ActivateKruger:
Reports say the President is accompanying his son to a pay lobola in Uganda this weekend. The question is, does he fly out with the SF since it's family business yet he's a head of state?

Why should SF accompany him to Uganda? Here's how it works:
1) minimal risk - normal Presidential Protection Unit team;
2) medium risk - PPU team + PPU Counter-Assault Team;
3) high risk - PPU team + PPU CAT + SF.

By any measure Uganda is minimal risk.

Patchesagain:


SANDF uses different standards for men and women (download the pdf)
https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/19005

If the standards were the same, I would not be as adverse to the position.

jln115:

"Males and females who participate in the SANDF physical fitness tests undergo the
same tests, and their scores for each test vary among the sexes"

"Contrary to studies
by Yanovich et al. (2008) and Blacker et al. (2009) which indicate that males
perform better than females in military physical fitness tests, the females performed
better than the males in the SANDF fitness test"\

This though:

"study suggested that the information regarding the total
accumulated points might be misleading, as the males still performed better than the
females in the test, but the points did not reflect this because the females were scored
differently from their male counterparts"

To clear up the confusion with examples:
1) Infantry
Generalised fitness tests are standardised and yes sometimes, females perform better. However, stripped down to particular physical tests, men perform better on average. Instructors then embark on a complicated formula which nullifies female disadvantage.
Females here will be deployed on ops, but mainly as support or on public support roles in pacified zones -as in the DRC pics above. Not frontline combat.

2)Parabat Selection
Physical tests have been calibrated for each sex. Female performance in their gender-specific test is the same as males perform in theirs. Some females opt for the "normal" tests though, and when they don't make it, their scores are adjudged as if they'd taken the female-specific test. [Unofficially, it's these women who try for the "normal" tests - within 1 Para specifically - who stand a chance at frontline deployment in support roles, as in Bangui].

3) Police STF
One standard and only 3 women have ever made it. 1 was KIA, 1 was poached by the PPU CAT and the last went to a PMC in Iraq/Afghan.
More honest to say these 3 are an exception to the rule.

4) SASFB
One standard and not a single woman has made it past pre-Selection.

Patchesagain:


The Pelindaba breach was *supposedly* done by foreign intelligence agents trying to get their hands on the technology for pebble bed reactors. At the time we were world leaders in the field.

Pelindaba is a huge facility, the part that suffered the breach was a "lower" security area.

But an embarrassing incident regardless.

RSA has a number of such sites, I believe we have BSL-4 lab in Gauteng where they keep some really nasty biological stuff.

after 9/11 America CDC took samples of smallpox,Ebola e.t.c from kenya research labs

gees9:


is major Labuschagne still with 2 squadron?

No longer Major, and now an instructor with a few DRC deplyment behind her.

frumentius:


Why should SF accompany him to Uganda? Here's how it works:
1) minimal risk - normal Presidential Protection Unit team;
2) medium risk - PPU team + PPU Counter-Assault Team;
3) high risk - PPU team + PPU CAT + SF.

By any measure Uganda is minimal risk.

Thanks for clearing that out. Anyways he didn't go, the Ugandans wanted 5 goats instead

Henry240:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2086463498233257&id=1684425015103776.



This has to be the best Nigerian Air Force combat footage i've seen.

About the best combat footage of course seen through the new NAF Mi-35M onboard camera. The NAF is advancing 21st century capabilities.

Nigeria's four star General and chief of the defence staff Gen. Gabriel Olonishakin meets with the US President Donald John Trump.

gees9:


is major Labuschagne still with 2 squadron?

Awesome! Was worried she was lost to the private sector.

Please how do you guys keep this pages updated on your Web browser? I logon and it starts from page one.

Geronimoe:
Please how do you guys keep this pages updated on your Web browser? I logon and it starts from page one.

Follow the page and always click on the "New" button every time for new update.

Xbee007:

Follow the page and always click on the "New" button every time for new update.

Oh! OK. Thanks.

Second South African appointed to run the UN FIB

http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51775:force-intervention-brigade-gets-its-second-south-african-commander&catid=111:sa-defence&Itemid=242

Idk if anyone 's noticed but there's been a huge qualitative shift continentally. For example here we used to use mortar illum rounds solely til the early 80s when first gen NVGs were issued only to Platoon leaders and noncoms.


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

Now every operational KDF guy in theatre has his own set of NVGs as last pic shows.

The UPDF were a ragged militia til quite recently when they were the NRA,a true militia force terrorising the region,fyi,M7 once tried to start ishyt here but that's another story.

This was them when they captured Kampala 30 yrs ago with shower shoes and gun boots they used til quite recently. Compare with now. Proper BPJ and webbing are standard though they have a long way to go.

See old vids of African armies. None wore flak vests til the early 00s! Now they're Standard equipment even in Puntland!

Guys be vexing!!!! Video refused to upload...Here's the link of the vexing men....https://www.facebook.com/breeknuusza/videos/400120123805059/

kenpaul0:
Guys be vexing!!!! Video refused to upload...Here's the link of the vexing men....https://www.facebook.com/breeknuusza/videos/400120123805059/

That was a training exercise bro.

Patchesagain:
Second South African appointed to run the UN FIB

http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51775:force-intervention-brigade-gets-its-second-south-african-commander&catid=111:sa-defence&Itemid=242

DefWeb got it wrong. Brig Gen Dube is first Saffer to run FIB. Gen Mgwebi ran MONUSCO, which is the entire military apparatus of the UN mission here.
Not to take anything away from Brig Gen Dube: as Col., he was commander of RSABATT and 2IC in the first FIB in 2013.
I fear though his focus on operational experience may limit his career prospects in our peacetime military. Of course, operational command should normally be the yardstick for advancement, but so far "greasy pole" warriors have prevailed.
I offer now-retired Gen Mgwebi as proof.

kikuyu1:
Idk if anyone 's noticed but there's been a huge qualitative shift continentally. For example here we used to use mortar illum rounds solely til the early 80s when first gen NVGs were issued only to Platoon leaders and noncoms.


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

Now every operational KDF guy in theatre has his own set of NVGs as last pic shows.

The UPDF were a ragged militia til quite recently when they were the NRA,a true militia force terrorising the region,fyi,M7 once tried to start ishyt here but that's another story.

This was them when they captured Kampala 30 yrs ago with shower shoes and gun boots they used til quite recently. Compare with now. Proper BPJ and webbing are standard though they have a long way to go.

See old vids of African armies. None wore flak vests til the early 00s! Now they're Standard equipment even in Puntland!

Mortar illum rounds and NVGs aren't mutually exclusive. Will discuss tomorrow if you wish.
Must run: on deployment I have limited daily allocation of bandwidth for personal purposes.

off topic :Quads and ATV's with big guns

Moroccan Air Force would like to buy an additional twelve newly-built single seater F-16V vipers from Lockheed Martin

Three reported dead following the IS in libya SVBIED attack against Gate 60, south of Ajdabiya and a militiaman abducted amidst the assault against checkpoint in Awjila,libya

photos of material seized amidst an operation in a house where the shootout took place near Ouagadougou,BurkinaFaso

frumentius:


Mortar illum rounds and NVGs aren't mutually exclusive. Will discuss tomorrow if you wish.
Must run: on deployment I have limited daily allocation of bandwidth for personal purposes.

Let me pull up a chair! Lay t it all out,I'm waiting.

Background on the Namibian MoD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZQ9R-4sBvw

kenpaul0:
Guys be vexing!!!! Video refused to upload...Here's the link of the vexing men....https://www.facebook.com/breeknuusza/videos/400120123805059/

I dont want to believe things are that bleak in SA judging from the content of that page.

Most NVG's in use amplify light. Those are the "green screen" ones in your pic. They are not thermal NVG's and require some light. The more the better. Thermals (FLIR) doesn't need light, just heat, but its very expensive and not commonly issued to regulars. You'll mostly find them in vehicles or aircraft.

The old amplifying NVG's actually needed an infrared searchlight to work and was called Active night vision. Our Ratels actually had infrared driving light cover lenses for night driving. That's why the early NVG's were commonly referred to as "Drivers goggles" in the SADF.
The new gen. NVG's uses ambient light and is called Passive night vision, because you don't give away your position to an opponent using the same NVG's with your IR lights. You can actually damage a non thermal NVG if you turn it on in the day without a lense cover. The cover has a tiny pin hole in it to limit daylight coming in and burning the sensor. They were very expensive and walking around with them on your head during the day would get you a nice PT session.
Contrary to what the movies tell you, it doesn't turn on 2 red light on your eyes when you turn it on ,because that would be f-ing stupid. It does make that cool whining sound when you switch it on though.

On a cloudy night the range goes down significantly on passive NV. To get around this you supplement the ambient light by dropping Illumn rounds on the enemy position. It also "floods" their NVG's with light. Kind of like having the sun in your eyes. The 60mm patmor were very useful for this a sit operated at the platoon level, so it was always available to the sections.
Another problem is that you have no depth perception with those things, so when you walk around at first you tend to fall over a lot stepping into holes. Kind of like when you walk over a step you didn't see.

We also used Illumn trip flares in ambushes for the same effect. They can be more deadly than a Claymore as they light up the kill zone at night.
We had a OP on a hilltop one night and the local farmer drove up to our position. He wanted to bribe us to watch his farmhouse with our long range night vision scopes ,because he was suspecting his neighbor of "visiting" his wife at night while he was out!

frumentius:


Mortar illum rounds and NVGs aren't mutually exclusive. Will discuss tomorrow if you wish.
Must run: on deployment I have limited daily allocation of bandwidth for personal purposes.

Some sad news

STATE-OWNED military communications equipment company Sat-Com says it is retrenching 33 of its 70 employees, amid a revelation that the ministry of defence owes the company N$100 million.

According to the company's website, Sat-Com is part of the August 26 group of companies that focuses on a wide range of communications solutions from design, implementation to the delivery of turnkey solutions for both large enterprises and government departments

And then some good news from Sat-Com Namibia in turbulent times

Sat-Com launches the AFRACAL-VRI.

"Another product in our range of multiband, multi role tactical communication devices."

It is a high powered VHF RF amplifier for vehicular, base station and repeater deployment to provide extra range. The AFRACAL VRI is fully compatible with the Leopard1 and Cheetah3 radios manufactured by Sat-Com.

The AFRACAL VRI is capable of delivering from 50 and up to a 150W from 30 Mhz to 88 Mhz and 50 up to 100W from 100-170Mhz. To extend the range all the way up to 512 Mhz is an option*

The built in antenna switch will select the correct antenna per frequency 30-88 Mhz or 89-170 Mhz automatically to provide seamless operation across the entire frequency range.

This Amplifier will provide long, medium and short range tactical Command & Control which includes Maritime Land to Sea and Ground-To-Air Band frequencies. The optional extended frequency range will provide communications coverage in high density urban areas.

The AFRACAL VRI is part of the AFRACAL family which also features the AFRACAL-2 triple band dual PA which covers;
HF 1.6-30 MhZ
VHF 30-88 Mhz / 89-170 Mhz
UHF* 512 Mhz (optional)

AFRACAL VRI and AFRACAL-2 Amplifiers are compliant to MIL-STD-810G and rated IP66.

**Sat-Com is scheduled to launch another product in the AFRACAL family later this year. The AFRACAL-500 (500W) and AFRACAL-1000 (1kW) are in final design stages and should be ready for the first field trials by July 2018.

Nigerian Air Force

Nigerian Police Officers pulling security in Somalia

Another beautiful Nigerian Air Force documentary.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXcQB4RVfLU

KDF , 1&2 army , 3&4 navy

61mech:
Most NVG's in use amplify light. Those are the "green screen" ones in your pic. They are not thermal NVG's and require some light. The more the better. Thermals (FLIR) doesn't need light, just heat, but its very expensive and not commonly issued to regulars. You'll mostly find them in vehicles or aircraft.

The old amplifying NVG's actually needed an infrared searchlight to work and was called Active night vision. Our Ratels actually had infrared driving light cover lenses for night driving. That's why the early NVG's were commonly referred to as "Drivers goggles" in the SADF.
The new gen. NVG's uses ambient light and is called Passive night vision, because you don't give away your position to an opponent using the same NVG's with your IR lights. You can actually damage a non thermal NVG if you turn it on in the day without a lense cover. The cover has a tiny pin hole in it to limit daylight coming in and burning the sensor. They were very expensive and walking around with them on your head during the day would get you a nice PT session.
Contrary to what the movies tell you, it doesn't turn on 2 red light on your eyes when you turn it on ,because that would be f-ing stupid. It does make that cool whining sound when you switch it on though.

On a cloudy night the range goes down significantly on passive NV. To get around this you supplement the ambient light by dropping Illumn rounds on the enemy position. It also "floods" their NVG's with light. Kind of like having the sun in your eyes. The 60mm patmor were very useful for this a sit operated at the platoon level, so it was always available to the sections.
Another problem is that you have no depth perception with those things, so when you walk around at first you tend to fall over a lot stepping into holes. Kind of like when you walk over a step you didn't see.

We also used Illumn trip flares in ambushes for the same effect. They can be more deadly than a Claymore as they light up the kill zone at night.
We had a OP on a hilltop one night and the local farmer drove up to our position. He wanted to bribe us to watch his farmhouse with our long range night vision scopes ,because he was suspecting his neighbor of "visiting" his wife at night while he was out!

beautiful info, clears out the misconception about nvgs meanwhile, the last part got me reeling with laughter