Saturday, February 28, 2009

Sea Warriors

The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) recently conducted a two-day exercise with their new stealth frigates. This followed an earlier report of Singapore's Navy beefing up its arsenal with all new stealth warships.


Singapore navy's radar-evading stealth frigates demonstrating their potent firepower in the South China Sea (in other words, "don't play play!")

The frigates are equipped with the OTO Melara 76mm gun and fired live rounds as the stealth frigates were put on a "mission" to hunt and destroy enemy targets, and avoid being torpedoed in turn.

The deck crew preparing to launch a Super Puma helicopter as part of the stealth frigate's heli-operations. The S-70B Seahawk will be added by the end of the year.

A rigid hull inflatable boat being lowered from the ship's deck into the South China Sea. The 5.5m boat, usually used to transfer people and equipment between ships, can also be used to board other vessels at sea.

RSS Steadfast's Combat Information Centre where all the tracking and orders are given to hunt down and destroy hostile air and sea targets.

When night falls, the stealth frigates used red tactical lighting to keep from being easily seen and to ensure that crew do not strain their eyes when moving from a lit to a darkened area (a different kind of "red light district")

The Singapore Navy also deploys Protector unmanned vessels as surveillance boats as they use advanced sensor technology to gather real-time information and transmit it over secured networks to a remote user. Unmanned systems are an important part of the Singapore Armed Forces' push to transform itself into a more potent third-generation fighting force.

On another note, the RSAF has also received its first new early-warning aircraft, the Gulfstream 550 Airborne Early Warning (G550-AEW) to replace the ageing E-2C Hawkeye aircraft. The new jet-powered planes will be used to detect, identify and keep track of targets in the sky. The new AEW can see farther, fly higher and stay in the air longer, and with three more being added, they'll be our new "eye in the sky".

With all these new and high-tech equipment, we'll be able to "cover mountain, cover sea" as we say it in local terms.

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