Air Force launches second unmanned spacecraft

By Air Force News Agency on Monday, March 7th, 2011


In the latest step to improve space capability and further develop an affordable, reusable space vehicle, Air Force technicians launched the second X-37B here March 5, officials said.
The Orbital Test Vehicle-2 launch comes on the heels of the successful flight of OTV-1, which made an autonomous landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., Dec. 3 after 224 days in space.
According to officials, post-flight analysis of OTV-1 revealed OTV-2 needed no significant changes, but detailed assessments of the first mission are ongoing.
"Launch is a very demanding business and having what appears to be a successful launch is always welcome news," said Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force for Space Programs Richard McKinney, adding he is pleased with the vehicle's initial status reports. "It is important to remember that this is an experimental vehicle; that this is just the second launch; and that we have just started what is a very systematic checkout of the system."
Mr. McKinney explained the second X-37B flight will help Air Force scientists better evaluate and understand the vehicle's performance characteristics and expand upon the tests from OTV-1.
One performance test, for example, will evaluate a change following the flight of OTV-1, which showed potential for greater flexibility in the landing parameters.
"We look forward to testing enhancements to the landing profile," said Lt. Col. Troy Giese, X-37B program manager for the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, which leads the Department of Defense OTV program.
Colonel Giese added that program officials want to test landing capabilities in stronger wind conditions.
"The X-37B really is a remarkable scientific and aerospace achievement," he said. "We'll also be looking at the performance of its advanced thermal protection systems and tiles, solar power systems and environmental modeling - all important system capabilities for a space vehicle that we want to be able to bring back and then re-launch quickly."
Power and environmental protections are also important to one of the most promising capabilities of the vehicle: its orbit duration, which is much longer than a manned mission like NASA's space shuttle, Colonel Giese said.
Similar to OTV-1, OTV-2's actual mission duration will depend on the vehicle achieving its test objectives, but he expects it to remain on orbit for approximately 270 days.
"We may extend the mission to enhance our understanding of the OTV capabilities," Colonel Giese said, "especially since the performance data from the first flight suggest that the vehicle could have gone beyond the 270-day requirement."
Air Force officials assert the X-37B program has the potential to make space experiments more affordable, which would allow future experiment designers to focus resources and dollars on technology and innovation rather than on basic services, layers of redundancy, or ground operations.
"This program provides a test capability that was difficult to achieve through other means, the ability to examine how highly complex technologies will perform in space before they are made operational," Mr. McKinney said, "But right now our focus is on the X-37B itself, and this second flight is important to our further understanding of its capabilities."
Air Force officials anticipate multiple missions will be required to satisfy the X-37B program test objectives, but a third mission has not yet been scheduled.
The OTV is the United States' newest and most advanced re-entry spacecraft and is the first vehicle since NASA's Shuttle Orbiter with the ability to return experiments to Earth for further inspection and analysis.
by Master Sgt. Amaani Lyle
(Eric Brian contributed to this story)

 

SOURCE: http://www.defencetalk.com/air-force-launches-second-unmanned-spacecraft-32598/#ixzz1FyIPTADS

First Anti-tank Missile Interception for the Trophy System

plementation on IDF tanks, the Trophy active protection system intercepted an anti-tank missile fired at an IDF tank patrolling in the southern Gaza StripThe IDF has expressed great satisfaction after the success of the Trophy (ASPRO-A) system (designed to actively protect against anti-tank missiles) in intercepting, for the first time, a missile fired at an IDF tank. The missile was fired while the tank was conducting a routine patrol near the security fence in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday afternoon.
The system thwarted the missile without any casualties on the IDF's side. “The soldiers were not even sure an anti-tank missile had been fired at them,” explained an IDF officer in the Armored Corps now involved in the investigation of the incident to IDF Website. He made it clear that the system operated automatically and thwarted the attempt to injure IDF soldiers. Shortly after the event, terrorists were spotted in the area and IDF forces fired, confirming a hit.
The soldiers involved in the incident belong to Battalion 9 of Brigade 401 and had trained with the system for the first time only three months ago upon the completion of its implementation. During the exercise, held in the Golan Heights, the soldiers practiced a scenario depicting an emergency situation in the North.
“The system will significantly reduce the anti-tank injuries in the next confrontation,” explained Commander of Division 162, Brig. Gen. Agay Yechezkel, who made it clear that the integration of the system will continue.
“By the end of next year we will have largely integrated the system.” Even Col. Enav Shalev, Commander of Brigade 401, noted that currently, thanks to the system’s success, “the calculated risk we can take during operational missions has been increased, because the squad and tank are more secure.”
The Trophy system, the fruit of a collaborative effort between Rafael Advanced Defense System Ltd., Elta Group and the US’s General Dynamics, identifies various incoming threats directed at a tank, including anti-tank missiles, by means of special radars and sensors, firing back at the incoming threat. This active protection system enables the tank’s crew to contend with dangers they don’t always foresee.

source: http://www.defencetalk.com/first-anti-tank-missile-interception-for-the-trophy-system-israel-32544/#ixzz1FyHfeYLv

Foto Parade Militer Hari Jadi Tentera Darat Malaysia (TDM)

KUALALUMPUR - Tentara dan peralatan tempur Angkatan bersenjata Diraja Malaysia berpawai dalam rangka memperingati hari Tentera Darat Malaysia (TDM) ke-78 di Historical Dataran Merdeka avenue, Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia, Minggu (6/3). Parade ini merupakan yang pertama kali terbuka diruang publik di Malaysia dengan tujuan agar tentara lebih dekat dengan rakyat. FOTO: VOR033/MILITARYPHOTOS.NET

Pagu Pinjaman Alutsista Capai Rp60 T

Pengadaan alutsista dengan pinjaman diantaranya untuk membeli pesawat Sukhoi (photo : Angkasa)

JAKARTA– Pagu pinjaman untuk pembangunan alat utama sistem senjata (alutsista) mencapai USD7,2 miliar atau lebih dari Rp60 triliun sampai tahun 2014.

Menteri Pertahanan (Menhan) Purnomo Yusgiantoro mengungkapkan, pagu pinjaman tersebut didapatkan dari pagu tahun 2009–2014 sebesar USD5,5 miliar dan pagu pinjaman tahun 2004–2009 yang belum terpakai sebesar USD1,7 miliar. “Untuk besaran pinjaman 2004–2009, kita mendapatkan pagu pinjaman pembangunan alutsista sebesar USD3,7 miliar. Baru terpakai sekitar 40–50% atau sekitar USD1,7 miliar. Ditambah sekarang ini USD5,5 miliar untuk lima tahun sampai 2014.Ini kita sedang proses dan harus dimanfaatkan dengan baik untuk pembangunan alutsista,” ungkap Purnomo kepada SINDO di Kantor Kementerian Pertahanan (Kemhan),Jakarta, kemarin.

Meski pagu pinjaman tersebut masih relatif besar,Menhan mengharapkan adanya penurunan alokasi pinjaman luar negeri untuk pengadaan alutsista secara bertahap.Pemerintah, jelas mantan Menteri Energi dan Sumber Daya Mineral ini bertekad memenuhi pengadaan alutsista dari produksi dan pembiayaan dalam negeri.“Pinjaman melalui kredit ekspor secara bertahap kita akan kurangi dan memfokuskan pembiayaan dari dalam negeri,”tandasnya. Seiring dengan semakin meningkatnya anggaran pendapatan dan belanja negara (APBN), jelasnya, maka sumber pembiayaan untuk pembangunan alutsista juga akan semakin naik.

Pengamat pertahanan Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI) Jaleswari Pramodhawardani mengatakan, kemampuan anggaran merupakan syarat mutlak untuk melakukan pembangunan alutsista. Selain itu, harus ditopang juga dengan industri pertahanan yang kuat.“Revitalisasi menjadi sangat penting dengan syarat ada anggaran, belanja, dan investasi. Karena industri pertahanan kita belum bisa bersaing dalam industri pasar bebas,maka harus ada proteksi dari pemerintah,”ungkapnya.

Jaleswari mengatakan, untuk mewujudkan rencana itu, harus ada kerja sama yang sinergis antara tiga bidang,yaitu Kementerian Pendidikan Nasional yang akan mempersiapkan tenaga-tenaga ahli,Kementerian Perindustrian terkait pemasaran, dan Kementerian Pertahanan sebagai pengguna.

(Seputar Indonesia)

Need to Spend on Defence

07 Maret 2011

Defence spending 5 Asean countries in RM (image : Bunn Nagara-The Star)
Issues concerning Malaysia’s defence budget and arms purchases are re-emerging but more open and better-informed discussions will dispel common misperceptions.
In the 1990s, there were ominous reports from mostly Western sources about a supposed “arms race” in East Asia. Such loose talk was often related to a presumed “China threat” that corresponded with a rising China.
Through the past decade until the present, such perceptions have returned based on accounts of growing national defence budgets. This time, the problem of conflicting claims to disputed maritime territory among Asean members is cited in addition to the spectre of a hulking China.
The current season of critical reporting about South-East Asian defence budgets coincides with the success of a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) between the United States and Russia. By comparison, Asian countries are somehow seen as less responsible.
But responsible reporting itself must be clear about actual developments, not merely perceived ones. They must be grounded in solid evidence, not interpretations of assumptions.

An arms race is a mutually competitive relationship between two or more powers in acquiring additional weaponry. It stems from national ego or crude threat perceptions of the other side, not on mature strategic planning and careful assessments of a country’s actual needs in asset procurement.

Such a “race” is therefore unnecessary and wasteful, being invariably costly, self-propagating and an unjustifiable misallocation of resources. It carries a negative connotation particularly in terms of questionable public expenditure.

However, that is also where much misunderstanding of defence budget allocations begin. Like credible reporting of arms-related developments, assessments and criticisms must be founded on fair judgment and factual evidence.

There is no arms race when two or more countries in a region equip themselves with military hardware for reasons entirely or principally of their own, however large the defence budgets involved.

But there would be an arms race when they do so solely or largely because the other(s) are doing so as well, however small the budgets may be.

In the midst of talk about an “arms race” in Asean, an Australian defence official testified in parliament in September 2008 that there was no such thing going on. He, however, noted “a substantial military modernisation,” distinguishing between the two.

Also, since defence budgets cover acquisitions of increasingly sophisticated hardware, costs escalate from year to year without necessarily any enlargement in overall firepower.

Then there is the element of inflation and the question of currency exchange rates.

Most critics, however, rely only on the size of the budgets year-on-year. They typically assume growing belligerence without factoring in rising costs of production, inflation and currency exchange rates.

Ironically, year-to-year comparisons also tend to neglect how the previous year(s)’ budgets had been slashed, so that a revived budget looks (relatively) large. Malaysia, for example, has lately seen consecutive years of defence budget cuts.

The size of the defence budget alone may seem sensational but is ultimately insubstantial. Gross sums are an unreliable indicator of combat prowess, much less intent, since the single largest component of defence budgets universally comprises the salaries and employment benefits of personnel.

With new procurements in particular, personnel need to be trained or retrained. Costs increase again when the equipment is imported for which technical expertise lies abroad, as the personnel would have to be sent overseas for long periods, sometimes with their immediate families.

Further, there is also the issue of linkage between a nation’s economic fortunes and the size of its defence budget. When a country’s economy is doing well, it may be expected to aim for a larger budget in defence as in other public sectors.
But when the economy is not doing well, defence (and other public sector) budgets are expected to decline. And so some European critics, for example, are targeting some apparently enlarged defence budgets in South-East Asia, given the 2008 financial crisis.

Defence analysts, however, know there is a time lag between declining economic fortunes and defence budget downsizing. For this region, the 2008 crisis was less severe than in Europe or its source, the US, so the budgeting consequences have been modest.

Besides, since the largest cost component of defence budgets is personnel, the impact of an economic downturn is low or slow. Demobilisation of a country’s defence forces is a major decision that takes time to consider and decide on, and more time to have a palpable and appreciable effect.

An Australian study has concluded that “defence expenditure appears less prone to cutbacks” because of the large personnel component. And while it detected a link between economic health and budget size, the link was neither strong nor definitive.

However, the 1997 financial crisis that originated in and shook East Asia had a significant impact on defence imports. After the region recovered, procurements grew markedly and was seen abroad as disturbing.

There is also a common misconception that reduced defence budgets would in themselves enlarge budgets in other public sectors such as education and health. Scandinavian studies have shown no such reciprocal linkage, since the overall government decision-making transcends the defence sector alone.

A broader misperception is that defence expenditure is necessarily unproductive. A 2009 study in Malaysia examined the economy-defence relationship of five Asean countries over four decades (1965-2006) and found very mixed results.

The multi-authored Universiti Putra Malaysia study found that for Malaysia and the Philippines, “no meaningful relationship (between defence expenditure and economic growth) could be detected.” Nonetheless, popular perceptions about invariably wasteful defence expenditure prevails.

Among the basic facts for any country are that national defence is a continual need, and defence budgets are necessary. Pertinent questions would then concern the budget components, in particular the type of equipment purchased.

Apart from new acquisitions and occasional equipment updates, military forces also require periodic replacements of worn hardware. The Royal Malaysian Navy, for example, is due for major replacements of surface vessels within a decade.

Need for practical items

Malaysia needs more multi-function assets like transport aircraft and ships, OPVs (offshore patrol vessels) and spotter aircraft, including helicopters, rather than prestige inventory.

These practical items are essential in military and quasi-military functions like regular patrols and interdictions at sea against smuggling, human trafficking, illegal migration and piracy as well as search-and-rescue operations. A degree of interoperability would therefore make sense.

Various national agencies require such procurements: the Fisheries Department, Customs and Excise, Marine Police, Maritime Enforcement Agency and the Navy. A long coastline in both East and Peninsular Malaysia, and disputed island territory, add to these routine needs.

For its part, the Malaysian army still needs more basic infantry items like field armour. In the interests of budgeting, cuts are made in areas like (UN) overseas postings to make up for needed expenditure elsewhere.

Indonesia and the Philippines are sprawling archipelagic nations with innumerable maritime territories between thousands of islands. But their operating needs are often overshadowed by budgetary constraints.

Thailand’s government-military relations have fluctuated with the party in office, which has in turn fluctuated considerably.

Singapore is by far the biggest spender in the neighbourhood, its defence budget for fiscal 2011 rising 5.4% from last year to S$12.08bil (RM28.89bil).

Singapore is also the region’s most robust economy, posting a high 14.5% growth last year. Growth alone does not account for enlarged defence budgets, but when coupled with a nation’s lack of strategic depth it can produce a compelling need for enhanced security.

Malaysia’s defence budgets have been cut in recent years, as expressed partly in a 30% demobilisation, but actual expenditure has repeatedly exceeded budget allocations. The 2011 defence budget is a modest RM9.1bil, down by some 20% from last year.

The Defence Ministry wants to make better use of existing equipment in place of more new acquisitions, after some high-profile procurements in recent years.
Overall, Malaysia’s emphasis is on consolidating the economy as a firm foundation for a more robust nation.

The key defence issues are threat perceptions, strategic planning, operational purposes, maximal use of assets, streamlining, harmonisation, optimalisation and old-fashioned value for money.

And then there is the question of whether ultimate decision-making for these lies best with political or military leaders.

There is still a lack of vigorous debate based on updated information and educated opinion on such matters of great public interest. Opposition political parties still have no cohesive and coherent alternative plan, for all their pent-up anxieties.

This is where informed groups and individuals, motivated by the national interest rather than narrow partisan concerns, can help enrich discussion by contributing what ideas they can.
(The Star)

AV8 Akan Datang Bertahap Mulai Januari 2012

08 Maret 2011

Untuk penggunaan infantri, AV8 akan dilengkapi kanon kaliber 30mm (photo : lowyat)

Tentera Darat terima kereta perisai baru

KUALA LUMPUR – Tentera Darat akan menerima aset tempur terbarunya, kereta perisai (APC) AV8, secara berperingkat-peringkat mulai 1 Januari tahun depan.
Menteri Pertahanan, Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi ketika mengesahkan perkara itu berkata, kemasukan AV8 dalam inventori Tentera Darat adalah bagi menggantikan kereta perisai Condor.

“Kita telah menyerahkan surat penerimaan (LOA) kepada Deftech Sdn. Bhd. dan kereta perisai pertama akan mula diserahkan kepada kementerian mulai 1 Januari 2012.

“Ia hasil memorandum perjanjian (MoA) yang dimeterai antara Deftech dengan syarikat pertahanan dari Turki, FNSS, baru-baru ini,” katanya kepada pemberita.
Terdahulu, Ahmad Zahid hadir menyaksikan perarakan kontinjen serta aset Tentera Darat sempena sambutan Hari Ulang Tahun Tentera Darat Ke-78 di Dataran Merdeka, di sini hari ini.

Hadir sama timbalan beliau, Datuk Dr. Abdul Latiff Ahmad; Panglima Angkatan Tentera, Jeneral Tan Sri Azizan Ariffin dan Panglima Tentera Darat, Jeneral Datuk Seri Zulkifeli Mohd. Zin.

Kementerian Pertahanan sebelum ini mengumumkan bahawa kerajaan bersetuju untuk membeli 257 kereta perisai AV8 buatan Deftech hasil pemindahan teknologi dari FNSS.

(Utusan)

September, Super Tucano Gantikan Bronco

Super Tucano. (Foto: Embraer)

7 Maret 2011, Malang -- (KOMPAS.com): Lapangan Udara (Lanud) Abdulrachman Saleh bersiap menerima kedatangan 16 pesawat terbang tempur taktis Super Tucano yang sudah dipesan dari pabriknya di Brasil, Embraer, bulan September 2011. Pesawat ini akan mengganti seluruh sisa pesawat dengan karakter yang sama, OV-10 atau dijuluki Bronco yang kini sudah habis jam terbangnya dan hanya bisa dimuseumkan.

Komandan Lanud Abdulrachman Saleh Malang, Marsekal Pertama (Marsma) Agus Dwi Putranto di Malang, Senin (7/3/2011) menjelaskan, Mabes TNI AU dan pemerintah yang memutuskan memilih dan membeli jenis pesawat tersebut. "Sebagai prajurit kami menyiapkan diri untuk memanfaatkan dan memelihara sebaik mungkin. Sudah kami siapkan pilot dan teknisi yang akan mengoperatori dan melayani perawatannya, pada Skadron 21, yang sama dengan Skadron OV-10," katanya.

Menurutnya, secara berangsur para teknisi dan calon pilot sudah mendapat kesempatan pendidikan, yang tidak ia rinci. Pesawat tempur Super Tucano, jelasnya, merupakan pesawat tempur taktis yang bertugas sebagai semacam pemandu dan pengintai atau penjuru depan, bagi pesawat tempur serbu di belakangnya.

"Ini jenis pesawat tempur kecil, yang karena kecepatannya yang lebih rendah dibanding pesawat tempur jet Sukhoi, akan memudahkan pilot Super Tucano untuk mengamati sasaran darat, bertipe pesawat tempur sasaran udara ke darat," katanya.

"Karakternya dalam taktik pertempuran udara kurang lebih mirip dengan peran OV-10, hanya saja jauh lebih modern segala-galanya dibanding OV-10, termasuk sistem navigasinya, persenjataannya dan mesinnya," sambung Agus.

Persenjataan yang dibawa jenis roket dan bom udara ke darat seperti bom MK82, dan semua jenis senjata untuk tujuan penyerangan air to ground. Adapun pesawat dibawah skadron 21 OV-10/Bronco, katanya, kini tersisa tinggal tujuh pesawat saja. Sebuah OV-10 sudah dipastikan akan diterbangkan ke Yogyakarta untuk dimuseumkan. "Lanud Abdulrachman Saleh berencana memasang satu pesawat sebagai monumen di dalam kompleks Lanud. Lalu sisanya belum diputuskan," katanya.

Menurut Agus, bisa saja jika ada pihak yang hendak memerlukannya untuk dijadikan monumen. Permintaan mengenai itu hanya bisa diizinkan oleh Mabes TNI AU. "Selama ini sudah ada satu OV-10 yang dijadikan monumen di Kabupaten Jombang, Jawa Timur," tambah Marsma Agus Dwi Putranto.

Sumber: KOMPAS.com