An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir September 2014 www.dfmagazine.ie 10 | Military Media Round Up "More than 1,000 personnel... have taken part in a huge parade in Germany to mark the renaming of 1st (United Kingdom) Armoured Division to 1st (United Kingdom) Division... It signified the start of the divi- sion's departure from its Herford base after more than 50 years in the country." Soldier August 2014 "The real promise going forward, as the Zumwalt class is both experimental and limited to only three ships, is the electromagnetic railgun (EMRG)... the EMRG relies on massive amounts of electrical force... some 64 mega-joules of energy will be available to propel a 40-pound kinetic energy round at Mach seven out to 200 or more nautical miles." Proceedings, August 2014. Picture: www.digitaltrends.com "The cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on 1 July approved changes to its interpretation of the war-renouncing constitution to enable the Japan Self- Defense Forces to exercise the right to collective self- defence. The decision marks a major change in Japan's post-war security policy, which was almost unique for its constitutional commitment to pacifism." IhS Jane's Defence Weekly, Issue 28, July 2014. Picture: AFP Photo / yoshikazu tSUNo "Vectronix and Safran-owned Sagem have combined their knowledge to design Moskito TI, a new multifunction, handheld device... The design incorporates eight essential features... a wide field of view thermal imager, imager for day/night identification, direct view optics, digital magnetic compass, inclinometer, global navigation satellite system, laser range finder. These functions are matched to each other and optimised for close and medium-range day/night viewing, measuring and geolocation up to 10,000 metres... with digital and video processing capabilities." Military technology, Issue 7, 2014. Picture: www.miltechmag.com "Conducting the Army's first large-scale joint force entry air assault in more than 11 years, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), ascended into the night to confront a hostile, mobile threat. Equipped with handheld smartphone-like devices, advanced radios, chat messaging, mission command software and other communications gear connected to the Army's tacti- cal network, the brigade executed the assault mission as just one part of its training at the Joint Readiness Training Center, known as JRTC. In less than 28 hours, the unit quickly shifted focus to an advise-and-assist exercise, in preparation for the brigade's upcom- ing deployment to Afghanistan." www.army.mil "More details have emerged on the MoD review of the ban on women serving in front-line combat roles. The study, which is due to be completed by the end of this year, will look at whether females could join the Royal Marines, Infantry, Royal Armoured Corps, Household Cavalry and RAF Regiment." soldier, august 2014 "The current approach is apparently to deter China with the Air-Sea Battle concept... The proposed military- technical solution is to develop the offensive strike and cyber capabilities to destroy China's sensor, command and missile systems to 'break the kill chain' by striking hundreds of targets on the mainland." Joint Force Quarterly, issue 74, 2014 "Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki has described his country's need for helicopters as extremely urgent as it faces threat from radical Sunni Islamists during its transition to de- mocracy. Tunisia's security forces are currently trying to suppress militants operating in remote and mountain- ous areas along the Algerian border; at least 17 soldiers were killed in July." iHs Jane's defence weekly, issue 33, august 2014 "Operation Corona mainly targets illegal crossing points at undesig- nated or gazzetted ports of entry, cross-border transgressors, smuggled goods, rhino poaching, stock theft and human trafficking... since Operation Corona was unveiled a year ago, there have been numerous successes as the cross-border transgressors have been channelled to ports of entry." south african soldier, vol 21, no.2 "Exercise Merlin Warrior is an annual military skills competition set over one weekend which tests teams from 15 Brigade's Army Reserve Units. Teams compete over 12 stands with tasks based on the Military Annual Training Tests each soldier must undertake to qualify for their Certificate of Efficien- cy (and receive their training bounty). The weekend consisted of an 11 stand round robin, incorporating infantry bridge crossing, river crossing, search, media, anti-ambush, medical, IED, recovery OBUA, night activities and concluding with a march and shoot." the craftsman, Magazine of the corps of royal electrical and Mechan- ical engineers, July 2014

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