Military thread

[XNeo]

nasib baik...

Beli Eurocopter bila ekonomi pulih

KUALA LUMPUR 17 Dis. - Kerajaan akan meneruskan pembelian Eurocopter EC725 bagi menggantikan helikopter Nuri hanya apabila ekonomi negara sudah pulih sepenuhnya.

Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak berkata, pada masa ini kerajaan terpaksa menangguhkan pembelian helikopter itu kerana ingin memberi tumpuan kepada projek-projek yang mempunyai impak besar terhadap pertumbuhan ekonomi negara dan kesejahteraan rakyat.

''Penangguhan ini adalah bersifat sementara apabila keadaan ekonomi negara sudah pulih sepenuhnya, barulah kerajaan akan menimbang semula untuk meneruskan pembelian helikopter jenis ini,'' katanya.

Beliau berkata demikian kepada pemberita selepas menyaksikan majlis menandatangani perjanjian persefahaman (MoU) projek Edible Garden (Taman Kebun Dapur) di antara Felda dan Lembaga Pemasaran Pertanian Persekutuan (FAMA) di sini hari ini.

Turut hadir ialah Menteri Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani, Datuk Mustapa Mohamed; Pengerusi Felda, Tan Sri Dr. Mohd. Yusof Noor dan Pengerusi FAMA, Datuk Badruddin Amiruldin.

Najib diminta mengulas laporan Jawatankuasa Kira-Kira Wang Negara (PAC) yang mengesyorkan kerajaan menimbang semula penangguhan pembelian Eurocopter EC725 bagi menggantikan helikopter Nuri memandangkan aset tersebut mempunyai beberapa kekangan.

Mengambil kira bahawa helikopter Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia (TUDM) itu selamat digunakan sehingga 2015, PAC dalam laporan yang diedarkan kepada anggota Dewan Rakyat mencadangkan supaya pembelian pesawat dibuat selewat-lewatnya pada 2011.

Dalam laporan itu juga, PAC memutuskan proses perolehan Eurocopter EC725 dibuat selaras dengan prosedur sedia ada dan garis panduan yang diterima pakai oleh Kerjasama Ekonomi Asia Pasifik (APEC) berkaitan perolehan kerajaan.

Najib menegaskan, segala urusan pembelian helikopter itu telah diuruskan tanpa ada berlaku penyelewengan atau pun unsur-unsur tidak sihat.

[XNeo]

Malaysia premier defense magazine (in malay) :

http://www.shpmedia.com/pub_perajurit.htm

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Maritim Malaysia @ Malaysia Coast Guard




APMM Bombardier CL-415


















Sources : http://www.mmea.gov.my

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Malaysian warship rescues China ship



Friday December 19, 2008


KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian warship was the vessel that helped Chinese sailors repel Somali pirates who had boarded their ship in a dramatic high-seas battle, a maritime watchdog said.

A Malaysian military helicopter fired warning shots at the pirates boat. This forced the sea raiders to abandon their operation to hijack the ship, said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Boards piracy reporting centre.

On Wednesday, a band of pirates boarded the Chinese commercial vessel Zhenhua 4 in the Gulf of Aden but the sailors held them off for several hours.

Their heroic actions gave the international coalition patrolling the pirate-infested region time to seek the assistance of the Malaysian warship KD Inderasakti.

The coalition forces requested assistance from the Malaysian warship to fight off the pirate attack, Choong said, adding that the warship then deployed the helicopter.

Malaysia had deployed the warship to protect its commercial ships after two vessels were hijacked by pirates in August. A tugboat, said to be Malaysian, was also captured by pirates this week and remains in their hands.

A newly created European Union task force has recently taken over patrols off the Horn of Africa from NATO.


- Bernama -

[HangPC2]

Chinese warships to fight pirates in Somali waters


By Li Xiaokun

China will send its navy ships to Somali waters to combat pirates, the Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday.

It will be the first operation of its kind and the first active deployment of the country's warships beyond the Pacific.

"We have decided to send navy vessels to crack down on Somali pirates Preparations are under way," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters at a regular news briefing without giving details of the mission.

Two destroyers and a large supply ship would be part of the Chinese fleet, Beijing-based Global Times quoted unnamed maritime sources as having said yesterday. The ships will leave Sanya, Hainan province, after Christmas on a three-month mission.

The announcement came hours after nine pirates attacked a Chinese cargo ship with 30 crewmen in Somali waters on Wednesday.

But Zhenhua 4, owned by China Communications Construction Co, was rescued by two warships and a helicopter of Malaysia.

"China deeply appreciates the effective assistance from Malaysia and relevant international organizations," Liu said.

Peng Weiyuan, captain of the ship, told China Central Television over the phone that the crew used "water cannon, self-made incendiary bombs, beer bottles and other missiles to battle with the pirates".

"Thirty minutes later, the pirates gestured to us for a ceasefire then the helicopter from the joint fleet came to our help," he said.
Twenty percent of the 1,265 Chinese ships that have passed through the waters in the first 11 months of this year, have faced such attacks, Liu said. Seven of these ships were hijacked, and the pirates were still holding a Chinese fishing ship and 18 sailors.

To deal with the piracy menace, the UN unanimously adopted a resolution on Tuesday, giving countries battling pirates in Somali waters one year to take action against them inside the country.

On Wednesday, Somalia had welcomed China's decision that it could send navy ships to tackle piracy.

"As a friend of the Somali people and victim of piracy," China can play a vital role in combating the scourge in Somali waters, Somalia's Parliament Speaker Sheik Aden Madoobe told Xinhua in the southern town of Baidoa, the seat of Somalia's parliament.

Peng Guangqian, a senior expert with the Academy of Military Sciences, said the Chinese navy has "full confidence in fulfilling the new mission".


- China Daily -

[HangPC2]

China to launch anti-pirate mission in Gulf of Aden



By Mark McDonald

Thursday, December 18, 2008


HONG KONG: The Chinese government confirmed Thursday that it would send naval ships to the Gulf of Aden to help in the fight against piracy there. The mission, which is expected to begin in about two weeks, would be first modern deployment of Chinese warships outside the Pacific.

The announcement came as the captain of a Chinese cargo ship that was attacked Wednesday in the gulf said his crew had used beer bottles, fire hoses and homemade incendiary bombs to battle a gang of pirates that had boarded his vessel.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao, said Thursday that 1,265 Chinese merchant ships have passed through the gulf this year. Seven have been attacked.

" Piracy has become a serious threat to shipping, trade and safety on the seas," Liu said at a press briefing in Beijing. "That's why we decided to send naval ships to crack down on piracy." He gave no details about the size of the naval mission, but a Beijing newspaper, the Global Times, reported that the navy was likely to deploy two destroyers and a supply ship.

"We absolutely welcome all nations, because as we've said all along, piracy is an international problem that requires an international solution," Lt. Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the U.S. Fifth Fleet, said Thursday from Bahrain. "We have great coordination with a bunch of international forces, and Japan and Singapore
are part of the coalition deployed here. Piracy is a larger problem than the United States or the coalition alone can solve."

Cyrus Mody, a spokesman for the International Maritime Bureau in London, a clearinghouse for piracy information and maritime-safety issues, also welcomed the news of the Chinese mission. "It's definitely a positive development, and it will be welcomed," he said. "The sea area being threatened there is vast, and the number of assets from the international navies is not sufficient."

The maritime bureau said a total of 109 ships have been attacked in the gulf this year and 42 have been hijacked. Fourteen ships are currently being held for ransom, including the Sirius Star, a Saudi supertanker, and the Faina, a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying 32 armored tanks and other heavy weapons.

Mody said Thursday that negotiations with the hijackers are continuing for the release of the ships. "But the owners don't like to talk about that, for the safety of the crew members," he said.

China's navy, officially known as the People's Liberation Army Navy, has long concentrated on coastal defense and regional maneuvers. But in recent years it has embarked on an ambitious modernization plan. The principal mission for Chinese naval vessels in the Gulf of Aden would presumably be the escorting of Chinese cargo ships and oil tankers from the Middle East bound for Chinese ports. Policing patrols, some maritime experts suggested, would be secondary. But Mody said Thursday it would be important for the Chinese effort to be melded "on an operational level" with other navies already patrolling in the gulf. The European Union recently launched an antipiracy operation in the gulf, and several other nations have a naval presence there, including ships from India, the United States and Russia.

"We would like to see cooperation so everyone is in the loop," Mody said. Then, when a hijacking attempt occurs, "whoever's closest can respond as fast as possible."

Peng Weiyuan, the captain of the Chinese cargo ship that was attacked Wednesday in the gulf, gave a harrowing account of his crew's battle on deck with the Somali pirates. His remarks came in an interview with China Central Television. After seven pirates managed to board his vessel, the Zhenhua 4, Peng said his crew fought the gang to a standstill until they "gestured to us for a ceasefire." The crew then retreated to a locked area on the boat and sent a distress signal.

According to a duty officer at the Piracy Reporting Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a nearby Malaysian warship was alerted and sent a helicopter to the scene. When the helicopter fired around the Chinese boat, the pirates panicked and fled in a speedboat.

The Malaysian warship did not apprehend the pirates, Mody said, because international rules are still unclear about where the pirates could be detained and how they could be tried. "That's the main reason the navies don't pick up pirates," he said. "Once you've got them, what do you do with them?"

The duty officer in Kuala Lumpur said Thursday afternoon that the Zhenhua 4 was heading back to port in China. Mody said the Zhenhua 4 operates under the flag of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

[HangPC2]

RMN To Escort MISC Vessels In The Gulf Of Aden













Sources : http://dukerobin.blogspot.com/

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10 PARA Brigade

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Lesen '' L '' APC Condor

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Malcon 2 UNIFIL

















Sources : http://mejarfadzil.blogspot.com/

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Royal Malaysian Police Vehicle (Malayan Communist Insurgency Era)


Location : A Farmosa (Melaka)




GKN Sankey AT105











Ferret Scout Car

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Malaysian chopper saves Indian tanker from pirates



By VIJAY JOSHI, Associated Press Writer



KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – A Malaysian military helicopter saved an Indian tanker from being hijacked Thursday, foiling the new year's first attack by pirates in the dangerous Gulf of Aden off the chaotic African nation of Somalia, an official said.

"This was a New Year's gift to the owners of the Indian tankers. If the Malaysians had not arrived their ship would have been certainly hijacked," said Noel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center.

The Malaysian rescue comes as more and more countries are sending warships to join a multinational naval force to protect commercial vessels passing through one of the world's most important sea routes. On Christmas Day, a German helicopter similarly saved an Egyptian ship off Somalia, a lawless country that has become a breeding ground for pirates who have raked in millions of dollars in ransom from hijackings.

The Indian tanker carrying a full load of oil was steaming toward the Suez Canal when it was attacked by two skiffs, one of which carried seven pirates dressed in military-style uniforms, said Choong.

"They came close to the ship and started firing machine guns, hitting the bridge and the accommodation area," Choong told The Associated Press.

He said the pirates, believed to be Somalis, tried to board the vessel several times while "firing repeatedly" but failed.

The captain increased the ship's speed to maximum, made evasive maneuvers and sent an SOS, which was received by a Malaysian frigate, KD Sri Inderah Sakti, only 15 nautical miles away, he said.

The frigate dispatched a Fennec light military helicopter, which arrived within minutes, said Choong.
On spotting the helicopter the pirates stopped firing and fled. There were no injuries to the crew but the tanker sustained some damage, Choong said.

Cmdr. Jane Campbell, a spokeswoman for the 5th Fleet in Bahrain, said the U.S. Navy had no immediate information about a pirate attack.

The Malaysians, who are part of the multinational task force, also saved a Chinese ship less than two weeks ago.

More than a dozen warships are now patrolling the vast gulf. Countries as diverse as Britain, India, Iran, the United States, China, France and Germany have naval forces in the waters.

According to the International Maritime Bureau, pirates attacked 111 times in the Gulf of Aden in 2008, out of which 42 resulted in successful hijackings. Choong said 14 ships are still in the hands of pirates with more than 240 hostages.

"Despite the increase in naval activities pirates are still managing to find loopholes to attack and hijack ships because warships cannot be everywhere at the same time," said Choong.

The pirates have been given a free hand to operate because of more than a decade of turmoil in Somalia. The nation of about 8 million people has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 and then turned on each other.


- AFP -

[HangPC2]

Malaysian helicopter saves Indian ship from pirates (Updated)



KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian military helicopter saved an Indian tanker from being hijacked on Thursday, foiling the new year’s first attack by pirates in the dangerous Gulf of Aden off the chaotic African nation of Somalia.

“This was a New Year’s gift to the owners of the Indian tankers. If the Malaysians had not arrived their ship would have been certainly hijacked," said Noel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting centre.

The Malaysian rescue comes as more and more countries are sending warships to join a multi-national naval force to protect commercial vessels passing through one of the world’s most important sea routes. On Christmas Day, a German helicopter similarly saved an Egyptian ship off Somalia, a lawless country that has become a breeding ground for pirates who have raked in millions of dollars in ransom from hijackings.

The Indian tanker carrying a full load of oil was steaming toward the Suez Canal when it was attacked by two skiffs, one of which carried seven pirates dressed in military-style uniforms, said Choong.

“They came close to the ship and started firing machine guns, hitting the bridge and the accommodation area," Choong told The Associated Press.

He said the pirates, believed to be Somalis, tried to board the vessel several times while “firing repeatedly" but failed.

The captain increased the ship’s speed to maximum, made evasive maneuvers and sent an SOS, which was received by a Malaysian frigate, KD Sri Indera Sakti, only 15 nautical miles away, he said.

The frigate dispatched a Fennec light military helicopter, which arrived within minutes, said Choong.

On spotting the helicopter the pirates stopped firing and fled. There were no injuries to the crew but the tanker sustained some damage, Choong said.

Cmdr. Jane Campbell, a spokeswoman for the 5th Fleet in Bahrain, said the U.S. Navy had no immediate information about a pirate attack.

The Malaysians, who are part of the multi-national task force, also saved a Chinese ship less than two weeks ago.

More than a dozen warships are now patrolling the vast gulf. Countries as diverse as Britain, India, Iran, the United States, China, France and Germany have naval forces in the waters.

According to the International Maritime Bureau, pirates attacked 111 times in the Gulf of Aden in 2008, out of which 42 resulted in successful hijackings.

Choong said 14 ships are still in the hands of pirates with more than 240 hostages. “Despite the increase in naval activities pirates are still managing to find loopholes to attack and hijack ships because warships cannot be everywhere at the same time," said Choong.

The pirates have been given a free hand to operate because of more than a decade of turmoil in Somalia. The nation of about 8 million people has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 and then turned on each other.


- AP / The Star -

[HangPC2]

Somali pirates seize Egyptian ship, Tanker saved



By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writer

1 hr 17 mins ago



CAIRO, Egypt – Somali pirates seized an Egyptian cargo ship and its 28 crewmembers on Thursday while a Malaysian military helicopter saved an Indian tanker from being hijacked in the new year's first attacks by pirates in the dangerous Gulf of Aden. Fifteen armed pirates snatched the Egyptian vessel, called Blue Star, after the ship exited the Red Sea and entered the gulf, carrying a cargo of 6,000 tons of fertilizer, according to Egyptian Deputy Foreign minister, Ahmed Rizq.

The pirates then steered the ship toward the coast of Somalia, Rizq said.

He said contacts were under way with "international and regional parties" to get the ship released — which likely meant there were attempts to negotiate with the pirates.

In the other attack Thursday, a Malaysian military helicopter saved an Indian tanker carrying a full load of oil when it was attacked by two skiffs, one of which carried seven pirates dressed in military-style uniforms, said Noel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center.

"They came close to the ship and started firing machine guns, hitting the bridge and the accommodation area," Choong told The Associated Press. The pirates, believed to be Somalis, tried to board the vessel several times while "firing repeatedly" but failed, he said.

The captain increased the ship's speed to maximum, made evasive maneuvers and sent an SOS, which was received by a Malaysian frigate, KD Sri Inderah Sakti, 15 nautical miles away, he said.
The frigate sent a light military helicopter, which arrived within minutes, and the pirates stopped firing and fled, said Choong.

There were no injuries to the crew but the tanker sustained some damage, Choong said, adding that if the Malaysians hadn't arrived the tanker "would have been certainly hijacked."

It was not clear how far apart in distance and timing the attacks on the Egyptian and Indian vessels took place. The Indian tanker had been heading into the Red Sea toward the Suez Canal when attacked.

The attacks come as more countries are sending warships to join a multinational naval force to protect commercial vessels passing through one of the world's most important sea routes. Another Egyptian ship was saved on Christmas Day by a German helicopter in a similar fashion as the Indian vessel Thursday.

The Malaysians, who are part of the multinational task force, also saved a Chinese ship less than two weeks ago.

Cmdr. Jane Campbell, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain, said the Indian vessel used measures recommended by the multinational force — including evasive maneuvering and sending a distress signal.

"It seems the very appearance of a helicopter finally caused the pirates to abort their attack," Campbell said. She added that details of seizure of the Eyptian ship were not immediately known.

"But it does appear to have been a very active day for the pirates in the Gulf of Aden," Campbell told The AP.

More than a dozen warships are now patrolling the vast waterway between the shores of Yemen and Somalia. Countries as diverse as Britain, India, Iran, the United States, China, France and Germany have naval forces in the waters.

According to the International Maritime Bureau, pirates attacked 111 times in the Gulf of Aden in 2008, successfully hijacking 42 ships. Of those, 14 ships are still in the hands of pirates with more than 240 hostages, Choong said.

The pirates have been given a free hand to operate because of more than a decade of turmoil in Somalia. The nation of about 8 million people has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 and then turned on each other.


- AFP -

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Royal Malaysia Police PC Evo X

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DRB Hicom Handalan Truck Simulator