₦airaland Forum

MiddleDimension:
Why don't you bring this to Nigeria and make a business out of it? You will become rich over night, even richer that the Openheimers and the owners of your largest minerals company

I am not in the solar pv business. That reference to "independent power producer" is because households with residential solar Pv can now sell excess power back to the city of Cape Town.
Our company does however, finance any company willing to venture elsewhere on our continent if it meets our criteria.

OFF-TOPIC

GreenandGold, Jl115, almost forgot:

I have been energy secure for a week now. On the weekend, in winter with 95% cloud cover, I was still producing 5 times my daily consumption.
From November 01, I become an "independent power producer", as I'll start selling all the extra power generated to the City of Cape Town!

Might mean something, might not.
All 23 South Africans currently in Niger - embassy staff and few civilians - will be evacuated this week.

RDM developing artillery ammunition with 150+ km range

Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM) continues to evolve its ammunition portfolio, with the development of a ramjet-powered 155 mm artillery round that will have a range of 155 km keeping the company at the forefront of long-range artillery ammunition.

In 2019 RDM set a world record for artillery, firing a rocket-assisted 155 mm projectile out to 76 km. Now it is aiming to double that distance with the new ramjet round.

“I’m very proud of our artillery ammunition,” outgoing RDM CEO Jan-Patrick Helmsen recently told military attaches during a tour of the company’s Boskop facility. “We have the longest artillery arms in the world.” However, he said the company has seen competition slowly creeping in for its VLAP (Velocity Enhanced Artillery Projectile) ammunition and so is looking at other technologies like ramjet propulsion to stay ahead.

Although the ramjet round has a longer range than conventional artillery, is has reduced payload. However, the ramjet round is much cheaper than missiles with similar range. Some test firing of the new RDM ramjet rounds has taken place, but further work is still ongoing, as it is a challenging endeavour to perfect ramjet technology.

There are very few other companies exploring the use of ramjets for artillery. Boeing and Nammo are two that have collaborated on 155 mm ramjet artillery shells, which will have ranges of up to 150 km. Their Ramjet 155 round is to be compatible with all existing NATO 155 mm guns. India is also exploring the technology, and aims to have rounds capable of reaching in excess of 60 km. RDM believes it ramjet rounds will be able to achieve some of the longest ranges on the market.

RDM’s experience with rocket technology is assisting its ramjet work. RDM supplies rocket components to South African and international companies, including Denel Dynamics and Thales. It manufactures rocket motors, warheads and launchers, including for FZ-90 rockets, and motors, propellants, warheads and safety and arming devices for the Umkhonto, Ingwe, Mokopa, C-RAM and A-Darter missiles manufactured by Denel. RDM rocket expertise is also incorporated into 68 mm and 127 mm rockets, FT5 anti-tank weapons and the Plofadder minefield breaching system.

More recently, it has worked with the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) on its Phoenix sounding rocket series, which have been launched from the Denel Overberg Test Range. RDM and the UKZN are cooperating on rocket propulsion, including a liquid propellant rocket engine project named SAFFIRE (South African First Integrated Rocket Engine).

Rocket technology is also making its way into RDM’s mortar range. Few countries manufacture rocket-assisted mortars, some being China, Serbia, South Korea and Iran, but now RDM has a rocket-assisted 120 mm mortar that extends range to 15 km, although RDM hopes to increase range to 20 km. The company’s mortar range covers 60, 81 and 120 mm rounds.

Although RDM prides itself on range, lethality and accuracy, it says it is good at lethality and range with its mortars but not precision. However, it is collaborating with Northrop Grumman to create a highly accurate 120 mm ‘sniper mortar’.

Other new products include an airbust 40 mm grenade round ideal for obscured targets. (RDM manufactures low, medium and high velocity 40 mm rounds.) The company says the airburst round is easily programmable, simple to integrate and is jam/spoof resistant. A device is fitted on the launcher’s Picatinny rail and rounds are programmed as necessary. Another relatively new product is a self-destruct 40 mm round – this ensures that no unexploded rounds are left on the battlefield.

A staple product for RDM has been the Mk 80 series of aircraft bombs, available in Mk 81 (120 kg), Mk 82 (250 kg), Mk 83 (440 kg) and Mk 84 (880 kg) weights. The company has now developed a small (50 kg) lightweight bomb that is ideal for small aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). It has also come out with a ‘bunker buster’ precision strike warhead that can penetrate up to 1.8 metres using a delayed fuse. Helmsen told defenceWeb that RDM is already talking to potential customers on the new aircraft bomb range.

https://www.defenceweb.co.za/editors-pick/rdm-developing-artillery-ammunition-with-150-km-range/

bidexiii:
How We Lost Three Officers, 22 Soldiers, 4 Pilots in Niger Ambush, Jet Crash – DHQ

By: Zagazola Makama

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) says three officers, 22 soldiers, 2 pilots and 2 crew members were killed during ambush by bandits and helicopter crash that occurred in Wushishi and Shiroro LGA of Niger state.

The Director of Defence Media Operations Edward Buba, disclosed this during a biweekly briefing at the Defence Headquarters, Abuja.

He said the attack happened on August 14, when troops on operations responded to a distress call were ambushed by bandits in Wushishi LGA, crashed in Chukuba village, Shiroro LGA.

The operations also witness Nigeria Air Force fighter jet crashes while conveying wounded soldiers from a scene.

During the attack, several military personnel were killed by terrorists, abducting residents and rustling cattle at Kundu village near Zungeru.

At the briefing, Buba did not give the cause of the crash but said investigation was ongoing to determine the factors that led to the accident.

“Our troops entered into an ambush in the general area of Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger state.

“The ambush led to a firefight which resulted in the death of three officers and 14 soldiers, while seven were wounded in action.

“As a result of this, there was need for casualty evacuation whereby the air force helicopter was dispatched for evacuation of the wounded personnels inbound to Kaduna, the helicopter crashed.

"It crashed with 14 bodies. personnel previously killed in action, seven of the previously wounded in action personnel, two pilots of the helicopter and two crew members”, he said.

The military official speaks of a helicopter and yet this media report mentions "fighter jet". When are we going to get defence-literate journalists on this continent?

New SAN hydrographic vessel “on track”

SAS Nelson Mandela (A187), the new SA Navy (SAN) hydrographic survey vessel (HSV), is “on track” with hull construction complete.

She is the major component of Project Hotel and is being constructed, assembled and fitted at Sandock Austral’s Durban shipyard.

Armscor is project manager and its Senior Manager: Corporate Communication Liziwe Nkonyana reports in addition to the new HSV, other components of Project Hotel are going well.

These include three survey motorboats (SMBs) with the first completed and with the SAN for operational testing and evaluation (OTE). SMBs two and three and the sea boat are complete and “currently in preservation”. They will, Nkonyana, told defenceWeb, be delivered at the same time as the HSV.

She chose not to answer defenceWeb’s questions on commencement of sea trials and handover of A187. An indication came from SAN Deputy Chief, Rear Admiral Bubele Mhlana, when he updated Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence (JSCD) in May. He told parliamentarians the envisaged handover date is March 2025, with an accelerated handover date of October next year targeted. The vessel is due to be launched in March next year and will be taken into the fleet post OTE.

Hull construction of A187 is complete with the ship’s funnels still to be positioned and fitted. The funnel points are presently used for equipment access and will be placed when this access route is no longer needed.

As far as fitting is concerned, Nkonyana said most ancillary equipment including piping, flooring, electrical equipment, bracketing, cable tray laying, equipment placement as well as pre-installation activities are currently being installed or underway.

The final Project Hotel component – an upgrade of the SAN hydrographic office – has been handed to the maritime service and is operational.

In total the hydrographic upgrade will cost R2.7 billion with the bulk – R1.9 billion – disbursed by May.

Nelson Mandela, built to the Vard Marine 9 105 design, will be equipped with state-of-the-art survey equipment including multi- and single-beam echo sounders as well as side-scan sonar and a seabed sampler to recover seafloor and underlying sub-strata material for detailed analytical and testing purposes.

The 95m long vessel has a strengthened bow to allow for operations in the Southern Ocean in the vicinity of Antarctica. With a 10 000 nautical mile range and rated top speed of 18 knots, long voyages present no problem.

https://www.defenceweb.co.za/featured/new-san-hydrographic-vessel-on-track/

Milkor establishes Polish division, signs MoU with Germany’s AeroData

Milkor Polska, the newest addition to the Milkor Group, has kicked off its operations in Poland by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with AeroData AG to bring airborne maritime surveillance into the unmanned domain.

The MoU was signed at the Paris Air Show in June, bringing together Milkor South Africa and AeroData, which supplies airborne maritime surveillance sensors and systems. AeroData will provide a maritime surveillance solution for the Milkor 380 medium-altitude long endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV).

“We are bringing new capabilities to Poland, especially in the unmanned aerial domain with our Milkor 380 UCAV,” said Juandré de Bruyn, Managing Director of Milkor Polska. “Europe is investing a lot into new UAV technologies and our advanced aerospace offerings fits into that space. There is a need in Europe for ITAR (US International Traffic in Arms Regulations) free platforms of this size and calibre.”

The Milkor 380 has a payload agnostic architecture, making these collaborations and opportunities possible, the company said. It enables end users to have a wide variety of choices on which payload option to have integrated to fit their specific needs. “This gives Milkor Polska a unique edge on the UAV market in Europe,” the company added.

The flagship Milkor 380 has a wingspan of 18 metres, endurance of up to 35 hours and payload capacity of 210 kg (maximum takeoff weight is 1 300 kg). With such a large payload, a wide array of weapons and equipment can be carried, such as synthetic aperture radar, jammers, electro-optical gimbal etc. Five hardpoints can carry precision guided weapons like the AL TARIQ X-series and HALCON Desert Sting or Thales Belgium FZ602 rocket launchers etc. All avionics, communications and payload integration capabilities of the aircraft have been developed in-house. The Milkor 380 was unveiled in 2018 and started taxi testing in early 2023.

Milkor said its new Polish company will serve the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and Europe, with Poland an ideal location to establish a European presence. “We have been anticipating Poland’s rise as military power in Europe as we have noticed their efforts in the past few years. This trend has recently been confirmed by Poland allocating 4.25% of their GDP to their defence budget, the highest in NATO. We would like to contribute to their success”, de Bruyn said. He added that Milkor Polska has the potential to give new life to the private defence industry in Poland as it intends to export to the rest of NATO from there.

Milkor Polska will be exhibiting at the MSPO exhibition between 5 and 8 September in Kielce, Poland. The company will be showcasing a wide variety of weapons as well as other systems that make up their air, land and sea offerings, giving the Polish industry an opportunity to get acquainted with their newest partner.

Milkor has been expanding around the world and now has offices in India, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Poland as well as South Africa. With the shifting geopolitical landscape, Milkor believes it is well positioned to make the most of these changing conditions and is setting its sights on meeting new global defence demands. This has seen its product lineup grow from 40 mm single-and multi-shot grenade launchers to UAVs, armoured vehicles, and patrol craft.

https://www.defenceweb.co.za/featured/milkor-establishes-polish-division-signs-mou-with-germanys-aerodata/

Faithful007:
You know that when you carry a France narrative or even Russia for everything going on in Africa, you're indirectly agreeing with white supremacists who say that black are dumb and can't think for themselves.

When has this ever stopped some here from making common cause with the supremacists and regurgitating their talking points if it alligns with their mal-formed worldview?

Another excellent article from Van Niekerk!

If ever there was a miserable reason to overthrow the constitutional order of a country, last week’s coup in Niger was it.

The chief of the Presidential Guard, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, reached the retirement age of 62. His boss, president Mohamed Bazoum, tired of the military officer who resented taking orders from a trade unionist, suggested that this would be a good time for him to go back to his farm.
Instead, Tchiani and his guards took Bazoum and his family hostage at gunpoint, threatened a bloodbath if the military did not fall into line, and Tchiani was declared head of state.
Tchiani’s vague and lame excuses for his action provided cover for an elite in Niamey resistant to Bazoum’s reforms, who have willingly embraced the coup.

They were further emboldened by a social media avalanche that has successfully presented the coup as representing a higher purpose — a revolt against French neo-colonialism.

To be clear, neither Russia nor the Wagner mercenaries, from what we know, instigated the coup. However, the post-coup stream of lies and propaganda has closely followed the disinformation playbook from Ukraine and elsewhere and has been hugely effective in framing the narrative.

Silas Paigas, a social media expert at the Abuja-based verification platform, Dubawa.org, has investigated the pro-Russian influencers on social media. One of the most prominent is an account on TikTok owned by an individual called Mutapabere.

Mutapabere, who is Zimbabwean, glorifies Russia and China while deriding France and the West as the enemy and urging military upheavals across Africa.

According to Paigas’ research, Mutapabere boasts a staggering one million followers and has produced more than 2,000 videos that have attracted hundreds of thousands of reactions.

His video from Russia was posted on Thursday and by the end of the weekend had been viewed over 600,000 times and attracted 5,000 comments. Followers called for more coups in Africa and advocated closer ties with Russia.

Mutapabere has close ties with other accounts that glorify the “Russia-China coup” in Africa and the military coups. “These accounts resonate across multiple social media platforms,” says Paigas, “disseminating the same captivating content”.

Many of those who follow, pick up, comment or repost this content are the same social media accounts and trolls that usually support and amplify Russian disinformation. Unsurprisingly, Ecowas is being cast as the new Nato, scorned as “puppets of the West”, with special vilification reserved for Nigerian president Bola Tinubu. As the chairman of Ecowas, he was the prime sponsor of the tough resolution declaring zero tolerance for coups that was hammered out in Abuja last Sunday.

Nigeria provides 60% of its neighbour’s electricity supply and on Thursday, after Abuja basically switched off Niger’s lights, hacktivists launched an attack on Nigeria’s critical digital infrastructure.

Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency identified the culprits as a religiously motivated group, but sources in Nigeria said the group was a Russian cybercrime gang in disguise.

“The Nigerian government decided to stand with French imperialists and fight Niger,” the group, Anonymous Sudan, posted: “No problem: we will stand with our African and Muslim brothers and you will be f***ked. French plans in the Sahel and West Africa will not succeed.”

The propaganda is effective among Francophone West Africans who are fed up with the French and are willing to believe conspiracy theories propagated on social media. But while the former colonial power has a lot to answer for its past, France is not the prime enemy nor the source of the crisis in the Sahel today.
The real menace stalking the region and causing shivers down to the Atlantic Coast is the jihadists, who have inflicted unimaginable cruelty on vulnerable populations.

The rest here:
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-08-04-a-dangerous-moment-for-west-africa-as-niger-coup-fuels-escalation-of-regional-jihadist-wars/

SAS Manthatisi spotted at Langebaan, home of 4 Special Forces Regiment ("Iron Fist From The Sea!").

Meanwhile, in Mozambique...

Odunayaw:
What do you think SADC is doing right though?

Compared with other regional blocks, then yes SADC is doing some things right.
Judged by its own plans and objectives of where the region should be by now, it is failing.

GreenandGold:
....wait.. is that not too early for the flowers to bloom?

It's crazy!

GreenandGold, continuing with the theme of crazy weather:
The flowers are out in Paternoster and the west coast, a full month before spring!

Great input Odunayaw and Faithful007!

Faithful007:
I have nothing against the debt write off.

Not really much of a debt write-off: most of that $25bn is historical debt to the Soviet Union, not Russia. It was never going to be paid.
Like most of what Vlad the Thug does, the so-called debt relief is smoke and mirrors.

21st century beads and trinkets for the simple minded.

BTW, I see you've now been made a Saffa!
Do tell us for which team you play in our coastal vs inland brag contest.

Faithful007:
African leaders are just wierd people. Russia broke out of this deal promising to give free grains to only six countries in Africa, five of which are his allies.

Yet only two countries, Egypt and South Africa voiced opposition to it. Two countries with the highest Global Food Security Index and Economic Complexity Index scores in Africa, who these things should bother less.

Vlad the Thug has completely lost the plot. On the eve of the Russia-Africa summit he kiboshes the only thing -apart from weapons- his shithole country can trade with about 12 countries on the continent. And then wonders why only 17 show up, compared to the 40+ at the last summit. Then he rants about colonialism and proceeds to offer trinkets, like any other colonialist.

RSA (fertiliser is the only thing of worth we buy from Vlad's decrepit "gas station with a govt/nukes" -and since March 2022 we've found other suppliers, thereby relegating that backwater further down from the 58th largest trading partner with which it competed with that leviathan Malawi), Egypt (major buyer of Ukrainian grain and Russian weapons, and not worth pissing off because of such minor geo-strategic concerns as Camp David, Libya, Sudan etc) and Kenya (pres Ruto deliberately down-rated his participation by sending his Foreign Minister - who told Vlad that pulling out of the deal was "a stab in the back" represent far more of African economic power than Russia will ever do.

Faithful007:
Isn't it obvious that this is a no brainer?

You will soon learn - employing an analogy from the glorious game of cricket - that preserving your stumps is sometimes best served by ignoring some deliveries.

Brilliant article on Niger:

Despite being close to the French and the Americans, Bazoum was no one’s lackey, being especially aware of anti-French feeling in the capital. He opened channels, for instance, to negotiate and search for peace with the Jihadists and could be publicly critical of his Western allies.

There does remain one hope of reversing the coup – the diplomatic efforts of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas). Its chairperson, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, was quick to denounce the putsch and his awareness of the seriousness of the threat to the region was seen in his rapid response, immediately dispatching a delegation to Niamey including the president of Benin, Patrice Talon.

Sources in Abuja say the situation is personal for Tinubu. His early political career was in the struggle against the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. But he is also keenly aware of the impact on Nigeria, which has a long and porous border with Niger.

Cross-border insurgency and banditry between Zamfara state in Nigeria and southern Niger has increased over the past few years while Boko Haram has run operations across the border for more than a decade.

Tinubu has shown a willingness to make tough and painful choices with his economic and security reforms at home. Regionally, he has indicated that he wants to return Ecowas to the policy of zero tolerance for coups. At one point, Ecowas was prepared to send intervention forces into recalcitrant countries.

Ecowas’ lack of political will and feeble responses to the coups of the past six years effectively encouraged further coups.

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-07-28-niger-coup-key-african-democracy-bites-sahelian-dust/

Shaytun:
The propaganda machine of Wagner is working on overdrive 😂

Yep. How anybody gets taken in by this patent nonsense truly boggles.

Lurker4Long:
P1572 (future SAS King Shaka Zulu) and SAS Manthatisi, 20 July 2023.

SAS Manthatisi spotted all along the Cape Peninsula.

Faithful007:
I doubt if it's Russia enabled or anybody enabled. Of course, Russia would capitalize on with but it doesn't mean they triggered it. Internet misinformation, conspiracy theories and brainwashed people waving Russian flags don't mean much.

You can bet anything those Russian arseholes will capitalise as soon as France, the US and the EU suspend co-operation.
This is what, the 7th coup in that region since 2020?

Talk about a labour of love: somebody reproduced a scale model of a full South African Mechanised Brigade.

Lurker4Long:
Odunayaw, another one! Will be available shortly.

...

GreenandGold:
Who names these ships, Shaka Zulu deserves an aircraft carrier, that's not fair. 😤😤

Well, the MMIPVs are replacing the "warrior-class" vessels.

GreenandGold:
...aaaaaah! the "reserve your table first" establishments, I got used to the "show-up and eat your wallet out" ones. I'm too much of a peasant.

Nice places, my lady is looking for those "less known" locations, Instagram things. I decided to settle with a Gen-Z, so that's what I get.

How can one live without Dineplan on one's mobile?
As for Gen-Z, you made your bed...

P1572 (future SAS King Shaka Zulu) and SAS Manthatisi, 20 July 2023.