RMAF Butterworth today with the Malaysian Minister of Defence, His Excellency Tuan Haji Mohamad bin Sabu.

“It is fitting that we are able to agree to this investment as we celebrate the 60th Anniversary of Australia’s presence at the Base this week. It represents a strong commitment to further strengthen the Australia-Malaysia defence partnership and our enduring ties,” Minister Payne said.

During the meeting, Australia also committed to:



-continue to support the development of Malaysia’s Urban Combat Training facility;
-increase the number of Defence scholarships offered to Malaysia for study in Australia each year from five to eight; and
-provide further F/A-18 spare parts to assist with the sustainment of Malaysia’s fleet.

“These initiatives will further strengthen Australia and Malaysia’s strong and long-standing Defence relationship, which is based on longstanding people-to-people links, shared interests and shared values.”

China’s ex-soldiers join its legions of protesters



BEIJING — They converge from across China, marching in the hundreds, ungainly from lack of training but proudly waving red national flags and wearing green uniforms recalling years of military service. Then they line up in front of government buildings.

But they come to protest, not protect, the officials sheltered inside.

They are the latest discontented group to upset the Chinese Communist Party's image of imperturbable dominance: People's Liberation Army veterans who have held protests across several cities in recent weeks over what they say is mistreatment, poor job prospects and inadequate benefits.

The latest erupted last week in Zhenjiang, a city in Jiangsu province in eastern China. Hundreds of former soldiers — some online accounts claimed thousands — rushed there after rumours spread that at least one veteran had been beaten while seeking government help. The precise course of events is unclear, but for many protesters, the episode crystallized their broader anger with officialdom.



"The problem is that there's too much corruption at the local level," Mr Chen Wuliang, a former soldier from eastern China who said he had gone to Zhenjiang, said by telephone. "Where the local corruption is bad is also where old veterans who fought in wars are worst oppressed."

The recent burst of veteran-led protests does not present a dire threat to Communist Party rule, which remains broadly popular and backed by a daunting police apparatus. On Monday, the protests in Zhenjiang appeared to have dispersed.

But the demonstrations show how even under the sweeping dominance of President Xi Jinping, discontent persists, taking forms that can catch the government by surprise. The veterans, coming from across the country and with tight bonds formed in military service, are a particularly stubborn headache.

"We're comrades in arms and all keep in touch," Mr Chen said. "Generally, it's through WeChat and sometimes the phone," he said, referring to a vastly popular social media service.

Other Chinese cities have been struck by similar protests in recent months. In late May, many hundreds of veterans gathered for days in Luohe, a city in central China, after accounts spread that a former soldier's wife had been detained by police after she joined veterans who had gone to Beijing to demand better treatment.

In mid-June, veterans protested in Zhongjiang County, in southern China, after rumours spread that a disabled former soldier there had been beaten by police. Websites dedicated to human rights issues in China record many more smaller assemblies by aggrieved veterans, often after they lose jobs or fail to win improved benefits.

Party leaders in Beijing were shocked in 2016 and early 2017 when about a thousand veterans twice entered the capital and sat in protest — the first time outside the People's Liberation Army headquarters and the second outside the party's anti-corruption agency.

Despite censors, Chinese internet chat rooms for veterans are still lively with talk of the various protests. After the latest one, a message warned that former soldiers were honing their skills in confrontation, just as they had once drilled on parade grounds.

"No matter whether it's political brains, strategy and tactics, objectives and orientation, organisational means or operational efficiency, it's all been very much like a successful war of encirclement," a message said on a website for Chinese veterans. "The self-organised 'rights self-defence' by us ex-service personnel seems to have secured another victory."

Demonstrations and petitions by aggrieved former service personnel go back many decades in China. In the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping retrenched 1 million troops and from the 1990s, many found it hard to find secure work as market reforms eroded guaranteed government job assignments.

But the sizable protests this year are still striking because Mr Xi has often praised Chinese soldiers, promised better treatment for veterans and this year established a Ministry of Veterans Affairs intended to end bureaucratic buck-passing over their needs.

"The ministry should provide better service and protect the legal rights and interests of veterans so that military service can be one of the most dignified careers," Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said when the ministry began operations in April.

Despite such steps, many former soldiers feel a gulf between the rhetorical laurels from the government and the practical problems they face. The new ministry has already become a destination for veterans who feel that local officials have ignored their grievances.

Many veterans seem "highly sceptical that the establishment of a new ministry will matter much, and interpret it as a symbolic concession," Mr Neil J. Diamant, a professor at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania who studies protests by Chinese veterans, said by email.

"A new ministry gives veterans an address, but no more power," he said. "They remain supplicants for state largesse — and this is exactly how the government wants it to remain."

China has more serving military personnel than any other country and by official estimate it has 57 million veterans, most of them recruited from villages and towns for a few years' service. That makes for a large pool of potential discontent.

Often, protesting veterans are unhappy that they have been shunted into low-end work or lost their jobs in cutbacks. Other sources of complaint are poor medical care, and pensions and stipends smaller than they believe is their due. Many veterans, using a Chinese saying, liken themselves to donkeys slaughtered after they are too old to work a grindstone.

"The government increasingly proclaims its having 'arrived' in the rank of top nations," Mr Diamant said. "Veterans have noticed this. Naturally, they wonder why should they struggle for medicine and pensions when the government they served is now rich."

Not all the veterans contacted for this article supported the demonstrations or said that their living conditions were stagnant. Some said that more spending by local governments in recent years had helped. Those who spoke on the record did not want their precise whereabouts described.

"Our treatment here has improved," said Mr Gao Xiangxu, a veteran who lives in a northern Chinese city. "I'm not sure about other places."

But apart from strained living conditions, discontented veterans said that they had not been afforded the dignity they expected from society after years of poorly paid service and sometimes sacrifice in wars. Quite a number say they fought in China's war against Vietnam in 1979, when the People's Liberation Army forces declared victory but suffered ignominious setbacks.

"When we old soldiers were young and went to the front line, we were answering the call of the country and the party to fight Vietnam," said Mr Zheng Huizu, a veteran from eastern China. He said that he had wanted to protest in Zhenjiang but that local officials had stopped him.

"If we old soldiers hadn't gone to fight against Vietnam, how could things have gone smoothly for our country?" he said by telephone. "Without heroes to fight a battle, how can a country be at peace?"

Under Mr Xi, Chinese police and security forces have already clamped down on protests and dissent, especially by liberal opponents of the party. Clamping down on veterans presents more delicate complications. They often declare their loyalty to the party and carry pictures of Mao and Mr Xi as proof.

The government appears likely to tighten surveillance and perhaps offer concessions to veterans in an effort to douse protests. But some former soldiers warned that they would wait only so long to see if the new Ministry of Veteran Affairs improved their lives.

"If the ministry is just decoration, the same old medicine in a different broth," a message on a veterans' internet chat room this month said, "then no number of iron stallions of stability preservation will be able to stop the great army of rights defence." THE NEW YORK TIMES

DARPA design shifts round wheels to triangular tracks in a moving vehicle



As part of its Ground X-Vehicle Technologies program, DARPA is showcasing some new defense vehicle tech that’s as futuristic as it is practical. One of the innovations, a reconfigurable wheel-track, comes out of Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center in partnership with DARPA. The wheel-track is just one of a handful of designs meant to improve survivability of combat vehicles beyond just up-armoring them.



As you can see in the video, the reconfigurable wheel-track demonstrates a seamless transition between a round wheel shape and a triangular track in about two seconds and the shift between its two modes can be executed while the vehicle is in motion without cutting speed. Round wheels are optimal for hard terrain while track-style treads allow an armored vehicle to move freely on softer ground.

According to Ground X-Vehicle Program Manager Major Amber Walker, the tech offers “instant improvements to tactical mobility and maneuverability on diverse terrains” — an advantage you can see on display in the GIF below.

While wheel technology doesn’t sound that exciting, the result is visually impressive and smooth enough to prompt a double-take.

The other designs featured in the video are noteworthy as well, with one offering a windowless navigation technology called Virtual Perspectives Augmenting Natural Experiences (V-PANE) that integrates video from an array of mounted LIDAR and video cameras to recreate a realtime model of a windowless vehicle’s surroundings. Another windowless cockpit design creates “virtual windows” for a driver, with 3D goggles for depth enhancement, head-tracking and wraparound window display screens displaying data outside the all-terrain vehicle in realtime.

Under-production Sukhoi jet crashes in Maharashtra's Nashik





[sos]

Two Pilots Martyred in Peshawar As PAF Jet Crash Lands at Airport





[sos]

An Israel military helicopter makes crash landing. No one hurt





[sos]

Later can park and leave Poseidon and triton at Butterworth..

Im jealous of all those darpa-sponsored engineers... they get to do what they love (developing) and paid handsomely.

they ady parked their p8 there before

Should park there permanently on rotational basis

it's there to stay
the upgrade is for the p8 facilities after all

RIP..

https://twitter.com/MSabu_Official/status/1...803489687691264






This post has been edited by DDG_Ross: Jun 27 2018, 06:22 PM

got moni got toy

Pursuing military dreams in US


The shortlisted candidates observing the physical tests they have to undergo as part of the selection process.

Coming from a family with military background, Cadet Janushaa Bala Krishnan Muthiah grew up listening to her grandfather recounting the days he flew Nuri helicopters in northern Malaysia in the 1980s during counterinsurgency. This enthused her to join the military.

Besides her inspiring grandfather, she aimed to be a fighter pilot to emulate her hero, the first Asian female MiG-29 fighter pilot Major Patricia Yapp.

Janushaa’s dream came true when she was selected to pursue her studies at the United States Naval Academy (USNA) in Annapolis, Maryland. This makes her the first Malaysian woman to be accepted into the US service academy.

“I was sleeping when I received the call from the US embassy officials. Of course I was happy. But at the same time, I was nervous. Being the first Malaysian woman to go to the US military academy was a huge responsibility.”


Janushaa Bala Krishnan Muthiah

Besides Janushaa, Putra Nadeem Damanhuri Ahmad Damanhuri from Royal Military College (RMC) also secured a place at the US Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

SELECTION PROCESS

Twenty-six Malaysians have graduated from various US service academies since 1991. Currently, there are eight Malaysian cadets in the US: two at the USAFA, two at USNA, three at the US Military Academy and one at the US Coast Guard Academy.

Putting things into perspective, US Ambassador to Malaysia Kamala Shirin Lakhdir said 157 countries were invited to nominate candidates to enroll 19 in each of the service academies.

“The selection process is extraordinarily rigorous and competitive. Candidates are evaluated based on their academic performance, physical aptitude, character and leadership potential,” she said at the presentation of certificates of appointment to the two at the US embassy recently.

Sharing his experience, Putra Nadeem said the candidates were screened based on physical test, academic performance and interview sessions held by the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF). Out of 100 applicants, only five passed.

“About 50 students who were shortlisted underwent swimming and physical tests under the RMC before applying into the US academy services.

“The physical test at the embassy includes push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and one mile-run, among other basic tests.

“Before going for an interview with the US officials, we had to sit for ACT or SAT tests for college admissions and Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) which was part of the requirements.

“Then, it was down to only three candidates. We had to send in our resumes and write three essays on ethical dilemma, personal statement and personal attributes.

“I was quite surprised when I found out that I was selected. I thought I wouldn’t make it because the process was rigorous and I have no military background. I was delighted.”

BREAKING STEREOTYPE

Pursuing her dream of becoming a navy pilot, Janushaa will spend four years in USNA studying aerospace engineering.

“The journey is really harsh, especially for women, to be recognised in the military field.

“I have learned that not everything in life is worthwhile if we don’t take risks.

We determine our futures,” she said in her speech at the ceremony.

“The Royal Malaysian Navy gave me a pendant to remind me every day that I have a responsibility to my country.”

ACHIVEMENTS

Putra Nadeem and Janushaa excel in their academic and extra-curricular activities, making them physically and emotionally prepared to take on new challenges in the US military schools.

Putra Nadeem achieved straight A’s in Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia. He represented RMC at the National Youth Leader Conference and was the vice-captain of the college debate team.


Putra Nadeem Damanhuri Ahmad Damanhuri

He was very active in sports, especially rugby, golf, swimming and rock-climbing. The 18-year-old has travelled throughout Europe, Asia and North Africa.

Janushaa represented her school in national-level basketball championships and science fairs. She was the leader of the project that innovatively converting palm tree waste into cement. Since 12, she has attended boarding school and learned how to adapt to new environments and challenges.

SUPPORT

Putra Nadeem said his family had been supportive in the pursuit of serving in the military.

“I was brought up to be a very academic-oriented person as my mother is an associate professor at University of Malaya,” he said.

“My father, on the other hand, encouraged me to be involved in sports. I played football and golf since I was young. I even go for sailing,” he said in his speech.

When he was 15, his father wanted him join the RMC. Since then, he had developed a deep interest in the military and wanted to serve the country.

“After Form Five, I was informed by my commandant that there will be a selection to USAFA. I knew that this was my chance, although I had to convince my mother since it was not Oxford or Harvard University,” he said, jokingly.

“My family didn’t know I applied. I only told them once I passed the RMAF interview. They took it well.”

Lakhdhir said in her speech: “These two will join an extraordinary group. I have great confidence in them and look forward to hearing all the wonderful stories on what they are doing in the US.

“In everything you go through, you are building the relationship between the two countries. You are becoming leaders.

“The more you understand the rest of the world, the stronger you will be as leaders of your country.”

https://www.nst.com.my/education/2018/06/38...itary-dreams-us