Singapore Navy (RSN) Is Modern, Interesting And Dynamic In South East Asia / RSN Singapore Navy Has Put Its Final Two Stealth Frigates Into Action

Singapore Navy (RSN) Is Modern, Interesting And Dynamic In South East Asia / RSN Singapore Navy Has Put Its Final Two Stealth Frigates Into Action

*By Roger DTN News

(NSI News Source Info) SINGAPORE - May 9, 2009: The navy of the Republic of Singapore (RSN) is one of South East Asia's most interesting and dynamic. From humble beginnings following independence in 1963, the RSN has grown to a position of control over one of the world's most important waterways.

The Republic of Singapore Navy's (RSN) Formidable-class frigate, RSS Steadfast, arrives at a port in Shanghai August 25, 2008. The RSS Steadfast is on a five-day visit to Shanghai from Monday, China Daily reported.

Today, the RSN is capable of exerting 'Sea Control' over their area of immediate interest and sea denial much further away.

With the introduction into Singaporean service of four ex-Swedish Navy submarines and the addition of new stealth frigates on order from France the RSN will soon be in a position to exert 'Sea Dominance' on, over and under the waters surrounding the Singapore Strait.

Such is the mix of capabilities that the RSN is integrating that, with the exception of the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force with their Aegis destroyers and fleets of modern destroyers and submarines, and the overwhelming firepower of the United States Navy, the RSN is on track to become the most powerful navy in the region.

The RSN of Today Today's RSN is based around a core of missile armed fast patrol boats. These vessels are ideal for operations in and around the intensely crowded littoral waters of the Singapore and Malacca Straits.

Small, fast and easily able to disappear amongst the numerous islands, ferries, fishing boats and merchant ships that ply these waters, they are also possessed of potency far outweighing their size.

The largest and most capable of Singapore's fleet are the six Victory class corvettes. Displacing 600 tonnes, they are armed with up to eight Harpoon anti-ship missiles, each with range of 130kms and more than capable of seriously damaging a frigate-sized opponent.

A recent upgrade to these corvettes has seen a substantial improvement in their self-defence capabilities, with the addition twin vertical launch octuple Barak surface to air missile launchers to augment the single 76-mm dual-purpose Super Raid gun and passive defence measures.

The Israeli Barak is designed to be a relatively low-cost point defence missile system to protect ships against both manned aircraft and anti-ship missiles and consequently has a quick reaction time, typically 3 seconds including 0.6 seconds to turn over.

The fire-control system is based upon the Elta EL/M-2221GM I/J- and K-band (X-Ka band) monopulse coherent tracking and illumination radar which is supplemented, on the right-hand side, by a Rafael thermal imager.

It features a dish antenna with an elevation of -25 to +85º. Search, acquisition and tracking may be conducted in either I/J (8 to 20 GHz) or K (20 to 40 GHz) bands and it can track the target or targets while controlling two missiles.

The system may also be used for controlling guns, possibly with the assistance of a separate ballistic computer. Upon acquisition of the target/targets by the ship's search radar, the fire-control radar designates the targets.

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY May 9, 2009 - U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY May 9, 2009 - U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON/KABUL - May 9, 2009: U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, center, conducts a town hall meeting with U.S. Marines and other military service personnel at the Forward Operating Base Bastion in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, Thursday May 7, 2009.

There are no plans to deploy U.S. ground troops to Pakistan, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday, despite concerns over increasing violence between Pakistani troops and Taliban militants.

Speaking to about 300 Marines at in Afghanistan on Thursday, Gates assured them that they wouldn't be fighting in the neighboring sovereign nation.

Singapore Air Force RSAF Gets 4 F-15SG Jets / Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) Receives F-15SG Fighters

Singapore Air Force RSAF Gets 4 F-15SG Jets / Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) Receives F-15SG Fighters

(NSI News Source Info) SINGAPORE - May 9, 2009: THE Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) has received its first four F-15SG fighter jets, armed with the most advanced air-to-air missiles and the sharpest sensors outside the United States. The mascot of the RSAF's 428th Fighter Squadron, dubbed the Buccaneers, welcoming four F-15SG fighters to the Mountain Home airbase on Wednesday. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS RSAF personnel and their US counterparts greeted the first batch of jets, bearing RSAF colours, which arrived at a US airbase in Idaho on Wednesday. The planes are part of the Republic's 428th Fighter Squadron, which will go operational in the next few months. Work has been ongoing since last October to get the training unit off the ground and in the air. Also known as the Buccaneers, the unit at the Mountain Home airbase will house up to 12 F-15 jets, along with more than 300 RSAF pilots and ground crew, as well as their families. A Defence Ministry statement said the RSAF pilots were previously flying the F-15E Strike Eagle jets of the US Air Force (USAF) at the Seymour Johnson Airbase in North Carolina. The Singapore-US training arrangement is expected to last from five to 20 years. The F-15 jet is considered one of the top fighter planes in the world. It has racked up a combat record of 101 victories and zero losses in 30 years of air battles worldwide. Besides being able to fly farther and carry more bombs than the other fighters in the RSAF arsenal, the F-15 has an advanced radar system that has never been sold outside the US before. Mindef said the aircraft 'will provide the SAF with enhanced air defence and air superiority capabilities'. The planes are part of the ongoing push to modernise the Singapore military, which also launched the navy's latest stealth warships in January and will allow soldiers to access real-time combat information on the battlefield. In an interview with the Mountain Home newspaper, the USAF's 366th Fighter Wing commander, Colonel Jim Bird, called the sleek grey RSAF planes 'beautiful'. He said: 'I just want to crawl up the ladder and get a whiff of that new car smell.' But the twin-seater F-15s are not expected to fly above Singapore until at least next year, said RSAF chief Major-General Ng Chee Khern during an interview last year.

DTN News: Military TODAY May 9, 2009 - China

DTN News: Military TODAY May 9, 2009 - China

(NSI News Source Info) BEIJING - May 9, 2009: Workers clean military vehicles on display at the Military Museum in Beijing, China, Wednesday, May 6, 2009. Chinese military officials have rejected criticism by Washington that China's rising military power is focused on countering the United States and said U.S. pressure was behind Australia's bid to boost its defense spending.

A400M Delayed By Paperwork Blunder

A400M Delayed By Paperwork Blunder

(NSI News Source Info) May 9, 2009: Airbus A400M engine maker Europrop International has admitted it blundered in the development of a vital computer system by failing to produce the correct paperwork to allow the power plant to be certified to the required civil standards. The first A400M should have been delivered later this year to France. (EADS). The A400M (formerly known as the future large aircraft) is a military transporter designed to meet the requirements of the air forces of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom. A European staff target was drawn up in 1993, together with a memorandum of understanding signed by the governments of the seven nations. Italy subsequently withdrew from the programme. Airbus Military SL of Madrid, a subsidiary of Airbus Industrie, is responsible for management of the A400M programme. Other companies with a share in the programme are: BAE Systems (UK), EADS (Germany, France and Spain), Flabel (Belgium) and Tusas Aerospace Industries (Turkey). Final assembly will take place in Seville, Spain. In May 2003, a development and production contact was signed between Airbus and OCCAR, the European procurements agency for 180 aircraft: Belgium seven, France 50, Germany 60, Luxembourg one, Spain 27, Turkey ten and the UK 25 aircraft. First metal cut for the airframe of A400M was in January 2005 and final assembly began in August 2007. The first aircraft was rolled out in June 2008 and was scheduled to make its maiden flight in late 2008. However problems with the propulsion system have resulted in a delay and first flight is expected in the second half of 2009. First deliveries to the French Air Force are planned for late 2010. Deliveries are expected to conclude in 2025. EPI president Nick Durham said the company only realized last year that the paper trail required for the full authority digital engine control (FADEC) was OK for military approval but not the civil requirements agreed to in the contract with Airbus. "The problem came from having to demonstrate to the European Aviation Safety Authority traceability through the development cycles. When we sat down with them late summer last year, it was clear to us and them that actually, whilst everything worked, we couldn't clearly show that," Durham said. Durham attributed the error to "the pressure of the moment." "We didn't intentionally go down this route. The organizations involved in normal military programs work in a slightly different way to validate the software by operation and I think what happened was people kept to those processes under the pressure rather than move to the civil certification processes we had agreed to. It's a matter of what you do up front and what you do later," he said. The A400M deal with EPI to develop the TP400 engine was signed in 2003; the first aircraft was originally planned to be delivered to the lead customer this year. The FADEC issue is one of a string of problems that have forced Airbus to repeatedly delay the airlifter's first flight. The A400M now faces at least a three-year delay, which threatens to cost Airbus parent EADS 1.4 billion euros ($1.9 billion) in late delivery payments. The first A400M was rolled out at the Seville, Spain, factory of Airbus Military in mid-2008 but has been grounded while the engine certification and a series of problems with a C-130 engine flying test bed were resolved. The seven partner nations in the project have a contract clause allowing them to cancel the aircraft order at the end of March. A three-month moratorium is in place as the two sides negotiate possible changes to technical and economic aspects of the fixed price agreement to save the project being derailed or even possibly canceled. Talking to reporters in Seville, the EPI boss said the company had to virtually develop from scratch the complex software required to control the aircraft's propulsion system. Durham said EASA is scheduled to do a formal audit on the software system this summer with full engine certification targeted for late 2009. EPI is a four-nation consortium formed to develop and build the turboprop engine. MTU of Germany, Britain's Rolls-Royce, Safran of France and IPT of Spain are the shareholders. MTU is the lead nation on the FADEC element of the engine. Durham said EPI had had to draft in a lot of the best people from across the European partners to resolve the problem, causing other development programs to be "sacrificed." The FADEC workforce had been "more than trebled" to over 200 engineers, he said. The EPI boss said that at the time of the decision not to proceed with the flight test program, the FADEC system was functional, had the required paper trail for military approval, and had operated for over 2,000 hours on the engine-test bed. Asked why, in light of the fact the A400M program was already facing delays, the decision had not been taken to develop the traceable software in parallel with the flight test program and grant a waiver for the military-approved system to be used, Durham said he wasn't the right person to say. "We had to come through with a traceable engine sooner or later and to demonstrate we had it right and give the customer [Airbus] confidence we had it right. Working with the customer we decided this was the best solution," Durham said. In a statement, Airbus said the lack of certification of the FADEC, as required by EASA, meant they were not in a position to perform first or subsequent flights. "There is first a civil certification through EASA, and then a "military certification and qualification" which is for the more military specific aspects of the power-plant - airframe combination and utilization such as resistance to gravel and bullets. EASA grants the stamp for first flight as A400M MSN1 [a test aircraft] will be operated under civil registration. Before granting it, EASA wants to have the assurance that it is safe for the airframe/engine combination to take-off. In the case of the FADEC software, which is complex integrated software, the minimum assurance is to show compliance to DO178B certification process and as a first step, demonstrate traceability of top level requirements in the software development process," said the statement. The first aircraft should have been delivered later this year to France, which along with Germany, Spain and the U.K. are the leading members of a seven-nation partnership who signed a fixed price development deal with Airbus to develop the airlifter in 2003. Along with export contracts with Malaysia and South Africa total orders currently stand at 192 aircraft. With deliveries slipping at least three years, EADS is seeking to avoid picking up the entire late payments cost, which is threatening to total more than 1.4 billion euros. As part of their case, company executives have complained recently that the EPI consortium was not their choice but a politically inspired selection to keep jobs and technology in Europe rather than allow the work to go to rival North American bidder Pratt & Whitney. Durham defended EPI in Seville, saying that the TP400 was chosen not just as a result of European pressure but also because it was a cost-competitive proposal. Airbus boss Tom Enders said earlier this year the first aircraft could have flown by last October if they had the engine. Durham said that despite the FADEC setbacks the 2,600 hours of running on test rigs and 25 hours on the flying test bed showed good results. About 90 percent of development testing is now complete and work is now underway to complete installation of instrumentation on the test engines for MSN1 with the aim of starting ground running tests this summer. A Hercules C-130 flying test bed operated by British company Marshall Aerospace has been operating with a TP400 replacing one of the four engines since late last year. The engine has operated at 70 percent of take-off power and will shortly move to takeoff at full power, said Durham. "Engine performance and weight results pretty much meet our wildest dreams. At take-off and cruise we are meeting maximum temperature margins, fuel consumption is at specification and in-flight restarts are working," he said. Although A400M is known to be heavily overweight, Durham said the engine weight is within 1 percent of specification. "That's pretty unusual at this stage of engine development. If the performance we have seen so far is backed up on the flight test program, it is so good it suggests we will be able to take out a bit more weight with modifications in the future."

Russia Displays Military Might On Victory Day

Russia Displays Military Might On Victory Day

(NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW - May 9, 2009: A military parade involving over 9,000 personnel, 103 sophisticated tracked and wheeled military vehicles, as well as 69 aircraft and helicopters was launched on Moscow's Red Square at 10:00 a.m. Moscow time (06:00 GMT) on Saturday, when Russia celebrates Victory Day. Military jets fly in formation over Red Square in Moscow during Victory Day parade, May 9, 2009. President Dmitry Medvedev warned against "military adventurism" on Saturday, saying Russia would firmly defend its interests -- just as it did during World War Two when the Soviet Union defeated fascism. Medvedev, opening the biggest and most spectacular Victory Day parade in modern Russia's history, clearly aimed his warning at post-Soviet neighbour Georgia which Russia defeated in a five-day war last August. Victory Day marks the final surrender by Nazi Germany to the U.S.S.R. in WWII, often referred to as the Great Patriotic War in Russia and other states in the former Soviet Union. Moscow's Military District Commander, Col. Gen. Valery Gerasimov, is running the parade. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev addressed the parade, congratulating the veterans and promising "a peaceful future" for Russia. "Any aggression against our citizens will be met with an adequate response, and the future of Russia will be peaceful," he said. The parade, which is accompanied by a large military orchestra of 1,100 musicians, is divided into three parts - a march pass, involving military personnel, followed by sophisticated hardware and a fly over by combat aircraft. Russia's advanced S-400 Triumf air defense systems are displayed for the first time in the parade. This year's event is largely considered a rehearsal for a grandiose military parade in 2010, when Russia celebrates the 65th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War. The first Victory Parade was held on Red Square on June 24, 1945 on the order of the then-Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Joseph Stalin. Under a new law recently signed by President Medvedev, Victory Day parades involving military hardware are held this year for the first time in 23 Russian cities, rather in Moscow alone.

Belarus Denies Plans To Sell Syria, Iran Weapons

Belarus Denies Plans To Sell Syria, Iran Weapons

(NSI News Source Info) MINSK - May 9, 2009: The Belarusian president denied on Friday the country had any plans to sell weapons to Syria or Iran. Earlier this month some Russian and foreign media reported Belarus was planning to sell S-300 surface-to-air missiles and Iskander tactical missile systems to Iran, and said that Tehran had arranged to transfer some of the systems to Syria. "As far as S-300 and Iskander [missiles] are concerned, these complexes cannot be exported without my approval. There is not a single contract or project related to these systems that I have been asked to approve. This is utter nonsense," Alexander Lukashenko said. He added that Belarus "has no Iskander missiles, while S-300s are all in operational service." The latest version of the S-300 family is the S-300PMU2 Favorit, which has a range of up to 195 kilometers (about 120 miles) and can intercept aircraft and ballistic missiles at altitudes from 10 meters to 27 kilometers. The Iskander-M system (NATO reporting name SS-26 Stone) is equipped with two solid-propellant single-stage 9M723K1 guided missiles with "quasi-ballistic" capability.