Central/South American Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

The Ecuadorian Air Force is interested in KT-1P


(Defensa.com) The Ecuadorian Air Force would be interested in buying between 12 and 18 aircraft KT-1P Basic Education, which contribute Torito Maintenance Service (SEMAN) and Korean Aircraft Industries (KAI) in the Assembly Plant "Las Palmas ". In recent days, the General Commander of the Ecuadorian Air Force, Lieutenant General Raul Banderas Dueñas, visited Peru holding a series of meetings with the Minister of Defense, Jakke Valakivi Alvarez, and the General Commander of the Air Force of Peru, General Air Dante Arevalo Abate. During his visit, General Banderas, accompanied by the Director of Logistics of the FAP, Major General Raul Hoyos de Vinatea, moved to School Officer Training Pilots (EFOPI), located in Pisco, where he received a detailed presentation on the characteristics and operational performances of the KT-1P.

He was subsequently invited to make a flight aboard a KT-1P (enrollment FAP 402), after which praised its operational benefits, noting that "it is a very modern aircraft with world class technology and could strengthen capabilities Training your staff ". He also noted that Peru and Ecuador remain "excellent ties of brotherhood and cooperation on defense and security", which is reflected in the bilateral meetings that support the high command of the Air Force, where measures to strengthen remember the iIegal fight against trafficking of arms, drugs and illegal mining.


l KT-1P Torito, which has also attracted the interest of the Air Force of Paraguay, is a basic training plane with a certain ability to perform combat support missions. Length of 10,26m., The size of 10.59 m. and height of 3.68 m, and its wing area of 16 m. It is powered by a Pratt & Whitney PT6A-62 950 hp which provides a cruising speed of 574 km / h, a ceiling of 11,580 m operation. and a range of 1,300 km. The maximum takeoff weight is 2,500 kg. The KT-1P has a cabin equipped with latest generation avionics, among others, multifunction displays (MFD), mission computer (MC) and BFI (Back-up Fligth Instrument) panel, plus an oxygen generator system ( OBOGS). It has 5 hard points for FN machine gun pods HMP-250 12.7mm, MK-82 bombs of 250 kg. MK-83 and 500 kg, LAU-131 launcher 70 mm. and fuel tanks. (Alejo Marchessini correspondent in Lima Edefa Group).

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Mexico develops a 40mm grenade launcher. for its new assault rifle


(Defensa.com) Mexican armed forces will have a new 40mm grenade launcher. to install in the national assault rifle FX-05 Xiuhcoatl. It is a development sponsored by the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA) Mexican whose conception was already contemplated in the document "National Defense Sector Program 2013-2018" in the area of military industry was referring to a series of developments among which are the "weapons, ammunition, grenades and spare parts".

It was in February when the Ministry of Defence published the document "Defense Sector Sector Program 2013-2018. Achievements "when developing the prototype was confirmed. Within objective 4 of this document, namely point "Strategy 4.3. Strengthen development, technological innovation and research of the military industry, "mentioned that" a prototype of 40 mm caliber grenade launchers low speed national design, which was tested rocketing 20 grenades and 70 grenade practice developed war with false fuse. "

As recorded by the official electronic magazine "Great Strength of Mexico", in the article entitled "Prototype caliber 40 mm grenade launcher. low speed ", the single-shot grenade launcher has a classic design for installation under the barrel of the assault rifle or the possibility of independently employed with an additional pistol. In that article the need not to use patents similar designs by the effects on industrial property rights mentioned. Hence, a national program that materialized in a printed prototype three-dimensional (3D) to check its ergonomics are decided. It was also decided to use a metal such as titanium to provide the gun high strength and low weight, which posed challenges when machining the bore of the barrel made with the metal. As the tests were positive was authorized to manufacture a batch of tests of these weapons and two patents were registered in the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI).

The program's goal is to develop a weapon of support for the troops to meet the needs of combat distances where it is not possible to use mortars. Thus, the grenade has a minimum range of 30 meters and up to 400 meters. The grenade may use the ammunition of 40 mm. and low speed standardized by NATO but parallel to the development of the assault rifle FX-05 grenade launcher and this is the CSR-7 Granada. This is a programmable Granada 40 mm. capable of airburst (airbust).

Since 2010 no record of seizures of 40mm grenade launcher. at the hands of drug cartels, so it was decided to provide a similar system for the Armed Forces.

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The General Ricardo Cundom new Chief of Staff of the Argentine Army after presenting his resignation Milani "strictly personal reasons"


(Defensa.com) The Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gerardo César Milani, presented his move to cash for "strictly personal reasons" withdrawal, according to the Ministry of Defense. Also, the President of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, in exercise of the powers conferred upon the Constitution as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, has appointed the new Chief of Staff of the Argentine Army Major General, Ricardo VGM Luis Cundom.

Together, the Defense Ministry reported that the order was accepted retirement of Lieutenant General César Milani and Cundom President appointed as his replacement by Decree No. 1168 published in the Official Gazette.

It recalls that Milani had been appointed in 2013 by President Cristina Kirchner to replace Luis Alberto Pozzi and his nomination as army chief generated much controversy between the government and the opposition, which delayed the formal designation in the Congress of the Nation several months. Also that his appointment had been contested by human rights organizations that put under scrutiny the actions of Milani during the last military dictatorship. The Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) was one of the organizations that had raised some objections.

In May 2013, CELS released in a press release, it expressed "Today we are concerned that the person who has the responsibility to lead the armed forces as its own, in the exercise of his inauguration, arguments that contradict fundamental advances democratic reconstruction carried out by the whole society Argentina in the last thirty years. " That same year, under the title "Mother and General", monthly Not one step back from the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo published an interview with Hebe de Bonafini was performed to Milani. There the whole rejected the complaints against him and said he was willing to meet "all changes" that had asked President Cristina Kirchner.

Cundom was until yesterday operational commander of Joint Staff of the Armed Forces and trained in infantry weapon. It did not act, therefore, under the direct orders of César Milani in the Army, but depended on the General Luis Maria Carena, subordinate Milani in the area of intelligence and head of Joint Staff of the Armed Forces since July 2013. He was born in Cordoba on October 14, 1955, he graduated from the Military Academy in 1977 (class 108) and is a veteran of the Falklands. Degree in strategy and organization, was inspector general of the Army Aviation commander in force and operational commander of the Armed Forces. It was, too, defense attache at the embassy in Mexico Argentina.

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Argentine armament forgotten by history in Central America


(defensa.com) For decades Central America was the recipient of good amount of Argentine military equipment. On September 2, 1981 the Argentina signed an agreement for the sale of arms to Guatemala and Honduras, and months later, in March 1982, a separate agreement between the Argentine military regime and the Salvadoran government for the purchase of weapons was conceived. However, even before the signing of these agreements Argentina he was engaged in the logistics of Central weapons. For example, the Nicaraguan regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle would dispatch a Commission of Pilots FAN-GN to evaluate the aircraft Pucara, FAL rifles and even spare parts for Sherman, recommending the purchase of ten aircraft and throughout the park offered, if But in the end, it would not happen anything ... officially.


The memory of the Sandinista Popular Army reports that on reaching the end of Somoza was found in Rancho Montelimar, located behind the Cerro Motastetepe, an intact whatever the Nicaraguan National Guard tactical rockets including multiple Israeli arsenal. Actually it was tactical rocket launchers YARARA built in Argentina. 40 batteries were tubes LAU 2 / A or LAU32 / A accommodated on trucks Chevrolet C-10 Albatross firing rockets 1224mm long, 70mm caliber, and weighing 10.5 kg, to a range between 1,000 and 4,000 direct heat meters to 10,000 in indirect fire. The teams had been supplied by the EDESA-DGFM Fray Luis Beltran, in a contract worth $ 7.7 million.


A mid-70s, Argentina to Honduras would also provide about 4,000 FAL rifles, including FAP models, and 6000 FAL rifles to equip the army of that country. These weapons remain today and have been stored object of scandal to find that many have disappeared and found in the hands of organized crime. As a separate note note that thousands of these weapons even today in military warehouses, rifles could be recycled to SAR Arms DS-58 model to return them to active use, but not the army, but the National Police of Honduras.

Once the initial arrangements to early 80s, Guatemala, among other things, receive 64 recoilless Czekalski / M-1974 FMK-1. This weapon fires a 105mm ammunition fragmentary variety of explosives and explosive shaped charge capable of drilling between 180 mm and 200 mm of steel, 105mm caliber to an effective range of 1,200m and a maximum range of 9,200 m. In Honduras, the military assistance meant that arrived in November 1982 to 20 military advisers to train Argentine "cons" on the border with Nicaragua, as well as weapons of additional support for the Honduran Army. El Salvador, meanwhile, had sought Pucara aircraft, but only materialize delivery of small arms and ammunition.

Mortars
Honduras was receiving considerable Argentine military equipment during the decades of the 70s and 80s, to include the FAL rifles and mortars FM Cal81 manufactured in Cordoba in the Military Factory of Rio Tercero, and with a maximum range of 6,100 m. In November 1983, a shipment of 10 million in equipment to Honduras wrapped, among others, 120mm mortars. Mean the arrival of 24 models Cal120mm FM, which would become an organic part of the (firing) section of heavy mortars Weapons Company of the Infantry Brigade. Its approximate rate of fire is 20 rounds per minute, with a range of approximately 8000m.


In 2011, the then head of the Joint Chiefs, General Rene Osorio Armed Forces of Honduras, to a request to the United States for supplying mortar to replace the FM-81 and FM-120 models made in Argentina. However, these materials are reported fully active.

FMK-3
During a recent trip to El Salvador, we note the presence of a FMK-3 machine gun in the hands of a security guard (civil). As already noted, these machine guns are part of a quantity of ammunition provided to the Salvadoran Army in the early eighties. Mentioned Decree (Presidential secret) No.721, 4000 would send FAL rifles; 6000 FAL-To; Browning pistols 2000; 24,000,000 cartridges in caliber 7.62mm and 9mm; 25,000 common grenades; 10,000 anti-tank grenades and 4,000 cartridges for guns of 105 millimeters to the Central American country.


It is unclear what happened to the FAL in El Salvador, but it is possible that the data refers to models delivered to the Army of Honduras. There is speculation, on the other hand, the deal with the Salvadorans were, in fact, 10,000 copies of the FMK-3 machine gun, which would be widely distributed to the Salvadoran National Police (PN), where they worked until the end of the conflict. As a note of interest, in 2006, the Joint Chiefs tried to canjearle the MP5 Military Special Security Brigade and in the hands of the military police, for the FMK-3 embodegadas, but the unit refused to accept the change. So they remain in store ... as far as we know.

As for the Browning HP Argentine in El Salvador they can be considered a major failure, as several cases of catastrophic failure occurred in combat and were embodegadas quickly. Apparently the FMK-3 in El Salvador presented some problems caused by the poor quality of the ammunition, which won the same reputation that guns, although they served until the disappearance of the Salvadoran PN in 1996, being then stored by the army.

The FMK-3 is calibrated to the projectile 9x19mm Luger, having an empty weight of 3.40 kg. It has a retractable butt of metal wire, which gives a length of 693mm and 523mm to be extended to close. It has a rate of fire of 650 rounds per minute, being fed by chargers 25, 32 or 40 bullets. The FMK-3 features a telescopic bolt, firing from an open bolt no shoes, and the charger is inserted into the pistol grip, which gives external similarity to the UZI. We believe that the FMK-3 could be modified in the same workshops of the Salvadoran military industry, with Picatinny rails, assault and tactical grip lamps, plus some best butt and so returned to the police use, because with the new round of maras, the PNC has been on the need to develop more automatic weapons.

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Colombia requests information from Israel for the possible purchase of F 16 A / B "Netz" with 35 years of service


(Defensa.com) Driven by the requirements of the Colombian Air Force to the necessary renewal of Ala Hunting, which currently ranks aircraft "Kfir", the Colombian government has made a request to Israel on the availability of aircraft acquisition F- 16 A / B "Netz" will soon be dropped. These aircraft arrived in Israel in the early 80s and after completing 6,000 hours of flight ceiling of his cell, received a modernization that reached their service life by an additional 1,000 hours, which to date are ready to be fulfilled.

This unexpected request made by the prominent Colombian cultural attache in Israel responds to the need to find on the market an aircraft to replace the current and problematic "Kfir" and is within the budget that authorizes possibly reluctant Treasury for such a purchase, which to date has refused to allocate minimal resources to provide the FAC adequate platform that can meet the defense of sovereignty, ignoring completely the studies conducted by the Air Force requiring new aircraft and, if necessary, used but with far fewer years in service.

One of the possible reasons for fixing the interest in these aircraft, with more than 35 years of service and who are at the end of its life, is due to the need to integrate them electronics and weapons being acquired for the failed modernization who underwent the "Kfir" and the facility would offer Israel Aerospace Industries, IAI, to carry out this process, it must be remembered that within the modernization there are still teams that are in the process of integration, such as contracts signed with Israeli companies to develop a system of electronic countermeasures and DASH helmets, which would trigger the Python 5 missile firepower of 360.

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Explosion in the air or on land Army Black Hawk Colombia?


(Defensa.com) The Army Command reported this Monday, June 22, that "troops of the Second Division of the Army during military operations to protect the country's oil infrastructure, specifically the Caño Limón, were affected by explosive charge ". Black Hawk aircraft registration EJC2185 was affected as they are already on the ground and be activated explosive charge, the statement said.

The device would have landed, according to this version, in a minefield. The incident occurred in the village of El Bejuco in the municipality of Teorema, Norte de Santander. According to preliminary information provided by the Army, the explosives were placed and activated by terrorists of gang resistance Catatumbo by the FARC in the place where the troops conducting offensive maneuvers to support ground units, which has been in several days forward operations. Four soldiers were killed, two wounded and four suffered minor bruises as a result of the blast. The wounded and bruised by this time already they were evacuated and are in recovery assistance centers.

In both official sources and dismissed the downing of the helicopter in the air, sources cited by the New Colombia News Agency ensure images of the stricken helicopter did not point to an explosion in land but its demolition in the air, "Fields containing explosives undermined the generals call "mines bankruptcy legs," and yes, break feet when they explode. But there is a big difference between a foot and a helicopter breaks into two parts. The Black Hawk is also an armored helicopter, resist storms not only in the air but also shots of machine guns (...) A Black Hawk no cracks or splits a land mines, "said the source. Six of the troops aboard the device survived the incident, so they could confirm or deny whether it was a minefield or if the plane was shot down.

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Given the terrain where that wreck sits...I believe its pretty clear that something happened in the air to bring the chopper down.

What that may have been...mechanical problems, fire from the ground, etc...I do not know. Cannot tell from those photos whether the damage shown happened on the ground either.

But I do not believe that helicopter landed where it sits and was then damaged..

It is possible that it was hovering above that area when the problems occurred.

Argentina Navy and the National Technological University project develop the ICI (Inter Computer Interface)

(Defensa.com) is an interface card used for interconnecting computers SMRMU of SEWACO system Meko Meko 360 and type 140 units, equivalent to the current ICI (Inter Computer Interface). The project was presented in 2010, beginning the following year the tasks to get a working prototype. After testing in port and navigation, fixes and upgrades were made to obtain a mature and stable operating conditions on board end-use prototype chord. The project was completed in 2012.

It is recalled that in 2013 the necessary technical documentation for the prototype was transferred to a private company for mass production and a year later received and tested the first series of AR-ICI plates were passing tests acceptance required. Finally, in May this year was prepared and delivered a complete workstation to Section Systems (ACCO) Workshop Electronics Arsenal Naval Puerto Belgrano, with all the digital documentation and software necessary for the maintenance and repair of the new plate.

Is how they managed to complete the cycle called Sabato triangle whose edges are Requirement, Research and Development (R & D) and technology transfer, which means: "Detect or receive a request and / or operational need; link the operational need with the scientific-technological system; with scientific-technological results, manage the transfer of technology to the productive sector so that the user receives an item that you solve operational problems "(Sabato and Botana 1968). In this cycle, to complete the technology transfer training of personnel involved in the repair and maintenance is required. That is why prepared and issued in the SIAG a training course aimed at technical staff in charge of repairing the plates.

The head of the SIAG Engineering Department, Captain Sergio Osvaldo Burgos said: "The work carried out satisfactorily allows realize the strengthening of institutional relationships with academia and in particular the activities of Research and Development, allowing us to work jointly with universities, optimizing the use of human and material resources as well as technical solutions to bring our institution and generate relationships with technology companies in the region. "

The activities of research and development were carried out by researchers of the Service Operational Analysis, Weapons and Electronic Warfare (SIAG), engineers Christian Galasso and Gustavo Diaz, who worked under the direction of the Masters Omar Alimenti and William Friedrich, Technological University National Bahía Blanca Regional Faculty; whereas technology transfer activities were carried out by the Engineering Department of SIAG.

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Chile is preparing for Exercise "Southern Winds 2015"


(Defensa.com) As different authorities have said of National Defense, starting with the very President of the Republic, the Chilean Armed Forces will see increased participation in tasks designed to address the impact of natural disasters in the country. One example is the training exercise emergencies and disasters "Southern Winds 2015", executed in Southern Joint Command units located in the city of Punta Arenas, at the southern tip of the country, involving civil authorities, Commander Southern Command Set, the Commanders in Chief of the Armed Forces of Order and Regional Security, members of the Emergency Operations Committee, Regional Ministerial Secretaries, Government, Health, Public Works, Energy, Transport and Telecommunications and agencies civil, state emergency volunteers.

"Southern Winds 2015" has the support of the training system for emergency management SIGEN of the War Academy of the Chilean Army. According to the Joint Staff, which oversees the Southern Joint Command, "will allow the participating regional authorities to train relevant aspects in decision-making in response to emergencies, displaying the best way of using the human resources and materials available to avoid the loss of human lives and reduce property damage "

The highest regional authority for emergency management is the Regional Governor, who heads the Emergency Operations Committee (COE) regional, official appointed by the President of the Republic together with other members of the COE "address the most recurrent cases As for disasters and emergencies, emphasizing situations like rashes; fires; storm surges and tsunamis; earthquakes and earthquakes, in addition to meteorological events "

As you can see the exercise is aimed at decision-making of the highest regional level, in an area that is characterized by being connected to the rest of the country only by air and sea. Exercise also aware of the concern in Chile and between their authorities to keep the capacity to respond to emergencies and avoid possible errors or omissions caused by weaknesses in the level of control of organizations that have a contribution to make mitigation and overcoming the effects of natural disasters. It should be noted that in Chile the human and material resources to support the civilian population in case of natural disasters are all subordinate to the central government, so the main challenge is the coordination of their action.

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A delegation of the Uruguayan Air Force visits FAdeA to discuss the future of their Pucara


(Defensa.com) A top-level delegation of the FAU arrived in Córdoba to meet with the authorities of the Aircraft Factory Argentina (Fade) and review the progress of the industrial complex in order to assess the permanence or not in the Force Pucara Air, which recently returned to duplicate the activity, with Uruguay the first country in the world to acquire this aircraft and the only one that still flies, in addition to Argentina, not having been a very large spectrum of buyers (only Sri Lanka and some transferred to Colombia, whose cells are then integrated the Uruguayan aeronautical park).

The topics to be analyzed by the visitors will be basically four: support to the Pucara FAdeA line for the next five years, the repowering (cost and time estimates) Astazou the transition from the old to the new PT-6 engine A 62 and possible fate of the old engines of hours remaining in situ of the inner reality of the factory observation.

As we reported last May, authorities believe Uruguayan Air Force and three of the A-58 Pucara will continue flying to the problems for Uruguayan (and part of Argentina) fleet remain: lack of components spare landing gear, problems with plexiglass dome of the cockpit and engines Astazou obsolescence. The lack of spare parts and after-sales service affects all units, despite the enormous efforts at human resources deployed in Uruguay to keep Pucara in flight.

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