Singapore’s RSAF Orders American Missiles Singapore : Melting Po(in)t for East and West
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Singapore security forum points to US-China tensions
By John Chan
9 June 2008Public jousting between US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Chinese general Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of the general staff, during the Asia Security Summit in Singapore on May 30-June 1, points to rising tensions and rivalries in the Asia-Pacific region.
The annual forum of the region’s defence ministers and top security officials has become something of a barometer of US-China relations in recent years. Gates’s predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, used the meetings as a platform to berate China for its secretive military build-up. By contrast, Gates last year struck a more conciliatory note during his first appearance, speaking of building “trust over time” between the two countries.
This year, however, in a carefully crafted speech that avoided direct references to China, Gates nevertheless delivered a pointed warning to Beijing. He declared that the US remained engaged in Asia and dispelled any notion that Washington was lessening its role because of its military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. “The United States remains a nation with strong and enduring interests in this region,” he said, “interests that will endure no matter which political party occupies the White House next.”
Gates declared: “Our continued presence in this part of the world has been an essential element enabling its rise—opening doors, protecting and preserving common spaces on the high seas... I want to stress that we stand for openness, and against exclusivity.” Returning to the theme later, he said: “In my Asian travels, I hear my hosts worry about the security implications of rising demands for resources, and about coercive diplomacy and other pressures that can lead disruptive competition.”
While the language may have been diplomatic, the point was clear to everyone present. Gates was firing a shot across China’s bow in support of allies such as Japan. The two countries have rival territorial claims over islets and their surrounding seabed resources in the East China Sea. Gates referred in particular to the South China Sea where China, Vietnam and the Philippines are contesting various areas and energy resources. “All of us in Asia must ensure that our actions are not seen as pressure tactics, even when they coexist beside outward displays of cooperation,” he said.
Gates also challenged China’s efforts to use its growing economic muscle to establish closer relations with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the formation of a regional East Asian bloc to the exclusion of the US. He acknowledged that there were stirrings of “a new regionalism” and “new security architecture” in Asia, but warned against a “zero-sum game” approach that kept out others. “It can only succeed if we treat the region as a single entity [that is, including the US],” he said, “There is little room for a separate ‘East Asian order’.”
For all of Gates’s talks of “openness”, American strategists have based their plans on the control of key naval chokepoints, such as the Malacca Strait, that would enable the US to quickly cut off access to Middle East oil for any potential Asian rival. The concern about the competing territorial claims in the South China Sea is that China might seek in the future to block key sea routes to the US navy. Thus Gates emphasised the “time-tested principles of strategic access, freedom of commerce and navigation and freedom from domination by any hegemonic force or coalition”.
China needs huge and growing supplies of oil from the Middle East and Africa. To counter US strategic planning, China has increasingly turned to building “blue water” navy and port facilities in countries such as Burma, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as a means of defending its energy lifelines. Beijing has also been developing alternative land routes for shipping oil from the Indian Ocean via Burma to south-western China, in order to avoid the Malacca Strait.
Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea are motivated by the same strategic considerations. In April, a British intelligence briefing for Jane’s Defence Weekly revealed that China has built a major naval base at Sanya on Hainan Island that can hold a large surface fleet and 20 submarines. Analysts pointed out that the base demonstrated China’s ambition was not just to counter the small Vietnamese or Filipino naval forces in the South China Sea, but ultimately to match the US navy.
Gates took two more jabs at China without mentioning it by name. He repeated Washington’s standard demand for “transparency” in military spending, warning that otherwise there would be “outright suspicion” of its “strategic intentions”. He reiterated that the US had been “open” in informing countries about its decision to shoot down a defunct satellite in February—the unstated contrast being to Beijing’s unannounced anti-satellite experiment in 2007.
China responds
China’s representative at the meeting, Lieutenant General Ma, responded in kind. Without naming the US, Ma warned there were powers seeking the “expansion of military alliances” and “the development and expansion of missile defence systems,” which have been “undercutting the equilibrium of regional powers”.
For the past eight years, the Bush administration has been seeking to establish a strategic encirclement of China through alliances and bases stretching from Japan and South Korea to most South East Asian countries and Australia as well as India. This is not to mention the US military presence in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Moreover, the US has begun to deploy anti-ballistic missile systems in Eastern Europe and Japan to reinforce its nuclear predominance, particularly over Russia and China.
A sharp exchange took place after Ma acknowledged that China had been developing its international ballistic missiles (ICBMs), but only for “defensive” purposes. Gates snapped back that the “[US] missile defence is exactly what it says. It’s a defence... And it is hard to see a limited capability such as we have and will have in the future undermining the offensive capabilities of either Russia or China.” He then added: “It’s hard to see an intercontinental ballistic missile as a defensive weapon.”
While neither side spelled out their rationale, China and Russia are concerned that the Bush administration has been shifting away from its Cold War strategy of “Mutually Assured Destruction” or MAD toward achieving “nuclear primacy”. MAD was based on ability of both sides to retain enough of their nuclear arsenal from a first strike to unleash a devastating assault on the attacker. Nuclear primacy assumes the ability to completely destroy an opponent’s arsenal. Within that context, anti-ballistic missiles would play a significant role in countering any remaining missiles that survived a first strike.
China and Russia have bitterly opposed the US deployment of anti-ballistic missiles on countries near their borders. US claims that these systems are purely defensive and directed at so-called rogue states such as Iran and North Korea do not hold water. Quite apart from the fact that neither country has a functioning inter-continental ballistic missile or a nuclear warhead, Tehran and Pyongyang are both well aware that the US is capable of levelling their countries in retaliation.
Russia and China are both responding to the new US anti-ballistic systems by developing more sophisticated missiles and strengthening their nuclear arsenal. Moscow pointedly resumed its strategic bomber flights last year to demonstrate its capacity to respond to a US first strike. Last month, Russia and China issued a joint statement denouncing the US missile shield plans during a visit by newly-elected Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Beijing.
At the Singapore forum, Gates appealed for dialogue with China, so that both sides would “avoid unnecessary military expenditures” and an arms race. His comments, however, are little more than an appeal for maintenance of the status quo—that is, an overwhelming US military superiority. Washington is clearly concerned that China’s rapid economic growth will be translated into the military sphere.
Ma argued that China’s defence budget was “low” compared to developed countries, but that is only true in per capita terms. China’s official defence expenditure reached $60 billion this year, up 17.6 percent from 2007. The military budget is now the world’s fourth largest—ahead of Germany, Japan and Russia. According to the Pentagon, the actual figure was as high as $139 billion last year.
The US is also concerned that China’s economic clout is turning East Asia into a de facto regional economic bloc dominated by Beijing. As the world’s largest low-cost manufacturing hub, China imports substantial quantities of components, parts, capital goods and raw materials from a range of countries including Japan, South Korea, South East Asia and Australia. China has displaced the US as the biggest trade partner for most of these countries.
Beijing’s Free Trade Agreement with ASEAN will take effect from 2010. China is also creating an “economic corridor” in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GSM). The project involves water transport along the Lancang/Mekong River into Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam as well as rail links and roads connecting China to Singapore via Thailand. China has footed much of the bill through concessions and development projects.
In his speech, Gates lashed out at the Burmese junta’s refusal to let US, French and British military personnel and aid officials into the country to assist cyclone victims. The Bush administration’s hostility to the Burmese regime is primarily directed at its close economic and military ties with China, which has established port facilities in Burma. The country is a significant gap in US efforts to encircle China’s borders.
Gates’s emphasis on the US as “a resident power” in Asia is as much to reassure allies as to warn China. He was asked directly by a Singapore diplomat whether the US could maintain its huge military presence in Asia amid US economic troubles, growing budget pressure and the costly war in Iraq. “We ought to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time,” Gates replied. But the glib response convinced nobody as the cautious reactions indicated.
Indian Defence Minister Pallam Raju insisted that while New Delhi was committed to new close ties with the US, it would not act as a US proxy against China. Australian Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon stressed that the new Rudd government “has not turned its mind to any decision about a quadrilateral relationship [with US, Japan and India]”. While not stated, the US-proposed relationship is clearly aimed at China, on which Australia’s mining boom is heavily dependent.
Japanese Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba echoed Gates’s criticism of China, but said “Japan does not subscribe to purposely overstating China as a threat.” Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda had been trying to patch up his country’s relationship with China, which is vital to Japanese business.
French Defence Minister Hervé Morin also put in a bid, telling the conference that “France and Europe are not intending to remain secondary partners in Asia” in issues of security. As Asia became economically more central to the world over the next 25 years, France would seek a greater role, especially in South East Asia—as “a major strategic stake”.
Despite the diplomatic language, the Singapore conference provided a glimpse into the growing tensions as all the major and regional powers jostle for position amid a scramble for resources, cheap labour and strategic position in the increasingly important Asia-Pacific region.
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India, Singapore Review Defence, Military Cooperation
Dated 10/10/2008
India and Singapore have concluded a two-day defence dialogue to take stock of their growing military ties, assess threats to stability in the region and share security concerns.
Indian defence secretary Vijay Singh and his Singaporean counterpart, permanent secretary-defence Chiang Chie Foo, led the two sides at the fifth round of the India-Singapore Defence Policy Dialogue, which ended here Wednesday. Singh also had a meeting Wednesday with Singapore's Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean where they exchanged views on security issues of common concern and ways to strengthen defence cooperation.
The policy dialogue was set up under a 2003 India-Singapore defence cooperation agreement with the meetings to be held alternately in the two countries. "The annual dialogue serves as a forum for Singapore and India to oversee and advance the bilateral defence relationship," the Singapore ministry of defence said.
Defence ties between India and Singapore have been growing steadily over the past few years, expanding in scope and intensity with numerous rounds of joint exercises involving their land, sea and air forces.
In August, India and Singapore signed a bilateral agreement under which India would provide facilities for Singapore Armed Forces to conduct joint military training and exercises involving both armour and artillery in Babina in Uttar Pradesh and Deolali in Maharashtra, where the Indian army's artillery school is located. Singapore armed forces will once again be in India in November for separate army and air force exercises. A second round of army exercises has been scheduled for February 2009, an Indian official said Thursday.
The annual defence policy dialogue provides Indian and Singaporean officials an opportunity to review the status of their defence relationship, identify future areas of cooperation and share mutual security concerns, the official said.
In 2007, India had signed an agreement with Singapore allowing the air force of the land-scarce city state to train its personnel at the Indian Air Force base in Kalaikunda in West Bengal. The two navies have conducted joint anti-piracy exercises around the Straits of Malacca and the Bay of Bengal aimed at protecting commercial sea lanes and enhancing maritime security.
Apart from the joint exercises and manoeuvres, more importantly, the defence establishments of the two sides have kept up a regular dialogue sharing strategies on counter-terrorism and maritime security. Also, the two military research and development organisations - India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Singapore's Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) - have been involved in defence technology cooperation.
During his visit, Singh was shown the new uniform that has recently been approved for induction by the Singapore armed forces. The uniform's unique pixelated design gives improved camouflage cover making it more difficult for soldiers to be detected in combat situations and in hostile environments.
Singh also visited the Tengah air base, Changi naval base and Singapore Artillery facility. At Changi base, he went aboard Singapore's state-of-the-art Formidable class frigate. The multi-role stealth frigate, one of six that Singapore is developing under a technology transfer agreement with France, has been described as the "most advanced surface combatant ship in Southeast Asia". -
Monday, July 21, 2008
Singapore’s RSAF Orders American Missiles
Singapore’s RSAF Orders American Missiles
21-July-2008: The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced Singapore’s official request for a series of American air-air missiles and precision strike weapons.
The $962 million request also includes items and services like missile containers, common munitions built-in test reprogramming equipment, testing, integration, devices, aircrew safety equipment, repair and return, weapons trainers, electronic warfare systems and support, software support and test equipment, life support and survival equipment, spares and repair parts, publications and technical documentation, personnel training and training equipment, U.S. Government and contractor technical and logistics personnel services, and other related support.Singapore is currently in the process of buying 20 F-15SG Strike Eagles, whose features and equipment will make them the most advanced F-15s in service anywhere in the world.Past weapons requests associated with the F-15SGs have been announced as such, but this order was simply listed as a general weapons order. Other aircraft in the RSAF’s inventory that could use some or all of the weapons listed below include their squadrons of F-16C/D Block 52+ aircraft, and F-5T Tiger II lightweight fighters that were modernized in the 1990s.
128 AIM-120-C7 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles. The C7 variant is the most advanced AMRAAM in current production, but the AIM-120D is gearing up for future production.
6 AMRAAM Captive Air Training Missiles (CATMs). Missiles with seeker heads but no rocket motors, used for training.
72 AIM-120-C5 AMRAAM missiles.
200 AIM-9X Sidewinder Missiles.The short-range air-air missiles are the most advanced Sidewinder version, with more maneuverability, a wider “sighting cone”, and other improvements.
4 AIM-9X Special Air Training Missiles (NATMs)
32 AIM-9X Captive Air Training Missiles (CATMs)
8 Tactical-9X WGU-51/B Guidance Units
12 CATM-9X WGU-51/B Guidance Units
50 MK-82 (GBU-38) Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) with BLU-111 Warhead.These GPS/INS guided 2,000 pound bombs include a warhead designed to penetrate lightly buried or reinforced targets.
100 KMU-556/B JDAM Bomb Tail Kit Assemblies, which can be added to existing bombs to turn them into JDAMs.
72 MK-82 500lb Empty Bombs (Flight Test Only)
4 GBU-12 Bombs w/o Fuse (Flight Test Only)
4 Computer Control Group (Flight Test Only)
4 MK-82/MK-84 Bomb Practice trainers
30 AGM-154A-1 Joint Standoff Weapons (JSOW) with BLU-111 Warhead. The BLU-111 is a hardened penetration warhead.
30 AGM-154C JSOW. See “AGM-154 JSOW Wins US DoD Acquisition Award” for more information re: JSOW variants.
300,000 20mm Practice Round Cartridges.
71 AN/AVS-9 (V) Night Vision Goggles. Worn by aviators.
50 Link 16 Multifunctional Information Distribution System-Low Volume Terminals (Fighter Data Link (FDL) Terminals), which provide a shared view of the battlefield.See “The Wonders of Link 16 For Less: MIDS-LVTs (updated)” for more information re: MIDS.
The DSCA announcement did not discuss contractors, but Raytheon is the clear winner (AIM-120 AMRAAM, AIM-9X, JSOW). Boeing is the JDAM’s manufacturer.Singapore Fights Smart
August 2, 2008:
Singapore has placed its order for weapons to equip the twenty F-15E fighters it ordered last year. The weapons list includes 200 AIM-120C AMRAAM radar guided air-to-air missiles, 200 AIM-9X heat seeking air-to-air missiles, 150 JDAM kits (to turn dumb bombs into smart bombs), and 60 AIM-154 JSOW (JDAM with wings, and the ability to glide 50-130 kilometers). In addition, maintenance equipment and practice missiles are also on order.
The first F-15Es will start arriving this year, with all 20 being delivered within three years. The Singapore aircraft are actually improved version of the F-15E, to be called the F-15SG. These are similar to the South Korean version (the F-15K.) The South Koreans have ordered 40 of the F-15K, and are happy with the initial batch. These aircraft can carry ten tons of munitions for several thousand kilometers, and employ smart bombs as well as the latest air-to-air weapons.
Singapore's neighbors, Malaysia and Indonesia, are buying MiG-29s and Su-30s. Malaysia and Indonesia are much larger (in terms of population and territory), and both are envious of Singapore's wealth, and position astride the Straits of Malacca (through which a large portion of the worlds trade moves). Singapore thus puts a lot of effort, and money, into its military.
The F-15E/K/SG is a two seat version of the F-15, optimized for precision, long range, bombing. The 36 ton F-15E was developed in the 1980s as a replacement for the two decade old F-111, and entered service in 1988. Costing over $100 million each, the foreign user version of the F-15E (including the Israeli F-15I) have been very successful.
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Saturday, September 15, 2007
60-km reach. Our golf buddies in Singapore have chosen a battle-tested, US-made rocket artillery system for their army. The US$330mil (RM1.15bil) deal would be the army’s first rocket artillery system. The order for the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (Himars) includes nine trucks, each fitted with a pod of six rocket tubes.
"At the press of a button, the trucks can launch rockets to pound enemy positions some 60km away."
Ok, I didn't know what Himars was or how the rockets looked like and I wasn't sure if they were used by the American GIs to kill Iraqi civilians or not, but I know approx how far 60km is.
KL to Seremban, that's about 60km.
60km north of Singapore? That would be in Kulai, I think, or Kota Tinggi, the constituent of grilled-on-BBC Syed Hamid Albar. Still very much in Johor, Malaysia's southernmost state. My village folks in Melaka needn't worry. Our Ministers in Putrajaya are safe.
And I am like 330 km away, here in Puchong, so those rockets can't touch me!
Poster Skilgannon alerted me of this Straits Times (Singapore) news yesterday. Excerpts:Salaam, Pak Rocky
The Star ran the story, here, today.
Here's another piece of news that will cause the NST's Syed Nadzri more worry. Remember his hand-wringing about Singapore's plan to acquire precision-guided bombs?
It is interesting to note that the Himars rockets have a range of up to 60km. If one draws a circle with a radius of 60km, with its centre in an army camp in Singapore, what targets would be within the Himars range?
And armour-piercing bomblets dispersed by satellite-guided rockets? It doesn't take a military genius to connect the dots.......
More on Himars, including pics, here. -
Russia Eyes New Customers For Iskander E Missile
by Martin Sieff
The Iskander-E is relatively small and light, with a launch weight of 3,800 kilograms (8,360 pounds), RIA Novosti said. That means it can be moved on a transporter erector launcher -- TEL -- vehicle that can hold two of them, greatly increasing survivability from pre-emptive air attack and doubling the launch system's firepower.
Washington (UPI) Oct 3, 2008
A surprising number of countries, including some with warm ties to the United States, are interested in buying Russia's short-range but formidable Iskander-E ballistic missile.A senior executive of Rosoboronexport, the coordinating Russian arms exporting agency, stated Wednesday that Kuwait, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates -- all traditional U.S. allies -- were interested in buying the Iskander, RIA Novosti reported Thursday.
"Syria, the UAE, Malaysia, India and some other countries have shown an interest in the missile system," said Rosoboronexport official Nikolai Dimidyuk. Russia also will seek to export the Iskander-E to Algeria, Kuwait, Singapore, Vietnam and South Korea, he added.
The United States currently manufactures and exports nothing like the Iskander-E -- NATO designation SS-26 Stone. RIA Novosti described the weapons system as "a tactical surface-to-surface missile complex designed to deliver high-precision strikes at a variety of ground targets at a range of up to 280 kilometers (170 miles)." The Iskander-E carries only a single warhead with a payload of up to 880 pounds, staying within the parameters determined by the Missile Technology Control Regime.
The Iskander-E is relatively small and light, with a launch weight of 3,800 kilograms (8,360 pounds), RIA Novosti said. That means it can be moved on a transporter erector launcher -- TEL -- vehicle that can hold two of them, greatly increasing survivability from pre-emptive air attack and doubling the launch system's firepower.
The report also noted that the Iskander-E is equipped with "stealth" technology and it has the capacity for variable flight trajectory, making it much more difficult for ballistic missile defense to shoot it down.
Because the missiles are solid-fueled, they can be launched extremely quickly, again reducing to virtually zero the chances of knocking them out before launch with a pre-emptive airstrike. RIA Novosti said the second missile on a TEL could be fired within a minute of the first one being launched.
The missiles are also exceptionally accurate with a circular-error probability -- CEP -- of only 30 meters (around 100 feet).
RIA Novosti said a single Iskander battery includes a number of TELs, loaders and a command vehicle. "Target acquisition is supported by a mobile data-processing center," it said.
Dimidyuk said the Russian armed forces were already creating a combat brigade of Iskander-M SRBM -- short-range ballistic missile -- systems that would have "longer ranges and heavier payloads than the export -- Iskander-E -- version."
"The system has been adopted in service with Russia's armed forces, and, as far as I know, a brigade (of Iskander systems) is being formed," Dimidyuk said.
Russia already has threatened to deploy the Iskander in its Kaliningrad region on the Baltic Sea.
RIA Novosti cited three-star Col. Gen. Viktor Yesin, a former commander of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces, as telling the Moscow newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta in July that the Kremlin could rapidly move its Iskander-M missiles to Kaliningrad or the former Soviet republic of Belarus, a loyal Russian ally, to put them within range of hitting the new U.S. BMD base being built in Poland.
The Iskander is the ideal weapon to use in any pre-emptive strike to knock out the kind of high-tech ballistic missile defense system, such as the U.S. Army's Patriot and the Israeli Arrow, that is designed to be effective against intermediate-range ballistic missiles -- IRBMs -- or shorter-range weapons. That makes them a deadly threat to the new BMD base to hold 10 Ground-based Mid-course Interceptors -- GBIs -- that the United States is building in Poland to defend Western Europe and the Eastern Seaboard of the United States from the threat of any future Iranian intercontinental ballistic missile --ICBM -- that could carry nuclear warheads.
The Iskanders therefore would pose a formidable threat to the U.S. GBIs in Poland, and if Russia sells them to Syria, they could knock out Israel's most advanced early warning radar facilities in a pre-emptive strike, leaving the country defenseless against nuclear-capable Iranian IRBMs and cruise missiles.
If Russia sold Syria enough Iskander-Es, they also would pose a threat, combined with Hezbollah's more than 10,000 missiles, mainly on multiple-launch rocket systems -- MLRS -- of disrupting mobilization procedures of the Israeli army in any future war with Syria on the Golan Heights.
The beauty of the Iskander concept is that it employs a venerable, highly reliable, mature technology, cost-effectively allowing it to knock out the vastly more expensive BMD systems that it targets.
In this respect, it parallels the effectiveness of the U.S. Army Air Force's North American P-51 Mustang piston engine combat fighters in World War II that shot down hundreds of technically vastly superior, but far less numerous and far less cost-effective German Messerschmitt Me-262 jet fighters.
The Iskander therefore serves notice that even in the cutting-edge, super-high-tech world of ballistic missile defense, there is an important role for older, simpler, far cheaper technologies to play "spoiler" roles that can destroy or disrupt the much more ambitious -- and expensive -- defense systems that nations put their trust in.
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In this thread where East meets West in Singapore, where relevant technologies are purchased from both sides to reinforce the capabilities of the SAF, we should review the methods employed by larger players in studying their potential adverseries, and their considerations in strategic planning and preparations to meet the challenges in the event of any confrontation.
A RAND Review: “Keeping the Pacific – An American Response to China’s Growing Military Might”
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Hi, I thought Singapore Himars have unitary warhead? ie a large chunk of explosive, not bomblets?
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I think we do manufacture our own ICMs. Might be a possibility that we might actually undertake that task ourselves.
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With MINDEF, DSTA and the SAF playing their cards close to their chests, we can only draw our information from what is availabe in the public domain.
The HIMARS is basically an improved MLRS that was previously tracked, and now mounted on a Family of Medium Truck Vehicles (FMTV).
It is designed to carry a package of 6 pods - with each pod housing a rocket that can be either the unitary block of explosive known as ATACMS, or filled with bomblets delivered by the carrier rocket that is either GPS guided or otherwise.
The Family of Medium Truck Vehicles (FMTV) is also available as a Recovery Vehicle, Logistic Carrier, and Command Vehicle.
UAE Orders $752M Worth of HIMARS Launchers & Rockets
Related Stories: Americas - USA, Contracts - Intent, Lockheed Martin, Middle East - Other, Missiles - Precision Attack, Other Corporation, Rockets, Trucks & Transport
The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress on Sept. 21, 2006 of a possible sale to the United Arab Emirates of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $752 million.
The principal contractors will be Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control at Dallas, TX (rockets) and Stewart & Stevenson at Sealy, TX (truck platform). The purchaser has requested offsets, and agreements will be defined in negotiations between the purchaser and contractor. Items requested include both the weapons platform and a variety of rockets and missiles, including:
- 20 HIMARS Launchers, mounted on
- 20 M1084A1 Family of Medium Truck Vehicles (FMTV);
- 3 “M108A1 Wreckers”; DID believes they mean the M1089, an FMTV truck variant with towing and winching capability that can get a HIMARS vehicle out of trouble in case of treacherous sand, mud, making close friends with the local roadside ditch, etc.
- 104 M26 MLRS Rocket Pods; the Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICM) bomblets inside gave the MLRS its nickname of “steel rain” in Iraq. Each 6-rocket pod carries 227mm rockets with a range of about 30 km.
- 130 M30 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS) pods, whose rockets add GPS guidance. The DSCA release notes that these will contain DPICM warheads; each rocket can hold 404 of them. See DID article re: the M30/M31 GPS-guided rockets. Each 6-rocket pod carries 227mm rockets with a range of about 60-70 km.
- 130 M31 Unitary High Explosive GMLRS Pods – these have been used in the current Iraq war, where their sudden strike and GPS-guided ability to hit buildings and other hardened structures with their 196 pound single warhead have proven very useful. Each 6-rocket pod carries 227mm rockets with a range of about 60-70 km.
- 101 M39A1 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) Block 1A Anti-Personnel-Anti-Material Rocket Pods. These missiles have a 300 km range, and pack 300 M74 submunitions that explode to cover a wide area with fragmentation and armor-piercing bomblets. Each pod carries 1 missile.
- 101 M39A1 ATACMS Block 1A Unitary Rocket Pods; this variant packs a single 500 pound explosive warhead; if you want to take down a building in a few minutes from 150 miles away, this is the weapon you want. Each pod carries 1 missile.
- 60 Multiple Launcher Rocket Systems (MLRS) Practice Rocket Pods.
Implementation of this sale will require the assignment of a U.S. Government Quality Assurance Team of up to 5 contractor representatives to the UAE for two weeks to assist in the delivery and deployment of the HIRMARS and sequential deliveries. There will be a 3-person Technical Assistance Fielding Team in the UAE for training mission support for up to two years. A U.S. Government representative will remain in country for a minimum of two years in order to assist in the security assistance aspects of the mission.
‘US Army ATACMS Block IV Test for HIMARS’
‘HIMARS: ATACMS Rocket Launch’
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Pl note this may be new model----GMLRS M 31 Unitary.
I cant find it in Lockeed Martin!!
each rocket carrys 644 armour-piercing bomblets,..punch through armour up to 10cm thick.
CEP 15m on range Up to 70+ km.
Singapore new toy---
as seen from Defence Tech X 2008.
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The US$330 million (S$500 million) deal would be the army's first rocket artillery system.
The order for the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (Himars) includes nine trucks, each fitted with a pod of six rocket tubes. At the press of a button, the trucks can launch their rockets to pound enemy positions some 60km away.
What makes the system lethal is the 644 armour-piercing bomblets - each smaller than a soft drink can - packed into each rocket warhead. A salvo of six rockets would thus rain 3,864 bomblets widely over enemy positions, and punch through armour up to 10cm thick...end of quote
http://app.mfa.gov.sg/pr/read_content.asp?View,8193,
Sep 14, 2007
S'pore to buy US rocket artillery system
$500m deal for army includes 9 Himars trucks, each fitted with six rocket tubes
By David Boey -
GMLRS M 31 Unitary Spec
No M 31 in LM.
Just M 30!!
news and order
http://www.deagel.com/Rockets/M31-GUMLRS_a001107002.aspx
M31 GUMLRS
IOC: 2007
Also Known As
GMLRS Unitary EBW
XM31
Origin
France
Germany
Italy
United Kingdom
United States of America
Contractor/s
General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems
Lockheed Martin *
MBDAApplications
M142 HIMARS
M270 MLRS
M270A1 MLRS
Family Members
GMLRS ER
M30 GMLRSM31 GUMLRS - Contracts, Orders & Sales
Wednesday, June 06, 2007 UK MoD three contracts worth £250 million awarded to Lockheed Martin for 12 M270B1 launcher upgrade kits, GMLRS and GUMLRS artillery rockets. The contracts also included upgrade kits, spares and logistics support. This deal was made public on June 6, 2007.Items: 12
News
US Army Places New Contract for Guided MLRS Unitary Rocketsmm
ATACMS - Army TACtical Missile System
GMLRS - Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System
GPS - Global Positioning System
GUMLRS - Guided Unitary MLRS
HIMARS - High Mobility Artillery Rocket System
MLRS - Multiple Launch Rocket System
US Army's GUMLRS Artillery Rocket Achieves 85 Kilometers Range
GMLRS Unitary Rockets Successful in Anti-Jamming Tests
FMS: Singapore Requests HIMARS
GUMLRS Program Receives Certification and First US Army Production Order
UK MoD Places Three Contracts for M270B1 Launchers, GMLRS and GUMLRS Rockets
GUMLRS Phase II Test Round Successfully Completed
FMS: UAE Requests HIMARS Rocket Artillery Systems
Urban GUMLRS Tested Successfully
GMLRS Unitary Rocket Phase I Tests Completed
