Saturday, December 15, 2012

Another Armed Forces Asset Delivered On Schedule


  
 Credit : TLDM

I guess you can see the news on the launching of Gagah Samudera in the local defence blogs and articles in the newspapers especially since Utusan Malaysia front-paged the news. Mind you this is not the first combat ship built in Malaysia since MSE built the OPV KD Marikh and Hong-Leong Lurssen Shipyard built the six units of FAC-G Jerung class, The first that can be attributed to this shipbuilding is that it is the first training ship that is mission specific to the RMN as previously the Navy had to use their elderly warships to be converted to training ships while retaining their patrolling functions like the KD Rahmat and KD Tuah at the time. This was not conducive due the lack of space for the extra crewman and proper training facilities as highlighted when KD Tuah had to be deployed to the Gulf of Aden.  That was the choice that had to be made as we could not afford actual Midshipmen Training Ships that the larger navies had in their fleets.



          Credit To Standupper @ Mymil Forum


Nonetheless inversely now the RMN can look forward to having their patrolling fleet strengthened after their small crafts were transferred to the MMEA as these training vessels can also be multi-rolled as basic OPVs although some may say their armaments are limited. Even the CNO in his speech below mentioned that these vessels are being looked at as the FAC replacements, though I believe they are actually actual replacement for the PB squadrons that was similarly lightly armed. But even though the dreaded by some FFNW word was not mentioned, I guess if the vessels are of modular construction, then it should not be a big issue to upgrade the vessels' armaments to full combat specifications.

Meanwhile, Aziz said the completion of the vessel had been long awaited by RMN not only to be used for training but also to patrol and monitor the country's waters.He pointed out that RMN had been waiting for the ship after 27 of its ships were transferred to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency in 2006. "At the moment, we only have K.D. Hang Tuah which is already 46-years old and KLD Tunas Samudera as training ships.


"We hope the government will take into account a proposal to procure another two ships from the company in the 11th Malaysia Plan as the two extra ships can replace RMN's eight fast attack vessels which are almost 40 years old," he said in his speech. - New Straits Time 15 December 2012

I must say thanks to the far-sighted person who decided to change the Navy's initial request for a mixed squadron of 47 metres and 30 metres training boats to these two Offshore Training Vessels as it allowed the Navy to have its cake and eat it too. And to those who doubt and criticise the Armed Forces projects as always being not to schedule, the Master Schedule below should prove that for this project it is on the right track, similar to the CSAR helicopter project. But I doubt this fact will receive much coverage from them.

Credit To Standupper @ Mymil Forum

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Not Even Newsworthy, Just Plain Insulting

I don't want to give free publicity to dumb-arses but not even 24 hours from my previous  post, some arse because he is too lazy to do some research went so far as to insult the mental capacity of The Armed Forces personnel to operate and maintain their new equipment and saying their life is cheap. And yeah he was again flogging the old horse "We have no enemies and not at war, so the Armed Forces don't need new equipment". So do you agree with his assertation that it was okay for the Nuri crashes to have happened as it involved military personnel who should expect to die in service, even when flying in elderly aircraft.

I however respect your mental capacity so if you do come across the referred article, I am sure you can make your own judgement.

Friday, December 7, 2012

What's Newsworthy?

One defence purchase that was hotly ridiculed and politicised previously has been safely delivered and another will be delivered soon earlier than contracted. Do you think the detractors will say good things about this? No way Jose! But just wait-la. If one so-called defence journo starts a speculative story about these purchases like what happened to the Scorpene Can't Dive fiasco, the story will be blown-up and stretched out to fit their purposes and milked to the death even if proof is provided to the contrary.

In the meantime, enjoy more of these exclusive photos in the Mymil forum.


Monday, December 3, 2012

The Start Of A New Chapter

Today was the start of a new chapter with the handing over of the first two EC725 to the Royal Malaysian Air Force. If I am not mistaken, the delivery is about two months earlier than contracted delivery date. Kudos RMAF.