The SAAF Forum

Some of the experts i have spoken to prefer to anonymous. there are quite a few people here on this forum which is why i love it so. lets romeo be romeo. clearly he know, im not dissing other contributions. Rosh i value everything you say too. but lets not press a name if a member doesnt want to share

Cheers.

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A plan is simply a basis for change.

Most Certainly. I fully respect that.

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Roshan Bachan

From Defenceweb:

http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=39420:mid-life-refit-of-sas-amatola-almost-completed&catid=51:Sea&Itemid=106

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Roshan Bachan

Thanks rosh, have been lacking a bit on the defense web side as ive been using m time to follow something else, this was an interisiting article:
Maharaj said that Projects Hotel and Biro, for a new hydrographic survey vessel and three inshore and three offshore patrol vessels respectively, is keeping his company busy
can we conclude that at this point SAS is the builder of choice? so, lursen and chinese shipyards?

No, all we can conclude is that SAS is one of the bidders for these contracts. There are other bidders too.

Yes rtd, but i said biro had been delayed before and also.....stressing a need for new signing,
The date tenders close for Project Biro has been extended to 30 September

I only see the reason for this because of what i said before. again i may be wrong but its the way i see developments. its just my opinion at this time and again i stress im no military expert, just an enthusiast that follows, maybe fanatically too closely according to my wife.

but you are one hundred percent correct, but i feel SAS is the bulder of choice

remeber these words as i am not an expert but this man has said who he is and where he has worked, should clear up where i come from?


I must explain and boertjie im not baiting you but i wanted an expert's quote:
You have to look at evil china land reclaims of the islands, you have to look at evil russia, you have to look at who SA is friends with and the ties South africa has. Sure, we have ties with the UK, (Who is swimming in too pools, asian development bank.) but the aid is gone. The mistral deal will surely be hot topic. what if suddenly the development bank ties make us a source of embargo? these are all questions that if im asking, im sure people up there in the know will be looking at

sorry again i have to clarify, the reason im following the nuclear plant debate so closly, well, already the seed is planted that south africa cannot protect its uranium (ive had to go slighly off topic only to show my thinking but all relates to what ive said)

This is what i mean by aid gone: http://mg.co.za/article/2013-04-30-brit ... ca-in-2015 then you have to look at where development funding is now coming from. yes politics but we need to look at it if we trully want to see what are sandf rquirments IMHO

Has Project Millennium been canceled. This really looks good...

it's the Kalaat Béni Abbès LPD (9000 tons displacement) , built by the Italian firm Fincantieri as an enlarged and improved version of the San Giorgio LPD class

-Length = 142.9 meters
-Width = 21.5 meters
-Flight deck with two runways and landing pads for heavy-lift helicopters in the extremities and 30-ton lift in the central part of the deck
-The power plant includes two diesel engines Wärtsilä 12V32 rated at 6000 kW
-The maximum speed = 20 knots
-Cruising range = 11,265 km
-Generation of electricity will be provided by four diesel generators Isotta Fraschini V1716 C2ME capacity of 1300 kW and one emergency V1708 T3 of 600 kW
-Armament includes MBDA SAAM-ESD (Aster missiles + A50 launcher Sylver can launch the Aster 15 and Aster 30 also ) behind the island superstructure + Oto Melara 76/62 Super Rapid + 2 Single 25mm
-The electronic structure will include Selex Sistemi Integrati EMPAR + AESA 3D radar of CICS Athena-C ( 300 miles range cool ) + navigation radar and flight control by -gosopoznavaniya SIR + Communication system supplied by Selex Elsag + electronic warfare systems produced by Elettronica and Thales + two SCLAR-H decoy launchers
-The Algerian helicopter landing ship dock can accommodate 3 Landing Craft Mechanized (LCM) + 3 small Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel (LCVP) + 1 large Landing Craft Personnel (LCP) + 2 semi-rigid boats. The ship also houses a garage for 15 heavy tanks and housing for 440 soldiers plus 150 crew. The ship also carries a 60-bed hospital and operating theaters .

-The crew = 150 people
-The landing force = 440 people
-The launching of the ship is scheduled for December 2013, with the transfer to the Algerian Navy in September 2014. ans i read that the price was around 400 million euro

No ways would anything like that be procured under the current budget climate.

Project Millenium is dead, or delayed so far into the future that it may as well be dead

Delayed to the next millennium I guess ....