24.09.2013 Uralvagonzavod - army-guide.com

On September 19 a firing range in Peru saw demonstration of the T-90C tank of the Uralvagonzavod produce for Gen. Ricardo Moncada Novoa, Commander-in-Chief Land Forces and 300 officers.

The command authorities of the South American republic were shown the T-90C tank combat and running capabilities by day and at night as well as accuracy of fire with all types of weapons at different ranges from a halt and on the move under conditions of limited visibility and mountainous terrain.

The combat vehicle crew completed all missions successfully having demonstrated high potential of the Russian tank manufactured by Uralvagonzavod.

After the major demonstration one of the Peruvian drivers of the T-55s being in service with the Peruvian Army was offered to “take a drive” of the T-90C tank. After a 5-min briefing, he made a run showing a good skill level and brought the tank to a halt by the Commander-in-Chief. The experiment is a proof that the advanced T-90C tank is as resoponsive and simple as its predecessor T-55 produced by Uralvagonzavod 40 years ago.

Senior officers of the Peruvian Army appreciated the T-90C tank capabilities and the skill of the tank crew members.

23/09/2013 LTN MORELLE - Sources : 12e RC - Armée de Terre

Du 2 au 23 septembre 2013, l’escadron d’éclairage et d’investigation de la 2e brigade blindée a réalisé une formation de spécialité élémentaire ACMP (arme antichar moyenne portée), en vue de sa future projection au Mali en 2014.

Plus d’une trentaine de jeunes « éclaireurs » ont suivi cette formation de trois semaines, au quartier du 12e régiment de cuirassiers (12eRC) d’Olivet, afin d’acquérir les savoir-faire inhérents à l’utilisation du système de tir Milan.

Destiné au combat antichar à moyenne portée et capable de tirer ses missiles de jour comme de nuit grâce à sa lunette thermique, le système de tir Milan est un armement de pointe complexe, qui doit être parfaitement maîtrisé par un binôme indispensable à son bon fonctionnement : le chef de pièce et le tireur.

Après de nombreuses heures d’apprentissage, les stagiaires ont appris à déployer leurs postes de tir dans des temps records, afin d’appliquer des feux au plus vite, au sol ou sur véhicule blindé léger (VBL). Puis ils ont poursuivi leur entraînement par une longue série de séances de tir sur simulateur.

Après une évaluation finale des acquis, les jeunes tireurs Milan se sont vus attribuer le précieux CATi (certificat d’aptitude au Tir), qui leur permettra d’envoyer des missiles réels contre les cibles du CEITO et du CEITA (centres d’entraînement de tirs opérationnels) en octobre et novembre prochain. Ils formeront ainsi les 6 futures patrouilles antichars, projetées sur le théâtre malien en 2014.

22 Sep 2013 By Ben Farmer, Defence Correspondent

Military leaders are pushing a plan to keep up to 200 British troops in Helmand after the pullout of Nato combat forces from Afghanistan next year, The Telegraph has learnt.

The proposal is the first official acknowledgment that Britain could keep forces in the province where nearly 450 troops have died in seven years of fighting.

Senior commanders are concerned the fledgling Afghan army will not be ready to face the Taliban on its own by the end of next year and a total pullout from Helmand risks squandering years of hard work.

They also worry a reluctance to draw up plans for Helmand after 2014 is undermining Afghan forces’ morale and weakening British influence in Kabul.

The proposal would see up to 200 British troops stay at Camp Bastion to work as advisers at the headquarters of the province’s Afghan army corps, senior military sources said.

Read more

22/09/2013 Par Marie Maurisse – LeFigaro.fr

Une très large majorité de votants a rejeté la proposition de rendre la conscription facultative. Le pays reste très attaché à ses citoyens-soldats.

Qu'il s'agisse de l'interdiction des minarets ou du renvoi des étrangers criminels, les référendums suisses sont souvent très débattus. Ce n'est pas le cas de celui qui a eu lieu dimanche. L'initiative populaire porte sur l'abrogation du service militaire obligatoire, instauré en 1848. D'après les projections de résultats établies par l'institut de sondage de Berne GFS pour la télévision publique RTS, 73% des votants ont dit non à la proposition du Groupe pour une Suisse sans armée de rendre la conscription facultative.

L'affiche choc de l'extrême droite genevoise, qui montre un soldat suisse menacé par un pistolet sur la tempe, aura certainement convaincu les électeurs de ne pas «exécuter la milice». Sans surprise, car ils avaient déjà refusé par deux fois de le faire, en 1989 et en 2001.

Ce consensus fait partie de l'ADN helvète, comme l'explique Bernard Wicht, spécialiste du sujet. «Chez nous, dès le Moyen Âge, les fusils appartiennent à ceux qui détiennent le pouvoir, c'est-à-dire les citoyens eux-mêmes, souligne cet enseignant à l'université de Lausanne. Dans les assemblées, les hommes votaient en levant leurs baïonnettes…»

Le service militaire oblige les hommes à effectuer entre 18 et 21 semaines d'entraînement l'année de leurs 20 ans, puis à se rendre 3 semaines par an à des cours de répétition, jusqu'à leurs 34 ans. S'ils souhaitent opter pour un service civil, ils doivent y passer plus de temps qu'à l'armée et s'acquitter d'une taxe annuelle équivalente à 3 % de leurs revenus, jusqu'à 30 ans.

Malgré ces contraintes, «la Suisse a besoin d'une force de réserve en cas de crise grave», soutient Guy Parmelin, vice-président du groupe parlementaire de l'Union démocratique du centre (UDC), premier parti du pays et opposant à l'initiative. Et si le pays n'est pas attaqué? «L'armée est comme une assurance, répond-il. On espère ne jamais l'utiliser mais quand les ennuis arrivent, vous êtes content de l'avoir!»

Cette mentalité a longtemps imprégné les milieux économiques, notamment bancaires: faire l'armée était un gage d'efficacité et permettait d'accéder plus vite à des fonctions de cadre. Mais aujourd'hui, ce n'est plus le cas, note le quotidien Le Temps. Les entreprises étrangères, plus nombreuses en Suisse, n'aiment pas se priver de leurs collaborateurs plusieurs semaines par an - tout en continuant à les payer. L'armée peut être un handicap à l'embauche.

Pour Tobia Schnebli, membre du GSSA et militant de gauche, «le pays a besoin d'avoir des ennemis aux frontières pour exister, d'où l'importance de l'armée. Mais cette idée, portée par la droite nationaliste, ne correspond plus à la réalité».

Absentéisme

D'ailleurs, «un Suisse sur deux échappe à l'armée», a écrit L'Hebdo fin août. «Certains évoquent - avec la complaisance d'un médecin - des problèmes respiratoires, de pied, de cœur ou simulent des faiblesses psychologiques», décrit le magazine romand.

Les autorités veulent s'adapter à cette donne. Malgré un refus probable de l'initiative, elles prévoient une diminution des effectifs, qui passeraient de 180.000 soldats à 100.000 - si la réforme est mise en place dans le courant de l'année.

17/9/2013 IsraelDefense

Future tank development has been halted in the framework of the upcoming multi-year plan and the cuts to the defense budget. A special team will be in charge of examining alternatives

The Israeli defense establishment has decided not to pursue the development of the Merkava Mark V tank, and at this stage, the Merkava Mark IV will be the last tank that will be manufactured.

IsraelDefense revealed nearly a year ago that the Israeli Ministry of Defense decided to establish a team, headed by Brig. Gen. (Res.) Didi Ben Yoash, that would be responsible for developing the IDF's future tank. Senior officials from Israel's defense industries were also asked to provide their opinions on the form of the future tank, along with the IDF Ground Forces branch.

However, it has now been learned that a decision was made not to develop the advanced tank and to examine possible alternatives in the framework of the IDF's upcoming multi-year plan. In the meanwhile, the Merkava Mark IV tank will be the most advanced tank used by the IDF.

20/09/2013 17:32 Sources : EMA

Depuis le 16 septembre 2013, les 28 commandants d’unité et chefs de section du 3e GTIA des forces armées maliennes ont entamé un stage de formation préliminaire au camp d’entraînement de Koulikoro.

Dispensé par les instructeurs européens d’EUTM Mali, ce stage a pour but de renforcer les connaissances tactiques et l’aptitude au commandement des officiers du 3e GTIA malien, dont la formation débutera dans les semaines à venir.

Les officiers maliens vont recevoir une formation différenciée, avant d’intégrer graduellement leurs unités respectives. Ce processus de « formation par agrégation progressive » a pour but de permettre aux officiers de rejoindre leur unité après consolidation de leur aptitude. Le programme de ce stage inclut notamment des activités sportives, de l’entraînement au tir, des cours de tactique et des restitutions pratiques sur le terrain.

Commandée par le général français Bruno Guibert, la Mission européenne d’entraînement au Mali regroupe 550 militaires européens de 23 nationalités différentes, dont 110 militaires français, principalement issus de l’état-major de la 1re brigade mécanisée de Chalons en Champagne et du 1er régiment d’infanterie de Sarrebourg.

EUTM Mali repose sur deux piliers : une mission de formation des unités combattantes des forces armées maliennes sur le camp d’entraînement de Koulikoro et une mission d’expertise et de conseil assurée par le détachement de liaison et d’expertise (ALTF), destiné à appuyer la réorganisation de l’armée malienne.

A British Army Hermes 450 in flight (Picture Sergeant Steve Blake, UK MoD)

19 September 2013 Ministry of Defence

The British Army's Hermes 450 (H-450) unmanned air systems have completed over 70,000 hours of surveillance support in Afghanistan.

This is the equivalent of 8 years of non-stop flying.

Operated by the Theatre Integrated Unmanned Air Systems (ThIUAS) Battery at Camp Bastion, UK forces have clocked up more flying hours than any other nation with H-450 in Afghanistan.

The system provides headquarters staff with persistent intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance via electro-optical and infrared sensors out to a range of 150 kilometres.

H-450 can be used for a wide range of tasks such as reconnaissance of an area prior to operations, and maintaining watch over troops on the ground.

Major Jonathan Buxton, ThIUAS Battery Commander, said:

It is a great achievement to have reached over 70,000 hours of flying with Hermes 450 which shows not only the importance of the benefits it provides but also the dedication of all those involved in operating them out here in difficult conditions.

H-450 has been a vital tool for operations in Helmand over the years and continues to provide persistent surveillance protecting UK and Afghan troops today.

The ThIUAS Battery operates 5 surveillance windows of H-450 in support of UK and Afghan troops in Helmand province – an increase from 2 when H-450 was introduced in 2007. Since that time, integration with ground forces has been developed significantly as has the training for H-450 operators.

Major Buxton added:

The UAS trade offers something different for the more technically minded recruits joining the Army today.

The H-450 operators’ course is extremely challenging, with junior soldiers taking on a lot of responsibility at an early stage, especially when looking after the equipment and being responsible for captaincy of the aircraft.

18 septembre, 2013 – BBC Afrique

L'armée nigériane a lancé un assaut contre des militants de la secte Boko Haram, ce qui a donné lieu à un échange de tirs dans l'Etat de Borno situé au nord-est du pays.

Les affrontements auraient fait des dizaines de morts des deux côtés.

L'armée, qui dit avoir perdu 16 soldats, affirme qu'elle a tué 150 islamistes affiliés à la secte.

Elle ajoute que huit autres éléments dans ses rangs sont portés disparus.

Toutefois, selon les informations des médias locaux, l'armée aurait accusé une perte plus lourde : une centaine de morts.

Bashir Abdullahi, journaliste au bureau de la BBC au Nigeria, relève que ces incidents sont indicateur du fait que les forces armées nigérianes sont loin d'avoir affaibli Boko Haram.

Il souligne que l'armée a l'habitude de minimiser ses pertes.

Selon le porte-parole de l'armée, Ibrahim Attahiru, une base de Boko Haram sous haute surveillance située dans la forêt de Kasiya a essuyé des raids.

C'est la première fois que l'opinion est mise au courant des détails d'un affrontement avec Boko Haram.

"C'était un camp d'insurgés hautement fortifié avec des armes lourdes," a déclaré Ibrahim Attahiru.

Plusieurs milliers de personnes ont été tuées au Nigeria depuis que Boko Haram a lancé son mouvement d'insurrection en 2009, motivé par la volonté de créer un Etat islamique dans le nord du Nigeria, à majorité musulmane.

Un état d'urgence a été décrété en mai dernier dans l'Etat de Borno et dans deux autres Etats voisins, et des milliers de soldats ont été envoyés en renfort dans la région.

Des groupes d'auto-défense locaux ont vu le jour pour aider à contrecarrer les militants, mais beaucoup de ces volontaires ont été tués au cours des dernières semaines.

Le mois dernier, l'armée a annoncé avoir tué le chef de Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau, mais cela n'a pas été confirmé et les attaques des militants se sont poursuivies.

18 September 2013 by Oscar Nkala - defenceWeb

The Bulgarian and United States governments have signed an agreement paving the way for joint training of up to 8 000 Libyan Army soldiers, on a rotational basis, at two Bulgarian military bases run by the two nations as international efforts to rebuild Libya’s post-war army intensify.

The agreement comes two weeks after Britain, Italy, Turkey and France agreed to provide professional military training for up to 7 000 more Libyan soldiers, bringing the number of soldiers earmarked for training abroad over the next eight years to 15 000.

Bulgarian Defence minister Angel Nayednov told local media in the capital Sofia batches of between 150 and 200 Libyan soldiers will be trained on a rotational basis in the US-Bulgarian bases at Novo Selo and Graf Ignatievo.

Naydenov said although his government approved the US request for the hosting and training of Libyan troops, the two countries still have to work out the finer details of the programme.

“This is a bilateral proposal which is also being discussed within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and could be expected to become part of NATO’s mission for post-war reconstruction of Libya,” said the minister.

In terms of the initial proposal, US and Bulgarian instructors will train between 150 and 200 Libyan soldiers on a rotational basis over the next five to eight years. This agreement follows those entered into by Italy, Turkey and Britain to train a further 7 000 Libyan Army soldiers in their respective countries.

A spokesman for Libyan Army Chief of Staff Colonel Ali Sheikhi told local media up to 360 soldiers will be sent in batches for training abroad as part of an international military assistance plan for rebuilding the Libyan armed forces.

He said the details of the programme were initially negotiated between Prime Minister Ali Zeidan and representatives of the three European governments in June. “It has been agreed with Italy, Turkey, France and Britain to train ground army units for three months for each group,” the spokesman said.

The programme is expected to start shortly with the first batch of 360 Libyan Army soldiers headed for training in Italy on September 27 where they will attend professional military courses for up to three months. The army said the soldiers would be trained in basic infantry skills and military leadership at a British Army location in Cambridgeshire.

Britain has agreed to train a total of 2 000 Libyan soldiers while France, Italy and Turkey will share the remaining 5 000 soldiers earmarked for EU training. Sheikhi said the Libyan government is currently engaged in discussions with the governments of Turkey, Italy and Britain to increase the number of trainees and the length of their courses.

16 September 2013 Ministry of Defence

British soldiers are bringing the Sandhurst ethos to the Afghan National Army Officer Academy in Kabul. Report by Ian Carr.

Summer in Kabul. A gunmetal grey sky threatens yet more rain, perhaps even another sudden hailstorm like the one that pounded the city yesterday. Although it is August, there are still patches of snow along the mountain range that forms the rim of the bowl in which Kabul sits. It is a dramatic landscape.

A meaningful place

We have come to Qargha, roughly 14km to the west of the city and 1,900 metres above sea level, to visit the Afghan National Army’s Officer Academy. As we drive up the track inside the 17.2-kilometre-long perimeter fence to a place where we can look down on the new build, we pass the wreckage of previous conflicts. Tangled Soviet tanks rust in heaps as testament to decades of fighting. Here, many great Afghan leaders have planned and fought foreign foes. With this military provenance, it seems right to build the academy here.

Qargha has tremendous historical significance for the Afghans,” said Lieutenant Colonel Grahame Hyland, the 1st Kandak Commander’s mentor.

There has always been an Afghan Army based here since before the Soviet invasion of 1979. It is a very meaningful place.

A Sandhurst General

When the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan committed to building an academy to produce ethical and professional young warrior leaders, General Karimi, the Afghan Chief of the General Staff, became the driving force behind the project.

Being himself a product of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, the General needed no convincing that the famous British institution was the model they needed to follow to identify and develop their own talented young officers.

He likes the way the Brits go about their business,” said Colonel Hyland.

He appreciates the importance of the constant theme of leadership running throughout the 42-week course. He likes the way we use senior non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and warrant officers to instruct our young officers. He sees the benefit of that and how it will help them to become a more professional army to face the challenges of the future.

For more than a year the UK has led the NATO Training Mission to support the Afghan National Army to develop their academy. From establishing how they will identify and select potential officers for the course, to what the syllabus content will be and how the training will be delivered.

Afghan junior and senior officers and politicians have paid many visits to the UK to see for themselves why we have become internationally recognised in the field of army officer training.

Cultural relevance

Of course it is nice to be admired, but the purpose of these trips was to help the Afghans to develop their own kind of academy. To produce the quality junior leaders they needed in a way that would make sense to them using methods and examples that would be Afghan-led. Colonel Hyland offered an illustration of what this means:

For example, when the students are looking at defensive battles in the war studies part of the course, they will be learning about the Afghans’ defence of Herat. When it comes to studying the elements of attacking battles they could look at the Battle of Maiwand and identify what tactics their predecessors employed that helped them to annihilate us.

This, explains Colonel Hyland, is how Dr Duncan Anderson, a war studies expert from Sandhurst, is mentoring his own Afghan counterpart to teach the young officers. He continues:

Instead of looking at Wellington’s leadership qualities – what relevance has he to an Afghan cadet? They could look at Shah Massoud’s leadership credentials: How did he manage to hold the Panjshir Valley against the Russians? What better example can there be to set for junior officers?

Along the way, British troops have been mentoring their Afghan counterparts, advising them on manpower, selecting the best candidates, building up kit, developing the course and mastering the coaching and mentoring skills that they will need to teach it, and how they will assess the students.

On a personal level mentoring is a tricky thing to explain,” said Colonel Hyland. “It is unique to the person you are mentoring and to the mentors themselves.

For me it’s about making sure that the kandak commander understands the ramifications of every decision he makes. It’s about helping him to see the broader picture, not just the minutiae of delivering the first kandak through the academy but also how it is going to affect the Afghan Army in future. But it is also about humility and understanding that, just because you do something in a certain way, it isn’t necessarily the only way it can be done.

Choosing the best

Another academy mentor is Captain Aaron Florence. His tour has been all about bedding in the Afghan Army’s officer selection process to recruit the best intake of students for the academy. He said:

We trained the selectors up to the first board, which was on 22 June. Altogether there will be 22 selection boards, each of which is 3 days long. We will select 272 from 998 candidates.

It’s a revolutionary concept for the Afghans, but it is one that they have embraced. So how does this crucial stage work?

Candidates who want to become an officer go to an Afghan equivalent of a recruiting office, where they are sifted, checked against criminal records and biometrically tested. Those who pass through this filter are then sent to the academy to undergo the selection boards.

We put them through a number of tests,” said Captain Florence. “They have to complete an obstacle course, and a physical fitness test – press-ups, a mile-and-a-half run, sit-ups, as many as they can do in 2 minutes.

They also have to face a general knowledge test – answering questions such as, who was the first Afghan in space? Which countries border Afghanistan? And they are quizzed on simple current affairs. Other tests include a board interview, writing a short essay and delivering a short talk on something of their choosing – usually something about their village or their province. But because the point is to produce seed corn second lieutenants, a weighting is put on the importance of passing the physical.

Captain Florence said:

This academy is about producing young leaders. It’s no use if they are not physically capable of leading men into battle.

Performance over posh shirts

When the candidates arrive they are given a name and a number. For the next 48 hours this will be their identity. This is done to make as sure as possible that when the selectors make their judgements they are based on merit rather than on the possibility that it is a general’s son or daughter that is standing in front of them. A smart appearance is not one of the criteria that will necessarily sway the board. Performance rather than a posh shirt is what matters.

We do give advice on what sort of clothing candidates should bring, such as don’t forget your trainers for example,” said Captain Florence, “things that we might take for granted, but in fact some candidates just might not have things like that. We’ve had some guys that have come along with just the clothes they stand up in, and then they’ve done the physical test and smashed it. One guy, Red 3, I’ll always remember him, only had flip flops, so he ran his physical fitness test barefoot – and he came first.

Since the selections began, Captain Florence has been increasingly able to lift his hand off the tiller. At first he used to be there all the time, now he need only be there at the beginning of the day to make sure everything is running smoothly.

Training the trainers

Working with those who will be responsible for instilling the basic soldiering skills that a young officer needs to master has been Warrant Officer Peter Witkawski of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

As well as helping his opposite numbers work out how they are going to get the drills and skills inside the heads of their students, Warrant Officer Witkawski has had the tough job of developing the instructors’ skills. It is a challenge that has taken the British Army generations to perfect. No where else in the world will you find an NCO who can bark at a young officer and deliver the epithet “Sir” like a cosh to the back of the head. Warrant Officer Witkawski sees it as no joke:

It’s a very embryonic stage for them. Their NCO-equivalents are not held in the same regard as in our structure.

If I say something I tend to be listened to; our structures in the British Army are set up that way. There is an emphasis on the NCO providing the officer cadet with instruction. The Afghan officer corps has to learn to hand over that responsibility. It’s a big ask.

When at full strength, each intake will have 350 students. But, for the first 2, there will be just 270 to allow room to develop the course and manage any initial teething troubles. By September next year each intake will also have a cadre of 90 females. As the date for the first course nears the team are hoping for good weather.

We were lucky this winter, it was quite mild. But we can get snow here from November through to March. Inevitably that would have an impact on the training,” said Colonel Hyland. “But we’ll cope, they’ll still be able to train because they will be issued the kit they need.

Good news indeed for candidate Red 3.

 

This report by Ian Carr is published in the September 2013 issue of Defence Focus - the magazine for everyone in Defence.

Sep. 17, 2013 - by USMAN ANSARI  - Defense News

ISLAMABAD — Two senior Pakistani army officers were among those killed in a weekend IED attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) in the restive area along the Afghan border. The attack comes as peace talks with the TTP are being pushed by the government.

Maj. Gen. Sanaullah Khan, Lt. Col. Tauseef Ahmed and Lance Naik Irfan Sattar were killed Sept. 15 when an IED targeted their convoy in the Upper Dir district near the Afghan border.

Khan was commander of 17 Division, operating in Swat, formerly a stronghold of the TTP before they were ejected by the army in 2009. The general was returning from visiting troops in the region.

Earlier IED attacks the same day on posts along Miranshah Road near Mir Ali in North Waziristan, a terrorist stronghold, killed a soldier and a member of the paramilitary Frontier Corps. An attack on members of the Khassadar — the government-allied tribal militia — in the early hours of the morning killed one and injured four.

The attack that killed Khan comes after the Sept. 9 All Parties Conference (APC) hosted by the government to establish political a consensus to tackle terrorism in the country. It unanimously adopted a resolution for unconditional talks with all terrorists, including the TTP.

Claude Rakisits, an associate professor in strategic studies at Deakin University in Australia, is one of several Pakistan analysts who are skeptical about talks with the TTP.

Killing Khan “only days after the APC resolution gives a clear indication that negotiating with the TTP is bound to be a recipe for disaster,” he said.

The deaths of two high-ranking officers “will be taken very badly by the Pakistani army,” he said.

He foresees “increasing pressure on the government to demand pre-conditions before starting formal talks, including an end to TTP violence. ... Anything less than that would mean that the military would be negotiating from a position of weakness.”

During the past 10 years there have been nine agreements with militants, but none lasted more than several months, noted Salma Malik, an assistant professor in the Department of Defence & Strategic Studies at Islamabad's Quaid-i-Azam University.

“Each time the government has faced embarrassment and lost more maneuvering space against the [non-state actors],” she said. “Ironically the accords have always been breached and unceremoniously dumped by the [non-state actors] than the government, further weakening latter’s case.”

The possibility of talks aside, the attack again raised the question of Pakistan's response to IEDs.

The deaths of two senior officers are unlikely to spark a change in thinking on better-protected vehicles, said Brian Cloughley, a former Australian defense attaché to Islamabad.

“This won't mean a change of direction to acquire these vastly expensive protected vehicles,” he said “Even if the army got them for nothing from the US ... the operating costs are horrendous and simply could not be afforded by Pakistan.”

Pakistan's own indigenous Burraq mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicle has still not been officially unveiled despite claims earlier this year by officials from state-owned manufacturer Heavy Industries Taxila that it would be soon.

And despite an order for an undisclosed number of Type CS/VP3 MRAPs from China’s Poly Group Corp. in November, none have been seen in Pakistan so far.

Analyst Usman Shabbir of the Pakistan Military Consortium think tank said it is unclear why the military is seemingly dragging its feet on the acquistion of a suitable MRAP, but said the reason could be purely financial.

06/07/2012 Armée de Terre

L'armée de Terre, c'est avant tout l'infanterie. Tous les régiments qui la composent partagent les mêmes valeurs : enthousiasme, rigueur professionnelle, rusticité, modernité et camaraderie. Retrouvez dans cet album les parachutistes, les alpins, les mécanisés, les marsouins, les légionnaires et tous les autres.