This is what Egypt will be getting. The envisaged capabilities of the two Mistral class Landing Platform Helicopter (LPH). Originally planned to carry KA-52K attack helicopters. It has a potent strike capability for projection of power.
Singapore credits its engineers and scientists with enhancing its military capabilities. It even called its 5000 strong defence technology community, its secret edge weapon.
There are some interesting nuggets of information gleaned from this reference article from the magazine, Cyberpioneer. For example, the Littoral Mission Vessel has a system that automated the watch duty for its crew. No more manual scanning of the surrounding sea. The all-round electro-optical surveillance system allows the ship crew to monitor the sea on screen.
The LMV (Littoral Mission Vessel). Designed for various missions in the congested waters of the world's busiest straits.
A similar capability on the Terrex 8x8 armoured infantry fighting vehicle allows it to be driven totally by camera. The Terrex also has an advance hostile fire detector that automatically prioritise the threat. In addition to the location of the threat, the acoustic system is smart enough to differentiate between the different calibre of incoming fire.
Acoustic system mounted on left rear position of Terrex
China's Wing Loong looks like the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator UAV. It has two hard points on the wing for weapons.Here is a video of the missile live-firing test which was broadcasted over Chinese national TV.
29 Oct 2015 - A Raytheon Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS) broke free from its ground tether and caused havoc across two states in the USA.
It is still unclear how the tether line broke free. According to Raytheon, the line is made of Vectran and has withstood storms in excess of 100 knots. The runaway blimp floated from Maryland into Pennsylvania, dragging a 3,000 metre long tether line, which cause power outage in some areas.
The military aerostat is designed to provide 360-degrees coverage of airborne threats. It can be integrated with weapon systems such as the Patriot Surface to Air Missile (SAM) system and the ship mounted Standard SAM, a detection range of up to 340 miles. JLENS is designed to stay aloft for up to 30 days at a time.
The Malaysian defence budget for 2016 0f US$4 billion is 2.5% less than the current year. Not on the card are the replacement for the MiG-29. Malaysia had been evaluating various options to replace the ageing MiG-29 fighters with 18 multi-role combat aircraft to complement the existing Boeing F-18C/D and Sukhoi Su-30MKM. The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) were assessing the F-18E/F, Dassault Rafale, Gripen NG and the Typhoon Eurofighter for procurement. Speaking in parliament on 10 June, the Defence Minister Hishammuddin had cited the RMAF's Multi-Role Combat aircraft (MRCA) procurement as an example of a capability that is not in line with the threats that Malaysia faced. Also not catered in budget was the requirement for attack helicopter.
Major acquistion programmes which are funded includes six Second Generation Patrol Vessel - Littoral Combat Ship (SGPV-LCS), Starstreak Short Range Air Defence missile systems, AV-8 Gempita 8x8 combat vehicles and the Airbus A400M Atlas transport aircraft.
RAAF KC-30A refuelling a E-7A Wedgetail somewhere over Iraq on 23 Oct 2015. The Multi-Role Transporter Tanker (MRTT) is part of Australia's contribution to the international effort to combat the ISIL terrorist threat in Iraq and Syria. Operation OKRA mounted by the Australian Defence Force includes F-18E/F, E-7A Wedgetail Early Warning Aircraft and a Special Operation Task Group.
