majalah militer

March 4, 2009, New Delhi -- A new version of India's BrahMos cruise missile was successfully tested Wednesday at a firing range in the Rajasthan desert, officials said.

India's Defense Research and Development Organization indicated that the launch of a new version of the supersonic missile with a 180-mile range was successful after an earlier test firing failed to hit its target, the Press Trust of India reported.

"The Block II BrahMos missile was successfully launched at (10:30 a.m.) this morning," officials told PTI, adding that BrahMos "took two-and-a half-minutes to strike its target in the Pokhran firing range in Rajasthan."

Officials said the test launch was witnessed by Deputy Army Chief (Planning and Systems) Lt. Gen. M.S. Dadwal among others. In a Jan. 20 test of the Indo-Russian joint venture, the missile deviated from its course and failed to hit the target, the news agency said. (upiasia)

March 4, 2009 -- The Swedish Government has given the Swedish Navy the green light to participate in the EU’s mission to eliminate piracy off the coast of Somalia. The Swedish mission will involve the Swedish Navy corvettes HMS Stockholm and HMS Malmö, accompanied by the support vessel HMS Trossö. Kockums is currently engaged in preparing the vessels for this international operation. For Kockums, this also means organizing a rapid-response capability, in case of a serious breakdown, as well as support and maintenance services. We maintain several technical support flying squads.

Pirate attacks against shipping are a growing problem in many parts of the world. A total of about 230 attacks were reported last year, some 100 of which occurred in the waters off Somalia, where the Swedish Navy has now been tasked by the UN with protecting seaborne food relief en route to the country’s starving population. The Gulf of Aden is especially dangerous to enter or pass through.

The Swedish force totals 160 personnel. The Navy’s mission is to protect the food transports, not to track or pursue the pirates. Even so, the mission is highly dangerous, and if support vessels are attacked, the UN’s rules of engagement permit the use of armed force. This means that the vessels would be free to use their weapons.

Heavily armed pirates have transformed the Gulf of Aden into the most dangerous stretch of water in the world. When in African or other dangerous waters affected by piracy, many merchant crews electrify ships’ railings, prepare their water cannon for action and double-up their lookouts.

The pirates often use support vessels, which may take the form of a larger fishing vessel. These are used to launch smaller high-speed motorboats, with as many as ten pirates in each boat. They normally attack their targets while underway, from several directions at once, armed with automatic weapons and, quite often, with recoilless antitank weapons. They board the target vessel by shooting rope ladders onto the deck and fastening them to the railings, while providing covering fire.

In such situations, the crew of the target vessel often withdraw to the bridge and lock themselves in, in accordance with the owner’s standing orders. This makes it easy for the pirates to gain the upper hand and climb aboard. In some instances, the pirates have inside help from a member of the crew. (defpro)

March 1, 2009 -- India has signed a pact with Mauritius for supply of a 'Dhruv' Advanced Light Helicopter built by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

Mauritius will be the second country after Equador to get the multi-role, multi-mission new generation helicopter. The helicopter is likely to be handed over this month to Mauritius for use by its police, officials said here.

The state-of-the-art helicopter is being supplied under an inter-governmental MoU concluded last week. The chopper, which costs around seven million USD, is being supplied under a 100 million USD line of credit extended by India to Mauritius over three years ago, they said. Equador became the first country to acquire Dhruv helicopters last month when it signed a contract for seven choppers for its Air Force.

The armed version of Dhruv can be fitted with rockets and a 20 mm gun. Dhruv also has a variant which is equipped with 'fire and forget' air-to-air missiles and 70 mm rockets that can be fired in direct and indirect mode. Dhruv won the Equadorian contract, outperforming rival machines from global majors like Eurocopter, mainly due to its lower price tag. Equador already got five helicopters and the remaining two will be handed over in six months.(india-defence)

Joining an elite club of nations capable of building large warships, India began the construction of its first indigenous aircraft carrier at the Cochin Shipyard here and will go in for 2 to 3 more carriers in the heavier class.

Pressing a remote to lower the keel -- the ship's backbone -- into the construction dock of the shipyard, Defence Minister A K Antony said, "The Navy's carrier will showcase India's technological prowess and warships' building capabilities to the world. It will be the largest ever warship to be built in India." The 40,000-tonne carrier will operate nearly 30 aircraft including the Russian MiG-29Ks fighters, Kamov-31 helicopters and the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

"This is a crucial milestone and an occasion to cherish in the shipbuilding traditions and maritime history of the nation. The culmination of this prestigious project, sometime in 2014, will transform India into an aircraft-building nation," Antony said.

He said that India will certainly produce more indigenous aircraft carrier, but in the heavier class category to meet the future challenges and needs of maritime security. "We hope to operate two to three aircraft carriers simultaneously in the not too distant future," Antony said. (india-defence)

February 27, 2009, Moscow -- Russia no longer depends on Ukraine to provide it with strategic missile tracking data following the launch of its new radar facility in the country's south, the commander of Russia's Space Forces said on Friday.

Russia's Voronezh-DM radar site in the southern town of Armavir went into service on Thursday.

Maj. Gen. Oleg Ostapenko said the Armavir radar would monitor missile routes and probable directions for a missile attack in the south and southeast of Russia in place of the early warning facilities in Mukachevo in western Ukraine and Sevastopol, the Crimea.

Russia terminated a 1997 agreement with Ukraine on the use of both Ukrainian radars in February 2008 on the grounds that they had become obsolete.

With an effective range of 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) the Voronezh-class radar has capabilities similar to its predecessors, the Dnepr and Daryal, which are currently deployed outside Russia, but uses less energy and is more environmentally friendly.

Gen. Ostapenko said Russia would build more radar stations to replace the existing ones, adding that the Armavir facility was the second, after the Lekhtusi complex, in the Leningrad Region, which had been put into operation in March 2006.

Washington wants to place 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar station in the neighboring Czech Republic, purportedly to counter a missile threat from Iran and other "rogue" states. Russia has fiercely opposed the plans, saying the European shield would destroy the strategic balance of forces and threaten Russia's national. (RIA Novosti)

February 27, 2009, Abu Dhabi -- United Arab Emirates Naval Forces will acquire 12 new patrol boats and retrofit the twelve existing boats in their fleet. Patria has been selected to supply mortar systems to a part of these 25 meter vessels that are originally of Swedish design. These systems will create a new, mobile fire support system with high firepower and good mobility for the coastal protection.

“We are very pleased that the UAE Armed Forces has chosen Patria Nemo Navy especially after having ordered Patria AMV vehicles earlier. This order confirms Patria’s position as the global market leader in turreted mortar systems. We also see the Arabian Peninsula as one of our focus areas in the future”, states Mr Seppo Seppälä, President of Patria Land & Armament Oy.

Patria Nemo is the latest member in Patria’s mortar system family. It is a 120 mm remote controlled mortar turret, providing both direct and indirect fire support. As a modern and compact system, Patria Nemo can easily be mounted onto various tracked and wheeled chassis. Due to its low weight of only 1500 kg, Patria Nemo is now also adaptable to lightweight, high-speed vessels and can be effectively used for harbour patrolling and protection, coastal guarding and infantry landing operations.(defpro)