Malaysian Navy deploys patrol vessel to new Middle Rocks naval base



Malaysia deployed the first ship to a new maritime base it had opened in Middle Rocks near Pedra Branca, an outlying island now under the jurisdiction of neighboring Singapore but which Kuala Lumpur still believes is part of its territory. The development was read as just the latest move that Malaysia has taken to reinforce its seriousness in preserving the country’s sovereignty.

August 1, Malaysia had publicly unveiled the new Abu Bakar Maritime Base, built on the Malaysian-owned Middle Rocks – which consists of two clusters of rocks and lies just one kilometer away from Predra Branca. The facility, which comprises two buildings around 316.6 meters apart, including a jetty, a lighthouse, and a helicopter landing pad, was billed as part of an effort to safeguard Malaysia’s sovereignty and conducting marine scientific research.

The arrival of KD Perdana, a 47-meter long fast-attack craft that can carry a crew of up to 30 and was first commissioned over four decades ago, was confirmed by Malaysia’s navy chief Admiral Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin, who issued a congratulatory message to the crew over Twitter.

That's quite a large radar system to be used with a SHORAD missile system.

Also I don't know what advantage do Starstreak submunitions has over the usual HE-Frag warheads. For one thing they have to directly hit the target to work. Seems like a bad trade-off.

Bundeswehr to test deployment of MANTIS C-RAM system in Mali


MANTIS Skymaster control radar and its six automated gun turrets

The Bundeswehr will deploy a test deployment of the Rheinmetall MANTIS counter rocket artillery and mortar (C-RAM) system that will be deployed to automatically detect and shoot down incoming projectiles at its base in Mali. The spokesperson said the radars are likely to be deployed before the summer. The move is aimed to prevent mortar and rocket attacks by insurgents on the base.

The MANTIS is based on Rheinmetall's Skyshield air defence system, which is designed to suppress short-range threats that include aircraft, missiles, rockets, and mortar bombs by combining SIX unmanned Rheinmetall 35 mm chain guns with automated sensors and the Skymaster command-and-control system. It has been in service with the German Air Force since 2012 and was recently deployed to Afghanistan.

In a related development, The German military (Bundeswehr) also plans to improve force protection at its main base in Mali by erecting a dedicated surveillance tower, deploying air defence radars, and procuring aerostats, a Bundeswehr spokesperson told Jane's on 27 February.

The Bundeswehr is contributing 772 troops to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), the majority of which are deployed at Camp Castor near Gao airport.

"We are going to have a 30 m-high mast installed to accommodate different sensors, including day/night cameras that will allow our forces in Gao to have a much broader field of view and to observe the base's more distant surroundings," the spokesperson said.

context?

Germany is quietly absorbing allied military units into the Bundeswehr


Czech Minister of Defence Martin Stropnicky, German Minister of Defence Ursula von der Leyen and the Romanian Minister of National Defence Gabriel Les signing the Framework Nations Concept agreement

Far from the headlines, Germany and two of its European allies, the Czech Republic and Romania, quietly took a radical step down a path toward something that looks like an EU army while avoiding the messy politics associated with it: They announced the integration of their armed forces.

In the next several months each country will integrate one brigade into the German armed forces: Romania’s 81st Mechanized Brigade will join the Bundeswehr’s Rapid Response Forces Division, while the Czech 4th Rapid Deployment Brigade, which has served in Afghanistan and Kosovo and is considered the Czech Army’s spearhead force, will become part of the Germans’ 10th Armored Division.

In doing so, they follow in the footsteps of two Dutch brigades, one of which has already joined the Bundeswehr’s Rapid Response Forces Division and another that has been integrated into the Bundeswehr’s 1st Armored Division. According to Carlo Masala, a professor of international politics at the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich, “The German government is showing that it’s willing to proceed with European military integration”

Other multinational concepts have been designed, but under the bland (and appropriately utilitarian) label of the Framework Nations Concept, Germany has been at work on something far more ambitious — the creation of what is essentially a Bundeswehr-led network of European miniarmies. “The initiative came out of the weakness of the Bundeswehr,” said Justyna Gotkowska, a Northern Europe security analyst at Poland’s Centre for Eastern Studies think tank.

“The Germans realized that the Bundeswehr needed to expand and fill gaps in its land forces … in order to gain political and military influence within NATO.” An assist from junior partners may be Germany’s best shot at bulking out its military quickly — and German-led miniarmies may be Europe’s most realistic option if it’s to get serious about joint security. “It’s an attempt to prevent joint European security from completely failing,” Masala said.

The Framework's idea is to share its resources with smaller countries in exchange for the use of their troops. For these smaller countries, the initiative is a way of getting Germany more involved in European security while sidestepping the tricky politics of Germany military expansion. They also get the added bonus of having elements of their armed forces be trained to a higher standard and be equipped with advanced German weapons without actually spending specifically towards it.

The Bundeswehr, in turn, already has a list of potential junior partners in mind, said Robin Allers, a German associate professor at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies who has seen the German military’s list. According to them, the Scandinavian countries — which already use a large amount of German-made equipment — would be the best candidates for the Bundeswehr’s next round of integration.



Die Anchluss continues?

Over 300 Malaysian, Australian Soldiers Participating In Haringgaroo Exercise



A total of 319 members of the Malaysian and Australian armies are participating in a joint exercise dubbed 'Haringgaroo Exercise Series 68' around Ipoh and Sungai Siput.

Second Division headquarters chief of staff, Colonel Mohd Adzahar Abd Latiff said that the 12-day exercise, which began on Monday, was a bilateral collaboration between the two countries in strengthening ties to maintain peace in the Asian region.

He said the exercise was held to give the soldiers of both countries the exposure and opportunity to exchange their views and experiences in the military field.

"This exercise focuses on counter-insurgency, jungle warfare and special military operations to promote a common understanding,"he told reporters after the launch of the Syed Putra Royal Ranger Regiment Camp officiated by 1st Division Commander Major General Paul McLachan here today.

Mohd Adzahar said the exercise was fully controlled by the 2nd Infantry Brigade Headquarters involving the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Ranger Regiment in collaboration with Rifle Company Butterworth (an Australian Army Infantry Military Company) based at Butterworth, Penang.

Man, everytime I see someone trying to modernize the T-72, I swear it gets uglier every time.

Why won't people just accept it's a 40-year old obsolete design and design something new?


This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: Sep 13 2017, 04:15 PM

As recently demonstrated with the two A400M flying in humanitarian aid to the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. They easily could handle the range and payload.

A lot of multinational european military forces formed before, but they just don't seem to work. Probably Germany said "screw that" and starts assembling military units of allied countries into the Bundeswehr itself.

Heck, the Dutch military is nearly fully absorbed by the Bundeswehr that it only has 1 brigade left in its own army (the 13th Light Brigade) from the original 3; the 43rd Mechanized Brigade and the 11th Airmobile Brigade was absorbed into the Bundeswehr back in 2016 and 2014, respectively. That means literally 2/3 of the Dutch army is under German control. WTF.


Hah! I never liked the purchase in the first place. Seems like there are other options we could have and should have taken.

This would probably only be useful for gunboats (i.e for shore bombardments). The low velocity and high arc of a mortar shell would be useless to use on a rapidly-moving naval target.

So no, this would be useful in some applications only, not as a general-purpose naval gun.


This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: Sep 15 2017, 12:59 PM

Or is it that the Patriot, after all the hoo-haa, wasn't capable of intercepting it?

I don't understand how people can accept that. I've always advocated shooting missiles before (or at least just after) they enter one's airspace.

There's always a danger of the missile self-destructing (accidentally or deliberately) or malfunctioning over the country and still causing damage, whether or not it was actually aimed at the country. Also, you don't know if there's a secret EMP device, dirty bomb or chemical/biological agent dispenser on top of one of those missiles, things that don't require the missile to impact to cause damage.

Someone earlier asked if this can be installed on the LMS.

Big difference though, between a naval patrol boat (like the LMS) and a gunboat designed specifically for shore bombardment.

Brigadier-General Toh Choon Siang assume command of 11th Infantry Brigade


Brigadier-General Toh Choon Siang ® receives the commander's baton from outgoing 11th Infantry Brigade commander Brigadier-General Abdul Kadir Ahmad in the presence of the 4th Infantry Division commander, Major-General Zakaria Yadi

Brigadier-General Toh Choon Siang,58, assumes command of the 11th Infantry Brigade based at Sungai Buloh, Selangor.

It is also significant as a perfect Malaysia Day (Sept 16) gift for the diminutive, Johor-born officer who is the first Chinese to command the strategic brigade responsible for the defence of Selangor and the federal administrative capital of Putrajaya.

Looking back, Toh has no regrets in boldly quitting secondary school prematurely in 1977, to perform national service.

“This command is a great honour for me, especially for my late father who himself had served the nation in two capacities.

“So did my three elder brothers who did military service during the trying times of the communist insurgency and Emergency period (in the 60s and 70s),” said Toh, a full-blooded ranger.

On Sept 6, he replaced Brig Gen Abdul Kadir Ahmad, who has opted for early retirement, as the brigade’s 21st commander.

Toh was previously the senior director of the Malaysian Institute of Defence and Security’s (MiDAS) Blue Ocean Strategy Centre since May 2014.

Toh’s father is Robert Toh Boon Hock who had served the British Royal Air Force during the Japanese Occupation of Malaya, and when the war ended joined the Royal Malaysian Customs Department until his retirement in 1976.

His eldest brother Cdr (Rtd) Toh Tiap Keng served the Royal Malaysian Navy for 33 years, while his two elder brothers Capt (Rtd) Toh Choon Hong and Flight Sgt (Rtd) Toh Choon Kooi both served the Royal Malaysian Air Force for 25 years.

This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: Sep 18 2017, 12:02 PM

Eh, the news is from from this weekend only.

Are u kidding me?

U claim a military man but never seen military webbing suspenders?




This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: Sep 18 2017, 12:38 PM

What I hope can add as an improvement to the ATM is in addition to KAGAT, to develop the establishment of religious chaplains for, at least, soldiers of the Christian faith (monotheist religion like Islam and Christianity perhaps easier, other faiths like Hindu or Taoisme or other chinese folk religions possibly a bit problematic to have chaplains, as most are polyeisthic and have no central deity. Different people worship different deities within the same religion.)

I find it strange that there is currently no provision for worship and religious services for soldiers of other faiths, especially with Christians (especially from the Sabah and Sarawak natives) a major presence in the Ranger Regiments.

Making a move like this would probably strengthen recruitment from other races to join the military. As of now most other races see it to be a mostly Islamic Malay-exclusive army.

Even US military with very small number of Muslim soldiers (5,000-6,000) have Islamic imams to lead prayers and administer religious matters.



This post has been edited by MilitaryMadness: Sep 18 2017, 02:34 PM

Wah, seriously I did not know this.

Is this just happen to be a church inside the camp or there are some ordained military chaplains in the many army camps and in the field? Also are they under an official military establishment i.e KAGAT?

I think what he is saying is that for all of its high-tech status, the SAF remained unbloodied by any sort of active conflict.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Armed forces has been literally in some sort of armed conflict in one form or another for probably nearly 2/3 of its existence. From the Konfrontasi era, the Emergency era and the Communist Insurgency era (plus the recent Lahad Datu incident), Malaysian military and police personnel have fought and died in actual combat.

Malaysian soldiers and police paramilitary units have patrolled deep jungles actually crawling with hostile enemies, plus lethally hidden landmines and booby traps in the undergrowth. Helicopters have actually transported soldiers to hot landing zones and evacuated the dead & wounded from search and destroy operations. Artillery units actually shelled enemy positions. TUDM planes actually flew ground attack missions and actually bombed & killed people. The Navy and Marine police actually patrolled riverways to interdict enemy movements and supply efforts.

As for the number of enemies, by the CIA and US State Dept estimates, in 1976 there are around 2,500 armed and trained communist insurgents in Malaysia. This is thought to be the peak of the communist insurgent's numbers as the end of the Vietnam war greatly bolstered the reputation and support of the Malaysian communists.

As comparison, during the peak of the 1950s Emergency era, there was probably around 6,000 armed and trained insurgents.

To try and get a picture of that, imagine the Lahad Datu incident, multiply the enemy forces by 25 and make it last for 21 years.

Bundesmarine orders five more Braunschweig-class Corvettes



The Bundesmarine has commissioned the construction of five Braunschweig-class corvettes from a consortium of North German shipyards. The contract was signed on Tuesday, the Federal Office announced yesterday. ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, Bremer Lürssen Werft, owned by Blohm + Voss, as well as German Naval Yards in Kiel are involved. The Lürssen Group, which will be the main focus of the production, distributes its work to the two sites Wolgast and Hamburg.

For Blohm + Voss it has been the first new shipbuilding contract in ten years. The ships are to be delivered from 2022 onwards. The program runs until 2025 and has a cost of around two billion euros. "This secures the future of Blohm + Voss," said the shipyard expert of IG Metall Hamburg, Emanuel Glass. Because of the lack of orders, the shipyard had been forced to resort to job cuts and pay cuts.

"The new order is a decisive step in saving the shipyard," said Hamburg's state economic director Frank Horch, who was formerly a member of the company's management team. "This helps Lürssen to rebuild the Hamburg shipyard."