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01 Dec 16. Hong Kong yet to provide formal reasons for detaining Terrex vehicles, says Singapore. Key Points
• Hong Kong has yet to give a reason as to why it is detaining the SAF’ infantry vehicles, said Singapore
• Vehicles’ movement may be in contravention of Hong Kong’s strategic commodities regulations
A Singapore Armed Forces Terrex ICV, similar to the ones being detained in Hong Kong currently. (Singapore Armed Forces)
The Hong Kong government has yet to provide formal reasons behind the detention of nine Terrex infantry carrier vehicles (ICVs) belonging to the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), the Singapore Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) said on 1 December.
The ICVs, which were on its way back to Singapore from Taiwan on a commercial freighter after completing a training exercise, are currently being detained at the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department’s River Trade Terminal following inspections that were conducted on 23 November. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
01 Dec 16. Indonesian Army receives Leopard 2A4 RI simulators from Rheinmetall. The Indonesian Army has received Leopard 2A4 RI simulators from Rheinmetall, under a contract signed in 2014. The transfer of the simulators follows a successful site acceptance test on 17 March. Rheinmetall’s simulation technology will be used by the military to train its armoured corps. The Leopard gunnery skills trainer (LGST) and driver training simulator (DTS) are specifically designed for training Leopard 2A4 tank commanders, gunners and drivers, Rheinmetall said in a statement. These driver and ballistic simulators were developed by the simulation and training business unit of Rheinmetall Defence Electronics of Germany, using TacSi technology. Rheinmetall said that multiple simulators can be networked together to enable tactical training at platoon and company level. According to the company, simulators that are similar in design to those ordered by Indonesia have already been proven in day-to-day military training operations. In a separate development, Polish armed forces have selected Rheinmetall to modernise their Leopard 2 simulators. Rheinmetall will upgrade four tactical combat simulators and four tank gunnery simulators on behalf of the Polish armoured corps.
The company will also supply a new driver training simulator to the Polish military. In addition, Rheinmetall recently supplied the Canadian Armed Forces with 18 gunnery simulators and two driver training simulators for Leopard 2 tank crews. (Source: army-technology.com)
30 Nov 16. THeMIS trialled in combat support role. Milrem has undertaken a demonstration of its Tracked Hybrid Modular Infantry System (THeMIS) unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) alongside Estonian Land Forces personnel, conducting operationally representative manoeuvres. The demonstration was conducted alongside a series of trials held from 1 to 7 of November at the land forces’ training facilities at Tapa – home to the 1st Infantry Brigade – which focused on live-fire testing of a THeMIS platform equipped with a remote weapon station (RWS). An Singapore Technologies Engineering Adder RWS armed with a .50 calibre machine gun was integrated on a THeMIS vehicle. Milrem’s chairman, Kuldar Väärsi, told IHS Jane’s that although most of the firings were static, on-the-move engagements also took place. The Estonia-based live-fire trials follow on from earlier work conducted in Singapore, and Väärsi said that at the latest event Milrem worked with representatives from the University of Tartu to examine the effect of the machine gun’s recoil on the vehicle; although final reports are yet to be produced, Väärsi said that initial assessments show that the effect is much less than envisaged.
The operational scenario involved what Väärsi described as a “react to ambush followed by hasty attack” a