I am not paranoid but the coup in Thai had me wondering.
What if the new military govt decided to attack Malaysia due to their long-standing believe that we have been supporting the Islamic militants in southern Thailand?
As the UK and Aussie air forces, here due to the Ex-Starfish –under the auspices of Five Power Defence Arrangement, I was wondering whether these forces would come to our aid as mandated under the pact.
UK got a couple of Tornado GR4s and the Aussies the F111s. We could also use the Sentry flown by UK to set a good CAP around southern Thailand. With our Honets and Fulcrums, it would, on paper, be a walkover.
Or maybe that was the reason, Sonthi (the new Thai PM) did not dare to do anything apart from sending out tanks against the unarmed Thai citizens.
Hmm…I was just thinking out loud.
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I wonder whether the Thai would set sail the Chakri Naruebet for action in case of war. Would be interesting to see whether the Harrier could adequately protect the carrier against our F-18s. Our MiG29's didn't perform well during the Ex Flying Fish against UK's Harrier.
Meanwhile the 2 Knox class frigates would be a serious threat to our Lekiu class frigates. Although I believe it is vulnerable to air attack since its primarily armed for anti ship and anti submarine warfare. Interestingly enough our Lekiu class frigates are not equipped with any CIWS but the Knox class frigates are.
The Thai have a large squadron of F16 plus AIM 120B. Whether we have BVR missiles is not known although our MiG29 is configured to fire BVR missiles. We have done reasonably well in AIRTHAMAL exercise but like any soldier will tell you, war is a different thing altogether.
The real ugly fight would be the ground battle against the Thai army.
Be that as it may, I just pray we live in peace.
I know we have Mavericks & AMRAAMs for the Hornets.
Just a bit of news from DefenceTalk. Something to chew on.
In Bangkok, Thailand yesterday the Thai government announced the down-selection of the Saab Gripen new generation fighter, and the Saab Erieye Airborne Early Warning (AEW) system to meet its national defence needs.
The Thai Cabinet has approved a budget of 34,400 billion baht (US$ 1.1 billion) for the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) to procure 12 (twelve) Gripen multi-role fighters, to replace its ageing fleet of F-5 B/E aircraft, and 2 (two) Saab Erieye AEW aircraft, together with associated equipment and services. Negotiations between Thai and Swedish government officials will now commence in order to conclude a formal agreement.
And .... Yes. Peace always.
Rgds
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I seriously doubt we have AMRAAM. If you check the Notification to US Congress of Arms Sale to Malaysia and the DOD report, US Congress never even had to turn down our request to buy AMRAAM since we have never even made an offer to purchase AMRAAM. I doubt our Hornets are even capable of carrying AMRAAM. What was shocking was our neighbour even bought 200 new AIM9X in 2005. Our Hornets are still carrying the old Sidewinder.
Which is why the Singaporeans have been debating whether our MiGs are equipped with the Russian equivalent to AMRAAM.
Officially at least, only upon purchase of SU-30MKM have the Government acknolwedged BVR missile capability on our jets. Even then, if you check the Notification to US Congress on Arms Sale and the US Department of Defence report, you will be surprised to learn that in 2005, an additional 200 BVR missiles were bought by our "friendly" neighbour down South.
Even the proposed sale of Super Hornet to Malaysia comes without BVR capability, at least that was what US Congress was informed.
Which is why I thought it was madness when i read the news report of RMAF's interest in the Super Bug. I know we need to make the Americans happy, but I would have thought that instead of buying the Super Bug without advanced radar, without BVR missiles, we could buy some other stuff from US.
No AMRAAMs. And no source codes for the Hornets, so we cannot modify them with other weapons. The sale to Singapore was made after it was apparent that Malaysia Fulcrums had the AMRAAMSKi. I have not seen the Adder on the Fulcrums though, they have never been pictured either.
I have read reports however that US/British/Aussie pilots during mock dogfights with Malaysian Fulcrums that the RMAF jets had taken BVR shots against them as if they were using the fire-and forget missiles like the Adder and not unlike the Alamo that had been pictured previously.
The Super Hornet purchase (ibudget permitting) is part of RMAF National Service as was the decision to purchase the Flankers. The Govt believes in placating both the East and the West so they decide such procurements necessary for our National Interest.
In September 2006 Malaysia made a report for fiscal 2005 the purchase of 20 units AMRAAM C-5 from the United States in the UN Register of Conventional Arms.
Included in the report was the purchase of 1,296 Astros SS-30 rockets.
Rgds
Thanks for the heads up, I am looking at it at the very moment. Perhaps I can write something about it.