Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto during meeting with Boeing officials. Credit to Pentagon Press Sec & Indonesian Embassy Washington.

Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder provided the following readout:

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III met with Indonesian Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto on October 20 to discuss opportunities for further alignment between the United States and Indonesia as the two countries pursue a shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific, as well as issues of global concern.

Secretary Austin expressed appreciation for Indonesia’s leadership role within ASEAN, in the Indo-Pacific, and around the world.  Both leaders emphasized the importance of continued cooperation as regional security dynamics become increasingly complex. To support this aim, Secretary Austin expressed his interest in continuing to assist Indonesia’s military modernization and to strengthen interoperability between the United States and Indonesia.

The two leaders discussed significant advancements in U.S.-Indonesia defense cooperation, including the recent expansion of exercise “Super” Garuda Shield this summer, the largest-ever exercise between the two countries.

Secretary Austin expressed his support for Minister Prabowo’s focus on military professionalization, noting that Indonesia now has cadets in three U.S. service academies. He also emphasized the importance of the shared values between the United States and Indonesia—two of the world’s largest democracies. Both leaders reiterated the importance of maintaining the international rules and norms that preserve a free and open Indo-Pacific.

A combined maritime task group comprised of Australian and Singaporean warships and troops has completed Exercise Trident.

Three warships and over 1600 people were involved in the exercise, a continued commitment to bilateral joint military exercises under the 2015 Singapore-Australia Comprehensive Partnership.

The exercise came to an end with a formal closing ceremony held at Tiger Hill at Shoalwater Bay, Queensland.

During the exercise, troops from the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, and 3rd Battalion, Singapore Guards, completed land integration training before embarking on Royal Australian Navy landing helicopter dock HMAS Adelaide and Republic of Singapore Navy landing ship tanks RSS Endurance and RSS Persistence.

Trident’s Deputy Director Captain Tim Byles, from the Royal Australian Navy, said the co-led exercise was an opportunity to build on an over 30-year defence partnership between the Australian Defence Force and the Singapore Armed Forces.

“This year we have integrated our staff, tested our operational planning skills and executed the tactical phase of the training, which includes ship to shore operations, and an offensive land manoeuvre as the culminating activity,” Captain Byles said.

This was the eighth iteration of Exercise Trident and the amphibious training component was a first during the bilateral activity.

“We demonstrated the ability to project a ground combat element from the vessels to the beach, with support from rotary wing assets and small boat teams, before the seizure of an inland objective,” Captain Byles said.

Close air support and troop lift was provided by Republic of Singapore Air Force CH-47D helicopters permanently based at Oakey in Queensland.

The troops will continue their training in the area into October, before the Singapore Armed Forces wrap up additional training in Australia later in the year.

A video released by Ukrainian troops on the frontline is making rounds on social media, showing the American-made HIMARS MLRS in action. In the clip that lasts for about a minute, around eight to nine HIMARS rockets can be seen launched, which follow different trajectories.

A Russian-language media outlet published a report about this video citing unnamed experts, asserting that the video provides insight into the flight path adopted by HIMARS rockets, which interferes with the counter-battery operations of the enemy.

According to these unnamed experts, the HIMARS rockets, after launch, change their flight path almost immediately, which distinguishes this American system from other conventional MLRS in which the projectiles fly along a ballistic trajectory.

It is this feature of the HIMARS rockets which, in high likelihood, prevents the enemy counter-battery radars from determining the exact coordinates of the launchers, thereby making it impossible to deliver accurate retaliatory strikes.

Experts further noted that HIMARS rockets are not always known to change their trajectory. This ability is only used by the Ukrainian forces when the MLRS is located in areas with a threat of retaliatory strikes.

Counter-battery radars detect and track incoming projectiles and, based on their trajectories, calculate their point of origin, so if the rockets can alter their courses in such a way as to confuse the counter-battery radars, then it is indeed possible to prevent precise retaliatory strikes.

However, it is not just the trajectory of rockets but also the sound generated when rockets are launched that the counter-battery systems use to determine the location of enemy launchers.

EurAsian Times asked an expert to see if such a feature is known to exist in MLRS rockets or do the HIMARS rockets have them. Maj Gen Harsha Kakar (Retd), who served in the Regiment of Artillery in the Indian Army, said that it is not possible to comment on it as there is no data to confirm or deny it.

When asked how HIMARS units have survived the retaliatory strikes from Russian forces until now, as not even a single unit has been confirmed destroyed so far, Kakar said, “HIMARS, like other mobile rocket systems, adopts shoot and scoot tactics.

This implies launching its rockets and moving to another location. This is adopted by most weapon systems currently to beat counter bombardment by the enemy.” “It is nothing new. Most weapon systems which fire salvos are so designed,” Kakar added.

“The information about HIMARS – launched missiles that mislead counter artillery radars by maneuvering in flight is indeed impressive,” Konstantinos Grivas told the EurAsian Times, who teaches advanced weapons systems at the Hellenic Army Academy.

Grivas hinted at the possibility that the US might have sent small numbers of under-development PrSM (Precision Strike Missiles) to Ukraine while noting it is rather unlikely.

The most likely possibility, according to Grivas, is that the Ukrainian forces could be using “HIMARS in reconnaissance-strike complexes with the rockets being able to update the targeting data in flight via data link and adjust their trajectory accordingly using lateral thrusters so that they can engage targets in motion or, precisely, to have an erratic course that will confuse counter artillery radars.”

He noted that the Israeli TCS (trajectory correction system), which has been presented about twenty years ago, had similar capabilities and said that “presumably, the US has developed rockets with similar capabilities for HIMARS and MLRS.”

The HIMARS MLRS provides Ukraine with a rapid precision strike capability at standoff ranges without needing air power, thereby allowing the Ukrainian military to compensate for the small size of its air force.

Therefore, over the past few months, Ukrainian forces have been able to destroy hundreds of Russian positions and ammunition stockpiles far from the frontlines by leveraging the long-range HIMARS rockets.

The effectiveness of HIMARS on the battlefield made the pro-Kremlin figures so nervous that they publicly voiced their concerns.

For example, a former commander of Russian separatist forces in eastern Ukraine, Igor Girkin, said on July 10 on the Telegram messaging app that “the Russian air defense systems, which relatively (very relatively) coped with attacks with the help of “Tochek-U” and “Uraganov” – turned out to be ineffective against massive strikes by Hymers (HIMARS) missiles.”

There has also been some appreciation of the precision of HIMARS rockets from Russian eyewitness accounts, such as Roman Saponkov, a Russian military blogger who is embedded with frontline Russian forces and was present during a HIMARS strike on Chernobaevka, Kherson, on July 9, which made quite an impression on him.

“As it happened yesterday, I watched the HIMARS strike on Chernobaevka, Kherson, almost before our eyes. I have been under fire many times, but I was struck that the package, 5 or 6 missiles, landed almost into a penny. Usually, MLRS fall over large areas and at maximum distance scatter in a fan-like manner,” Saponkov said on July 10 in a Telegram post.

Meanwhile, there have been regular claims from Russia that its forces have destroyed HIMARS units. However, these claims remain unverified as of yet.

When asked about the overall effectiveness of HIMARS on the battlefield, Maj Gen Kakar said that the HIMARS is more suitable against stationary targets rather than mobile targets.

“Destruction of bridges, railway yards, ammunition depots, communication centers, and troops concentrations can change the nature of the conflict. It can stall offensives and delay the movement of reserves. This is what HIMARS has done. Its effectiveness against mobile targets is limited,” Kakar said.

Something bizzare discovered about the Himars..





Kudos HIMARS! Russian Military Experts Say US Systems Are Confusing Counter-Battery Ops By Changing Trajectory
Russia Acknowledge The Effectiveness Of HIMARS
https://eurasiantimes.com/kudos-himars-russ...ing-trajectory/

The visit ended. So where is the F15 buy or US buying or helping to buy F15s for a financially strapped Indo as mentioned by Intelligence Online. P.S: The magazine depends on sources who often have their own agenda e.g. middle-men or downright wrong.

https://id.usembassy.gov/readout-of-secreta...abowo-subianto/

Kek.
TNI annual budget is as much as SAF despite only spending 0.7% of GDP

What are you talking abt?

Personally I have no idea what your beef it with ID.

But they are not cash strapped as you claim.

Black RPG look slick

Outdated tho.

Still have utility as anti-personnel weapon, but AFAIK ATM don't have AP grenades for them, only AT ones.