Inauguration of the SAF's Naval Helicopters into 123 Squadron

Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen unveiling the inauguration plaque for the naval helicopters' inauguration into 123 Squadron at Sembawang Air Base.

18 January 2011 -- Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen officiated at the inauguration ceremony of the Sikorsky S-70B Seahawk naval helicopters into 123 Squadron at Sembawang Air Base this afternoon. The 123 Squadron is the Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF's) first naval helicopter squadron. The squadron will join the Helicopter Group under the Republic of Singapore Air Force's (RSAF's) Participation Command, which was set up in 2007 to develop and deploy air power in support of land and maritime operations.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Dr Ng highlighted that 123 Squadron's past experience in supporting Army's operations will provide an advantage in this new role in air-sea operations. He said: "I am confident that 123 Squadron will continue to build on its tradition of cross-service integration as it embarks on a new chapter of air-sea operations." Dr Ng also commended RSAF and RSN personnel for their professionalism which has enabled the SAF to build up a high level of operational proficiency and readiness in its integrated naval helicopter and frigate capability.

Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen being briefed on the naval helicopters' capabilities by Commanding Officer of 123 Squadron SLTC Jonathan Tan.

The SAF had earlier acquired six Sikorsky S-70B Seahawk naval helicopters. All six naval helicopters have returned to Singapore last year after a one-year deployment in San Diego, USA, with the RSAF's Peace Triton detachment. The integration of the naval helicopters with the frigates enables the SAF to undertake anti-surface and anti-submarine missions at longer ranges. Each frigate's sophisticated Command, Control and Communications suite allows it to network with a wide variety of SAF assets to increase force level awareness and mission effectiveness. The inauguration of the S-70B Seahawk naval helicopters into 123 Squadron marks a significant milestone in the SAF's transformation into an integrated and networked force.

Source: Mindef

Enam Rudal Taiwan Meleset Kenai Sasaran Dalam Latihan Pertahanan Udara

Presiden Taiwan Ma Ying-jeou berfoto bersama dengan seorang prajurit setelah pengujian penembakan rudal di pangkalan militer Jiupeng, Selasa (18/1). (Foto: AP)

18 Januari 2011 -- (Berita HanKam): Taiwan lakukan latihan penembakan rudal untuk menunjukan kemampuan pertahanan tetapi hampir sepertiga rudal yang ditembakan meleset mengenai target sasaran.

Latihan dilakukan bertepatan dimulainya kunjungan Presiden Cina Hu Jintao ke Amerika Serikat satu pekan setelah Cina menunjukan jet tempur siluman pertamanya.

Militer Taiwan menembakan 19 rudal di pangkalan militer Chiupeng tetapi enam rudal tidak mengenai sasaran.

Presiden Taiwan Ma Ying-jeou, menyaksikan latihan tersebut, mengatakan ketidakpuasannya.

Letnan Jenderal AU Taiwan Pan Kung-hsiao mengatakan keenam rudal gagal karena sistem propulasi, dan Taiwan akan menghubungi pihak pabrikan guna mengatasi masalah.

Rudal dibeli dari sejumlah perusahaan dari Perancis, Amerika Serikat dan Taiwan. Tidak dijelaskan rudal mana yang gagal mengenai sasaran.

Rudal udara-udara ditembakan dari jet tempur AU Taiwan Mirage 2000-5. (Foto: Getty Images)



Penembakan rudal buatan Amerika Serikat RIM-7 Sparrow saat latihan penembakan peluru tajam di pangkalan militer Chiupeng, Provinsi Pingtung, Taiwan, Selasa (18/1). Latihan ini merupakan simulasi prosedur menangkal serangan udara ke pangkalan militer. (Foto: Reuters/Getty Images)


Rudal Hawk buatan Amerika Serikat ditembakan di pangkalan militer Chiupeng. (Foto: Getty Images)


Rudal permukaan-udara TC-1 buatan Taiwan ditembakan dalam latihan, sukses mengenai sasaran. (Foto: AP)

Sumber: AP

IAI Delivers 12 UAVs to Russia in Key Deal

18 Januari 2011

Searcher II UAV (photo : Defense Industry Daily)
TEL AVIV, Israel, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Israeli Aerospace Industries has delivered a dozen unmanned aerial vehicles to Russia under a $400 million contract that will eventually allow Moscow to manufacture advanced drones that will significantly enhance its military capabilities.

The delivery of the short-range Bird-Eye 400 and I-View Mk 150 aircraft, plus the longer-range Searcher II, in recent weeks is part of an Israeli effort to encourage the Russians not to provide Iran and Syria with advanced weapons systems that could threaten the Jewish state, The Jerusalem Post reported.

"It is reasonable … to argue that Israel viewed UAV sales and joint military technology activity as a means of bringing influence to bear on Moscow," Jane's Defense Weekly observed.

The UAVs delivered by state-owned IAI, flagship of Israel's high-tech defense industry, stemmed from a ground-breaking April 2009 contract worth $53 million. That marked Russia's first purchase of a foreign weapons system.

That, in turn, led to the $400 million deal between IAI and Russia's Oboronprom OPK Group in October 2010 under which the Russians will independently manufacture the Heron 1, one of Israel's most advanced UAVs capable of strategic missions.

I-View Mark 150 UAV (photo : Red Stars)

As part of the deal, IAI trained some 50 Russian pilots at its main facility near Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv.

It isn't clear whether IAI will provide Russia with the Heron TP, or Eitan, a 4.5-ton aerial titan that is understood to be able to carry air-to-ground missiles.

That seems unlikely, in the short term at least, given the Heron's strategic capabilities, which Israel is reluctant to share. But JDW says Moscow has expressed an interest in the Heron TP.

The craft is 79 feet long and has a wingspan of 86 feet and can stay aloft for 20 hours at high altitudes, making it capable of reaching Iran from Israel.

UAVs have become a major export of Israel's defense industry.

Bird Eye 400 UAV (photo : IAI)

"Israel is the world's leading exporter of drones, with more than 1,000 sold in 42 countries," Jacques Chemia, chief engineer of IAI's UAV division, said recently.

Moscow's decision last June to scrap an $800 million contract to provide Iran with powerful S-300PMU air-defense missile systems clearly has helped Israel overcome its reservations about providing technology to Russia.

Tehran wanted the systems to protect its nuclear installations, which the Israelis have threatened to attack. The S-300s would have been a formidable obstacle for Israeli warplanes.

Israel wants Moscow to ditch plans to sell Syria the advanced supersonic P-800 Yakhont cruise missile that could pose a series threat to Israel's navy, particularly if they are passed on to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

From the Russian point of view, the deals with Israel underline how Moscow is accelerating efforts to obtain major military platforms from the West, a fundamental revision of Russian military procurement strategy.

Securing licenses from foreign defense manufacturers, such as IAI, to produce the equipment in Russia is significant as it will bolster the Kremlin's plans to revive its moribund defense industry over the next decade.

"While design bureaus and major builders have experience building major platforms such as fighter aircraft, tanks and submarines, they are hopelessly behind European and U.S. manufacturers in their ability to produce modern electronics and advanced equipment," according to an Oxford Analytica assessment in August.

The Russian air force received no new aircraft from 1994-2003 and only three since then. These were early models of the T-50 fifth-generation fighter that was supposed to revitalize the air force by 2015. But because of design problems, particularly with the power plant, the air force is unlikely to start taking delivery of the first jets until 2018 at the earliest.

Russia has been unable to get off the ground with advanced UAVs, a shortcoming that became all too evident during the brief 2008 war with the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

It was Georgia's use of long-endurance Hermes 450 tactical spy drones, built by Israel's Elbit Defense Systems, to provide battlefield reconnaissance that caught Moscow's interest.

This issue was sufficiently sensitive that the Israelis were uneasy about to selling UAVs to Russia, particularly since Moscow was providing advanced weapons systems to Iran and Syria.

Washington was concerned enough about the proposed UAV sales that it "requested clarifications" from Israel's Defense Ministry, the liberal daily Haaretz reported in June.
UPI

5 Hercules TNI AU Dimodernisasi oleh ARINC

(Foto: ARINC)

17 Januari 2011 -- (Berita HanKam): ARINC Engineering Services, LLC mengumumkan di situs resmi, Kamis (13/1), memenangkan kontrak senilai 63,7 juta dolar untuk memodernisasi lima pesawat angkut militer C-130B milik TNI-AU. ARINC memenangkan tender pada Desember lalu.

Program modernisasi termasuk modifikasi struktural dan elektronik pada airframe pesawat yang telah berumur 30 tahun. Pengerjaan dilakukan oleh ARINC bersama subkontraktor Indonesia. Pengerjaan dimulai kuartal pertama 2011 dan diharapkan selesai 32-36 bulan.

ARINC sedang memodernisasi satu C-130 milik TNI AU di fasilitas modifikasi pesawat milik ARINC di Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Pesawat diterbangkan langsung dari Jakarta selama tujuh hari pada Juli 2010. Pesawat diterbangkan oleh penerbang TNI AU dibantu empat tenaga ahli ARINC. Penerbangan dimulai dari Lanud Halim Perdanakusumah, singgah di Biak, Guam, Kepulauan Wake, Lanud Hickam, Lanud Travis sebelum tiba di ARINC Aircraft Modification and Operations Center di Oklahoma City.

Sumber: ARINC

AS Saat Ini Mirip Indonesia Era Orba

Editor : Egidius Patnistik

Selasa, 18 Januari 2011 | 07:47 WIB

wikileaks Surat pemerintah Amerika kepada Twitter yang dibocorkan WikiLeaks.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com — Dari sisi politik, kondisi Amerika Serikat saat ini makin lama makin mirip dengan kondisi politik Indonesia semasa puncak kekuasaan Orde Baru.
Para pemegang modal membentuk oligarki bisnis yang mengatur arah kebijakan pemerintah. Pemerintah AS juga tak lagi mendengarkan suara rakyat dan menghadapi risiko besar menjadi negara yang tidak demokratis.
Pendapat tersebut disampaikan sejarawan dan peneliti hubungan internasional Bradley R Simpson dari Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, AS, dalam seminar bertema ”Pengaruh Amerika Serikat terhadap Kebijakan Ekonomi dan Politik Orde Baru”. Seminar itu diselenggarakan Institut Bisnis dan Informatika Indonesia (IBII) di Jakarta, Senin (17/1).
Menurut Simpson, saat ini sebagian besar rakyat AS sebenarnya menentang pemerintahnya, tetapi tidak punya kekuatan untuk memaksa pemerintah membuat berbagai perubahan. ”Pemerintah tidak merespons tekanan-tekanan demokratis (dari rakyat AS),” ungkap Simpson.
Menurut mantan aktivis politik ini, salah satu kebijakan Pemerintah AS yang ditentang rakyat tetapi masih terus dijalankan adalah perang di Afganistan. ”(Sekitar) 65 persen rakyat AS menentang perang di Afganistan, tetapi sampai sekarang perang itu masih berlangsung,” kata penulis buku Economist With Guns: Authoritarian Development and U.S.-Indonesian Relations 1960-1968 (Stanford University Press, 2008) ini.
Tak demokratis
AS, yang dikenal sebagai kampiun demokrasi dunia, belakangan ini kadang memang bersikap tidak seperti negara demokratis. Sikap itu, antara lain, sangat mencolok saat AS merespons kebocoran 250.000 kawat diplomatik rahasia di situs WikiLeaks.
Pejabat Pemerintah AS menekan berbagai perusahaan untuk memotong kerja sama bisnis dengan WikiLeaks, melarang pegawai negerinya membaca ataupun sekadar berkomentar mengenai isi WikiLeaks, dan terakhir, memaksa pengelola situs jejaring sosial Twitter menyerahkan data pribadi para pengguna yang diduga terkait operasi WikiLeaks.
Dalam seminar tersebut, Simpson juga mengungkapkan, AS berperan besar dalam membentuk dan membesarkan rezim Orba di Indonesia sejak awal. Meski mengaku belum menemukan bukti nyata keterlibatan langsung AS dalam peristiwa G30S tahun 1965, yang membuka jalan bagi terbentuknya Orba, Simpson mengatakan, banyak pemikiran di kalangan elite politik AS saat itu yang sejalan dengan konsep para petinggi militer di Indonesia.
”Tentang Dwifungsi ABRI, misalnya, visi AS waktu itu serupa dengan pemikiran (Jenderal AH) Nasution. Di AS, itu dikenal sebagai konsep military modernization. Itu sebabnya AS mendorong (penerapan) Dwifungsi ABRI itu,” tuturnya.
Menurut Simpson, AS juga mendukung pembunuhan massal rakyat sipil dalam rangka penghancuran Partai Komunis Indonesia, yang terjadi setelah G30S. (DHF)

KOMPAS

Menhan Purnomo Serah Terimakan Patung Jendral Sudirman ke Kemhan Jepang

TOKYO - Menhan RI, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, menyerah terimakan Patung Jenderal Besar Sudirman sebagai sosok panglima besar TNI Pertama dari tentara Pembela Tanah Air (PETA) di halaman depan Markas Besar Kementrian Pertahanan Jepang. Pada Jumat (14/1) di Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo.

Dalam sambutannya, kedua Menhan menyampaikan harapannya, bahwa dengan adanya Patung Panglima Besar Jenderal Sudirman tersebut, akan menandai peningkatan hubungan kedua Negara khususnya di bidang pertahanan.

sumber :alusista

Vietnam Defense Budget in 2011 Increased by 70%

18 Januari 2011

L-39 Albatros of the Vietnam Air Force (photo : Militaryphotos)
VietnamDefence - Vietnam's defense budget in 2011 will increase to 52,000 billion VND (2.6 billion), Defence Minister Phung Quang Thanh said at the XI Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
Numbers increased by 70% compared to last year. Although the increase is unprecedented, but the defense minister of Vietnam, is consistent with a commitment to increase defense spending to 1.8% of GDP that the government launched May 12.2009, Jane's Defence Industry reported.

The focus in the new budget is to equip the Navy and Air Force, as well as develop air defense systems and reconnaissance. In particular, priority is the South China Sea, where the focus of resources mainly in Vietnam and an increased military power of China.

At the XI Congress, problems and modernize the military defense industry is very noticeable. These tasks are included in the list of "key task" in the next 5 years. According to General Phung Quang Thanh, the government expects companies to Vietnam will actively participate in activities to modernize the military.

Vietnam plans in 5 years (2011-2015) consolidated a strong defense industry to enhance defense and military equipment to equip the new weapon.

According to the assessment of many experts, the actual defense spending more than double Vietnam's official figures published.

Vietnam Defence