Many reservist units are still using M-16 and I believe even some active units too.  Saw pics from the recent arty exercise in NZ and they were still using M-16.  This despite the SAR-21 being hailed as the standard SAF weapon.  I wonder if ever we will see every single unit using SAR-21. 

But I guess it takes time to implement things esp if you're talking about equipment. M'sia hasn't even replaced all its M16s with the Steyr and they are already planning to phase out the Steyr in favour of the M4.  So there you go.

Anyway I doubt you will see every single soldier (including support guys like your storemen and mechanics who are out in the field) donning body armour and all that fancy gear.  As it is we aren't even issued knee guards and elbow guards as part of our standard gear let alone IR goggles, GPS and all that razzle dazzle.

SAF is always into standardisation.  Now's the time to standardise.  Put all the ranks in the same place.  After all home team already puts all the ranks on the shoulder.  And in the US all the ranks go on the collar. 

Will be interesting to see the jockey cap and jungle hat in digital camo.  Or don't tell me they intend to phase out the cap completely and go beret like US army.

Its supposed to be thinner i.e. more cooling & supposedly dries faster.  If that's true then I'm happy.  To hell with what it looks like, as long as its comfy for the wearer.  I just wish they delayed the S'pore tag, formation badge & arms badge and released it with this.  That way we waste less money.

I still have another 5 ICTs to go so I guess I'll get my chance to wear it.  Out of curiousity though, that's a helmet cover right?  So I guess they'll issue us one to replace the existing camo net on our helmets.

http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/9668/newno4cf8.jpg

Larger pic.  In this pic it doesn't look that bad really.  Don't know about the actual thing of course.

Prove you wrong?  Why waste our time proving an imbecile wrong?  Do you have any idea how many men are needed to operate a carrier?  Let's not forget the entire carrier group.  You can effectively canabalise half the army and the entire naval fleet just to get enough men.  Smart can already, don't act smart!!  LOL!!

It was mentioned before by an ex RSAF chief that in the future, most likely RSAF will just operate 2 types of aircraft.  If so I'm guessing its F-35 for multirole and F-15SG for strike.

Personally I think 3 is a better option then you can have the F-16C/D for interceptor role.  C/D may not be the newest model but it still has a lot of bite.

Originally posted by Display Name:

US agree to sell to many countries like Israel, Japan, Europe already. But singapore can't get it, because they don't treat singapore as close ally.
Like that might as well buy JAS39 Gripen, even more powerful than F15.

Don't be a dick.  Firstly F-35 is not even on sale yet.  Secondly as a security coop participant, S'pore can opt to buy it if they wish.  Thirdly JAS39 is NOT more powerful than F15.  Whoever says it is must either be ignorant or on weed.  I'm guessing you fall in BOTH categories.

Brown?  Well I guess when they call you a piece of sh*t, you'll really look like one now. LOL!  Doesn't seem logical giving out brown and then grey later.  Just give the grey.  No need for a stop gap measure uniform.

What's with the obssession over carriers?  We'd probably need to canabalise every ship in our fleet and still not have enough men to operate the carrier.  Look what happened to Thailand.  Their carrier is now rusting somewhere and has become a tourist attraction.

From what I understand from other threads here, the F-35 would be a watered down version, not what the yanks themselves would be operating.  That being the case, I hope RSAF considers other jets too.

Why so strange that only officers and WOs have the ranks on the chest?  I tot SAF was big on standardisation?  If its on the chest then all shld be on the chest, no reason to have the specs and men still wear on the sleeves.

Out of the several designs if I've seen, I think the Canadian's look the nicest.  Anyway, since our arms badge is on the right collar, that leaves the left collar empty and very wierd looking i.e. lob-sided.  Maybe they'll follow US style and dump the rank there.

I'm guessing they'll have to design new name tag, S'pore tag and formations/arms badges too 'cos the existing colour scheme will probably not match.

Come to think of it, it was wierd looking enough when some soldiers went for ICT with S'pore tag and formation badges and some without.  I can imagine if some go back with digital camo and some with woodlands camo.  Lagi wierd looking!

Anyone have any pics of the alleged digital camo?  I'm assuming its similar to what China or US has.  Since they're going digital camo, I'm surprised they didn't wait for then to release the formation badges and S'pore tag.  Might as well do it one shot.

I hope to God that new uniform doesn't mean new name tag, S'pore tag, formation badges et al.

I think the only thing they are adding is the battlefield mgmt system.  Doubt they'd be slapping on more armour or firepower.

What we need are some new toys in the ADA department.  Also, if the yanks are gonna offer us watered down versions of the F-35, we'd be better off buying some other jet like the Typhoon or even Rafale.  F-15, SG or otherwise, as a stop gap measure is fine I guess but I'm doubtful it can last 20 years, not with newer & more modern jets on the horizon.  And its 101-0 record is against very old jets.  We still don't know how it compares to Flankers et al.

I believe the concept of stealth for jets differs from ships.  F117 and B2 are called stealth bombers and they are supposedly invisible on radar.  In fact a Discovery Channel documentary once claimed that stealth bombers on training missions had this "thingie" attached to make them traceable by radar so the control tower knows where they are.  For ships however, I don't think stealth means invisible.  In fact, I recall RSN has mentioned before that the Formidable class frigate would appear like a small ship on radar.  Whole idea is for the enemy to think its just a sampan or small patrol ship when in reality its an arse-kicking Frigate.  I don't think RSN at anytime said that their Frigates were invisible to radar.

If Wikipedia is to believed, our frigates are armed with both Aster 15 and 30.

ST recently reported on the frigate's test firing of the Aster SAM.  It mentioned it had a range of 30km.  I thought our frigates were equipped with Aster 15?  Wonder if ST got their facts wrong again or whether RSN eventually decided to get Aster 30.

Wonder if our own Ultimax is mk 5 or is it the first generation?

I thought NGF and A4 replacement were 2 different projects? 

Skye2, you are missing the point!  We used to whine but we whined about getting tekaned big time or getting confined just 'cos the signature touched the box on the armskote book.  The whines I hear these days is because they got SCOLDED.  Because the food is not nice.  That's pathetic!  And in my days the food really did suck.  The tao kua was sour!  These days the food is much better and they even get dessert and western food!  Yet they still whine about it.

Its just like how someone cries when he gets a bayonet through his hand versus someone who cries when he gets a paper cut. Both are crying but the cause is very different.  We b*tched about tekan which was damn bloody terok.  They b*tch about verbal abuse.  Have they gone so soft that they can't even take a tongue lashing?

Technology is good but without heartware, software is useless.  No use having a PDA and night vision goggles and Landwarrior combat system if the soldier has a mental breakdown in the jungle

No one is saying that by using technology we are mentally weak.  But by relying too much on technology and forgetting the roots or the basics is a big mistake.  Why did the poorly equiped North Vietnamese managed to whoop the arse of the US army?  Or more recently, why did the ragtag militia in Somalia kick the arse of the US army?  Goes to show you that there is only so much that technology can accomplish.

Take a mentally tough soldier and give him technology and he becomes a killer.  Take a guniang soldier and give him technology and he'll be ok at peacetime but when war breaks out he'd probably shoot himself in the foot.

There is a saying, to mould a man, you have to break him down and then mould him from scratch.  Many of the elite units follow that belief.  Obviously we are not training the entire army to be SOF qualified but still, you need to be mentally tough.  My cousin's batch actually had someone who broke down and started crying in the middle of BIC.  Another fellow in his platoon literally pissed his pants during grenade throwing.

I'm fine with good food, King Koil mattress, banglas cleaning their plates and all.  All I'm saying is don't forget the basics.  In my days, the CSM can be 1 cm away from your face and f-ing you for failing IPPT and we would suck it up, apologise and move on.  My cousin was just whining about how after he failed his 2.4, his Sgt told him he was useless and how "hurt" he was, and how this is not the way to talk to people.  Whine whine whine!  All you need is half the coy to be this guniang and you are screwed.

If its a simple matter of today's youth being more vocal, I'm fine with that.  I'm just worried that they are mentally soft.   In my days, recruits would complain about being asked to clean the garbage dumpster room (that'll make you retch believe you me), having to do locker PT and having to scrub urinals with toothbrushes.  These days I hear people complaining about food not good (despite it being much better than our time), not enough time to use recruit's mess, instructors always SHOUTING at them,etc .

Maybe its 'cos they have really good lives outside which is why they can't take the "lousy" food and mummy never scolds them which is why they tak boleh tahan when an instructor screws them.  My cousin was just whining about the "simple" food he had during BMT when he came to visit for CNY.  "The food is really simple, nothing much at all".  Hello?  You expect SAF to serve you foie gras or abalone or what?  Simple food.  Its bloody BMT not an evening with KF Seetoh you know!!

And my cousin is not alone.  I bump into various botaks in number 4 all the time.  And those who are with mummy or daddy are always b*tching about the lamest things.  Fine, whine about having to do 100 jumping jacks but whine about getting F-ed when your boots are not shiny?  Its only a verbal lashing you twerp!  In our days we got confined for that!  And for the record I did my BMT in 1996 not the 1960s.

Life has certainly gone easier like it or not.  They no longer have to clean the cookhouse or empty the garbage bins.  We had too.  And our confinement during BMT was real confinement.  Nowadays if there's PH, they can still book up.  So much for confinement.

There was no verbal candy during our time either.  All the vulgarities would come out.  You fall flat while running, they'd F you up and you'd pick yourself up and continue running.  Do that to NSFs these days and you'll probably get charged for abuse or something.  I guess that has resulted in a mentally soft generation.  I often baulk at botaks b*tching about how "siong" their training was and they'll proceed to explain to mummy about how they get shouted at for making mistakes.  Hello?  That's siong?  When we made mistakes we got locker PT and change parades.  A shout and 20 push ups and they whine that that's "siong"??

I'm not saying we should train our NSFs till they're on the verge of dying, but surely some form of mental toughness is required.  On my very first night of BMT, we were made to run around the parade square.  Most of us were not physically prepared and dropped like flies.  Those who tried to help their buddies up got F-ed and the instructors would squat next to the fallen, rain verbal abuse on them till they crawled to their feet and continued running.  Of course some may say that was torture but on hindsight, it made us tough mentally.  We could take the verbal abuse and we would continue despite getting F-ed repeatedly.  Subject today's kids to that kind of treatment and I guarantee you half the coy would cry on the spot and the complain to mummy during book out.

I still remember the female recruits from 7 Golf getting tekaned.  They were doing push ups with their feet on their buddie's shoulders.  The sh*t that they took would break today's boys I assure you.  I'm fine with the better food and nice beds but the lack of mental toughness is worrying.

Watch NDP lor.  They've been doing SAR-21 arms drill for some time liao.

How easy would it be to mount Spikes on our IFVs if needed?  Anyway back to topic, I think the fact that its C130 transportable and amphibious makes Terrex a good addition.

I think the key word is rapid deployment.  The Yanks were said to be very impressed with our Bionix but chose Stryker over it 'cos Stryker was wheeled.  Bionix comes in a variant that can be transported by C-130 but AFAIK SAF doesn't use those.  Our's can't fit into C-130.  But the Terrex can.  Its amphibious capability will come in useful too.

If Wikipedia is to be believed, Terrex is to replace V200.  And AFAIK V200 is used by ADA units only as a platform for RBS-70.  The wheeled vehicles used by Armour are the even older V150.

Nevertheless, would be interesting seeing a Terrex mounted with a 105mm tank gun or multiple ATGM launchers.  After all, a previous COA did toy with the idea of a missile platform to replace the SM1s.  With Leo 2 coming into the picture, maybe such a platform could complement the Leo 2.  Speaking of ATGM, any idea why none of our IFVs have ATGM?  I believe the Stryker and Bradley are equiped with ATGMs in addition to their 20 (or was it 30?) mm gun.