A looming general election which must be held by April 2013 has generally led to the government giving little priority to military procurement under the 10th Malaysia Plan of 2011-2015 which governs all Malaysian government spending for that timeframe. It should however be noted that the Malaysian government did initiate two major procurement programmes in [...]

This places an emphasis on flexibility, ease of use for systems often operated by police and Paramilitary organisations and affordability across a range of platform and sensor types.  Ships maintaining a presence at sea have been the traditional means of securing the littoral using a range of Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) and smaller craft although [...]

Today, these aircraft must perform a wide panoply of tasks; from traditional Air Superiority missions, to Close Air Support; the Suppression and Destruction of Enemy Air Defences; and Strategic Reconnaissance; to name just four. All of which must be undertaken using a single airframe which can interchange between these missions with the minimum of fuss. [...]

Almost every aspect of military equipment and operation can be adapted for this environment; adding additional capabilities specific to an urban environment such as through-wall radars or changing existing equipment to make it better suited to the role, such as the up-armouring of support vehicles. Surveillance The desire for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) is [...]

In contrast, while a single precision round can engage a point target while limiting the risk of damage to nearby buildings and killing or injuring non-combatants and friendly forces, the same destructive effect against the target would require many more ‘dumb’ rounds, requiring a greater logistics trail and increasing the chances of unintended damage to [...]

The targets themselves pose increasing challenges to both detection and destruction, hiding in difficult natural as well as urban terrain where the potential for non-combatant casualties and collateral damage is high. This emphasises more than ever the need for both precision targeting and precision effects to exploit, not to mention a range of effectors covering [...]

Reports from Afghanistan in February 2012 indicated that the Taliban had poisoned food with chlorine bleach at Torkham Forward Operation Base near the Pakistan border in Nangarhar province, as retaliation for the earlier burning of copies of the Koran by US personnel. NATO announced that fruit and coffee delivered for consumption by military personnel had [...]

“Under the 15-year modernisation programme the IAF has over the past five years spent INR 150 billion ($ 27.27 billion) on procurement contracts. By the end of 2022, 75 percent of this modernisation will have been completed,”Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne said in New Delhi on the IAFs 80th anniversary in October 2012. [...]

Capabilities hitherto held at higher echelons are being pushed down to lower tactical levels, giving dismounted users and vehicles new capabilities while border surveillance systems have been given greater investment and additional technology. Dismounted Capabilities Improving the long range surveillance capabilities placed in the hands of dismounted forces has become a key force multiplier. Vetronix’s [...]

However, the Australian defence budget is taking a battering, with spending reduced A$2.1 billion to a total of A$24.2 billion for FY2013. Expenditure as a ratio of GDP is correspondingly dropping from 1.8 percent to 1.56 percent, the lowest in 70 years. Current Australian Defence Force (ADF) commitments include Afghanistan, the Middle East, Timor-Leste and [...]

For a relatively new class of vehicle, protected mobility platforms have increased their numbers massively, developing rapidly from a niche requirement for operations in troublespots around the world, typically supporting peacekeeping missions and similar to now become a mainstream, indispensable requirement for all militaries supporting the primary operations of today and having also secured their [...]

Although military platforms continue to dominate the global helicopter market, this dominance is expected to reduce as platforms become more capable and ministries of defence look for commonality with existing fleets to save on maintenance costs and improve platform availability. Financial uncertainty and reduced defence spending is encouraging end-users to re-manufacture and upgrade existing platforms, [...]

Amphibious Support Ships in The Asia-Pacific Region   This space can also be used to accommodate refugees, casualties, field hospitals and even military headquarters. Secondly, such vessels provide a platform to move personnel and equipment rapidly en masse from beyond the horizon to the shore. A lack of shore facilities and ports present few problems [...]

The cost of new warships has risen steadily, driven not by the price of steel and metal fabrication but rather by electronics and weapons systems which can now account for two-thirds of the cost of a new ship

Cyberspace has been called many things. Whatever the term used, it will nonetheless join ground, sea, air and space as the key domains that militaries and governments must contest and ultimately dominate in current and future conflicts from the battlefield to the home front