Website? Dude, it's in the cloud, see it?

Lurker4Long:

A press release is what you or your PR agency write about yourself/own product, and then send to the media. Just because a reputable outlet runs it, does not mean the claims you make in that release are true/legitimate.

Just clearing that up; not saying anything about "Gray Insignia", who don't seem to have a website.

Sizzorkay:
Website? Dude, it's in the cloud, see it?

I just see gray!

JOSCOFELIX:
wrong thread

No excuse

I was called to fix a desktop at a NAFBASE here in our area .

I saw like 6 - 10 white guys working and Maintaining some A29s

I can count up to 12 A29s Abi Na my eye. Some pics sha



Though the pilots are undergoing training here 24-7

The funny thing we have a national park here reserved but herdsmen have taken over it with more than 5000 of them in dat Bush..

Why can't try take the training to their doorstep.

So herdsmen are bandits now or what issues don't you actually understand?

For those interested in military logistics.

Mozambique: SADC exhibits strategic airlift competence

Download report here..

https://mailchi.mp/49ac07fa665f/subscribe-to-download

lionel4power:
For those interested in military logistics.

Mozambique: SADC exhibits strategic airlift competence

Download report here..

https://mailchi.mp/49ac07fa665f/subscribe-to-download

Something I hailed in the not too distant past

lionel4power:
For those interested in military logistics.

Mozambique: SADC exhibits strategic airlift competence

Download report here..

https://mailchi.mp/49ac07fa665f/subscribe-to-download

Your link is not accepting a gmail address.

Odunayaw:
Something I hailed in the not too distant past

Where's your patriotism?

Lurker4Long:
Where's your patriotism?

Why are you doing this comrade

Odunayaw:
Why are you doing this comrade

Seriously though, SADC needs to move beyond the current ad-hoc arrangement to a pooled and shared airlift capability, akin to the EU's.
The agreement is that this should happen by 2025.

With budgets being what they are, it makes sense for the bloc to jointly procure and operate strategic airlift. Botswana already offered land to base the logistics hub and SADC needs to get a move on. Angola cannot be expected to continue shouldering the burden alone with its Il-76.

I don't much care whether it's the A400M or the Il-76, as long as they procure something. And also fix and standardise the rail links. As it is, Zimbabwe and Mozambique have allowed rail to completely degrade.

Lurker4Long:


Seriously though, SADC needs to move beyond the current ad-hoc arrangement to a pooled and shared airlift capability, akin to the EU's.
The agreement is that this should happen by 2025.

With budgets being what they are, it makes sense for the bloc to jointly procure and operate strategic airlift. Botswana already offered land to base the logistics hub and SADC needs to get a move on. Angola cannot be expected to continue shouldering the burden alone with its Il-76.

I don't much care whether it's the A400M or the Il-76, as long as they procure something. And also fix and standardise the rail links. As it is, Zimbabwe and Mozambique have allowed rail to completely degrade.

The SAMIM deployment is sure to make this come quick.

I wonder why the SADC has a seeming unity above other regions in Africa. Could it be because of weak ties to Jean Fraude?

Border patrol Unit Kenya

Odunayaw:


I wonder why the SADC has a seeming unity above other regions in Africa. Could it be because of weak ties to Jean Fraude?

In some ways there is greater unity. In others not. A proper answer will require a longer write-up, which I'll offer later, if interested.

Lurker4Long:


In some ways there is greater unity. In others not. A proper answer will require a longer write-up, which I'll offer later, if interested.

please do

Lurker4Long:


In some ways there is greater unity. In others not. A proper answer will require a longer write-up, which I'll offer later, if interested.

I'd be awaiting it man

Lurker4Long:




Those stories, like the white genocide rubbish, were the febrile imaginings of idiots and racists who have no understanding of the political realities of SA. Millions of previously excluded Saffas now have a real stake in the economy and will not easily give up their middle class status.
And when the remnants of the crazies in the ANC try their BS, they lose the cities and are further relegated to the shrinking rural votes as elections since Zuma came in in 2009 have shown.

facts

Interesting read.


Once a formidable force that commanded the respect of the US, the Ethiopian army has suffered such heavy losses on the front lines that the government has taken the extraordinary step of calling on ordinary citizens to join the war against the Tigrayan rebels.

It marks a dramatic change in the military's fortunes.

A year ago it ousted the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) as the ruling party in the northern Tigray region - now the group's fighters are taking towns on the way to the capital, Addis Ababa.

"TPLF fighters first bled the army through guerrilla warfare in Tigray by carrying out hit-and-run attacks," US-based Horn of Africa analyst Faisal Roble explains.

"Then they went into combat to finish it off."

However, Achamyeleh Tamiru - an Ethiopian economist and political commentator - believes the TPLF's advances are only "temporary".


"Ethiopians from all walks of life are rising to defend and salvage Ethiopia," he said.

The rebel force is made up of tens of thousands of fighters
The tactics of the TPLF fighters remind former BBC Tigrinya editor Samuel Ghebhrehiwet of his life as a young Eritrean guerrilla who, alongside Tigrayans, fought Ethiopia's Mengistu Haile Mariam regime until it was overthrown in 1991.

They were "lightly armed, highly agile, living on survival food, and showing deep resilience and determination".

Eritrea went on to win its independence, while the TPLF took power in Ethiopia - though its political dominance came to an end in 2018 following mass protests.

Its leaders retreated to Tigray from where the group fired the shots in the current conflict in early November 2020 by launching an assault on a federal military base with the support of loyalists in the army - including commanders and soldiers - who then defected to its ranks.

Not only was a huge stockpile of weapons seized, but high-ranking officers and soldiers who resisted were killed or captured in their thousands.

"The night-time attack on the base has effectively created a vacuum that literally makes Ethiopia without a federal army," Mr Achamyeleh said.

However, the military - with crucial help from the Eritrean army, and forces and militias from Ethiopia's Amhara region - overcame the setback, launching air strikes and a ground offensive that led to the TPLF being dislodged from power in Tigray in under a month.

But, Mr Samuel said, as they committed widespread atrocities against civilians - including raping, killing and burning crops - Tigrayans from "all sections of society then joined the TPLF to protect their dignity".

"Parents told their children: 'Rather than die at home go and fight.' It became a war between the people of Tigray and the army - not just a war between the TPLF and the army."

Air strikes by Ethiopia's military have caused many casualties in Tigray
According to Mr Roble, former generals who had retired or defected went to Tigray's mountains and caves to form the Tigray Defence Force (TDF) as the TPLF's military wing to ensure that the tens of thousands of new recruits were well organised.

"These generals felt it was their duty to protect the citizens of Tigray. With their inside knowledge of the army they plotted its defeat," Mr Roble said.

With Tigrayan fighters now less than 300km (185 miles) from the capital, it is clear they currently have the upper hand over an army that used to be one of the most powerful in Africa, he says.

"Ethiopia was America's number-one partner in the so-called war on terror in the Horn Africa, especially in Somalia, where it overthrew the Union of Islamic Courts[a precursor of al-Shabab]. America funded the military, armed it, and even supplied its soldiers with ready-to-eat meals," Mr Roble said.

"And the African Union relied on it for peacekeeping missions, but Ethiopia itself is now unstable and its military is a shadow of its former self."

Desertions and demoralisation
Trouble for the TPLF began when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in April 2018 after huge numbers of people from Ethiopia's two biggest ethnic groups - Oromos and Amharas - staged protests against its 27 years at the helm of government.

Mr Abiy proposed sweeping reforms, causing deep rifts with the TPLF.


"Tigrayans make up only about 6% of the population and when the TPLF was in power, it created a federal system which gave ethnic groups their own regional states," Mr Roble said.

"The TPLF felt Mr Abiy [an Oromo] wanted to centralise power. It caused a massive fall-out between them and eventually led to the war," Mr Roble said.

Alex de Waal, executive director of the US-based World Peace Foundation, said that Mr Abiy also set out to overhaul the military to ensure it was loyal to him, and to address concerns about Tigrayan dominance.

"Tigrayans made up about 18% of the whole army, and about twice that in the officer corps. Their numbers were disproportionate compared to the size of the population. Mr Abiy started reforms to push out Tigrayans, and created an Emirati-trained Republican Guard loyal to him," said Prof De Waal.

"The changes demoralised the army, and it ceased to be a cohesive force. Mr Abiy did not have time to reconstitute it before the war started."

He said of the army's 20 divisions, 10 - made up of about 5,000 soldiers each - had been routed, with at least 10,000 soldiers killed and a similar number captured. The BBC tried to get comment from the Ethiopian National Defence spokesman, but he did not respond.

Human-wave attacks
After recapturing most of Tigray in June, the TPLF launched an offensive in the neighbouring Amhara and Afar regions, while Mr Abiy called on all able-bodied Ethiopians to join the army and militias to help defeat the rebels.

Like Tigrayans, Amharas have been victims of atrocities
"To halt the Tigray advance, the army organised [in Amhara] human-wave attacks by peasants, students and urban youth. They were passionate to defend their land but they only had basic training of a few weeks, and would charge TDF positions," Prof De Waal said.

"Sometimes, the second wave wouldn't even have guns. Thousands of them - possibly even tens of thousands - were killed by the TDF."

"It creates a complicated human rights situation because it blurs the distinction between combatant and civilian. It also increases animosity between people - in this case Amharas and Tigrayans - and makes it more difficult to achieve peace and reconciliation."

Mr Achamyeleh disputes this was a tactic, saying young men had to defend communities under attack from the rebels when no troops were around.

"They could not sit at home idly when the TPLF was going door-to-door to hunt down Amharas, massacring mothers and raping their daughters."

In the latest move to regain the initiative, the federal government declared a state of emergency, giving it the power to conscript "any military age citizen who has weapons" and recalling retired officers to duty.

The Amhara regional government also announced its own measures, ordering the closure of all government offices and asking citizens to make their vehicles available.

Prof De Waal said the moves were unlikely to be effective.

"They can mobilise large numbers but the command-and-control structure of the army has disintegrated. An army is an institution built over years, with common purpose, common doctrines, and common practices."

But Canada-based security expert Ann Fitz-Gerald believes the TPLF fighters have suffered much higher losses, saying it was the TPLF that was using "human waves" as a desperate measure to seize control of strategic routes and to acquire negotiating power.

The military is currently holding its position, Prof Fitz-Gerald says, with local reports suggesting that it has thwarted 12 attempts by the TPLF to take Mille - a town close to the road that leads to the ports of Djibouti - access which is vital for the landlocked country.

Negotiation not capture
The TPLF is also involved in an offensive aimed at putting Addis Ababa - which has a population of more than five million - under siege.

Thousands of Ethiopian soldiers have been captured by the rebels
"The TPLF wants to put the government under pressure to negotiate. I don't think they will enter Addis Ababa. They are very unpopular there," says Mr Samuel.

Prof De Waal says the government faces a "military defeat, but the TPLF cannot claim victory because winning is political.

"They need support and the co-operation of a sufficient number of political actors, which they do not have.

"So there will have to be negotiations, and the TPLF's focus will be on securing the future of Tigray."

dragon2:
Interesting read.


Once a formidable force that commanded the respect of the US, the Ethiopian army has suffered such heavy losses on the front lines that the government has taken the extraordinary step of calling on ordinary citizens to join the war against the Tigrayan rebels.

It marks a dramatic change in the military's fortunes.

A year ago it ousted the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) as the ruling party in the northern Tigray region - now the group's fighters are taking towns on the way to the capital, Addis Ababa.

"TPLF fighters first bled the army through guerrilla warfare in Tigray by carrying out hit-and-run attacks," US-based Horn of Africa analyst Faisal Roble explains.

"Then they went into combat to finish it off."

However, Achamyeleh Tamiru - an Ethiopian economist and political commentator - believes the TPLF's advances are only "temporary".


"Ethiopians from all walks of life are rising to defend and salvage Ethiopia," he said.

The rebel force is made up of tens of thousands of fighters
The tactics of the TPLF fighters remind former BBC Tigrinya editor Samuel Ghebhrehiwet of his life as a young Eritrean guerrilla who, alongside Tigrayans, fought Ethiopia's Mengistu Haile Mariam regime until it was overthrown in 1991.

They were "lightly armed, highly agile, living on survival food, and showing deep resilience and determination".

Eritrea went on to win its independence, while the TPLF took power in Ethiopia - though its political dominance came to an end in 2018 following mass protests.

Its leaders retreated to Tigray from where the group fired the shots in the current conflict in early November 2020 by launching an assault on a federal military base with the support of loyalists in the army - including commanders and soldiers - who then defected to its ranks.

Not only was a huge stockpile of weapons seized, but high-ranking officers and soldiers who resisted were killed or captured in their thousands.

"The night-time attack on the base has effectively created a vacuum that literally makes Ethiopia without a federal army," Mr Achamyeleh said.

However, the military - with crucial help from the Eritrean army, and forces and militias from Ethiopia's Amhara region - overcame the setback, launching air strikes and a ground offensive that led to the TPLF being dislodged from power in Tigray in under a month.

But, Mr Samuel said, as they committed widespread atrocities against civilians - including raping, killing and burning crops - Tigrayans from "all sections of society then joined the TPLF to protect their dignity".

"Parents told their children: 'Rather than die at home go and fight.' It became a war between the people of Tigray and the army - not just a war between the TPLF and the army."

Air strikes by Ethiopia's military have caused many casualties in Tigray
According to Mr Roble, former generals who had retired or defected went to Tigray's mountains and caves to form the Tigray Defence Force (TDF) as the TPLF's military wing to ensure that the tens of thousands of new recruits were well organised.

"These generals felt it was their duty to protect the citizens of Tigray. With their inside knowledge of the army they plotted its defeat," Mr Roble said.

With Tigrayan fighters now less than 300km (185 miles) from the capital, it is clear they currently have the upper hand over an army that used to be one of the most powerful in Africa, he says.

"Ethiopia was America's number-one partner in the so-called war on terror in the Horn Africa, especially in Somalia, where it overthrew the Union of Islamic Courts[a precursor of al-Shabab]. America funded the military, armed it, and even supplied its soldiers with ready-to-eat meals," Mr Roble said.

"And the African Union relied on it for peacekeeping missions, but Ethiopia itself is now unstable and its military is a shadow of its former self."

Desertions and demoralisation
Trouble for the TPLF began when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in April 2018 after huge numbers of people from Ethiopia's two biggest ethnic groups - Oromos and Amharas - staged protests against its 27 years at the helm of government.

Mr Abiy proposed sweeping reforms, causing deep rifts with the TPLF.


"Tigrayans make up only about 6% of the population and when the TPLF was in power, it created a federal system which gave ethnic groups their own regional states," Mr Roble said.

"The TPLF felt Mr Abiy [an Oromo] wanted to centralise power. It caused a massive fall-out between them and eventually led to the war," Mr Roble said.

Alex de Waal, executive director of the US-based World Peace Foundation, said that Mr Abiy also set out to overhaul the military to ensure it was loyal to him, and to address concerns about Tigrayan dominance.

"Tigrayans made up about 18% of the whole army, and about twice that in the officer corps. Their numbers were disproportionate compared to the size of the population. Mr Abiy started reforms to push out Tigrayans, and created an Emirati-trained Republican Guard loyal to him," said Prof De Waal.

"The changes demoralised the army, and it ceased to be a cohesive force. Mr Abiy did not have time to reconstitute it before the war started."

He said of the army's 20 divisions, 10 - made up of about 5,000 soldiers each - had been routed, with at least 10,000 soldiers killed and a similar number captured. The BBC tried to get comment from the Ethiopian National Defence spokesman, but he did not respond.

Human-wave attacks
After recapturing most of Tigray in June, the TPLF launched an offensive in the neighbouring Amhara and Afar regions, while Mr Abiy called on all able-bodied Ethiopians to join the army and militias to help defeat the rebels.

Like Tigrayans, Amharas have been victims of atrocities
"To halt the Tigray advance, the army organised [in Amhara] human-wave attacks by peasants, students and urban youth. They were passionate to defend their land but they only had basic training of a few weeks, and would charge TDF positions," Prof De Waal said.

"Sometimes, the second wave wouldn't even have guns. Thousands of them - possibly even tens of thousands - were killed by the TDF."

"It creates a complicated human rights situation because it blurs the distinction between combatant and civilian. It also increases animosity between people - in this case Amharas and Tigrayans - and makes it more difficult to achieve peace and reconciliation."

Mr Achamyeleh disputes this was a tactic, saying young men had to defend communities under attack from the rebels when no troops were around.

"They could not sit at home idly when the TPLF was going door-to-door to hunt down Amharas, massacring mothers and raping their daughters."

In the latest move to regain the initiative, the federal government declared a state of emergency, giving it the power to conscript "any military age citizen who has weapons" and recalling retired officers to duty.

The Amhara regional government also announced its own measures, ordering the closure of all government offices and asking citizens to make their vehicles available.

Prof De Waal said the moves were unlikely to be effective.

"They can mobilise large numbers but the command-and-control structure of the army has disintegrated. An army is an institution built over years, with common purpose, common doctrines, and common practices."

But Canada-based security expert Ann Fitz-Gerald believes the TPLF fighters have suffered much higher losses, saying it was the TPLF that was using "human waves" as a desperate measure to seize control of strategic routes and to acquire negotiating power.

The military is currently holding its position, Prof Fitz-Gerald says, with local reports suggesting that it has thwarted 12 attempts by the TPLF to take Mille - a town close to the road that leads to the ports of Djibouti - access which is vital for the landlocked country.

Negotiation not capture
The TPLF is also involved in an offensive aimed at putting Addis Ababa - which has a population of more than five million - under siege.

Thousands of Ethiopian soldiers have been captured by the rebels
"The TPLF wants to put the government under pressure to negotiate. I don't think they will enter Addis Ababa. They are very unpopular there," says Mr Samuel.

Prof De Waal says the government faces a "military defeat, but the TPLF cannot claim victory because winning is political.

"They need support and the co-operation of a sufficient number of political actors, which they do not have.

"So there will have to be negotiations, and the TPLF's focus will be on securing the future of Tigray."

the Ethiopian defence force has never been a force to be reckoned with,unfortunately like most African militaries it was merely a uniformed Militia with a couple of planes.....

kdf acquired the MC-HORIZON D360 Reactive Anti-Drone / Quad copter / Small UAV Jamming system.
This comes after increased instances of drones overflying kdf bases in somalia. The group also used a drone to film last year’s attack on Manda Bay .. fears are that the group may be able improvise suicide drones to hit targets .

Lurker4Long:

Thanks for this! Everyone obsesses on kinetics, the shiny firepower that goes BANG! Maintenance,medical services and workshops are equally important especially for the Heavies in your ORBAT. Btw,what tank transporters do you guys use? Are there plans to replace your Oliphants or are you stuck with them like most of your other military upgrade programs?

Images from Alkataib media during the Manda bay attack.

Toju200:
Nigerian Designed
Gray Insignia Hawk, Sniper Weapon System (SWS).

Whoever did this isn't an active shooter: neither did he seek the opinion of one! That under barrel bipod will simply transfer vibration affecting accuracy. Ideally its placed under the fore end as close to the muzzle as possible for stability-NOT UNDER THE BARREL. This is the universal rule of shooting be it civvy or military,hunting or sniping,regardless of distance.
I can't rmbr ever seeing a bipod directly placed under barrel like this-look at other rifles with bipod attachments and confirm.

Lurker4Long:


In some ways there is greater unity. In others not. A proper answer will require a longer write-up, which I'll offer later, if interested.

Am breathlessly waiting!

How NOT to shoot a PKM or any other GPMG OR how to get your dyck stepped on by the Platoon Sergeant!

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

Normally training teaches 6 rd rounds: for economy reasons,rounds are expensive and barrels moreso! Contrary to what Mr Stallone teaches the world.
[urlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ulWGiJb1uI][/url]

Lurker4Long:

Your link is not accepting a gmail address.

Really? Let me check

Lurker4Long:

Your link is not accepting a gmail address.

I tried it and it's accepting Gmail fine

Russia takes a shot at F35 program while launching it's 5th Gen fighter video made my day with this part... "Please renew your subscription ; "

The promotional video also includes a sequence where an actor opens an ammunition box only to find it empty, and shows a tablet displaying an error which reads “Please renew your subscription”. The segment can be interpreted as poking fun at the F-35, as the aircraft is often criticized as being over reliant on the monitoring of its manufacturer.

Watch the video and read the rest here https://www.aerotime.aero/29451-russia-shows-checkmate-at-dubai-takes-shots-at-f-35

If you lose 25% of your AF WHAT would you do? Not through hard P2P combat but via foreign sabotage eagerly assisted by a local minority in one fell swoop. This is what befell Uncle Bob mid '82.

Zimbabwean agents and SADF Special Forces operatives were involved in the attack on the Thornhill airforce base near Gweru on 25 July 1982, in which thirteen fighter trainers of the Zimbabwe Air Force were destroyed.

[url][https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/reports/volume2/chapter2/subsection42.htmurl]

This same group despite Uhuru STILL enjoys near total land possession for which at LEAST 20k on both sides out of 7 mn were KIA.
At the same time safe in Brit promises of their security and Bob's POLITICAL compromises their attitudes are STILL srsly unchanged. A Shona woman attempted to enter the lucrative L Kariba crayfish fishery was informed by these same whites the business was closed to non whites. A public uproar ensued that does down.

The losing Rhodies had formed the mass murdering Renamo in Moz to put pressure on the national army which
was supporting liberation forces by providing cross border rear bases. Later they were willing proxies for these same revanchist Rhodies and IIRC the Zim army lost at LEAST 200 securing their sole rail to THE sea in Beira.

Renamo declared war on Zimbabwe in October 1986, in retaliation for a decision by President Robert Mugabe's government to send 10,000 Zimbabwean troops into Mozambique to fight alongside President Joaquim Chissano's Frelimo army and to guard a vital transportation link against rebel attacks. The first Renamo strike came on June 15, 1987, when rebels attacked and looted a northern village.

[url][https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1989/06/05/civilians-pay-price-of-renamo-attacks/1ac58062-3a10-4bcb-a9a9-0a98cec437a1/url]

THROUGHOUT this time his erstwhile nemesis Ian Smith lived in Zim til loving to Cape Town in '05 where he died 2 yrs AFTER.
Anyway....assume you're the CinC. How WOULD you have handled such a loss? [/b]Millions WORTH of scant forex gone , a devastating destruction of precious national assets and untold political loss of face all due to a tiny easily identifiable MINORITY unable to reconcile with loss of previous privilege.
[b]The momentuous decisions at the strategic level contrary to expert opinion here are NEVER easy!

Nigerian Navy Falcon Eye, Eastern Naval Command in operation.




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

South African soldiers in the DRC

SANDF in the DRC