East Asia: News & Discuss OT

GarryB wrote:You would be surprised Odin, some of the richest people around are also some of the tightest... there is a tradition here in NZ to go on an OE when you leave education... normally university... (OE = Overseas Experience) and most kiwis go to London and then from there travel around the place.

But you have a certain standard. I would not even camp.

I personally feel they will like many other countries waste money on this, better getting production rights or join a joint project.

https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/indonesia-reaffirms-commitment-to-kf-21-fighter-engineers-to-re-join-project_19595

https://www.rt.com/sport/541912-wta-china-peng-shuai/

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) is suspending all events in China after accusing the country of failing to investigate claims of sexual assault made by doubles star Peng Shuai against a former top government official.

WTA chairman and CEO Steve Simon announced the step in a statement, saying he could not ask players to compete in China “in good conscience.”

“I am announcing the immediate suspension of all WTA tournaments in China, including Hong Kong,” read a message from Simon on the WTA website.

“In good conscience, I don’t see how I can ask our athletes to compete there when Peng Shuai is not allowed to communicate freely and has seemingly been pressured to contradict her allegation of sexual assault.

“Given the current state of affairs, I am also greatly concerned about the risks that all of our players and staff could face if we were to hold events in China in 2022.”

Peng, 35, appeared to make the accusations against former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli on the Chinese social media site Weibo at the start of November.

The former world doubles number one claimed she had been coerced into having sex with Zhang around three years ago, but also admitted that the pair had had an on-off consensual relationship.

The social media post promptly disappeared and Peng was not seen or heard from, prompting concerns for her well-being.

Chinese state media then released a series of images and video clips of Peng appearing in public, as well as an email she had purportedly sent to the WTA in which she claimed the sexual assault allegations were untrue and denied that she had gone missing.

Cambodia ditches USA made weapons. As military personnel sanctioned. To note USA also did the same to Ugandan Generals recently. And Ethiopia now no longer trust the USA because of involvement during the troubles there. So this only means that those countries will now either buy Chinese or Russian arms most likely.

And quote from the article and so true it is.

"if you want to be independent in the field of defence, do not use American weapons"
https://sputniknews.com/20211211/lost-inside-cambodia-phnom-penh-orders-destruction-mothballing-of-all-us-weapons-1091444676.html

India’s Tejas aircraft emerges as top choice for Malaysia’s fighter jet programme

India’s Tejas light combat aircraft has emerged as the top choice for Malaysia as the Southeast Asian nation looks at replacing its ageing fleet of fighter jets and the two sides are holding negotiations to take forward the procurement process.

Malaysia has narrowed down on the Indian aircraft notwithstanding stiff competition from China’s JF-17 jet, South Korea’s FA-50 and Russia’s Mig-35 as well as the Yak-130 plane, Chairman and Managing Director of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), R Madhavan, told PTI in an interview.

As part of the package, India has offered to set up an MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) facility in Malaysia for its Russian-origin Su-30 fighter fleet as it is facing difficulties in procuring spares for the aircraft from Russia in view of Western sanctions against Moscow.

“I am very confident about it,” Madhavan said when asked whether the mega-deal would be closed soon.

The top executive of the state-run aerospace behemoth said if the deal is sealed, then it will give a “very good signal” to other prospective buyers of the aircraft and boost its overall export potential.

“It (negotiation) is almost in the final stages. We are the only country which is offering them the support for their Su-30 aircraft as well as other than Russia; we are the only one who can support them to the extent that they require for that fleet,” Madhavan said.

It is learnt that the Chinese JF-17 was cheaper but it could not match the technical parameters of the Tejas Mk-IA variant and the offer of maintenance of the Su-30 fleet as proposed by India.

A team of high-ranking officials and experts is expected to visit India soon to take forward the procurement process.

Madhavan said Tejas is a much superior aircraft compared to JF-17 and FA-50 and that the selection of the Indian aircraft would provide Malaysia with the option to go in for future upgrades of the fleet.

Tejas, manufactured by HAL, is a single-engine and highly agile multi-role supersonic fighter aircraft capable of operating in high-threat air environments.


https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/indias-tejas-aircraft-emerges-as-top-choice-for-malaysias-fighter-jet-programme-409115

DaiWW
@BeijingDai

I don't know what China had done, but the United States annouced to withdraw its medium range missiles deployed in the Philippines, even though these missiles were only four subsonic Tomahawk missile launchers and would not pose a real threat to China.

Perhaps China has exchanged something with the United States, or perhaps China has exerted some pressure on the Philippines, but obviously it is not because of the goodwill of the United States or Philippines. China achieved its goal anyway.

Kathleen Tyson
@Kathleen_Tyson_
Could be US-Philippines lost the EW conflict when PLN blocked GPS and cellphone communications in SCS stand off for 12 hours.

ShanghaiPanda
@thinking_panda
"After a 12-hour standoff, the U.S. forces chose to retreat. However, this electronic warfare incident caused a complete disruption of GPS signals in the northern part of Luzon Island, with all communications, phone signals..."

Lueh-Wai Wong
@LuehWai
Those submarine detection devices need something to determine their position. With disrupting GPS signals it renders the devices useless.

Yjadg 猎人
@jadger0
As per Army spokesperson: mid-range missile system which can launch SM-6 & Tomahawk LAM, deployed in northern Philippines for annual joint military exercises, will be shipped out of the country in September or even earlier.

The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) is likely to select the Sukhoi Su-57E Felon fifth-generation stealth fighter as its next Multirole Combat Aircraft (MRCA)


Under the RMAF’s earlier timeline, outlined in its Capability Development 2055 (CAP55) roadmap, the Su-30MKM, Nato reporting name ‘Flanker’, will be phased out and replaced with an entirely new, fifth-generation fighter aircraft, by 2030-2035. However, under a new bold and ambitious plan, the RMAF is embarking on an aggressive, and accelerated force modernisation exercise.

The introduction of the stealth fighter, which analysts believe is the Sukhoi Su-57E Felon is just one part of the new plan. Other programmes lined up include the upgrading of the 18 Sukhoi Su-30MKMs to ‘Super Flanker’ standard, the acquisition of ex-Kuwaiti Air Force (KAF) stocks of the venerable F/A-18C/D Hornets, and the introduction of two jet-powered aerial refuelling tankers.

The RMAF’s MRCA requirement is for a twin-engined fighter with a high combat persistence, long loiter times, with air-to-air refuelling capability, and able to perform a variety of tasking, including air-to-air, air-to-ground, close air support, interdiction/strike, anti-shipping, and suppression of enemy air defences, among others.

Among the early contenders to fulfil this requirement were the Eurofighter Typhoon, France’s Dassault Rafale, Sweden’s Saab JAS-39 Gripen, and the United States’ Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. However, these aircraft are all 4.5-generation aircraft, and have been in service for 20 years. The Super Hornet, for instance, is nearing its 25th year in service. Its manufacturer Boeing recently announced that it was planning to shut down the Super Hornet production line in 2025. Most analysts agree that this current generation of aircraft may be nearing, or are at the end of, their growth potential.

Already, Britain, France, and Sweden are looking at the next generation of fighter aircraft. However, these sixth-generation designs – some incorporating Artificial Intelligence, ‘deep learning’, and the ability to operate in swarms – are still on the drawing board. The replacement for the Typhoon, called the Tempest, seems to be ahead of the rest of the competition, with Sweden only recently unveiling plans for their replacement for the Gripen. These designs are still 15-20 years away from becoming a reality.

Fortunately for the RMAF, two fifth-gen fighter designs are already flying – Russia’s Sukhoi Su-57 Felon, and KAI’s KF-21 Boramae.

Russia is already fielding the Felon, and is slowly equipping its fighter squadrons with the single-seat, twin-engined stealth fighter, under a low-rate initial production run.

The Felon is a fifth-generation multirole fighter, and the first operational stealth aircraft for the Russian armed forces. In addition to stealth, the fighter emphasises supermanoeuvrability in all axes, capacious internal payload bays, and advanced sensor systems, including an active phased-array radar.

In the Su-57’s design, Sukhoi cited the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor as the baseline for a supermanoeuvrable stealth fighter, but addressed what the design bureau considered to be some limitations of the Raptor, such as the inability to use thrust vectoring to induce roll and yaw moments, a lack of space in its internal weapons bays, resulting in limited payload-carrying capability, and complications for post-stall recovery if thrust vectoring fails.


The aircraft has a wide blended wing body fuselage with two widely spaced engines, and has all-moving horizontal and vertical stabilisers, with the vertical stabilisers canted outward for stealth. The trapezoidal wings have leading edge flaps, ailerons, and flaperons. The aircraft incorporates large leading edge root extensions that shift the aerodynamic centre forward, increasing static instability and enhancing manoeuvrability.

These extensions have adjustable leading-edge vortex controllers (LEVCONs) designed to control the generated vortices, and can provide trim and improve high angle-of-attack behaviour, including a quick stall recovery if the thrust vectoring system fails. To decelerate, the ailerons deflect up, and the flaperons deflect down, while the vertical stabilisers ‘toe’ inward to increase drag. Although the majority of the structural materials are alloys with 40.5-44.5 per cent aluminium alloys and 18.6 per cent titanium alloys, the aircraft makes extensive use of composites, with the material comprising 22-26 per cent of the structural weight, and approximately 70 per cent of the outer surface.

The Su-57 is powered by two Lyulka AL-41F1S augmented turbofan engines fed through ‘caret’-shaped intakes. Initial batches feature conventional convergent/divergent nozzles. However, sources tell Twentytwo13 that by 2030, the new variant, the Su-57M, will feature the Lyulka AL-51F-1 engines equipped with multi-axis thrust-vectoring nozzles, improving manoeuvrability in all speed regimes. It will also give the Felon true Mach 2, and ‘supercruise’ capability.

South Korea’s entry in the MRCA ‘furball’ is the KF-21 Boramae.

KAI’s KF-21 Boramae (formerly known as the KF-X programme) is a South Korean-led fighter aircraft development programme with the goal of producing an advanced multirole fighter for the South Korean, and Indonesian air forces. The airframe has a reduced RCS (radar cross-section), but at present, it does not have internal weapons bays like fifth-generation fighters. This, and other features, will be introduced later in development.

In April 2021, the first prototype was completed and unveiled in a rollout ceremony at the KAI headquarters at Sacheon Airport. It bears an uncanny resemblance to the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor in its basic shape and aerodynamic configuration. The Boramae features a twin-engined, twin-tailed design, with a single seat. There are however, plans to develop a two-seat, fully ‘missionised’ version, incorporating thrust-vectoring engines.

The first test flight was on July 19, 2022, with full-scale manufacturing scheduled to begin in 2026. At least 40 aircraft are planned to be delivered by 2028, with South Korea expecting to deploy 120 of the aircraft by 2032. It will also be available for export.

Both the Felon and the Boramae were odds-on favourites in the RMAF’s MRCA competition, and fit into the RMAF’s force modernisation plans for a number of reasons. In the case of the Su-57, Malaysia already has extensive experience in operating, servicing, and maintaining Russian aircraft, beginning with the MiG-29N Fulcrum in 1995. The infrastructure is already in place and there is familiarity with the way the Russians conduct business.

Sources tell Twentytwo13 that the Su-57 package being offered by the Russians to the RMAF included new-generation precision, and standoff weapons like the RVV-SDM (purportedly better than the AIM-120 C-7 beyond-visual-range missile), the RVV-MD (equal to the Raytheon AIM-9X all aspect, heat homer), and the Kh-35 Long Range, Air-to-Surface Missile (against sea, and ground targets).

KAI’s Boramae meanwhile, was a frontrunner because it seemed like the logical progression from the FA-50M Block 20 Light Combat Aircraft that the RMAF will soon operate. The initial batch of four FA-50Ms is scheduled to be delivered in October 2026. The remaining 14 will be delivered by the end of 2027, and the RMAF has options for another 18 aircraft. The introduction of the FA-50M entails a comprehensive maintenance, spares, and support package that could easily be expanded to include the Boramae.

Observers pointed out that there was a third possible entry – Turkiye’s Kaan fighter. The aircraft, however, was just rolled out earlier this year. It is looking at a rather long and protracted flight test and development programme ahead of it, and was therefore, not a real contender.

Another important consideration is cost. While no numbers have been firmed up, analysts expect the initial acquisition costs to be much lower than other US or European, ‘gold-plated’ fighters, like the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. And in Russia’s case, partial payment will most likely be made through palm oil.

https://twentytwo13.my/news/malaysia-likely-to-get-russian-stealth-fighters-under-14th-malaysia-plan/