All the answers lie within the above-posted diagrams. Anyone care to figure them out?

Source: Trishul Group

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has died, the country’s top civilian security official told The Associated Press on Wednesday. It was the government’s first categorical confirmation of the death of the feared militant, whose passing is likely to weaken, but not vanquish, the al-Qaida-linked insurgent network he led.Reports of Mehsud’s death emerged after a spate of U.S. missiles hit his stronghold in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt in mid-January. Mehsud was said to have died of wounds suffered in one of the strikes in the Waziristan region — another big victory for the CIA-led missile campaign that killed Mehsud’s predecessor just six months ago.The Taliban have repeatedly denied his death, but backed off an initial promise to prove the 28-year-old was still alive.In a response to an AP query, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik, wrote, “Yes, he is dead,” while a senior intelligence official concurred separately. Neither gave details as to when or how the militant died.The intelligence official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.In late January, a tribal elder told the AP that he attended Mehsud’s funeral in the Mamuzai area of the Orakzai tribal region after Mehsud died at his in-laws’ home. Some local media reports, citing unnamed Taliban sources, said Mehsud died more recently in the Multan area of central Pakistan on his way to receive medical treatment in the southern Pakistan city of Karachi.In the first few days after the mid-January missile strikes, the Taliban released a pair of audiotapes believed to carry Mehsud’s voice, in which he insisted he was fine. They have stopped offering additional evidence, one reason U.S. counterterrorism officials also are increasingly certain he died.Still, Mehsud has been mistakenly reported dead before.After his predecessor, fellow tribesman Baitullah Mehsud, died in an August missile strike, the Pakistani interior minister was among those who claimed Hakimullah was killed in a succession struggle. But the militant met with reporters, on camera, in the weeks afterward and went on to lead a surge of bomb attacks across the country that left more than 600 people dead.The Taliban also denied Baitullah Mehsud’s death for weeks until the succession question was settled.Hakimullah Mehsud has been considered a particularly ruthless Taliban fighter with grand ambitions.He appeared in a video with a Jordanian suicide bomber who killed seven CIA employees in eastern Afghanistan. After that Dec. 30 attack, the U.S. temporarily ramped up its missile campaign in Pakistan’s tribal areas.There are reports that commanders already are lining up to vie for his position as Taliban chief.Among the potential successors are Waliur Rehman, the deputy Taliban commander who oversaw operations in the South Waziristan region. The Pakistani army is waging an offensive in that Afghan border area against the group that has damaged much of its infrastructure.Another name being floated is that of Maulvi Toofan, a Taliban commander reported to be based in Orakzai, a region gaining importance as militants flee there from South Waziristan.Malik, the interior minister, also said Wednesday that Pakistan is investigating reports that Qari Hussain, another Hakimullah deputy, had also been killed. If confirmed, Hussain’s death would be a significant blow to the group because he was in charge of training suicide bombers and had close ties to other militant networks.Also Wednesday, a Pakistani army Cobra helicopter gunship crashed in the remote Tirah Valley of Pakistan’s Khyber tribal region near the Afghan border, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said.Another army official said the helicopter’s pilot and gunner are missing and feared dead. He said the crash appeared to have been caused by either bad weather or a mechanical failure. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.——————Ahmad reported from Islamabad.
Source: Army Times

Namer ICV Expands Merkava into a Family of Combat Vehicles

The 13th Infantry Battalion of the Golani Brigade was the first Israel Defense Forces (IDF) unit to convert from the T-55 based Achzarit armored infantry carrier to the new Infantry Combat Vehicle ? the Namer. With the Merkava tank and new Namer ICV, the IDF is expanding the Merkava platform into a family of combat vehicles, to include a tactical support vehicle, armored MedEvac, an Armored Recovery Vehicle (ARV) and, potentially, future weapons carriers.

Source: Defence Update

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The first black woman to head the National Guard in any state took charge Tuesday in California, commanding the nation’s largest Guard unit.Brig. Gen. Mary Kight was sworn in by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at a former Air Force base outside Sacramento. She is the first woman to lead the 21,000 members of the state’s Army and Air National Guard.Speaking during a change-of-command ceremony at the California National Guard Mather Flight Facility, the Republican governor called Kight a pioneer for breaking gender and racial barriers during her long career.She is the state’s 45th adjutant general, assuming command from Gen. William Wade, who is leaving to help command a NATO force in Italy.Kight said she learned only Monday, after her appointment, of the historic nature of her promotion.“I’m extremely proud,” she told reporters after the ceremony. “I also feel responsible, however, to those that look to me because I happen to be of female gender or African-American.”Kight, 59, said she also is part Filipino and Spanish on her mother’s side.“There’s a little bit of everything in me. And whatever I represent to people, if it makes them proud, I’m proud,” she said.She has spent nearly 25 years with the California Guard after seven years in the Air Force.State Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, who was the first black woman to head a state legislative body, praised Kight for providing inspiration to those who will follow.“Today is a very exciting day in history,” said Bass, a Democrat from Los Angeles.
Source: Army Times

LIPI Ciptakan Teropong Bidik Malam Senapan

20 Januari 2010

Teropong bidik malam buatan LIPI (photo : Defense Studies)

IPTEK TTG : Teropong Bidik Malam Senapan

Kemampuan Indonesia di bidang pertahanan dan keamanan memang sudah sepantasnya disejajarkan dengan negara-negara asing. Buktinya banyak peralatan yang mendukung pertahanan dan keamanan bangsa yang bisa dibuat di dalam negeri oleh putra bangsa. Salah satu contohnya adalah Teropong Bidik Malam Senapan (TBMS), buatan para ahli di Pusat Penelitian Kalibrasi, Instrumentasi, dan Metrologi (Puslit KIM) LIPI.

Menurut Ahmad Harimawan, Peneliti Instrumentasi di Puslit KIM LIPI, TBMS ini dirancang khusus untuk membidik/menembak tepat dan pengamatan pada malam hari. TBMS ini terdiri dari rumah utama (Housing) yang didalamnya terpasang unit lensa obyektif, Image Intensifier generasi 2 yang digabungkan dengan sumber tegangan, dan unit Ocular. Alat ini memiliki kemampuan untuk melihat obyek yang berada pada sumber cahaya yang sangat minim sekalipun, pemakai dapat melihat dan mengamati sasaran tanpa menggunakan bantuan cahaya buatan sehingga tidak mudah terdeteksi oleh musuh.

TBMS ini terutama dirancang untuk digunakan pada senapan infantri TNI seperti type SS1 yang sudah diproduksi 120 unit untuk digunakan di Papua pada thn 2004 dengan senapan mesin dan adaptor yang sesuai. Kalau untuk kalangan Sipil digunakan untuk survey dan penelitian pada waktu malam hari. TBMS sudah teruji kehebatannya. Kemampuan jarak pandang tergantung cuaca alam sekitar. Mis. Kalau ada binatang, bisa dideteksi hingga 300 meter.

LIPI juga sudah membuat Teropong Bidik Siang, dan saat ini sedang mengembangkan teropong bidik generasi keempat yang sudah dibuat para ahli di Puslit KIM LIPI. Generasi pertama dari Teropong Bidik Malam ini, sudah terbukti ketangguhannya ketika TNI berperang melawan Fretlin di Timor-Timur.

Yang membanggakan, lensa optic yang digunakan pada TBMS ini benar-benar dibuat sendiri oleh para ahli LIPI. ?Kualitasnya pun sudah sejajar dengan alat yang diimpor dari luar negeri, diantaranya: -Tahan udara lembab dan kedap air (standard spesifikasi militer), -Tahan terhadap getaran tembakan 500 butir peluru (perubahan kedudukan fisir/titik bidik maksimum 1 klik). TBMS juga dapat digunakan dengan dipegang langsung atau dengan tripod. Dan yang terpenting lagi, dari aspek kemampuan SDM, kita kuat?, tegas Harimawan.

Namun menurut Harimawan, TBMS masih mempunyai kelemahan, yaitu tidak mampu menembus kabut Hal ini akan terus dicari solusinya oleh para ahli LIPI. Kendala lain yang ditemui para ahli kita di LIPI selama mengembangkan TBMS ini, diantaranya kenadala teknis dan juga sosialisasi dari pengembangan industri TBMS. Untuk produksinya masih mengalami hambatan kekurangan dana, dan untuk sosialisasinya harus mengikuti prosedur/ birokrasi.

Yang jelas akan ada banyak teknologi yang akan dikembangkan dalam pembuatan TBMS ini nantinya. Tentu saja, para ahli di LIPI menginginkan perkembangan ini akan menambah daya guna bagi TBMS.

Akhirnya, Harimawan, mewakili para ahli di LIPI mengharapkan support dari pemerintah. Diharapkan pemerintah membentuk industri teknis untuk mensupport hasil/produk peneliti, khususnya produk Hankam. Mis. Dengan membuat Industri Strategis. Diharapkan juga Kementerian Ristek dapat mendiseminasikan iptek kepada instansi terkait untuk dapat dikembangkan lebih lanjut, supaya tidak sia-sia.

(Ristek)

Source: Defense Studies

ROKS Dae Cheong

Source: Gallery Kapal Perang

MIAMI — Hundreds of people have been flown from Haiti to Florida, even after the U.S. military halted evacuation flights for critically injured patients, the state's governor said Sunday.Gov. Charlie Crist told ABC News' "Good Morning America" on Sunday he was puzzled by the suspension, which has been in effect since Wednesday. Civilian flights and other military flights have continued.Military planes carrying 700 U.S. citizens, legal residents and other foreign nationals landed in central Florida over the past 24 hours, and three of those people required medical care at hospitals, state officials said."We're welcoming Haitians with open arms and probably done more than any other state and happy to continue to do so," Crist said.Some passengers from those flights needed routine treatment at hospitals, but Florida has not received any critical patients needing urgent care since the halt, said Sterling Ivey, the governor's spokesman.Exactly what led to the suspension of medevac flights remains unclear. Military officials said some states refused to take patients. Florida officials say none were ever turned away, though Crist had sent a letter Tuesday to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius saying the state's hospitals were reaching a saturation point.The letter also asked for federal help paying for patient expenses — a request Crist on Sunday said could have been misinterpreted. He also said federal officials have indicated he would receive help covering the costs, totaling more than million.The White House has said hospitals were running out of space and officials were working to increase capacity in Haiti and the U.S., as well as aboard the Comfort hospital ship.U.S. Transportation Command spokesman Capt. Kevin Aandahl referred questions Sunday about the medevac flights to the White House.Col. Rick Kaiser said Sunday that the Army Corps of Engineers has been asked to build a 250-bed tent hospital in Haiti to relieve pressures on the Comfort and on Haitian facilities where earthquake victims are being treated under tarpaulins.Several hospitals in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince were damaged or destroyed in the Jan. 12 earthquake.U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth Merten said about 435 earthquake victims had been evacuated before the suspension, and that he was "sure the Department of Defense wants to do the right thing."Individual hospitals can still arrange private medical flights — such as one Sunday that brought three critically ill children to a hospital in Philadelphia.Doctors have said the makeshift facilities in Haiti aren't equipped to treat such critical conditions and warn that similar patients could die if they aren't treated in U.S. hospitals.Crist also has asked Sebelius for better coordination of the evacuations.The state had been relying on air traffic controllers at Miami International Airport to relay information about the evacuations because the U.S. military flights headed to the state without notice, David Halstead, the Florida Division of Emergency Management's interim director, said Sunday."The governor's request is, 'Just tell us a plan,'" Halstead said.
Source: Army Times

LAPAN Analisis Hasil Peluncuran Roket Kendali Nasional

30 Januari 2010

Roket Kendali Nasional sebagai cikal bakal rudal (photo : ARC)

Ristek Selidiki Kegagalan Kinerja Sustainer Roket

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Kementerian Riset dan Teknologi (KRT) masih menyelidiki penyebab kegagalan terbang Roket Kendali Nasional (RKN) 200 double stage yang sempat mencelakai dua warga pada peluncurannya, Rabu lalu (27/1), terkait kinerja Fin, sistem separasi dan kinerja sustainer.

"Penyebab kegagalan terbang masih diselidiki, di antaranya terkait kinerja Fin (semacam sayap roket), sistem separasi dan kinerja sustainer," kata Menristek Suharna Surapranata kepada wartawan di Jakarta, Jumat.

Faktor tersebut cukup dimungkinkan selain faktor kecepatan angin yang tidak menentu, ujarnya yang saat itu didampingi Deputi Bidang Program Riptek, KRT, Teguh Raharjo, Deputi Teknologi Dirgantara LAPAN Soewarto Hardhienata, Direktur Teknologi dan Pengembangan Rekayasa PT Dirgantara Indonesia Andi Alisjahbana, dan Dirut PT Pindad Didik Avianto.

Suharna menyatakan pihaknya merasa prihatin atas musibah cideranya dua penduduk Dusun Rekesan, Desa Pandanwangi, Lumajang dan memohon maaf serta berjanji membantu meringankan beban korban selama di rumah sakit maupun setelah kembali.

"Musibah ini akan menjadi pelajaran sangat berharga bagi tim pengembang teknologi kedirgantaraan," ujarnya sambil meminta peristiwa nahas ini tidak menyurutkan semangat para pengembang roket untuk terus melakukan riset.
Dikatakan Menteri, pihaknya sudah meminta masyarakat agar keluar dari lokasi peluncuran yang luasnya sekitar 80 ribu hektare dengan panjang 13km dan lebar 1km, sejak sehari sebelumnya.

"Tapi rupanya kami tidak tahu kalau ternyata masih ada petani penggarap berada di sana, di salah satu saung, bukan rumah tinggal, berhubung daerah tersebut subur dan kabarnya ada yang sakit, sehingga terlewatkan untuk diungsikan," katanya.

Suharna mengatakan, pada 27 Januari itu, untuk kedua kalinya lokasi milik TNI AU di Lumajang itu digunakan untuk uji terbang dari roket tipe RX 1210 single stage dan RX 1213/1210 double stage serta RKN 200.

Rencana awal akan dilakukan pengujian 14 roket, tetapi hanya 10 roket yang sempat diterbangkan, sembilan di antaranya berhasil terbang dengan performa sangat baik, namun untuk RKN 200 double stage kinerja terbang tak seperti diharapkan, sehingga selongsong roket jatuh menimpa rumah singgah (saung) penduduk.

Menurut Menristek, kegiatan pengembangan roket ini bukan sesuatu yang baru, tetapi merupakan agenda riset nasional dan sejak 2006 telah dibentuk konsorsium penelitian dan pengembangannya.(*)

(Antara)

Baca Juga :

Program Komputer Roket "Nyasar" Dianalisis
30 Januari 2010


RKN-200 roket kendali nasional (photo : Antara)

Program perintah komputer yang disertakan pada roket nyasar dan mencederai dua korban saat uji coba di Lapangan Tembak Abdul Rachman Saleh TNI AU di Kecamatan Tempeh, Kabupaten Lumajang, Rabu (27/1) lalu, dianalisis.

"Ada kemungkinan program perintah komputer itu tidak menyambung," kata Deputi Teknologi Dirgantara Lembaga Penerbangan dan Antariksa Nasional (Lapan) Soewarto, Jumat (29/1) malam, seusai penyampaian kronologis peristiwa kepada Menteri Riset dan Teknologi Suharna Surapranata di Jakarta.

Roket nyasar itu satu-satunya roket berpengendali, yaitu hasil program Roket Kendali Nasional (RKN) dengan muatan sensor aquator untuk sensor olah gerak, GPS (Global Positioning System), dan kamera.

(Kompas)

Source: Defense Studies

Suzdaletc

The Russian Navy does not use the name frigate. Most ships are typed by their function and mission. MPK stands for Malyy Protivolodochnyy Korabl, literally small anti-submarine ship. Most of these are designed for and employed in anti-submarine warfare. However, others are designed for coastal defense and patrol work. They are not designed for fleet escorts, as they have a fairly short range. They are designed to patrol or guard sea areas.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the Soviet Fleet strongly emphasized its ASW capabilities. Project 1124 Albatros fit in with this strong emphasis on anti-submarine capability. They were designed to guard the sea frontiers of the Soviet Union. They have been built in five series. NATO assigned a code name for these small vessels based on Russian nicknames. Project 1124 vessels were named Grisha, which can be translated to Greg.

MPK "Suzdaletc" was built by Leninskaya Kuznitsa SY, Kiev, Ukraine. Laid down 01 Aug 1981, completed 03 Oct 1983. Laid up 03 Nov 1983.

From 01 Aug 1981 to 10 Apr 1984 this warship has name "MPK-134", from 10 Apr 1984 to 15 Feb 1992 - "Moldavskyy Komsomoletc", after that - rename to "MPK-134" again, and from 05 Apr 1999 to present moment - "Suzdaletc".












Source: Black Sea Fleet

Source: Gallery Kapal Perang

The above flowcharts have been officially produced by Rosoboronexport State Corp and Nizhiny Tagil-based Uralvagonzavod JSC and clearly state the obvious. By the way, despite three days of persistent queries sent to the Ministry of Defence's Public Relations Branch, not a single soul has been able to explain exactly why the T-90S MBTs taking part in this year's Republic Day Parade were labelled as 'Bheeshma', while those T-90S MBTs rolled out on August 24 have been labelled as 'Bhishma'. Your guess is as good as mine. In addition, no answers are forthcoming as yet on what exactly is the 'indigenous' content of the HVF-built 'Bhishma', given the fact that both the ERA package and the composite armour panels along with the 12.7mm HMG are being imported off-the-shelf from Uralvagonzavod JSC, while the powerpacks and tracks are being jointly sourced from Russia and Kazakhstan. There also exists another such set of flowcharts comparing the parameters of the OPLOT-M, T-90S and the Arjun Mk1 and needless to say, the conclusions regarding the T-90S are extremely distressing--Prasun K. Sengupta

Source: Trishul Group

Apache AH MK1

Source: AgustaWestland

Source: Gallery Pesawat Tempur