Saturday 1 March 2014

Discount Frigates For Small People with Hare Brains : The KRI Usman-Harun Saga




KRI John Lie, sister ship of the KRI Usman-Harun, participating in a combined gunnery
exercise with the USN during CARAT Indonesia 2015. US Navy Photo



 
Brunei's KDB Nakhoda Ragam on the River Clyde on 14th Jul 2007.
It would ultimately be sold to Indonesia and renamed KRI John Lie. Wikicommons



A Cursed Class Of Warship?



Indonesia's recent purchase of 3 Yarrow F2000 class light frigates from Brunei and the subsequent decision to name the third of class the KRI Usman-Harun ( MMSI 525014076 ) triggered off an unfortunate and unnecessary diplomatic incident with neighbouring Singapore. The 3 frigates were constructed for Brunei but were rejected and never commissioned. They were sold to Indonesia after languishing at a British dock for several years. The 2 men whom the frigate was named after were navy marines who were ordered to infiltrate into Singapore to carry out bombings and sabotage against civilian targets during then President Sukarno's Confrontation with the newly formed Malaysia ( which Singapore, North Borneo and Sarawak were also part of ). The duo carried out the bombing of the MacDonald House in Orchard Road which killed 3 civilians and injured 33 others on 10th Mar 1965. They were eventually apprehended and tried in court and sentenced to death by hanging. They were branded as terrorists in Singapore but were considered national heroes back home in Indonesia. Now that Indonesia has insisted it will not back down and rename the ship, Singapore has banned the ship from her territorial waters and from calling at her ports and naval bases. Singapore naval ships will also not sail with or participate in military exercises with this ship.


The Yarrow F2000 Frigate





Royal Malaysian Navy's light frigate KD Lekiu, a typical F2000 based warship
with the Bofors 57mm main gun, MM-40 Exocet SSM and
an aft helicopter deck. Source : Wikipedia

Some might classify this class of warship as a corvette, displacing about 2000 tons. They were designed by Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited of Glasgow, now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships. A rather popular choice for the navies of South East Asia I must say, Malaysia's KD Lekiu and KD Jebat launched in 1994 and 1995 respectively are based on the F2000 light frigate design. At around the same time in 1995, Brunei, an oil and gas rich tiny sultanate in northern Borneo also contracted YSL to build 3 large offshore patrol vessels (OPV) based on the F2000. They were to be known as the Nakhoda Ragam class OPV, named after a legendary Malay seafarer.



The Nakhoda Ragam Class OPV



These OPVs were a state of the art variant of the Yarrow F2000 frigate built to the Sultan of Brunei's specifications, highly automated to allow for a compliment of only 79 men to operated. Displacing 1940 tonnes, they were also specially tailored to cater for the shorter statue of Bruneian sailors ( relative to Europeans ). The first and second of class, the KDB Nakhoda Ragam and the KDB Bandahara Sakam, were launched in Jan and June 2001 while the last ship KDB Jarambak was launched in June the following year. When they were completed and ready for delivery in 2004, Brunei insisted that they were not built to specifications and rejected them, even refusing to pay. The matter was eventually brought to the International Court of Arbitration and the ruling was in favour of BAE Systems the shipbuilders. Ownership was ultimately transferred to Brunei in 2007 but the Royal Brunei Navy had absolutely no plans to commission them. Instead, they contracted the German shipbuilder Lurssen to build the replacement corvettes and to find a buyer for these orphaned ships. As they were custom made for tropical operations ( no heating system onboard ) and for smaller sized Asian sailors, the potential customer base would probably be limited to countries in South-East Asia and at best the Middle-East. Finally in Nov 2012, Indonesia acquired the 3 vessels from Brunei at  a bargain price of a fifth of the original cost ( reported to be 600 million pounds ). The ships would be reactivated and renamed the KRI Bung Tomo, KRI John Lie and KRI Usman Harun, in accordance with the Indonesian Navy's custom of naming their frigates after national heroes. They will be delivered to Indonesia in 2014.




The KDB Bandahara Sakam Photo : Clydesite.co.ok





The three Nakhoda Ragam class OPVs languishing at the port of
Burrow-in-Furness, United Kingdom in 2007 before they were sold to Indonesia.
The middle ship with pennant number 29, KDB Bandahara Sakam, would be
given a new pennant number 359 and renamed KRI Usman-Harun. Photo : Wikipaedia
 
 
 

Heroes and Terrorists



So who are these men Bung Tomo, John Lie and the two marines?

Sutomo or Bung Tomo ( Brother Tomo ) was an Indonesian military leader during the war of independence against the colonial powers. He played a central role in the Battle of Surabaya in Nov 1945 when the British forces attacked the city. Known for motivating the masses with his oratorical speeches before independence, he later became outspoken against corruption and abuses of power during the Suharto years. He died in Mecca, Saudi Arabia during the Hajj Pilgrimage in 1981.



National Hero : Bung Tomo circa 1947. Wikipaedia



John Lie, a.k.a. John Lie Tjeng Tjoan and Jahja Daniel Dharma was a Chinese Indonesian who joined the militia during Indonesia's war for independence and was involved in smuggling goods to Singapore in exchange for money to finance the revolution and weapons to fight the Dutch colonists. After independence, he was called to service as a commander in the navy and retired as a rear admiral in 1966. He died in 1988 and was posthumously awarded the Bintang Mahaputera Utama by President Suharto in 1995. He was declared a national hero for his services and contributions to his country by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2009.



National Hero : Colonel John Lie circa 1960. Photo : Wikipaedia


In contrast, Second Sergeant Usman Bin Haji Mohammed Ali a.k.a. Usman Janatin and Lance Corporal Harun Thohir a.k.a. Harun Said Bin Muhammad Ali are Indonesian Marines sent to infiltrate Singapore in civilian attire at the height of the then president Sukarno's Confrontation ( or Konfrontasi in Bahasa Indonesia ) policy towards newly formed Malaysia in 1965. The bombing of MacDonald's House ( home to HSBC Bank, Australian Embassy and Japanese Consulate then ) killed 3 innocent civilians and wounded 33 more. They were captured at sea 4 days after the bombing when trying to flee Singapore. Charged with murder and sentenced to death, they were finally hanged in Oct 1968 despite a clemency plea from the new Indonesian strongman President Suharto. They were promptly declared national heroes and buried in the Heroes cemetery in Jakarta. Note that since war was not formally declared between Indonesia and Malaysia / Singapore, these captives cannot be considered as prisoner of war ( POW) and conferred POW rights under the Geneva Convention. Although they were soldiers by profession, and even if war had been declared, they infiltrated a sovereign country without their military uniforms and that at best made them spies. Spies are usually either executed when captured and proven guilty or used as bargaining chips for prisoner exchanges and the works. At the end of the day bombing civilian infrastructures and killing and maiming innocent civilians are just acts of terrorism and the 2 perpetrators are nothing more than f***ing TERRORISTS. Misguided as they were by the Sukarno Government, they had to face the Singapore judicial system and accept the consequences of their actions. As a direct result of their execution, the Singapore embassy in Jakarta was mobbed and bilateral relations soured. It was not until 1973 when the then Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew visited their graves in Jakarta and sprinkled flowers over them that Singapore considered the chapter closed.



National Hero? Photo : Wikipaedia



Buying Cheap "New" Frigates



The Indonesians believed they had a good bargain, paying just US$300 million or about a fifth of the original cost of the 3 frigates. The politicians also dressed up the buy as new ships but we know better. These frigates are not exactly newly minted ships. They were constructed more than a decade ago and were left to rot at their berthing for many years. If fact they were originally out fitted with the Seawolf missile system for air defense but had to be retrofitted with the newer VL-MICA missiles as the missile manufacturer MBDA no longer sells the Seawolf missiles. All this will add to the original cost of the purchase.

Looking back, the tendency to shop for bargain goods seemed to be a national trait of Indonesia. In 1993, ex-president Habibie, then Science and Technology Minister, educated in Germany, bought the entire East German flotilla of floating junk - 15 year old corvettes, minesweepers, landing ships, gunboats, totaling 39 ships, at the "rock bottom" price of about $10 million to $12 million each without first consulting with the navy or finance ministry. It was subsequently found that to refurbish and retrofit those rusting kettles would cost Indonesia $1.1 billion, about a quarter of their annual defense budget. Despite this fiasco, Habibie went on to become Indonesia's vice president and then president, when Suharto was ousted during the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997.

If only the politicians were less corrupt Indonesia could probably be able to have a bigger budget for ordering more modern warships with better equipment and in greater numbers, like the 6 Formidable class stealth frigates of the Republic of Singapore Navy, instead of a paltry 3 ex-OPVs built for people with small statue.


The Choice of Names for A Man-of-War



While naming your ship is nobody else's business, it would be glaringly obvious to anyone that you do not give a ship a name that could offend others, including your neighbour. Imagine how would China react if Japan suddenly decided to name her helicopter carrier the JDS Yasukuni or how Japan would feel if the USN decided to name one of her destroyers USS Hiroshima. I mean you simply do not choose provocative or inappropriate names for your ships as they carry your flag and are considered an extension of your country's sovereignty everywhere it goes. When docking in a foreign country, it is like a piece of your land floating into the port of call. It is like a foreign embassy in any country.

Unfortunately, the Indonesian politicians cannot understand simple diplomatic principles with their pea brains. Maybe they don't even have a brain! They have been asked repeatedly by their Singapore counterparts, the Minister for Defense and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, what point are they trying to prove by naming their frigate after 2 terrorists? Why try to revive painful memories after almost half a century when the case had long been considered closed and bilateral relationship have prospered? Why risk aggrieving your 4th largest trade partner and your immediate neighbour? The reaction from the Indonesian ministers are even more shocking. The Indonesian Foreign Minister thought it was not a big deal since " the ships have not even arrived "and claimed that the naming was not done with malice and chided Singapore for over reacting. Going along with his stupid logic, what then AFTER the ship has arrived?

Just to illustrate how silly Indonesian politicians are, in 2013 when severe haze and smog from man-made forest fires in Indonesia's Riau Province blanketed large parts of Singapore, Malaysia and southern Thailand, protests from Singapore was ridiculed, with the Indonesian minister saying that Singapore should be thankful for all the oxygen ( generated from Indonesia's vast rainforests ) and stop grumbling about haze and air pollution that they had to endure for a few months every year during the dry season. Sadly he was just not intelligent enough to understand that by allowing his peat lands and rainforests to go up in flames, he accelerates global warming and in turn rising sea levels will result in inundation of several thousands of Indonesia's islands. A 0.5m rise in sea level will submerge 4 to 5 thousand of Indonesia's roughly 17000 islands, according to a newspaper report last week.


The Big Brother Syndrome



With a population of 237 million people, Indonesia is the 4th most populous nation on Earth and the most populous muslim country. It is also the biggest in terms of land mass among the South East Asian nations, rich in natural resources like oil and gas, timber and minerals. As a result, it always aspires to be the Big Brother of the region. Unfortunately, inept leaders, graft, poor infrastructure and many other factors prevented it from asserting its rightful influence on its neighbours.


Regional Map of South East Asia showing the geographical location and relative sizes of Indonesia Malaysia and Singapore. From Google Maps. 

 

Suharto probably felt snubbed by tiny Singapore when his clemency plea to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment was rejected. It would have given him a boost in status as the new President should he be successful in saving Indonesian lives abroad. So as a face saving measure, the marines were bestowed national hero status. Why should Suharto or anybody care about the death of two lowly marines otherwise? They were not even under his orders when the crime was committed.

It was a hard decision to proceed with the execution but Singapore could not be seen acceding to the wishes of bigger and more powerful nations just because they demanded and let's not forget that every other country is bigger than Singapore in the region! * Naturally, there were talks among Indonesian ultra-nationalist about invading Singapore but they never materialized. Although Singapore gained independence in Aug 1965, 2 months before the execution of the marines, the British forces were still stationed in Singapore and did not withdraw until 1971. By then the newly formed Singapore Armed Forces had already taken over the task of protecting the nation. * Even President Clinton was not successful in his plea not to cane American Michael Fay for his theft and graffiti offenses in 1994, only a reduction of 2 strokes, from 6 to 4.

Though bilateral ties had improved following the symbolic flower sprinkling on the graves by PM Lee Kuan Yew in 1973 and the subsequent formation of ASEAN in 1977, Indonesia had never shaken itself from this Big Brother mentality. After Suharto, President B.J. Habibie famously coined the phrase "Little Red Dot" when referring to Singapore during the Asian Financial Crisis in 1998, in relation to how Singapore appeared on the world map. He did not think highly of Singapore, all of then 3 million people, pitted against his 211 million, not as a friend, apparently. However, a few months after that remark was made, when the crisis deepened and the Indonesian rupiah lost its value against the dollar by 15% overnight, it was tiny tiny Singapore that offered to provide 15 billion dollars of loan to Indonesia. This loan offer was never taken up in the end, perhaps Habibie was just too proud to eat his words and rather prefer to impose the tough reforms dictated by IMF.

As of today, the Indonesian lawmakers have refused to back down and rename the vessel. Although as the Indonesians always claimed, they have a right to name their ship whatever name they wished, they failed to take into account the feelings of their neighbours and how this could harm bilateral relationships. Some openly criticize Singapore for being arrogant because of her strong armed forces, but we all know that that is not true. Were it not for a strong Singapore Armed Forces, Big Brother Indonesia would have gobbled up Singapore loooooooong ago. Just look at Dutch New Guinea which was annexed by Jakarta in 1969 under dubious circumstances. It was subsequently called Irian Jaya but is now split into 2 separate provinces Papua and West Papua.


Final Word



Singapore should really thank her lucky stars to have such a pea-brained neighbour. Because if they were to be any smarter, with their vast natural resources and population, they would have dwarfed and snuffed Singapore of her existence. The fact that Singapore continues to enjoy phenomenal growth and stability has a lot to do with lazy, corrupt and stupid neighbours. Singapore should just forget about this silly cheap old ship and move on. There is not much point to dwell in the past. Apart from banning KRI Usman-Harun from entering her territorial waters, naval bases and ports, Singapore should concentrate on diversifying her trade and diplomatic relationship with other countries and gradually reduce any real or perceived dependency on Indonesia. It is difficult to do business with a partner who does not understand anything about synergism and mutual benefits.





Friday 21 June 2013

Of Missing Jet Engines ...





The Royal Malaysian Air Force ( RMAF )






The Royal Malaysian Air Farce umm... I mean Force, is also known as the Tentera Udara DiRaja Malaysia ( TUDM ). Recently, it made headlines yet again, all for the wrong reasons.


The Missing Jet Engine Scandal


In May 2008, it was reported that sometime earlier, two General Electric J-85 jet engines that powered the F-5E fighters of the RMAF had been missing from a warehouse in Kuala Lumpur. It was later established that the engines were stolen and exported to Uruguay by the combined efforts of greedy defence contractors and crooked RMAF personnel. These engines were procured by the Malaysian government in 1975 from the United States of America at the cost of a few million dollars. The criminals planned to strip the engines down to parts in South America and then sell it back to the RMAF. Before we go into the details of the scandal here's some background information of the jets and the engines.


The F-5E Tiger II Jet Fighter





A USAF F-5E with an aggressor paint scheme Nov 1981. Photo : USAF / Wikipedia
 

Old, But Not Obsolete! Unlike the TUMD's fighter, some surviving global F-5 fleets have been carefully maintained and received progressive upgrading to add new capabilities, like the Brazilian Air Force's F-5EM illustrated here, circa 2011. Wikipedia 



Like many third world air farces of the region, RMAF operated a squadron of the very popular F-5E and even the RF-5 Tigereye reconnaissance version. The F-5E could have its origins traced back to the 1950s, where Northrop developed a low cost, lightweight jet fighter that was meant to be sold to third world allies of the United States. It would be called the F-5A Freedom Fighter, with the F-5B being the two seat trainer version. Production started in 1962 and the F-5A/B was sold to a number of countries including Taiwan, the Philippines, and even saw limited combat action with the USAF in Vietnam in 1965. By 1970, the requirement for an improved export fighter with better performance against aircrafts such as the MiG-21 saw the F-5A evolving into the F-5E Tiger II, with the F-5F being the 2 seat trainer version. They would be fitted with a more powerful afterburning engine, the General Electric J-85-21A jet engine. This is the engine at the heart of the RMAF scandal.



Cutaway view of a GE J85-17A turbojet engine circa 1970 similar to the one used in F-5s Source : Wikipedia

 


This rather compact jet engine measures about 2.8m in length and has a diameter of 0.53m. It weighs approxmately 310kg. How something like this can disappear from an airbase and remain undetected and unaccounted for really defies logic. RMAF must have been extremely challenged at inventory management and book keeping ( which the Air Force later admitted to in court ). As usual, official accounts of how the incident took place can never be taken at face value.


The Unfolding Saga


The jet engines and their service and maintenance records were discovered missing on 22nd May 2008 and a police report was lodged only on 4th Aug, a two and a half month delay! They were surposed to have been shipped to Argentina and then Uruguay.

The contractor and RMAF personnel implicated could easily have been fall guys to take the blame for the misdeeds of higher ranking personnels. So far two ethnic Indians have been charged in court in connection with the theft and disposal of the engines. They are company director K. Rajandran Prasad  and RMAF Staff Sergeant N. Tharmendran.

By Jul 2012, more details have emerged. As prosecution witness, RMAF senior airman Corporal Mohamad Shukri Mohd Yusof, 29, admitted in court that he stole the 2 jet engines from the Sungai Besi Airbase in 2008 with another RMAF personnel known as Sergeant Fauzi after being asked to do so by Staff Sergeant Tharmendran. Fauzi was the lorry driver.

On 30th Apr 2008 Shukri and Fauzi both wore uniforms to avoid arousing suspicion when they took the engines out of  the Material Processing Shed Matra 1, RMAF base, Sungai Besi. He was then paid Malasian Ringgit RM 90000.00 ( USD 28116.00 ) in 3 instalments by Tharmendran. RM30000.00 was given to Fauzi and the rest was kept by Shukri who subsequently spent it on repaying his study loan (RM12000) , settle his car loan (RM8000), for investment (RM10000), honeymoon in Tioman Island (RM5000) and an undisclosed sum on shopping. When asked by the defendent's lawyer why he did not return the money to the police during investigations, the reply was " they did not ask for it " !!! Land of the Incompetent!!!!

He also disclosed that after the incident, 30 RMAF personnel were sacked but he was not one of them because he was needed by the military as a witness to testify against Tharmendran, prompting the defendent's lawyer to cry foul - the person who stole was not only not charged or sacked but walk into the court to testify against two others who are facing charges!

Another shocking admission was that it was not the first time he stole from the military. He had done it " four or five " times previously, and had stolen transmitters and aircraft spare parts, among other things. To retain a serial stealer in one's ranks is something so stupid that it is almost incomprehensible. Again, like I always say these Malaysian sagas can never be taken at face value. Someone higher up may have something more to hide by retaining this errant airman.

The court also heard from another witness, the Ex-Head of the 12th Squadron engineering division at the Butterworth Air Base, Abdul Rahim, that the process of removing a damaged F-5 engine from the base involves many processes, starting from the time the pilot files a report in the Integrated Computer Management System (SPKB). It is the responsibility of RMAF personnel to remove the engine from the aircraft but the containerising is done by a private maintenance contractor Airod Sdn Bhd. Many more steps are involved before the container can be moved to the godown Matra Tiga at Butterworth Airbase where it will eventually be sent to Kuala Lumpur Air Base, again after several more processes. That said, to have all these processes and checks bypassed should be no small feat, unless perhaps there are higher authorities involved? The Prime Minister Najib Razak who was Minister for Defense when the theft occured, swore that there would be no cover up. Malaysian government, as usual, said that no higher ranking officials were involved. Already, an Air Force General has been cleared and the small fry are held responsible.


Director Rajandran Prasad  pleaded not guilty to the charge of intentionally disposing off the engines at 49 Jalan TS 6/6, Taman Industri Subang on April 30, 2008. He was charged under Section 414 of the Penal Code which is punishable with a jail term of up to seven years and a fine upon conviction. He also pleaded not guilty to five money laundering charges involving RM437319.50 ( USD136619.00 ).

Staff Sergeant Tharmendran pleaded not guilty to conspiring with airman Mohamad Shukri Mohamad Yusop to stealing two J85-21A model of F5 jet engines from the Material Processing Shed MATRA 1, Sungai Besi RMAF Base, on April 30, 2008. He was charged under Section 380 of the Penal Code which is punishable with imprisonment for up to 10 years and a fine upon conviction. He also earlier pleaded not guilty to a money laundering charge, involving RM62000 ( USD19369 ).

 
 

More Damning Information from Julian Assange


To make matters worse, leaked diplomatic cables from WikiLeaks also revealed that the Malaysian government had been tardy in notifying the United States government about the missing J-85 jet engines as required by Arms Export Control Act. It wasn't until 6th Jan 2010 that the US government was officially informed about the theft and the excuse given was that the investigations were ongoing at that time and not yet finalised so the notification was delayed. Naturally Uncle Sam is not too happy about the entire affair.


How would the Malaysian government be able to convice the US to sell them advanced weaponry if they cannot even account for entire jet engines and abide by their obligations of disclosure in the event of mishap? AIM-120 advance medium ranged air-to-air missile for the F/A-18 Hornets? They might just conviniently end up in Irkutsk or Novosibirsk ... Or maybe Teheran.

Now we finally understand why RMAF is buying so many MiGs and Sukhois, for the Russians do not give a hoot how the planes are used or used against anybody or how you maintain your engines, or whether you have an impeccable human rights record, ill treat your dog, elope with your neighbour's wife etc. As long as the palm oil and cash keep flowing into their coffers, you can have the LATEST and the BADDEST toy in Putin's playroom, like the AA-12 ( NATO Code Name Udder Adder ).

The incredulous saga continues .... Please keep watching this space for more insane and mind bloggling stuff.












Tuesday 20 November 2012

Multiple Rocket Launcher Duel : M-142 HIMARS vs ASTROS II


Lockheed Martin M-142 HIMARS and Avibras ASTROS II

 
 

For the uninitiated, these are multiple launch rocket artillery systems made by the USA and Brazil respectively. They have been exported to many other countries, including Malaysia ( ASTROS II ) in 2002 and Singapore ( M-142 HIMARS ) in 2009.

Malaysia became the second country in South East Asia to operate rocket artillery systems when it procured the ASTROS II. The honour of being the first goes to Thailand. By nature, rocket artillery are more suited for offensive operations rather than for defence. So it will not be easy to justify such a purchase unless your neighbour does it first. It came as no surprise therefore that once Malaysia has acquired that capability Singapore also ordered rocket artillery systems to boost the firepower of its Army. The US government would not have approved the sale if Singapore's neighbours had not acquired that capability first anyway, as they have always been reluctant to allow the introduction of a new capability into any region.



M-142 Himars at Bagram Air Field Afghanistan ready to execute fire support mission. Photo via wikicommons



HIMARS battery live firing exercise code named Ex. Daring Warrior
by 23rd Battalion Singapore Artillery at Fort Sill,
 Oklahoma, USA, Nov 2010 Source : MINDEF
 


A Brief History of the Rocket and the Multiple Rocket Launcher



Illustration of Korean Rocket Launcher of the 1500s ( source : Wikipedia )

 

Ever since its invention by the ancient Chinese scientists sometime around the 13th century, the rocket, in its various forms, had been deployed as a weapon of war. The Chinese and Koreans had their own primitive version of the multiple rocket launcher which fired one or two hundred blackpowder projectiles upon ignition. For centuries since then, the rocket had remained largely for ceremonial use in fireworks and such.


Dr. Robert H. Goddard and a liquid oxygen-gasoline rocket
in the frame from which it was fired on March 16, 1926,
 at Auburn, Massachusetts ( source : Wikipedia )

 

It was not until the 20th century that modern rocketry was founded, with the American scientist Robert Goddard attaching a supersonic nozzle to the combustion chamber of a liquid-fueled rocket engine, increasing the efficiency of the rocket engine from 2% to 64%. He was also the first to launch a liquid-fueled rocket in the year 1926.

 

Replica of A WWII German V-2 Missile ( source : Wikipedia )

 

Since then advancement in rocket science has been rapid and relentless. With World War II came the production of new weapons such as the anti-tank rockets, tank, truck or ship mounted multiple launch rocket systems, air-to-ground rockets, rocket powered fighter planes, and the V-1 and V-2 missiles.

Post World War Two saw the development of multi-staged rockets that would evolve into launch vehicles for nuclear weapons. Eventually, these ballistic missiles were modified to launch artificial satellites into earth orbit and beyond, leading ultimately to the moon landing in 1969 and allowing for unmanned exploration of the inner solar system.


Modern Rocket Artillery


 
The first iron-cased metal cylinder rocket artillery were developed by Tipu Sultan, the Indian-Muslim ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, and his father Hyder Ali, in the 1780s. He successfully used these rockets against larger forces of the British East India Company during the Anglo-Mysore Wars. These Mysore rockets were more advanced than anything the British had at that time mainly because the iron tube that held the propellant powder allowed for a higher internal pressure to develop during combustion and achieve a higher thrust and therefore longer range.

The rocket was lashed with leather thongs to a long bamboo stick and had a range of perhaps three quarters of a mile ( 1.2km ). They were hurled into the air after being lighted or were allowed to skim along the surface of the dry ground. Although individually they were not in anyway accurate, their effect when deployed in mass numbers can still be devastating. They were particularly effective against the cavalry.

During the Battle of Seringapatam in 1792 and 1799, these iron rockets were used to considerable effect on the British. The eventual defeat of Tipu meant that the British captured a number of the rockets which deeply influenced subsequent rocket development, ultimately inspiring the Congreve Rocket which was used during the Napoleonic Wars, including the Battle of Waterloo, and other wars during the 19th century.



Russian Soldier Firing a Congreve Rocket. Source : Wikipedia
 

You can read about the fictionalised Battle of Seringapatam in Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe's Tiger : Richard Sharpe and the Siege of Seringapatam (1799) where a young British Redcoat by the name of Pte Richard Sharpe fought the Tippu Sultan Army and eventually killed Tippu and horded some of his treasures.


Cover art of Sharpe's Tiger by Bernard Cornwell.



German 15 cm Nebelwerfer 41 launcher while reloading, 1943. ( source : German Archives / Wikipedia )
 
During World War II, it was the Germans and the Russians who developed and deployed large numbers of rocket artillery. The Germans had the Nebelwerfer series of towed rocket artillery although some were self-propelled ( Panzerwerfer ) and the Russians had their Katyusha series which were usually vehicle mounted and therefore more mobile. The Americans and British were late to develop their rocket forces with the US Army eventually mounting rocket launchers on top of modified M-4 Sherman Tanks. These were known as the T-34 Calliope rocket tanks. The US Navy however, made extensive use of rockets fired from warships and landing crafts during the Pacific War to soften up Japanese-held islands before an amphibious landing.

 

The T-34 Calliope Rocket Tank of the US Army during WWII. Source : Wikipedia

 


Since World War II, having seen the destructive firepower of rockets deployed in masses on area targets and the terrifying psychological effects the rockets bring about on the enemy, many nations have developed their own rocket artillery systems.



The Avibras ASTROS II



Saudi Arabian Astros II SS-30 launch during Operation Desert Storm ( source : Wikipedia )

 

The ASTROS II ( Artillery SaTuration ROcket System ) is made by Avibras Aerospatial SA of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Avibras has been manufacturing MLRS since the 1960s. In the early eighties, a middle-eastern country, believed to be Iraq, requested Avibras to develop a mobile modular MLR system and the result was the ASTROS II. It was used against Iran during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War. Currently it is in operation with the Brazilian Army, Saudi Arabian Defense Force, the Malaysian Army, and the defense forces of Bahrain, Qatar, Angola and soon Indonesia. The ASTROS II is a battle-proven system which was also deployed by the Saudi Arabians during the first Gulf War in 1991 and by Angola in their civil war against the UNITA forces.

The ASTROS II is basically a self-propelled multiple rocket launcher mounted on an all-terrain 6x6 wheeled vehicle. It features modular design and employs rockets with calibre ranging from 127mm to 300mm. It is usually deployed in batteries consisting of 6 launcher vehicles with 6 ammunition resupply vehicles and a radar equipped fire control vehicle, all mounted on the same Tectran 6x6 chassis. Each resupply truck carries 2 complete reloads.

Malaysia bought 18 ASTROS II launchers in 2002 and another 18 in 2007. This will enable it to form 6 batteries in total.

The trucks can reach a maximum speed of 90km/h on the road and 40km/h over rough terrain. They are largely unarmoured, therefore do not provide much protection against enemy fire. They also do not provide protection against nuclear, biological and chemical agents. A 0.5in heavy machine gun is mounted on the roof of the cab for self-protection. They are equipped with 6 smoke grenade launchers. The entire system is air-portable on the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft which the Royal Malaysian Air Force also operates.


Saudi Arabian ASTROS II with SS-30 multiple rocket systems
 on Tectran 6x6 AV-LMU trucks, 1992. Photo via Wikicommons




Saudi Arabian ASTROS II firing SS-30 rocket, 1992. Photo via Wikicommons




ASTROS II TECTRAN AV-UCF fire control vehicle, Saudi Arabia, 1992 Photo : wikicommons




The ASTROS II launcher is capable of firing rockets of different calibre with different warheads. The SS-30 variant consist of 127mm rockets packed 32 rounds to a launcher and has a range between 9km to 30km. The SS-40 variant is made up of 180mm rockets packed 16 rounds per launcher with a range of 15km to 35km. The SS-60 and SS-80 variants pack 4 300mm rockets per launcher and have ranges of up to 60km for the SS-60 and 90km for the SS-80.
The warhead options include the traditional high explosive - fragmentation warheads, cluster munitions with multiple dual purpose ( anti-personnel , anti-armour ) bomblets, high explosive white phosphorous incendiary warheads, smoke deploying and mine deploying warheads, runway denial warheads and also chemical warheads.


The M-270 MLRS and Lockheed Martin M-142 HIMARS

 

US Army M-270 MLRS
 

 

Lockheed Martin / Vought Systems M-270 MLRS



The M-270 MLRS is an armoured, self-propelled, fully-tracked multiple launch rocket artillery system that was designed in the late 70's and in service with the US Army and several of its NATO and non-NATO allies since the early 80's. Production had ceased since 2003 when the last batch had been produced for Egypt.

It fires 227mm guided or unguided rockets packed 6 to a pod, 2 pods to each launcher. It can also fire the long range ATACMS ( Army TACtical Missile System ) ballistic missile one to each pod. It is a versatile weapons platform designed to supplement traditional tube artillery by delivering massive volumes of firepower in a short span of time against high value, time sensitive enemy targets under all weather conditions across the entire depth of the tactical battlefield. Some of these targets include enemy forward air defences, armoured units, artillery placements and personnel.  

Effective as it is, the M-270 is rather heavy at close to 25 tons. It can only be air lifted by the C-5A Galaxy, the C-17A Globemaster or the C-141 Starlifter heavy transport. Hence the development of a lighter wheeled version - the M-142 HIMARS ( High Mobility Artillery Rocket System ).



Danish M-270 MLRS in the rain and mud, 2003. Photo via wikicommons.


British Army M-270 firing practice rounds at Otterburn 2015. Photo via wikicommons.



German M-270 MLRS firing in 2013. Photo via wikicommons.



Awesome South Korean Army 5th Artillery Brigade M-270 night firing. Photo via wikicommons.




Awesome South Korean Army 5th Artillery Brigade M-270 night firing. Photo via wikicommons.



 
US Army MLRS Logo




Lockheed Martin M-142 HIMARS




The M-142 HIMARS is essentially a M-270 Lite. It shares many commonalities with its heavier cousin, using the same command, control and communications system, fire control system and launcher module. It carries one instead of two launcher pods and at about 11 tons is only half as heavy as the M-270. It is transportable by the C-130 medium transport ( roll-on roll-off ) and can be operationally deployed within 10 mins of landing.


Soldiers from Charlie Battery, 3/27 Field Artillery Regiment out of Fort Bragg, N.C., get ready to aim their High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) as part of the Rapid Force Projection Initiative field experiment (RFPI). This experiment is being used to test new equipment and its usefulness with the light forces in the field. Photo : US DOD


Himars : Preparing a rocket pod for undocking. Photo via wikicommons


M-142 Himars at White Sands Missile Range, 2005. Photo : Wikicommons
 
 
Two US Marines Himars. Photo : Wikicommons



Himars firing : Second Platoon, Battery B, 5th Bn, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment
 at Yakima Training Centre, Washington State, 2009. Photo : Wikicommons




Tennessee Army National Guard 1/181st Field Artillery Battalion's
 Himars on ANG C-130 Hercules. Photo via Wikicommons

Himars of the 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment loading onto
C-17 Globemaster Ex HI-RAIN 2014. Photo via wikicommons


 
It is mounted on a standard US Army Medium Tactical Vehicle which is actually a 6x6 all-wheel drive 5-ton truck and it can launch the entire Multiple Launch Rocket System Family of Munitions. Some of these include :

M26 Unguided 227mm rocket with 644 M77 DPICM* bomblets range up to 32km 
M26A1 Extended range with 518 M85 ( improved M77 ) bomblets range up to 45km
M30 GMRLS GPS guided rocket with 404 M85 submunitions range up to 60km
XM31 GMRLS guided rocket with unitary ( single warhead ) high explosive warhead range up to 70km
MGM-140 ATACMS precision tactical missile with up to 300km range

* DPICM = dual-purpose improved conventional munitions

 





The HIMARS has an armoured cabin and can travel at speeds of up to 94km/h on paved roads. It is usually operated by a crew of 3 but the automated fire control system can be managed by even a single crew member if necessary.

 The HIMARS is in service with the US Army, US Marines, UAE, Jordanian and Singapore Armed Forces. Singapore has acquired 18 launcher units with 32 XM31 unitary high explosive pods making the Singapore Armed Forces the first HIMARS operator outfitted entirely with GPS guided MLRS.


Himars of Delta Battery, 2nd Bn, 14th Marine Regiment
assigned to III Marine Expeditionary Force gets ready to fire
during Ex Ssang Yong 14, South Korea. Photo via Wikicommons


 
As above, Himars fires reduced range practice rounds. Photo via wikicommons

 
 
As above, the aftermath. Why you should avoid firing MLRS
 near vegetation and how every MLRS artillery corpsman
 had better be expert firefighters. Photo via wikicommons 
 

  

HIMARS vs ASTROS II


So in a head to head duel, which system will prevail?

There are plenty of similarities between the two MLRS. Some common features include :

Battle proven systems adopted by several countries

Wheeled chassis mounting for high mobility
Air portable by the C-130 Hercules / Embraer KC-390 or equivalent tactical transport planes
All-weather day and night capability
High volume of fire effective against area targets
Short ripple time reduces shoot to scoot interval

The ASTROS II's modular nature allows for rockets of different calibre to be deployed according to target type and range, in contrast to the HIMARS which fires rockets of fixed calibre, not counting the ATACM tactical missile.

The unmatched advantage of the M-142 HIMARS over the ASTROS II is the availability of GPS guided rockets. The GMLRS has a range of up to 70km and an improved version the GMLRS+ up to 120km. GPS guidance significantly increases the accuracy of the rocket and for the unitary version reduces collateral damage and civilian casualties. GMLRS has been nick named the 70km sniper for this long range precision capability.

At the end of the day, one must realise that the ASTROS II is an older system dating from 1983 and fires unguided rockets, though it is still a formidable artillery system at this day and age and should not be underestimated in anyway.

Until the ASTROS 2020 upgrade is completed and the system acquires the capability to fire the precision strike missile AV/MT-300 which has a range of 300km and a payload of 200kg not unlike the ATACM, I would consider the HIMARS a more advanced system.


Update


Seems like 2016 is upon us and the world has moved on. The Avibras ASTROS 2020, sometimes known as the ASTROS III, is now a reality with the Brazilian Army. Unless otherwise stated, all ASTROS 2020 photos below were taken in June 2014 by Jorge Cardoso via Wikicommons.