Our Army: Another Proud Cluster Bomb User
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_455906.html
Nov 18, 2009
SAF tests new artillery
Troops get more reach, firepower; delivery of weapons begin next year
By Jermyn Chow
FORT SILL (OKLAHOMA) - A NEW rocket artillery weapon system acquired by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) to give its ground troops greater reach and firepower went into action on Tuesday.
The US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or Himars, was fired for the first time as part of the Forging Sabre war games being carried out in the rugged scrublands of Fort Sill in Oklahoma, in the United States.
What the artillery rockets can do
THE High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (Himars):
Length: 7m.
Weight: 15,900kg with rockets.
Speed: Almost 100kmh.
Its weapons system can:
Fire at targets 70km away, and always hit within 5m of the target.
Prepare and fire all its six rockets in different directions within five minutes.
Reload all rocket tubes in 10 minutes.
Each rocket has 644 armour-piercing bomblets packed into its warhead, each smaller than a soft-drink can. Each of these bomblets can punch through armour up to 10cm thick.
The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has purchased 18 Himars trucks, with the first few expected to be delivered by the middle of next year.
Besides the US Army, only Singapore and the United Arab Emirates use this system.
The SAF is training on US-supplied hardware for now, and will take delivery of the first of 18 Himars it purchased by the middle of next year.
Tuesday's live-firing exercise comes eight months after troops from the 23rd Battalion Singapore Artillery (23 SA) first started training on the new weapon.
Mounted on a truck are six rockets, with each warhead packing 644 armour-piercing bomblets. Firing a salvo of all six rockets would rain about 3,800 bomblets over targets 70km away.
Guided by a Global Positioning System, the rockets are more accurate and powerful than the current big guns in the SAF - the 155mm artillery guns and 120mm mortars.
The Army and our mainstream media are trying to hype up this latest 'achievement' of theirs, but when I read this article, I didn't see it the same way. Rather than something to be proud of, I felt this was very disappointing and something to be ashamed of.
In recent times, the campaign against landmines and cluster munitions has garnered the same level of publicity as the campaign against global warming or sharks' fins. I don't think I need to go into the specifics of why, but to date, 101 countries have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions obliging them never to use cluster munitions. Singapore, unsurprisingly, is not a signatory to this convention.
I don't see why we need to procure such a weapon. After all, if as the papers claim its vaunted accuracy of always hitting within 5m of the target, what the hell do we need 644 bomblets for? Or do they mean that with 644 bomblets, at least one of them is guaranteed to hit within 5m of the target?
[ X-posted to sg_ljers ]
§ Quod vide:
Wikipedia: Cluster Bomb
Wikipedia: Convention on Cluster Munitions
§ Technorati tags:
news bites
Nov 18, 2009
SAF tests new artillery
Troops get more reach, firepower; delivery of weapons begin next year
By Jermyn Chow
FORT SILL (OKLAHOMA) - A NEW rocket artillery weapon system acquired by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) to give its ground troops greater reach and firepower went into action on Tuesday.
The US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or Himars, was fired for the first time as part of the Forging Sabre war games being carried out in the rugged scrublands of Fort Sill in Oklahoma, in the United States.
What the artillery rockets can do
THE High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (Himars):
Its weapons system can:
Each rocket has 644 armour-piercing bomblets packed into its warhead, each smaller than a soft-drink can. Each of these bomblets can punch through armour up to 10cm thick.
The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has purchased 18 Himars trucks, with the first few expected to be delivered by the middle of next year.
Besides the US Army, only Singapore and the United Arab Emirates use this system.
The SAF is training on US-supplied hardware for now, and will take delivery of the first of 18 Himars it purchased by the middle of next year.
Tuesday's live-firing exercise comes eight months after troops from the 23rd Battalion Singapore Artillery (23 SA) first started training on the new weapon.
Mounted on a truck are six rockets, with each warhead packing 644 armour-piercing bomblets. Firing a salvo of all six rockets would rain about 3,800 bomblets over targets 70km away.
Guided by a Global Positioning System, the rockets are more accurate and powerful than the current big guns in the SAF - the 155mm artillery guns and 120mm mortars.
The Army and our mainstream media are trying to hype up this latest 'achievement' of theirs, but when I read this article, I didn't see it the same way. Rather than something to be proud of, I felt this was very disappointing and something to be ashamed of.
In recent times, the campaign against landmines and cluster munitions has garnered the same level of publicity as the campaign against global warming or sharks' fins. I don't think I need to go into the specifics of why, but to date, 101 countries have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions obliging them never to use cluster munitions. Singapore, unsurprisingly, is not a signatory to this convention.
I don't see why we need to procure such a weapon. After all, if as the papers claim its vaunted accuracy of always hitting within 5m of the target, what the hell do we need 644 bomblets for? Or do they mean that with 644 bomblets, at least one of them is guaranteed to hit within 5m of the target?
[ X-posted to sg_ljers ]
§ Quod vide:
§ Technorati tags:
news bites