One of our very first AFV is still around despite being declared obsolete long ago - the V200.Originally posted by |-|05|:Actually the time of the M113's is nearly over.last batch of NSF for it has been trained and so we will most prob wait for them to ROD then that's it for them BX2 will replace them i guess.
The mechanized bn from what i see has been 2 years in the making at least.I think they wld move to bringing that up to bde or maybe even div strength.
Then it will be another 10 years before M113 IFV go out svc in the current 3,6,9 Div, but as chino said ,it may diverted into another role.Originally posted by |-|05|:Actually the time of the M113's is nearly over.last batch of NSF for it has been trained and so we will most prob wait for them to ROD then that's it for them BX2 will replace them i guess.
The mechanized bn from what i see has been 2 years in the making at least.I think they wld move to bringing that up to bde or maybe even div strength.
And seriously i think the reason why we didnt really make that much noise when M'sia bought MLRS might be because we have been hiding something.Either long range cruise missles or our own MLRS
All these silly Malaysian theories in how to counter the mighty SAF!!!!Originally posted by Arthas79:No military would be insane enough to use a weapon in isolation against a presumed enemy. Even if you want to shoot and scoot.
Simarly, you cannot use the MLRS without bringing the entire MAF along as well; preparations, movements, etc. They would need to do this to prepare for a eventual invasion from Singapore. This takes time. Hence, the uses of the MLRS as an early weapon of war or a surprise attack is virtually none. Add that to the fact that you cannot simply hit our bases with US and foriegn forces parked here.
I hardly think the population would discern and match what sound matches which weapon. The reaction is too fast and the result is the same. Moreover, such rockets, especially submunitions, usually have a lower impact than a singular bomb strike or unitary artillery shell hit. You would just see a similar smoke plume and a radius of damage around you.
At the end of the day, these are things to be expected in a time of war on both sides of the straits were they to happen. Like in all places affected by war, people will adapt and a hit on civilian facilities would be a huge mistake as it would result in a morale booster for a citizen army.
Heh... if the MAF are in the tweaking business, they should have tweak theirOriginally posted by ProudlySingaporean:but we cannot discount the possibility that they may be able to tweak the Astro rockets so that it can carry biological or chemical agents which will be disastrous if landed in our small but populated country even though they may be inaccurate...moreover they have some sort of a nuclear research facility right?
but we cannot discount the possibility that they may be able to tweak the Astro rockets so that it can carry biological or chemical agents which will be disastrous if landed in our small but populated country even though they may be inaccurate...moreover they have some sort of a nuclear research facility right?And risk the rockets falling on Malaysia as well? Very doubtful. Furthermore, the contagion would spread into Malaysia from Singapore; like a nuclear attack. We are too close. Vice versa.
well...are the astros that inaccurate?singapore may be small but she's still 690+ km2 big leh...who knows...they may have prepared adequate doses of the vaccine or antidote for whatever agents they may be prepared to use...i mean if u were to do something like that u will of course have a backup plan to prevent yourself from possibly shooting yourself in the foot right? maybe stockpiles of such vaccines or antidote just enough for her armed forces and key personnel and leaders are already kept somewhere and ready to be distributed?Originally posted by Arthas79:And risk the rockets falling on Malaysia as well? Very doubtful. Furthermore, the contagion would spread into Malaysia from Singapore; like a nuclear attack. We are too close. Vice versa.
Also, how are they going to account for dead foriegn nationals and soldiers on Singapore soil and thier own as well?
The nuclear research facility is a small one. Not exactly a nuclear plant or weapons making plant. I would not be surprised if we have one managed by DSTA and DSTO too; since we are ahead in research in many areas.
Anyway, such weapons are categorized as weapons of mass destruction. Research and development take a long time and are extremely hard to hide. And not unless you are a gobal power which can act with impunity, the world community would bear down on you with crippling sanctions for being a rogue state. So, decades of growth go down the drain and you would become impoverised and isolated.
I did not calculate the CEP of the Astros II, but it is well known fact that unguided rocket technology is at best 1% of range, for example the best unguided rocket system of the Russian origin was the Uragan of the 70s has a CEP of 1%.Originally posted by tankfanatic:hi all probably the last post for this month because im cranking my jeep xj and going offroad and fishing in the serene jungle of pahang......
anyway gary i will read the link you give ...it is cool. So gary when you calculate the CEP did you take the mass and weight of the rocket too? You see a 127mm rocket and 300mm rocket act differently....
a small rocket like the ss30 (if the calculation are right) would limit its effective range to 30-40 km max. But a 300mm rocket the ss80 which have bigger mass nad weight will have a farther effective range..in this case its max efective range is 90 km (max).
so the argument on the accuracy of the unguided rocket have been solved by the designer ..otherwise astros 2 is a useless weapon.
any way see ya...
Tube gun like 155mm howitzer has a CEP abt 0.2~0.3% of range.The world first trajectory correction rocket system was the Smerch which was developed after Astros II's SS-30 to SS-60, so they all unguided rockets, SS-80 were developed later by using a new improved rocket motor to extend the range of SS-60, which is the SS-80.
Older technology unguided rocket like the Uragan,Astro etc have a CEP of at least 1% of range.
The newer technoloy using what they called controlled or trajectory correction rocket able improve the CEP to abt 0.4~0.5%, eg. the Smerch, LAR-160.
Therefore, you see unguided rocket produced by US and Russia in the 60~70s are of range below 40km becos any higher range is tactically useless becos of inaccuracy of an unguided rocket.
With introduction of trajectory correction technology in the ealiar 80s by the Russian where you see rocket range go up 80~90km.
And US introduced the GPS guided ATACMs has range go beyond that becos of CEP are within metres.
1) If it is based on CEP of 1% of range and at range of 80km.Originally posted by Shotgun:So u're saying 1% of range, at 80km, the CEP would be 800meters!
But whats the munitions saturation like? How effective will the munitions saturation be even if the rocket CEP are at 800meters?
If Changi Airport was targeted, using the AstrosII's airfield denial configuration, how much of Changi's 4km runway would be affected by the 800 meter CEP, taking account into runway denial submunition dispersal patterns?
Consider an attack based on more than 1 battery of Astros II aligned to have its rockets projected impact points cut diagonally unto the runway?
SAF's fighting edge has much to do with its air superiority. In terms of asymmetric warfare, their Astros II, if employed effectively, can disrupt our air operations significantly.
I see, thanks for the info.Originally posted by gary1910:1) If it is based on CEP of 1% of range and at range of 80km.
50% of the rds will be within an area of = pie x sq of 800m, the another 50% of the rds will be outside of that area.
2) Secondly, we really do not know what is the actual CEP of Astros, it may even be 2~3%, perhaps even more.( Iranian rocket I heard was abt 5%!!!!)
Let's me explain, Russian Uragan sysyem proudly announced their CEP is 1%, Likewise China WS-1B also proudly announced their CEP is 1~1.5%.
Why?
Becos at 1%, it is the best for unguided rocket technology, so there is no shame in reveal it, in fact it is a selling point for unguided rocket system.
Whereas Avibras, the manufacturer of Astros II has kept the CEP secret, so I am not surprise that it is much higher, 2~3% will be my bet.
2) SS-60/80 DPICM rocket has only 65 bomblets each, the anti-runway rocket has much more TNT thus much lesser bomblets, IIRC I think abt 20 bomblets per rocket, not sure though so correct me if I am wrong, but certainly lesser than 65 bomblets .
Each anti-runway bomblet is able to penetrate abt 50cm of concrete and radius abt 55~86cm, so it is not a very large crater, so I believe it could be quickly repaired.
No detail abt the spread of the bomblets though.
4) I dun think that all the runways in the CIA are facing north-south direction, therefore it might not even the hit 4km runway.
I have no idea how many runways SG has but there are a lot them, afterall we have 4 fixed-wing airbases with unknown number of runways, 2 airports and a large number of emergency runways, all together at least 10+ perhaps even more.
So even if MAF have 36 launchers( currently only 18 and some are actually based in East Malaysia), with the fact of poor CEP and small amount of bomblets each, I highly doubt the salvo of 4 rocket each will be able to disable all our runways.
5) Firing unguided rocket into SG especially at LR, will cause a lot of collateral damage, locals and foreigners alike and will likely cause a very big int'l political backlash, plus the fact there are many foreign military a/c and naval ships around in SG. It will be stupid if they try!!!!
I think it is smart of SG that CNB plus 2 airbases were build near one the busiest airport in asia, it will make them think twice hitting them with their inaccurate rocket!!!!
Anyway, I believe SG should get STOVL F-35B in the future that may migitate the problem by having the ability to takeoff from many places in SG.
And I also hope that we will be getting an anti-artillery system like Skyguard and Iron Dome in the future that will at least reduce the effect of an arty barrage against SG.
I started looking around at what kind of rocket MY actually bought, with limited success but I did find some interesting stuff:Originally posted by Shotgun:I see, thanks for the info.
So it seems that we may be looking at a 2-3% CEP rather than a 1%. No, last i checked, Changi isn't a north south. Its runway heading is 020 / 200. Because its slightly towards the diagonal, chances of all the munitions missing totally are slim. But, chances of them getting lucky and messing up the entire runway is slim as well though.
IIRC as well, each launcher can only hold up to 2 or 4 of the SS-80s due to its size as well. Which limits the saturation effect achievable per salvo.
1) From UN transfer register which is voluntary register has :So we do know that when Astros II first arrived in MY, they did test fired the SS-80, cordoned off part of South China Sea for that!
Brazil export in 2002:
III. Large calibre artillery systems Malaysia 12 Multi Rocket Launcher Astros
Malaysia import in 2005:
VII. Missiles
and missile launchers Brazil 1,296 units Astros SS-30HE Rockets
http://disarmament2.un.org/UN_REGISTER.nsf/Overall%20participation?OpenView&Start=30&Count=30&Expand=93&BaseTarget=Frame3#93
2) From SIPRI, only got these:
Brazil
R: Malaysia (10) AV-VBL APC (2000) 2002 (10)
18 ASTROS-2 MRL 2001 2002 (18 ) Deal worth $197 m
(3) ASTROS AV-UCF Fire control radar 2001 2002 (3)
http://armstrade.sipri.org/
3) From Military Balance 2007
MRL 18 ASTROS II (equipped with 127mm SS-30)
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content?content=10.1080/04597220601181097
Please post if anyone has more info on the above.
Fortunately for us, the M'sian didn't acquire the SS-80 rockets to take pot shots at us with. As for their saturation attacks with SS-30s, well at its best a strategic deterrence against us. Sort of like saying, "attack us, and we'll raze all ur ERP gantries in the CBD."I think the case is clear that the the Astross`s ability to inflict serious harm on our strategic assets like aircraft runaways, key military installations, etc is more fiction than realistic.
Rather than selecting military targets such as runways, or bases for saturation attacks, a strategic target like our CBD would prove to be more of a deterrence when we start counting the costs.
Yeah. Could not agree more with you. It brings us back to the point that the Astross would be used as a normal artillery weapon to hamper SAF`s push into Malaysia.
Most likely, they will be used to impede any mechanized push up the North South Highway.
It would be unthinkable under the conventions of war to target a civilian area. Not only would it unwittingly enrage and boost the morale of a citizen army but attacking a vital node in a chain of global financial centres would condemn that country to instant global infamy. The country which does this would lose all the support she wants when she goes to the UN for a ceasefire. Nor any credible support during the war from any country.That is one possible way of how a MLRS counter-strike into CBD may be looked upon.