...fin.

SANDF Members on Combat Lifesaver Course.

"As per the SA Army doctrine, each section must have a Combat Lifesaver Course to be the first to assist in a combat scenario should a member get injured and require emergency stabilisation or any medical intervention. Their role is to keep the injured member stable until they can be sent to the Ops Medic for further observations. They are able to apply techniques, do hemostatic dressing application and put up intravenous lines, which are just a few skills that they are taught.

The course has its foundation in Tactical Combat Casualty Care, where tactics are vital in keeping members alive on the battlefield. Its realism to actual combat conditions comes to life when students are put through various combat simulations to put to use the medical skills that they are taught.

The skills a Combat Lifesaver Course is given are based on the MARCH acronym, on how to treat Massive bleeding, open the Airway, assist the Respiratory system, assess Circulation and treat Head injuries, Hypothermia and Hemorrhage control. On completion of the course, a special certificate ceremony is held to pay homage to all those that have lost their lives in the battle. The Satellite regularly trains specialists in Units such as Pathfinders, Special Forces, SA Police Service Special Task Force and Maritime Reaction Squadron.

Bloemfontein Emergency Care Training Satellite also has a special simulation lab where they train doctors and nurses in Basic Life Support and Advanced Life Support which allows the health care professionals to better treat patients with an emergency medical condition."

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...last.

Lurker4Long:
SANDF Members on Combat Lifesaver Course.

"As per the SA Army doctrine, each section must have a Combat Lifesaver Course to be the first to assist in a combat scenario should a member get injured and require emergency stabilisation or any medical intervention. Their role is to keep the injured member stable until they can be sent to the Ops Medic for further observations. They are able to apply techniques, do hemostatic dressing application and put up intravenous lines, which are just a few skills that they are taught.

The course has its foundation in Tactical Combat Casualty Care, where tactics are vital in keeping members alive on the battlefield. Its realism to actual combat conditions comes to life when students are put through various combat simulations to put to use the medical skills that they are taught.

The skills a Combat Lifesaver Course is given are based on the MARCH acronym, on how to treat Massive bleeding, open the Airway, assist the Respiratory system, assess Circulation and treat Head injuries, Hypothermia and Hemorrhage control. On completion of the course, a special certificate ceremony is held to pay homage to all those that have lost their lives in the battle. The Satellite regularly trains specialists in Units such as Pathfinders, Special Forces, SA Police Service Special Task Force and Maritime Reaction Squadron.

Bloemfontein Emergency Care Training Satellite also has a special simulation lab where they train doctors and nurses in Basic Life Support and Advanced Life Support which allows the health care professionals to better treat patients with an emergency medical condition."

I was scrolling from below, the whole scene felt so real

Last large scale algerian army exercise



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YECvHzn4f0c


At 03: 47 first appearance of the BMP terminator in this kind of exercise

BM-30 Smerch [MLRS] , algeria

Pic 1 : Sukhoi 24 with air air refueling pod , sukhoi 30 ,

Pic 2 : Yak 130 .

Proforce received the President of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traore at the first edition of the International Exhibition of Safety, Security and Defense Synergy (SYSDEF) held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso where we showcased our products and business offerings.

Shaytun:
Proforce received the President of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traore at the first edition of the International Exhibition of Safety, Security and Defense Synergy (SYSDEF) held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso where we showcased our products and business offerings.

Love Proforce aggressive marketing strategies

DRC operating CH-4 UAVs

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the latest African nation to put the CH-4 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) into service after ordering nine from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

Three CH-4s and a ground control station were seen at N’Dolo Airport in Kinshasha in a video that circulated last month, with one spotted taxiing past a hangar where another two were parked.

Satellite imagery seems to indicate a new hangar for the UAVs had been completed by May this year, with a taxiway leading off the main runway. Construction began around March.

Three CH-4s were apparently delivered from China in May out of an order for nine, Africa Intelligence reported, with remaining deliveries by year-end.

The UAVs have been acquired to help combat rebels in the conflict-ridden DRC, and form part of numerous other arms sales aimed at bolstering the DRC’s armed forces. South Africa, through Paramount, is for example supplying six Mwari light combat aircraft and Maatla light 4×4 protected vehicles.

The CH-4 was introduced in 2011 and has been in Chinese military service since 2014. The aircraft has a maximum take-off weight of 1 330 kg and a payload of 345 kg in addition to its electro-optical turret and synthetic aperture radar. The CH-4 has a wingspan of 18 metres and length of 8.5 metres. It is powered by a 100 hp class piston engine giving a top speed of 235 km/h and cruise speed of 180 km/h with endurance of up to 40 hours. It can carry a varied armament including cluster bombs, guided bombs and missiles.

The CH-4 has been acquired by Algeria, Jordan, Iraq, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, while China’s similar Wing Loong is – in Africa – in service in Morocco and Egypt. Algeria is an enthusiastic user of Chinese UAVs, and took delivery of five CH-3s for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), and five armed CH-4s – five armed CH-5s and Wing Loong IIs will also be delivered. Nigeria received several CH-3A UAVs in 2014 to combat Boko Haram terrorists, and is taking delivery of two Wing Loong II, four CH-4, and two CH-3 aircraft. Nigeria’s military is also getting Bayraktar TB2 UAVs from Turkey.

The United States’ unwillingness to supply export customers with armed UAVs means that nations like China are stepping in to fill the gap. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) notes that China has delivered 282 combat UAVs to 17 countries over the last decade, making it the world’s top seller of armed UAVs while the United States has only delivered 12 combat UAVs abroad in the same time (to France and the United Kingdom).

https://www.defenceweb.co.za/aerospace/aerospace-aerospace/drc-operating-ch-4-uavs/

N

MINUSCA's new Force Commander, Corps General Humphrey Nyone, arrived on 05 July 2023 in Bangui, received military honors and reviewed the troops, on 06 July, spoke with MINUSCA Sector Commanders. He was also received earlier by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Chief of the MINUSCA, Valentine Rugwabiza.
Appointed as the Commander of Forces by the Secretary General on 15 May 2023, Corps General Humphrey Nyone is a distinguished General Officer with over 29 years experience in the Zambian Armed Forces. He also has extensive experience in peacekeeping operations, having served as senior officer of the DDRRR in the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2006 to 2007.

When you leave your house intending to go sailing, in the rain.
You see Navy recruits getting drenched doing PT, the sun comes out and a long lunch at a pavement café suddenly looks irresistible.

Lurker4Long:
When you leave your house intending to go sailing, in the rain.
You see Navy recruits getting drenched doing PT, the sun comes out and a long lunch at a pavement café suddenly looks irresistible.

Stay away from water — Ancient proverb

Odunayaw:
Stay away from water — Ancient proverb

My targeted timeframe of sailing the Cape-to-Rio Yacht Race is impervious to proverbs, ancient or otherwise!

Gabon Air Force to acquire a C295 transport aircraft under a loan agreement

Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba recently gave the greenlight for a CFA31 billion ($52 million) loan to purchase an Airbus C295 military transport aircraft for the country’s Air Force.

The decision for the loan to be secured from Spain’s Santander Bank was taken during a recent cabinet meeting on 26 June, chaired by the president. The meeting approved a draft legal text from the executive requesting authorisation to go ahead with the plan.

According to the communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, the President requested the government to approve the loan in line with the country’s constitution.

“This draft text, adopted in application of the provisions of article 47 of the Constitution, authorises the state of Gabon to contract a loan for an amount of €47 676 067,” reads a part of the communiqué.

“The funds from this specific loan will be used by the Gabonese government to purchase a CASA C295 MTA aircraft in order to enhance the operational capabilities of the Air Force,” it added.

It is not clear when the loan will be obtained or when the country will take delivery of the aircraft. Airbus has not registered the order yet. The acquisition accounts for about 20% of Gabon’s 2023 defence budget.

Gabon’s Air Force already flies a CN235M, which first flew in 1991. It was recently overhauled by Airbus in Spain. Several C-130 Hercules/L-100s remain in storage. The Air Force has few serviceable aircraft aside from a Puma, three Gazelles, an ATR 42 (for VIP use), a Falcon 900 (for VIP use). The fighter force comprises six former South African Air Force Mirage F1 AZ fighters; to further assist training fighter pilots, South Africa supplied two MB326 Impalas in 2013.

The Garde Republicaine Gabona flies a couple of EC135T2+ helicopters, two EC120Bs, and an EC225LP Super Puma.

Gabon has been acquiring numerous batches of military hardware over the last decade. In 2019 it emerged that the Chinese VN1 8×8 armoured vehicles were in service with Gabon – this is an export variant based on the ZBL-08 (Type 08) IFV that is fully amphibious, weighing 21 tonnes. Other relatively recently delivered hardware includes Dongfeng EQ2050 vehicles and, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), 19 Type-07P infantry fighting vehicles, also from China.

Gabon took delivery of eight Aravis IFVs from French company Nexter between 2015 and 2016 and 24 Matador APCs from Paramount in 2010, followed by ten Maverick internal security vehicles. Five VAB-VTT vehicles were supplied second hand by France for Gabon’s UN peacekeeping forces. Last year Chinese VP11 4×4 armoured vehicles were seen in service for the first time.

https://www.defenceweb.co.za/aerospace/aerospace-aerospace/gabon-air-force-to-acquire-a-c295-transport-aircraft-under-a-loan-agreement/

RDM aiming to double production, expand facilities as artillery demand soars

Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM) is running 24-hour-a-day shifts at its plants across South Africa and is investing hundreds of millions of rands in their expansion in order to keep up with the massive global demand for artillery ammunition.

This was revealed by RDM CEO Jan-Patrick Helmsen during a recent military attache demonstration at the company’s Boskop facility outside Potchefstroom. Helmsen explained that with the current unstable, uncertain world at the moment, countries are spending on their national security and the defence business globally is doing well. Particularly in Europe, the trend of shrinking defence budgets is reversing. Indeed, global military spending again exceeded $2 trillion last year.

There is huge demand for artillery around the world at present as countries are seeing that their magazines are empty and have realised they have little war stock. RDM has received tens of millions of euros worth of orders over the last year, mainly for 155 mm and 40 mm ammunition – one Asian customer recently ordered 400 000 rounds of 40 mm ammunition.

These orders are keeping the company’s 2 441 employees busy across its five sites: Laingsdale, which focuses on fuses and safe/arming devices, employs 160 people; the Wellington facility, which focuses on energetic explosive and raw materials, employs 185; the Somerset West facility, which produces multi-calibre propellant and 40 mm grenades, employs 1 202 people; Boskop does explosive loading, assembly and packing as well as plant engineering and employs 520 people; and Boksburg carries out steel forging of artillery and mortar shells and aircraft bomb cases and employs 374 people.

Boksburg has the capacity to produce 100 000 shells a year, but with a substantial investment of hundreds of millions of rands, the intention is to increase this to 150 000 shells a year, Helmsen told defenceWeb. The Somerset West facility can manufacture 400 000 charges a year, but the company aims to ramp this up to 600 000 a year.

RDM was established in 2008 after Rheinmetall acquired a 51% stake in the loss-making Denel Munitions. The 51% stake was important because it gave Rheinmetall control over the company and this is important as “we know how to make businesses,” Helmsen said. Although Denel is struggling at the moment, the new management has a plan to go big again, and RDM will support them and help them in the market.

Since establishment, RDM has been growing from strength to strength. In 2022, the Rheinmetall Group’s weapons and ammunition division recorded an operating result growth of 40%, as well as a new all-time high in incoming orders, amounting to around three billion euros. Two-thirds of the growth can be attributed to Rheinmetall Denel Munition. According to Rheinmetall, “this development clearly reflects the increased demand of ammunition by the armed forces of many countries, in Europe and elsewhere”.

For the group, the 848 million euro multi-year contract for the supply of various types of ammunition to the Hungarian armed forces and the 192 million euro contract for the delivery of an explosives factory in the same country are “particularly noteworthy”, with RDM heavily involved in these contracts.

As a whole, Rheinmetall saw operating profits grow by 27% in 2022 to 754 million euros, with a record order book of 26.6 billion euros. For 2023, the group expects that “sales will continue to grow with stable high margins”. In particular, consolidated sales are forecast to increase from 6.4 billion euros in 2022 to 7.4-7.6 billion euros this year.

Announcing its 2022 financial results earlier this year, Rheinmetall’s chief executive Armin Papperger said the group remains “on a very positive trajectory” and “takes responsibility in a changing world.” According to the CEO, “the epochal shift” triggered by the war by Russia against Ukraine has ushered in “a new era for Rheinmetall”. Numerous countries have recognized “the urgent need to step up their efforts for security”.

https://www.defenceweb.co.za/editors-pick/rdm-aiming-to-double-production-expand-facilities-as-artillery-demand-soars/

ISS: MINUSMA leaves Mali – will regional leaders step up on security?

On 30 June the United Nations (UN) Security Council voted unanimously to end the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) as of 31 December 2023. The vote follows a request by Mali’s transitional government for the mission to be withdrawn ‘without delay.’

MINUSMA was deployed in July 2013. Northern Mali had been occupied by armed groups in 2012, and was liberated by the Franco-African military intervention launched in January 2013.

In May 2022 Mali withdrew from the G5 Sahel and soon after that, the French-led Barkhane and Takuba forces departed the country. The end of MINUSMA marks another step in dismantling the international security response to the crisis in Mali and the Sahel.

Cracks appeared between Bamako and Paris as early as January 2013 over the liberation of Kidal. But the active deconstruction of bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms was triggered by Mali’s realignment with Russia after the West African country’s second coup in May 2021, and the ensuing diplomatic crisis with France. Mali’s decision to explore new military alliances reflects a dissatisfaction with the partnerships forged over the past decade. Lessons must be learnt from this.

Diplomatic and geopolitical tensions – exacerbated by the polarisation between the West and Russia over the Ukraine war – have also tested Mali’s regional partnerships. Relations with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and G5 Sahel were most affected. Mali’s transitional authorities perceive both bodies as being under French influence.

France’s leading role in MINUSMA’s initial political and military set-up and its position as the penholder on the Malian situation at the UN Security Council have fed successive Malian governments’ suspicion about the mission.

As a result, the transitional authorities have denounced the politicisation of human rights issues by Western powers, after civilian deaths and abuses occurred during operations carried out by the Malian Armed Forces since 2022. This is in addition to the limitations of MINUSMA’s military mandate, which mainly provided for stabilisation operations and didn’t meet the country’s counter-terrorism objectives.

However, Mali’s demand for the withdrawal of MINUSMA carries significant political, security and humanitarian risks for the country and the region. Although the government seems confident in its ability to assume full control post-MINUSMA, a clearly defined alternative strategy is needed.

At this stage, enhanced military cooperation with Russia and bilateral collaboration with some immediate neighbours seem to be at the heart of Mali’s strategy. However, the authorities must remember that solutions from outside Africa that entail financial or technical dependency come with external constraints that could affect their durability and effectiveness.

MINUSMA’s withdrawal and the cross-border nature of the risks facing the Sahel and West Africa also call on the African Union (AU) and ECOWAS to play a greater role in supporting Mali’s government efforts.

These African organisations must draw lessons from their interventions when the crisis started. They effectively steered political dialogue between Malian actors in the early days, and mobilised troops to recover the country’s occupied regions. But they were sidelined in the organisation and management of the political and military response in 2013. Amid a leadership struggle, the UN Security Council favoured MINUSMA over the African-led International Support Mission to Mali.

Most importantly, the AU and ECOWAS must listen to the needs expressed by Mali, despite its suspension from these organisations.

Support from the AU, through its Mission for Mali and the Sahel (MISAHEL), should prioritise a political approach aimed at stabilising the situation in the short term. MISAHEL does however, need the necessary financial and human resources for the task.

ECOWAS can offer an appropriate framework for tackling regional challenges. Its member states have advocated for a political approach to transitional regimes, and a security response that supports the Accra Initiative – a coalition of West African countries aimed at preventing terrorism spreading from the Sahel.

Regarding Mali’s internal political and security challenges, the AU and ECOWAS should muster the necessary diplomatic resources to support the international mediation led by Algeria. The goal would be to relaunch the implementation of the peace agreement. Algeria’s election as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in January will facilitate African efforts in this direction.

In consultation with the countries concerned, the AU and ECOWAS should facilitate the resumption of Mali’s dialogue at the highest level. This could restore confidence between central Sahel states and revitalise their regional security cooperation. A framework for exchanging experiences and improving counter-terrorism responses should be considered.

A holistic approach will be vital. In addition to military interventions, non-military measures such as incentivising combatants to disengage from violent extremist groups are needed. Groups can also be weakened by targeting their supply and funding chains, and delivering essential public services to vulnerable areas.

The withdrawal of MINUSMA paves the way for more assertive African leadership in addressing the Sahel’s insecurity. It provides an opportunity to constructively redefine multilateral relations in a region that has seen damaging institutional rivalries between the UN, AU, ECOWAS, G5 Sahel and, to a lesser extent, the Accra Initiative. It also enables ECOWAS and the AU to implement African solutions.

National and multilateral players should act on the lessons learnt from 10 years of intervention in the Sahel. The region is at a crossroads and will find it hard to withstand the shock of another decade of instability.

Written by Fahiraman Rodrigue Koné, Sahel Project Manager, Djiby Sow, Senior Researcher and Hassane Koné, Senior Researcher, ISS Regional Office for West Africa, the Sahel Basin and Lake Chad.

https://issafrica.org/iss-today/minusma-leaves-mali-will-regional-leaders-step-up-on-security

The ECOWAS neighborhood...

SAAF randoms.

"The Eye of the Needle", in the Drakensberg.

Meanwhile, in Mozambique...

Production of the first batch of Cayuse Warrior Plus Scout/Attack helicopters for the Nigerian Army Aviation Corp underway at the MDH production facility in Arizona.

Lol they all left him hanging

Mumu man allowing his people get slaughtered for someone else's ego

US military outreach programme in Ghana during Ex African lion

It seems Nigeria now operate Ziyan UAS Blowfish A3 UAV .

A total of 24 AS killed, 5 captured live, 33 IEDs and one VBIED recovered in a Joint US, Somali, Kenya Special forces raid on multiple AS locations.

Operation Thunder Strike 3 Update

Joint Task Force (SNA, KDF, US Army) inserted commandos in Hagar area.

JTF Team captured & destroyed an IED factory & SVBIED.

Al-Shabaab terror cell responsible (3 Kenyans + 2 Ethiopians) killed in action.

JTF Team successfully extracted.

Ps: apologies to anyone who found the 1st image disturbing

Last pic is Kdf US patrol in Somalia on a different date