03 Oktober 2011





RNZAF Beechcraft King Air B200 (photo : NZFF)



The Minister of Defence, Wayne Mapp, has announced moves to develop a new advanced pilot training capability for the RNZAF. This will include new advanced trainer aircraft.



“In future pilots will train on fast and manoeuvrable aircraft which provide much more rigorous and realistic training. This will prepare them effectively for the demanding military flying they will be called upon to perform in service,” said Dr Mapp.



“The upgraded P3 Orion and C-130 Hercules aircraft and the NH90 helicopter are frontline military aircraft that are routinely flown well beyond normal civil parameters.



“Currently advanced pilot training is done using King Air B200s. These twin-engine civilian planes are limited in the power, manoeuvrability and cockpit visibility needed for training at this level.





Comparison with Australia and Canada (photo : Beehive)



“They are also not equipped with the modern generation electronic instruments, communications and situational awareness aids that are important features of our new and upgraded aircraft and helicopters.”



Dr Mapp said last year’s Defence White Paper was clear that pilot training needs to match the full range of operational demands made on aircrew.



“A Request for Information from industry has been released today, covering provision of suitable aircraft as well as different training options including the use of simulators.”



“The Government is open to either leasing or purchasing aircraft, and innovative ways of managing the support and operation of new aircraft. We will be encouraging industry to work with the RNZAF to introduce this new training capability as quickly as possible.



“The project exemplifies the Government’s openness to working with industry to develop innovative solutions that deliver better services more efficiently.”



Dr Mapp noted the King Air fleet would still be needed for multi-engine and continuation training and utility transport tasks. A project to upgrade or replace the current King Airs, for which the lease expires at the end of June next year, is underway.



(Beehive)



See Also :



Defence Capability Plan launched

03 Oktober 2011



The Minister of Defence, Wayne Mapp, today launched the new Defence Capability Plan.



“This plan sets out how Defence will carry out the Defence White Paper strategies over the next decade,” said Dr Mapp.



“It will guide our decisions on shaping frontline units and on the equipment and capability they will have. It takes into account affordability, resources and defence priorities”.



“The plan is not just a list of projects and equipment. Capability for the Defence Force is about transporting and sustaining a deployable Defence Force here and overseas. It is about using modern technology to give the entire defence force a common operating picture. And it is about ensuring our men and women in uniform are equipped to meet all the challenges they face, from combat through to disaster relief.”



The plan includes new projects covering the next decade, including upgrading or replacing the Seasprite helicopters, a systems upgrade for the ANZAC frigates, a Special Forces Battle Training facility, and a land transport capability programme.



“An important project is a new pilot training capability, including finding advanced training aircraft to replace the current King Air B200s,” said Dr Mapp.



There are also plans for network-enabled systems which are interoperable across the Defence Force and multinationally.



Dr Mapp said the plan signals good opportunities for local industry.



“Industry is a key partner in delivering new and upgraded equipment, and in maintaining it. We already work closely with a number of companies, and there will be many more opportunities for industry, particularly in infrastructure and information technology projects.”



He said the projects in the Capability Plan could be funded for the next ten years from accumulated depreciation, with no need for extra capital. Any increase in costs would be met by reallocating existing resources within Defence.

(The Defence Capability Plan can be found at http://www.defence.govt.nz/pdfs/reports-publications/defence-capability-plan-2011.pdf).



(Beehive)

09 Juli 2011

Pilatus PC-7 of the Brunei Air Force/Angkatan Tentera Udara Diraja Brunei (photo : Scramble)

Bandar Seri Begawan - The primary fundamental responsibility for any government is to provide and ensure the security of its country and the safety of its people by putting its young men in uniform and arming them with the best weapons and machines available with which to defend and protect its sovereignty, its way of life, its culture and its values.

For only by ensuring that a stable environment can be maintained could its people prosper to pursue happiness and prosperity, and, more importantly, decisions be made without fear of external coercion.

Traditionally, the conventional concern for any military force has been to protect its borders and its interests against the possibility of attack or coercion by other foreign powers.

However, today that prospect, while still not unthinkable, is considered less likely thanks largely to the growing interdependence, transparency and interconnectedness of almost every country in the world, which has often been referred to as a global village.

But within every military thinking, there can be no room for complacency as the current and future security outlook is still wide-ranging and often opaquely complex.

Issues such as international terrorism and its links to extremist groups within the immediate region remain a serious concern.

The illegal movements of people, drugs, arms and finance challenge the integrity of national borders and the domestic stability of countries.

CN-235 of the Brunei Air Force (photo : Scramble)

Competition for, and the illegal exploitation of natural resources, present significant challenges to a country's sovereignty, whether in remote border areas or adjacent maritime zones.

The increasing reminders of the frequency and ferocity of natural disasters that always leaves behind a miserable trail of devastation and destruction continues to be a grim reminder that despite all our best efforts.

Nature does not respect national boundaries.

The double-edged sword that is the information revolution, whilst producing substantial benefits in communication and efficiency, also carries with it the shadow of information or cyber warfare by generating the ability to disrupt an entire country without firing a single shot.

Despite all these newly-emerging threats potentially lurk over all our horizons, other more traditional security considerations still prevail.

With technological advancements and increasing developmental growth, many countries have begun to introduce and add more advanced military systems to its arsenals in a bid to ensure their own security as a legitimate demand and right to self-defence.

Bell 212 of the Brunei Air Force (photo : clickandrender)

But despite the best efforts at promoting transparency by diplomatic engagement, total trust is not always completely unattainable and inherent suspicions will continue to remain.

Against the backdrop of the global economic meltdown, as some parts of the region recover and regain economic growth, some rebalancing of the roles of the major Asia-Pacific powers appears likely, and although everyone of them share a common vested interest in this shift to occur peacefully and constructively, the possibility of tensions arising over specific issues still cannot be pragmatically ruled out.

One such instance is the issue over the South China Sea.

While the strengthening of the regional security dialogue provides important opportunities for any disputes that do arise to be settled peacefully at the conference table, it is important that several outstanding issues, such as the development of the South China Sea, as well as the future of the Korean peninsula, continue to be confined within this framework.

Similarly, in everyone's shared interest of sustaining regional growth, providing secure sea lines of communication has become even more essential to both access to resources and towards maintaining robust international trade.

Given Brunei Darussalam's modest size, it has long become apparent that a constructive and collaborative approach to all these challenges is key, as has been often mentioned and repeated by the highest echelons of the government.

Brunei clearly cannot go about it alone but since it does also share many of these security concerns with its neighbours, an effective response would depend upon closer cooperation, both politically and militarily, as well as with civil enforcement agencies.

Scorpion light tank of the Brunei Army (photo : Military Vehicle)

It was thus with these principles and issues in mind that the latest Defence White Paper was created. At its very core, 'Defending The Nation's Sovereignty: Expanding Roles In Wider Horizons' reaffirmed that the essential building block for every country to have is its inalienable right and ability to provide for its own security - by ensuring its own stability, responding independently to any more immediate challenges to the integrity of its land borders and interests in adjacent maritime areas and to be willing and able to contribute further a field to crisis management, stability and peace operations.

Furthermore the new Defence White Paper improved upon the important foundations that had already been first laid out in the country's inaugural Defence White Paper in 2004 and its subsequent update in 2007.

The policies that it sets out and the actions and capabilities it proposes have two important objectives: (1) To ensure that Brunei Darussalam is not only able to provide for its own security but also to be able to make a robust contribution to promoting a stable regional environment; and, (2) To be able to maximise the operational effectiveness and flexibility of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) across the vast myriad of new security agendas.

Similarly, in the international perspective, the White Paper underscores the importance of regional security cooperation in responding to the new security challenges by strongly continuing to endorse the current efforts, already underway, to establish the Asean Political Security Community and the close professional cooperation being fostered by the Asean Defence Ministers' Meetings. It further documents the importance of the willingness of all the countries in the region to contribute to crisis response, stability and peacekeeping.

As it stands, the primary focus of the Defence White Paper is, quite rightly, on how Brunei should further develop its own capacity to protect the country and its people, as well as promote its interests, which are more often than not shared with its neighbours, in this increasingly complex world.

Four essential qualities have been identified as crucial to this development.

The first is 'knowledge'.

The Defence White Paper simply explains this as the need to promote the greatest possible transparency of developments in both the country's strategic and operational environments, which is essential to the early identification of issues, the RBAF's ability to take the initiative and, where appropriate, for a timely and measured response.

Developing the RBAF's maritime surveillance and patrol capabilities and its capacity to monitor activities in more remote border areas has been accorded the highest priority.

The need to progressively strengthen control of the national airspace has also been acknowledged.

At the more strategic level, the White Paper aims to enhance the links between policy and intelligence to support national decision-making.

The second quality is 'integration'. The 2007 Defence Update had given much priority to networking the armed forces through advanced command, control and communications and establishing the RBAF Joint Operations Centre.

KDB Darulehsan (photo : Stephane Saisssi)

Developing a common operational picture and linking deployed forces to both each other and to strategic-level command was essential to maintaining the initiative, achieving military outcomes matched to national objectives, and the most optimum use of resources.

Further strengthening the comprehensiveness of the available information and developing joint force planning and the habits of cooperation would further make integration a defining quality of the RBAF's operations and it would also facilitate closer cooperation with other national agencies and, whenever appropriate, the country's security partners, which the latest Defence White Paper had set out for the establishment of a new Joint Planning Committee to oversee these developments.

`Speed' is the third quality where the ability to deploy rapidly in response to intelligence and to be able to manoeuvre within the area of operations is essential to responding to crises, preventing or deterring possible incidents and being able to maintain the operational initiative.

The demanding operational terrain in much of the country places a premium on movement by air or water. As such, important initiatives will include the replacement of the Royal Brunei Air Force's medium lift helicopters and the Royal Brunei Navy's (RBN) landing crafts, as well as the acquisition of fast, manoeuvrable shallow water craft.

The Royal Brunei Land Forces' protection of mobility, essential in stability and peacekeeping operations, will also be upgraded; whilst the RBN's new fleet will provide a flexible response capability for the maritime environment.

The fourth and final essential quality is 'weight', which carried with it two considerations. Firstly, security operations, by their very nature, carry a significant element of risk, even in lower level theatres of hostilities, thus making it important for deployed forces to have the necessary protection and firepower to be able to accomplish their missions.

Secondly, closely matching the level of force deployed to the mission will often be important to a successful outcome, which demonstrates resolve but also the objectives being sought.

Thus, further development of the RBLF with more potent short-to-medium range direct firepower to complement its enhanced mobility protection would make it a much more flexible national instrument, making it able to contribute more effectively across a range of contemporary operations, as well as provide the basis for the protection of national assets and infrastructure should circumstances deteriorate at any point in the future.

Progressive development of the country's air defence capability is also one of the focuses of the White Paper to strengthen control over Brunei's immediate approaches.

Maximising the operational effectiveness of the RBAF along these guidelines can only be accomplished with a comprehensive and integrated approach to planning, which the White Paper also addresses.

The four most important elements are: (1) Significant strengthening of the Ministry of Defence's policy, joint operational and joint capability planning processes; (2) Providing guidance on force preparedness, the smart use of technology and personnel development; (3) Developing close coordination with civil _agencies that share responsibility for responding to the new security agenda, and; (4) A clear articulation of how the RBAF would be best able to draw upon its fundamental strengths to make an increasingly effective contribution to regional security cooperation.

As it reaches its half-century mark, the RBAF has undoubtedly come a long way since its inception as a small infantry force 50 years ago.

The new Defence White Paper is set to ensure that the RBAF continues to evolve as a modern, balanced force that is well matched to the country's security priorities, whilst armed and equipped with the flexibility to protect and promote Brunei's interests in this complex world.

(Borneo Bulletin)

See Also :

Sharpen Maritime, Land Watch
07 Juli 2011

THE Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) will cooperate with other government agencies to enhance its capability in the monitoring of national interests, particularly its natural resources, within the country's maritime and land borders.

The army's Defence White Paper (DWP) 2011, launched yesterday, stipulated developing a "comprehensive recognised Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) picture" as one of its "more immediate priorities".

"This should seek to capture the full range of external activity impacting upon the nation's control of its territory and boundaries and enhance domain awareness on land, air and maritime."

A document summarising the DWP said that aside from the "illegal" exploitation of natural resources, competition presented significant challenges to a nation's sovereignty, particularly when such activities take place in remote areas close to the borders or in adjacent maritime zones.

Increasing transparency of the operational environment would help the RBAF identify any security challenges early and issue a quicker response, the DWP said.

The procurement of the two Darussalam Class offshore patrol vessels, KDB Darussalam and KDB Darulehsan, commissioned in May, supported the navy's efforts to maintain a "continuous presence in adjacent waters".

To further develop that capacity, the military planned to acquire surface surveillance radar "to provide continuous, all-weather surveillance of movements in the more immediate maritime approaches".

More fixed-wing aircraft, equipped with enhanced sensors, were also in RBAF's procurement plans. The new aircraft "will transform the maritime surveillance capability currently provided by the (Royal Brunei) Air Force's CN-235", the DWP said.

Speaking to The Brunei Times, Defence Permanent Secretary (Administration and Finance) Hjh Suriyah Hj Umar said the propeller-driven CN-235 transport plane has "limited capabilities" and thus, the forces were on the lookout for new maritime patrol solutions.

"But that is something we need to study first," she said.

"With our new patrol vessels, it's (the KDB ships) been working very well. (They are) something to complement the eyes from the sky."

Hjh Suriyah noted the solutions had to be capable of Brunei's 200-nautical mile EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone).

Other capabilities included fitting "modular sensor suite" on new medium-lift helicopters, that the air force will procure to replace its ageing fleet.

The sensor suite would include infra-red and thermal imaging capabilities to strengthen the capacity for helicopters, particularly those patrolling over land.

"Coverage of potentially illegal activities across the nation's land borders is made difficult by their remoteness, the difficult terrain and the jungle canopy. A consistent high level of ISR needs to be provided, closely integrated with land force patrols," the DWP said.

The activities included illegal logging and trespassing, while on water, surveillance would be stepped up to prevent poaching of fish stocks, acts of piracy and other transnational crimes.

However, the RBAF assured that the responsibility of enforcement will remain "primarily with civil agencies".

(The Brunei Times)

11 April 2011

Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU) will have 10 fighter sguadron by 2025 (photo : Detik)

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Indonesian Air Force is projecting to improve its military force by 2025, but the plan is hampered by budget issues. Although it has tried to improve the budget, the increase has not been significant.

Indonesian Air Force expert staffer Marshall Parulian Simamora, said the target was to have 10 fighting squadrons, 7 carrier squadrons, 1 VIP/VVIP squadron, 3 strategic spy squadrons, 6 helicopter squadrons, 4 training squadrons, 1 tanker squadron, and 1 PTTA/UAV squadron and military equipment by 2025.

In 2011, the Indonesian Armed Forces was given a Rp44 billion budget, while the Air Force was given Rp7.4 trillion, Rp4.2 trillion of which was used to improve existing military equipment.

Which such budget, the military hopes the national industry can maximize the development of the military and defense equipment industry. Indonesian Air Force chief of staff Marshall Imam Sufaat said a strong local defense industry could reduce dependency on foreign aid.

Imam said the local industry he referred to was not only the plane, rocket, satellite and air balloon manufacturing industry, but also the aviation system industry or airplane component industry. Besides the industry sector, air defense must also be supported by the aviation service, such as air transportation, telecommunication services, flight safety, and maintenance.

PT Dirgantara Indonesia’s Aerostructure director Andi Alisjahbana, said the need for fighting and defense equipment did not always rely on foreign producers. Maintenance and repairs are needed to generate the component industry.

Dirgantara has developed a specific aircraft for the past two years. This year, PT Dirgantara plans to send four aircrafts to South Korea. The four aircrafts, valued at US$100 million, were ordered by the Korean Coast Guard.

(Tempo Interaktif)

05 April 2011

Chinese combat engineer army (photo : Army Recognition)

China moves towards networked force

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China is moving towards becoming an ‘informationised force’, according to its ‘China's National Defence in 2010’ white paper released on 31 March.

The paper said that significant progress had been made in building information systems for ISR, command and control, and ‘battlefield environment awareness’.

‘A preliminary level has been achieved in interoperability among command and control systems, combat forces, and support systems, making order transmission, intelligence distribution, command and guidance more efficient and rapid,’ the white paper said.

China plans to raise its defence budget by 12.7% to 601 billion Yuan (US$91.5 billion) in 2011. Although this is up from the 7.5% increase that was reported in 2010, the growth rate of defence expenditure has decreased.

‘In the past two years, the increase in the defence expenditure has been used to improve support for troops and accomplish diversified military tasks, ranging from earthquake rescue and effort operations in the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia,’ Beijing’s official press service said in a statement.

‘In view of the upward trend of purchasing prices and maintenance costs, China has moderately increased funding for high-tech weaponry and equipment.’

The government said that the total length of the national defence optical fibre communication network had been increased by a ‘large margin’, forming a new generation transmission network with optical fibre communication as the mainstay, and satellite and short-wave communications as secondary.

‘Information systems have been widely applied in logistics and equipment support,’ the statement said.

The US Department of Defense (DoD) issued its own report on the Chinese military’s capability in 2010, which said the PLA was pursuing the dual ideas of mechanisation and ‘informatisation’ (the application of information technology to military operations).

‘As a consequence, and in recognition of the high costs of force-wide refitting with state-of-the-art weapons systems, the PLA is selectively acquiring new generation technologies in some areas, while deferring new acquisitions in others in favour of upgrading older, but capable, systems for networked operations,’ the DoD said.

(Shephard)

See Also :

China's National Defense in 2010

Information Office of the State Council

The People's Republic of China

March 2011, Beijing

Contents

Preface

I. The Security Situation

II. National Defense Policy

III Modernization of the People's Liberation Army

IV. Deployment of the Armed Forces

V. National Defense Mobilization and Reserve Force Building

VI. Military Legal System

VII. Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense

VIII. Defense Expenditure

IX. Military Confidence-Building

X. Arms Control and Disarmament

Appendix I Major International Exchanges of the Chinese Military (2009-2010)

Appendix II Participation in Strategic Consultations and Dialogues (2009-2010)

Appendix III Joint Exercises and Training with Foreign Armed Forces (2009-2010)

Appendix IV China's Participation in UN Peacekeeping Operations (As of Dec. 31, 2010)

Appendix V Participation in International Disaster Relief Activities (2009-2010)

Appendix VI Imports and Exports of Seven Major Types of Conventional Arms of the PRC (2008)

Appendix VII Imports and Exports of Seven Major Types of Conventional Arms of the PRC (2009)

Appendix VIII Major Military Laws and Regulations Issued in 2009 and 2010 by China

(Xinhua)