DTN News: Malaysia TODAY March 6, 2010 ~ Maiden Flight For Micro Aircraft
Source: DTN News / malacca@thestar.com.my By Martin Carvalho Photos By A. Malex Yahaya
(NSI News Source Info) JASIN, Malaysia - March 6, 2010: The Sungai Rambai Microlight Park here capped a milestone recently when it hosted the maiden test flight of the Fulmar SR08, Malaysia’s latest multi-role unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
The RM1.5mil UAV, designed and built by Unmanned Systems Technology Sdn Bhd (UST), was launched from a specially built two-man launch catapult. It spent almost an hour flying some500m above ground.
UST general manager Mohd Khalizi Mohd Razak said the Fulmar SR08 was part of the company’s ongoing effort to tap the growing international UAV market.
He said the composite-body Fulmar SR08 had a 2m wing span, a range of 50km and eight-hour flight capability.
“It can easily be fitted with sensors including night vision cameras to allow use for commercial and security surveillance purposes.
“When one mentions UAV, most think it is used only by the military, like the model known as Predator.
“We hope to create awareness that UAVs are not used solely by the military but can be used by the commercial sector,” he said at the airstrip here.
The UAVs could be used by the agriculture sector to monitor tracts of plantation and farm land, he said, adding that it could be fitted with sensors to gauge the moisture content of an area.
“It can even be used by highway operators such as PLUS to monitor traffic flow along highways instead of relying on helicopters which are expensive,” said Mohd Khalizi.
UAVs could also be used by enforcement agencies in surveillance on smuggling or illegal logging, he said.
Besides testing the Fulmar SR08, UST showed off its smaller 3kg single-camera Aludra UAV that can cover a 15km radius on a maximum 90-minute flight duration.
Mohd Khalizi said the Fulmar SR08 and the single-camera Aludra together with their computer and ground-control systems could be deployed at a cost of RM1.3mil.
UST, a subsidiary of Composite Technology Research Malaysia, spent several years and RM10mil on research and development to produce the first fleet of UAVs in Malaysia and the Asean region, he added.
The company, in collaboration with the Defence Ministry, deployed its Aludra MKI to carry out aerial surveillance in Semporna, Sabah, under Ops Pasir.
Meanwhile, Sungai Rambai assemblyman Datuk Hasan Abd Rahman, also the deputy chairman of the Malacca Youth and Sports Committee, said he was proud that UST had chosen to use the microlight aircraft park for the Fulmar SR08’s maiden flight.
The airstrip has come a long way since its operations began in 1999.
“With the state’s support, we have been able to upgrade it to include a hangar, fencing and a watchtower,” he said.
He said he would lobby to the secretariat overseeing Sukma XIII in Malacca this June to use the UAVs to monitor sports events such as sailing and long-distance cycling and running.
He would also apply to the Youth and Sports Ministry for a RM200,000 allocation for upgrading works on the airstrip to allow light aircraft to use it during emergencies, he added.
Source: DTN News / AFP
(NSI News Source Info) KAMPONG CHHNANG, Cambodia - March 7, 2010: Cambodia mounted Thursday a rare public test of rockets to protect agai
nst "invaders", amid a lingering military standoff over disputed territory with neighbouring Thailand.
In the first such public drill since the country's civil war ended more than a decade ago, troops fired some 200 rockets from truck-mounted launchers at an airfield 180 kilometres (about 110 miles) from the Thai border.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said the exercise was "not about showing any military muscles", even though he is at loggerheads with the Thai government, but said it was to prepare for the defence of his country.
"This is a normal drill and preparation to defend the nation in case there is an invasion," Hun Sen said during a separate ceremony in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh shortly after the rockets were fired.
Hun Sen has recently made a number of fiery speeches railing against Thai "invaders" and "thieves" in disputed territory around an 11th century temple on their border, where there have been deadly clashes in the past two years.
Shortly before the weapons were fired in front of assembled media and top brass at Kampong Chhnang, some 100 kilometres from Phnom Penh, defence ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat also said the drill was not meant as a show of force.
"It is about the strengthening of the abilities of our forces in order to fulfil the duties of national defence against invaders," Chhum Socheat added.
Muffled thumps could be heard as salvos of rockets landed.
Hun Sen declared that the test was a success, saying targets 20, 30 and 40 kilometres away from the launch site were hit.
"(We) have had these kinds of weapons since the 1980s, but we have stored them in warehouses for too long. So now the weapons needed to be taken out to test fire to see whether they exploded or not," Hun Sen said.
Cambodia and Thailand have been locked in nationalist tensions and a troop standoff at their disputed border since July 2008, when Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was granted UNESCO World Heritage status.
Four soldiers were killed in clashes in the temple area in 2008 and three more in a gunbattle last April. Smaller flare-ups continue to be reported between troops in the area.
The Thai-Cambodia border has never been fully demarcated, partly because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia, which ended in 1998.
The World Court ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia, although its main entrance lies in Thailand. The exact boundary through the surrounding grounds remains in dispute.
Relations plunged further in November after Hun Sen appointed ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as his economic adviser and then refused to extradite him to Thailand, which he fled to avoid a jail term for corruption.
Thailand's government downplayed the Cambodian rocket drill and said there had been no troop reinforcements on the disputed border.
"I don't think Cambodia wants to intimidate us, as we have sent them a clear signal that we don't want the dispute to go out of control and affect people in both countries," deputy Thai prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban said.
Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said the drill was "nothing to do with us, they are not firing into our territory."
The company said the seven European governments that signed on as customers for the A400M announced in Berlin that they had agreed to the increase for the 180 planes on order. They will also provide 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion) in loans in exchange for a share of the revenue from future exports.
“EADS considers this a sound basis for a successful evolution of the A400M program,” the company said.
EADS said it would also absorb some of the cost overruns by taking a write-off of 1.8 billion euros ($2.5 billion) for the project, a provision that would cause it to post a loss for 2009. The A400M project is nearly four years behind schedule and more than 7 billion euros over budget, and the plane itself is several tons overweight. EADS has already written off 2.4 billion euros in costs. The project was expending cash at a rate of about 100 million euros a month.
EADS had hoped to minimize the size of the write-off because of concern that it could have negative implications for the company’s credit rating, a main factor in determining the costs of borrowing for future jet programs like the A350-XWB commercial plane, which the company hopes to deliver in 2013.
Last month, the ratings agency Fitch warned that a significant charge for the A400M might lead it to downgrade its rating on EADS, which, at its current BBB+, remains at investment grade.
Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Luxembourg and Turkey agreed Friday to increase by 2 billion euros the price of the original contract, which was 20 billion euros, and to waive all penalty charges for late deliveries. Those are now projected to begin in 2014, EADS said. The countries also agreed to accelerate predelivery payments for the planes, although the precise schedule of those payments had yet to be completed.
The financing agreement comes after more than a year of uncertainty about the A400M program, which EADS had threatened to cancel to preserve the company’s long-term viability.
