Asian tank town
In December, 2011, a citizen of Ukraine Sergey Serkov, got into serious trouble - his too, let's say, frivolous treatment with a flight attendant of Singapore Airlines ended with a court and public beating with bamboo sticks. Serious article "Insulting the dignity of a citizen of Singapore" ...
This was not the first high-profile case of corporal punishment of foreigners - in 1994, a similar punishment befell an American teenager Michael Fei. A young scoundrel engaged in vandalism on the streets of the cleanest city in the world, for which he was immediately seized by the police and mercilessly cut out. Even the intervention of President Clinton did not help - everyone in Singapore is equal before the law.
Similar stories best emphasize the entourage in which the events described below take place. In an unusual country, they are fining for a candy wrapper thrown on the pavement and ruthlessly pulling out drug couriers. The rigidity and integrity of the authorities is the only thing that allows us to maintain order and ensure the functioning of a small state. After all, the island does not even have sources of fresh water - it has to be imported from Malaysia.
And in the country, smaller than St. Petersburg, there is the largest seaport in the world, an airport, a developed electrical industry and even its own tank plant. The latter circumstance is the most paradoxical - baby Singapore has a completely inadequate amount of armored vehicles, most of which he built for himself.
The city-state, which positions itself as a tourist paradise, is armed with its ground forces over 2000 modern tanks and heavy armored vehicles! At first glance, a comparison with North Korea suggests itself, but the impression is deceptive: Singapore is an open state, however, for some reason, Singaporeans are not in a hurry to leave their urbanized and well-protected island.
Steel Claws of Singapore
The pride of the Singapore tank battalions is the 96 main battle tanks “Leopard-2”, of which only 66 remain operational, the remaining thirty vehicles are intended for “cannibalization”, as sources of spare parts for combat tanks. The Singapore military is practical because they imagined how they would pull 60-tonne engines from the swamps and immediately ordered 10 armored repair and recovery vehicles Bergepanzer BPz3 Buffel on the Leopard chassis (the BREM party arrived on 31 in May 2012).
All MBT Leopard-2А4, acquired in 2008 from the German Armed Forces, received a set of AMAP ceramic armor from the German company IBD Deisenroth Engineering, an additional mine bottom protection and rack armor in the stern of the tank, designed to protect against cumulative ammunition. The main scope of work on the modernization of "Leopards" took place at the enterprises of the Singapore company "ST-Kinetics". The next stage of modernization of Singapore's Leopard Evolution will include the installation of ADS active protection against the famous German company Rheinmetall.
Many foreign experts sarcastically point out that the use of main battle tanks on the territory of Singapore is similar to the plot of the famous joke about an elephant in a china shop. 60-ton monsters on the tower get bogged down in the marshy soil of the island, and tank battles in the territories of Malaysia and Indonesia generally lie in the realm of fantasy: "Leopards" will not crawl through the jungle and meter.
But Singapore lives by its own mind, and it has found quite a competent solution for conducting combat operations in the conditions of Southeast Asia. 350 light French tanks AMX-13 weighing 18 tons. All of them were acquired in the 70-ies from the Israel Defense Forces and to date have undergone several modernization cycles, including the replacement of a gasoline engine with a diesel engine, the installation of a new transmission and suspension. Significant changes have undergone fire control systems, a laser range finder and a thermal imager appeared (all from our own production, from ST Kinetics). The drives of vertical and horizontal guidance of the gun became completely electric, however, the 75 mm gun itself remained unchanged - Singaporeans did not even bother to install a stabilizer, finding that there was no way to fire on the go in the jungle.
As for the basic design, the AMX-13 is an original combat vehicle developed at the beginning of the 50-years, with the front-mounted engine compartment, aluminum armor and “swinging turret. The French managed to do without a loader - in a small tower there are two drum shops for 6 shells in each, the force of the rollback rotates the shop and another shell rolls down onto the tray. Then in the automatic mode is sent, closes the shutter and shoots. The device provides 10-12 firing rate per minute. Having fired the ammunition, an unarmed tank must find shelter for reloading the stores (general ammunition 36 shots).
Currently, the Singapore tanks of this type, designated AMX-13 SM-1, are gradually being removed from service, converted into bridge layers, etc., specialized machines.
Also, six dozen former Israeli Shot Cal tanks — modernized British Centurions with 105 mm guns and diesel engines — could theoretically be in service with the Singapore Army. Recently, these machines do not meet exactly any mention, but it is quite possible they are still quietly rusting somewhere on the storage bases, and maybe long ago dismantled for scrap.
The islanders have their own “main caliber”. Since 2002, ST-Kinetics has launched the production of a self-propelled 155 mm howitzer SSPH Primus. To date, Singaporeans have riveted 48 Primus and are very pleased with the result.
And Singapore also has more 800 infantry combat vehicles and 1000 tracked M113 armored personnel carriers.
Infantry fighting vehicles "Bionix" and "Terreks" - own development of the company "ST Kinetics". The highest priority in the development of this armored vehicle was called its security - as a result, Singapore's armored vehicles have a huge mass - 25 and more tons (for comparison, the domestic BMP-2 is half lighter!). Modular armor provides all-view protection against 14,5 mm bullets, and a frontal projection withstands hitting 30 mm shells.
Created in 1988, the tracked BMP Bionix has three basic options, differing in weapon systems:
- Bionix 40 / 50 - BMP, with a machine gun installed in the 12,7 mm turret and an automatic grenade launcher of the 40 mm caliber (300 vehicles in service with the Singapore Armed Forces),
- Bionix 25 - BMP, armed with 25 mm automatic gun "Bushmaster" (200 machines),
- Bionix II - a modern version of the BMP with automatic 30 mm gun (200 machines).
BTR "Terreks" (sometimes referred to as the BMP) is a heavy armored personnel carrier on a wheeled drive, produced serially with 2004. The mass of the armored vehicle is about 30 tons, the landing party is 12 people. The speed on the highway 110 km / h, afloat 10 km / h.
The creators of Terreks paid a lot of attention to ensuring environmental monitoring: in addition to the three standard periscopes, thermal imagers and video cameras of the circular surveillance system (ARSS), an acoustic sensor of small shots was installed on the roof of the car. weapons, allowing you to quickly identify the direction of enemy fire.
Each BTR carries a EOS R-600 stabilized combat module with remote control, including an AGN 40 mm automatic grenade launcher and a 7,62 mm machine gun.
In recent years, armed with three infantry battalions of the Army of Singapore received 135 armored vehicles "Terreks".
The Singapore Army has more than 1000 tracked M113A2 ULTRA tracked armored personnel carriers, most of which are converted to the 40 / 50 standard with an installed combat module by the Israeli company Rafael. A smaller part of the machines is equipped with an 25 mm automatic cannon, some armored personnel carriers are used as self-propelled anti-aircraft guns “Mechanized Igla” with a radar installed on them and six launch containers of Russian-made Igla.
In general, the M113 armored personnel carrier is a floating tracked vehicle weighing 11 tons of model 1960 of the year. Two crew members and eleven paratroopers are securely covered with 44 mm aluminum armor. The diesel engine provides good mobility, allowing you to develop 60 km / h on the highway.
Also at the disposal of the Singapore military are 300 light armored personnel carriers Cadillac Commando (armored reconnaissance and patrol cars, according to national classification). Amphibious combat vehicles weighing 7 tons with light bulletproof armor. Fifty "Cadillacs" in service, the rest rust on conservation.
The specific conditions of the geography and climate of Singapore required special technical solutions to increase the mobility of the army. Twenty years ago, 300 Swedish articulated all-terrain vehicles BV-202 "Elk" with an active trailer were purchased for the needs of the Singapore Army. The unique machine was so much liked by the military that, based on it, ST Kinetics developed and produced the Bronco All Terrain Tracked Carrier 400 lightly armored all-terrain vehicles for the needs of the Singapore Armed Forces and even more 100 vehicles for the British Army and the Thai Army.
An important element of armored units are specialized engineering vehicles, tractors, bridge laying, ammunition conveyors, repair and evacuation equipment. All this is enough for the islanders in abundance. In service of the engineering units of the army of Singapore are:
- 36 British FV180 Combat Engineer Tractor. "Tractor" is a universal armored amphibious crawler loader for excavation and construction work in the zone of military conflicts,
- 12 M60 AVLB bridge laying on the chassis of the M60 tank,
- 10 heavy armored repair and recovery vehicles Buffel on the chassis of the tank "Leopard-2". BREM Buffel equipped with a crane, dozer blade, winches, as well as fueling equipment, which provides the ability to perform a wide range of tasks under enemy fire,
- engineer tanks МNNXX Combat Engineer Vehicle, intended for the construction of defensive fortifications and destruction of enemy fortifications. The machine is equipped with a short-barreled 728 mm cannon for throwing explosive charges, a dozer knife, a crane boom, a winch and an MCB trawl for quickly overcoming minefields,
- Sapper armored vehicles Trailblazer, as well as several dozen BREM and bridge laying systems based on the Bionix infantry fighting vehicle.
Anti-tank weapons and artillery
The army of Singapore is so full of anti-tank means, as if the islanders are preparing for the Kursk Bulge. In addition to the old proven Karl Gustav grenade launchers, 4000 of modern anti-tank missile systems SPIKE-LR and MATADOR are available. Interestingly, the main "likely enemy" of Singapore - Malaysia is armed with its ground forces of all 48 tanks PT-91M (Polish modification of the famous T-72).
The artillery of the small island is even more surprising. In addition to the aforementioned "Primus", in service with Singapore 230 artillery systems caliber 155 mm, it is not possible to count the guns and mortars of a smaller caliber. High-tech Singapore approached the case with its practicality: 10 mobile radar stations were acquired to control artillery firing, enabling it to track the trajectories of enemy projectiles and conduct counter battery fire.
As you have already guessed, the exploitation of these huge arsenals in the territory of the country, about half the size of St. Petersburg, is not possible. Therefore, the Singapore tankers and gunners are always happy to leave the narrow limits of their country in order to conduct large-scale maneuvers at the ranges of the USA and Europe. For example, the annual tank exercises Exercise Panzer Strike at the largest European firing range in Bergen (Germany). In addition, Singaporeans are trying not to miss the opportunity to participate in peacekeeping operations and wars for the establishment of democratic orders on foreign shores. Afghanistan, Iraq, East Timor ...
In the last article devoted to the Air Force of the Republic of Singapore (http://topwar.ru/21345-s-pastyu-lva-na-fyuzelyazhe-obzor-vvs-singapura.html), the surprising side of Singapore-Malaysian relations was already noted: despite the saber-rattling weapons, formidable statements and 10-multiple military superiority of Singapore, the Malaysian leadership is enough to turn off the tap on the pipeline with fresh water ... Yes, Singapore is critically dependent on Malaysia. And nevertheless, a huge army played its role in ensuring the security of the state: Indonesia and Malaysia, once seriously making plans for the accession of Singapore, now are afraid to look towards their formidable neighbor.
Information