Pictures of the Week: Oct 24, 2012

PETALING JAYA: KD Lekiu successfully conducted a contractual firing of a Sea Wolf missile off Selat Melaka Utara on Oct 23, 2012. The missile, according to a RMN release hit its intended target, a TGX-2 towed by a Learjet 35A. The release did not mention the company which provided the target towing service but its most probably, Aerotree Defence and Services Sdn Bhd

KD Lekiu shortly before the firing of the Sea Wolf missile.RMN picture

The Sea Wolf missile on the way to hit its target. RMN picture

A dramatic plume as the starter motor is fired to eject the Sea Wolf missile from its launch tube.RMN picture

The Sea Wolf missile emerging from its launch tube. RMN picture

Test firings of the Sea Wolf has been more successful compared to the other SAM system installed on RMN ships (Aspide in the Laksamana class ships) but it is getting old. The Royal Navy intends to retire the missile by 2020 and it is most likely RMN will follow suit, if not even sooner. Its replacement? Most probably the VL Mica if the system is selected for the LCS/SGPV programme.

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13 Responses to "Pictures of the Week: Oct 24, 2012"

FareedLHS says:

October 24, 2012 at 6:46 pm

VL Mica is vastly superior to Sea Wolf.

The transition should take place sooner rather than later.
Azlan says:

October 24, 2012 at 7:49 pm

Fareed,

I’m trying to determine if MICA, like Seawolf, has an anti-missile capability. MBDA doesn’t mention it in its web-site but it would be a bit of a bummer if MICA did not have the same anti-missile capability as Seawolf, which was designed in the 1970′s.

From this video it looks like MICA, like Seawolf, has a very fast reaction time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLYvty_alQ4

Marhalim,

Seawolf will be replaced by Sea Captor on the Type 23s and will go on the Type 26s. Given that the Seawolf VLS is not modular and that we will end up operating the Lekiu class for at least another 20 years, this the route we will probably end up taking. If I recall correctly, MBDA got a contract in 2008 to refurbish our stock of Seawolfs? Wasn’t a Seawolf also launched last month?

BTW, nice pictures!

Reply
The pictures belong to RMN, I forgot to credit them! Yes MBDA refurbish the Sea Wolf back then.
Loreng says:

October 25, 2012 at 1:08 am

Marhalim what about ESSM?

Reply
It is most likely the LCS would be fitted with MICA
nanonano says:

October 25, 2012 at 1:35 am

Please fix them missiles on board those ngpvs as well, and do it asap. Why must theybtake so long to arm those ships to the teeth. Guns alone wont be sufficient in today’s war scenario.
FareedLHS says:

October 25, 2012 at 6:45 pm

Azlan,

According to MBDA, the VL MICA does have anti-missile capability:

http://www.mbda-systems.com/mediagallery/files/vl_mica_sea_ds.pdf

“VL MICA offers a real multiple target capability (autonomous guidance, extremely short reaction time) and all target capability (aircraft, missiles, PGMs, smart bombs and helicopters) with low training costs and reduced manpower requirements.”
FareedLHS says:

October 25, 2012 at 6:55 pm

Azlan,

The Sea Ceptor will be quad-packed into the space occupied by one Seawolf according to Aviation Week.
Azlan says:

October 26, 2012 at 1:59 pm

Marhalim,

From this photo you posted from Ex-Angsa, it really doesn’t like look the launch came from
amidships where the MM-40 are located. From the smoke trail it looks like it came from further aft doesn’t it?

http://www.malaysiandefence.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/RBA_3639-e1348145969891.jpg

Also, unlike the case with VLSs, isn’t the ship normally pointed in the direction of where the target is, when it comes to SSM launches?

Reply
You made a point there but since I am not an expert on this issue I will leave it to others…
It must be noted that the Lekius has eight MM40 launchers amidships, not all fixed with missiles or the box launchers all the time that I had seen her.
Most of the time only four launchers are mounted while the other four is empty only the mountings could be seen. On occasions all eight launchers are missing!
Azlan says:

October 27, 2012 at 3:03 am

When KD Jebat was photographed alongside USS George Washington last week, she only had 4 MM-40s, they rest were missing, most likely being worked on at Lumut.

As they say, a picture tell a thousand words and from that particular picture it really looks like the missile was launched from somewhere near the stern which off course is impossible as the launchers are fitted amidships. Then again the eye could just be playing tricks :]. If I’m not mistaken, years before the SLEP, around the same time the DRS-300 [which also went on the Perdana and Handalan class] replaced RAPIDS, KD Kasturi and KD Lekir also had their 4 MM-38s replaced with 8 MM-40s.

Reply
You mean 4 launchers, as we will never know for sure whether they carried missiles or not! 4 launchers seemed to be the standard load out for the Lekius
FareedLHS says:

October 27, 2012 at 7:07 pm

Azlan,

The ship was moving forward, so the smoke trail is going to appear further and further behind the ship as it moves forward until the smoke eventually clears.
nimitz says:

October 27, 2012 at 8:45 pm

I agree with Azlan that picture of missile launch Ex Angsa provided by TUDM, at first glance it does not fit for Exocet launch. But as we know there is no missile launchers further aft so I think the ship moved a few meter forward leaving behind the smokes. Done some zoom in, I saw one of the missile canister (the 1st four)cap was not there….
Azlan says:

October 28, 2012 at 3:09 am

Marhalim,

I have seen 8 MM-40 launchers on the Kasturi.

Fareed and Nimitz,

You guys are probably right, I didn’t think about that – my gray matter wasn’t functioning :]. But ships, for some reason unknown to me, normally don’t go very fast when missiles are launched and the photo was taken literaly seconds after the launch. Maybe there was a strong wind? From the picture, the fire director seems to be pointing the right direction.
FareedLHS says:

October 29, 2012 at 1:23 am

Strong wind is also a possibility. I wouldn’t think that the ship would be going that fast when launching missiles either.

Reply
The ship should be able to fire its weapons at full speed or stop.
Azlan says:

October 29, 2012 at 6:16 pm

From what I’ve been told, ships never fire at full speed or high speed.

This is what I picked up -

If a ship is pootling along at minimum speed, or at dead stop/station keeping for that matter, it is a more stable platform in pitch & roll. This stability allows the processing of data to be made easier & this makes it more accurate, as while the data may well be being fed to the command system/fire control predictor 1,000 times a second, it’s not being swamped with huge variations on pitch, roll, ships heading & speed from own ship. Additionally, the same can be said for the track extractor data being processed by the radar/tracker that is tracking the target. Less variation/solid tracking of the target leads to better accuracy. All that said, these systems CAN operate when the ship is at speed, but there is the likelihood that unless the missile is update from own ship, mid-flight, there’s a higher probability of a miss.”

Pictures of the Week: Oct 24, 2012

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