MPCV
http://www.mbda-systems.com/product/mpcv/

Ah so it is. Right missile wrong name

Canned papadum


This post has been edited by bereev: Oct 4 2017, 07:56 AM

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.

Read more: http://www.anews.com.tr/world/2017/10/03/h...port-1507020967

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.

FNSS/Pindad Medium Tank Prototype. Credit to hadimaulana.

http://www.janes.com/article/74568/royal-t...elivery-of-vt4s

This post has been edited by azriel: Oct 5 2017, 12:16 PM

https://www.update.ph/2017/10/ph-navy-plann...-corvette/21261

for Marinir (Indonesian Marine Corp) ?

Pindad/FNSS Medium Tank.

For the Indonesian Army.

Israel Complains Assad Is Winning In Syria

all of them looks fairly the same to be honest... M4/M416-like.... except for SCAR.. so go for SCAR la Deutschland~

The Lives They Live: Konfrontasi a key episode for ex-soldier and S'pore



In March 1965, armour officer Abdul Samad lost nine of his platoon mates in the jungles of Kota Tinggi, Johor, when they were killed by Indonesian soldiers

While the pioneer leaders were the original architects of Singapore, everyday heroes helped build society here. This is another story about such people in the series, The Lives They Live.
Lim Min Zhang
Ten days before one of Singapore's deadliest terror attacks, 22-year-old infantryman Abdul Samad A. S. Athambava experienced the horrors of Konfrontasi on a deeply personal level.

He lost nine of his platoon mates to Indonesian saboteurs in the jungles of Kota Tinggi, Johor.

The soldiers from Platoon 7, C Company, 2nd Battalion, Singapore Infantry Regiment (2SIR), were taken by surprise, and eight were gunned down on the spot. Another soldier's body was found a few days later.


The dead included Mr Abdul Samad's platoon sergeant, whom he knew only as "Sergeant Ahmad", who had trained him as a recruit for six months three years earlier.



Mr Abdul Samad A. S. Athambava and his platoon mates were ambushed in the jungles of Kota Tinggi, Johor, in 1965. He lost nine platoon mates, including his platoon sergeant who had trained him as a recruit for six months three years earlier. He was involved in a petition for the Konfrontasi memorial to be built. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
The ambush sparked a search by the entire battalion the next day to hunt down the Indonesian saboteurs.

"It was a shocking event for us, so the whole unit was deployed. We hunted down about 40 Indonesians, although I did not kill anyone myself," said the retired major, now 74.


But Mr Abdul Samad, who was the radio operator for the battalion's commanding officer, and another soldier had to carry four dead Indonesians to their officer's Land Rover to be taken to the battalion headquarters to be photographed and identified.

This traumatic episode was compounded when two saboteurs carried out the bombing at MacDonald House on March 10, 1965.

DON'T BE COMPLACENT

Young people must be told about what happened in the past, otherwise they become complacent and think that nothing can happen in Singapore.

MR ABDUL SAMAD A. S. ATHAMBAVA, on passing on the lessons he learnt first hand.
By that time, Indonesia had been waging Konfrontasi - its low-intensity conflict to oppose the formation of Malaysia - for two years.



The saboteurs chose MacDonald House as it was one of the few prominent buildings in Orchard Road, Mr Abdul Samad said in an interview outside the building, whose main tenants are now CitiBank and international advertising firm McCann Worldgroup.

Two female employees of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation died in the blast, while a male passer-by died in hospital. Thirty-three others were injured.

It was the darkest episode in the three years of confrontation, which saw 37 attacks on Singapore, mostly on soft targets that included public parks, cinemas and telephone booths.

The young infantryman and his platoon were still in the jungle in Kota Tinggi when they heard the news on the radio.

"One of my officers was very worried because his pregnant wife passed by the MacDonald House area in the mid-afternoon every day, at around the time the bombing happened," said Mr Abdul Samad.

To the officer's relief, she appeared in a photograph in The Straits Times the next day, standing outside MacDonald House wearing a white dress and unharmed.


Even after Singapore separated from Malaysia on Aug 9, 1965, Mr Abdul Samad and his fellow soldiers were obliged to complete their tour of duty.

"We were deployed to Tawau, a port town of Sabah, and Sebatik Island. We guarded the borders, to prevent Indonesians from infiltrating. It was not just guard duty as we had to be ready to fight."

For a young man who had joined the army because he needed the work, these experiences were sowing the seeds of change in him.

He said: "It was not anything patriotic about defending the country or anything like that. I joined the army because I needed a stable job. At that time, we were still part of the British colonies with no sense of nationhood.

"But after I saw how we were treated by our neighbours during this period, it made me realise how important it is to build up strong defence capabilities, so we will not be pushed around."

Born in India in 1943, he came to Singapore with his family when he was six. He had eight half-siblings here, and another seven in India. Some of his siblings have died.

He was one of 2SIR's pioneers when he joined at the age of 19 and remembers setting up road blocks during the 1964 race riots to keep the Chinese and Malays apart.

"In those days, there were a lot of strikes, unlawful gatherings, protests and riots. The police couldn't handle it all, so there was a need for the army to move in for crowd control, set up cordons, search and so on."

After his tour of duty in Malaysia, there was no thought about finding another line of work. Instead, he applied to become an officer and was successful on his third attempt, when the Safti Military Institute opened in 1966.

He was one of 300 soldiers selected out of 3,000 who applied, and later became an armour officer.

He got married in 1965. He has four children, who are aged between 43 and 50 now. His youngest child and only son served his national service in the army as a driver.

Having spent more than 31 years in the military, Mr Abdul Samad saw innumerable changes to the Singapore Armed Forces. But he knows there are some things that will never change, for instance, how a small nation needs to always be vigilant to the threats from without as well as from within.

In 2014, 48 years after Konfrontasi ended, Indonesia named a warship after the two MacDonald House saboteurs, Osman Mohamed Ali and Harun Said, who were found guilty and later executed by Singapore on Oct 17, 1968.

"When this issue came back up, it was personal because it brought back bitter memories, but it would have been worse for the families who had relatives who died or were injured in the incidents."

Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen told Parliament in 2014 that Singapore would not allow the frigate KRI Usman Harun to call at its ports and naval bases. The Singapore Armed Forces will also not sail alongside or exercise with the ship.

As a member of the Singapore Armed Forces Veterans' League, Mr Abdul Samad was also involved in a petition to Mr Lawrence Wong, then Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, for a Konfrontasi memorial to be built.



The memorial, at Dhoby Ghaut Green, 100m away from the site of the bombing, was unveiled in March 2015 at a ceremony where Mr Wong was the guest of honour.

These days, on top of being a grandfather to 10, Mr Abdul Samad keeps himself busy under the Commitment to Defence Ambassadors Programme, giving talks to schoolchildren and national servicemen on key chapters of Singapore's history related to defence.

Passing on these lessons that he learnt personally, and often painfully, keeps him going.

"I feel that young people must be told about what happened in the past, otherwise they become complacent and think that nothing can happen in Singapore."

As terror threats evolve, the need to be prepared has become even more urgent, said Mr Abdul Samad.

"In recent years, terror attacks have happened in Brussels, Paris, and Jakarta, using home-made bombs and knives as weapons, carried out by radicalised individuals - we did not have such incidents in the past.

"Especially since we have a multiracial and harmonious society today, all the more we should protect it and not take things for granted."

Breaking News. Russian subs fired cruise missiles,
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20171005...brs-terrorists/

more ship collision
this time taiwan navy
unlucky twice in one day

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/2017...ST-Kinetics-CMI