SHAH ALAM: Army Demo This Weekend, The Army will be holding a demonstration and exhibition at Pantai Saujana, Port Dickson this weekend as part of its 85th anniversary. The event will be held from this Friday (Mar 9) to Sunday (Mar. 11) from 8am to 5pm.
The demonstration however will only be conducted on Saturday although the event will start on Friday and ends on Sunday.
The single demonstration will be similar to the ones hold in 2014 and 2015, with some variation of course. The event in 2014 was held to mark the end of Ops Daulat, the operations against the incursion by Sulu gunmen at Lahad Datu in 2013.
The GGK Glover Webb LSV at 2015 Army demo
This was a guest post by AM for the 2015 event.
The Malaysian Army celebrated its 82nd anniversary at Port Dickson on March 7 with a sea, air and land demonstration that brought together some of the most interesting units in the Malaysian Army and support from the Royal Malaysian Air Force.
The Event
For men of the Army’s Special Forces Group, the day began long before the formal start at 8.00am with the arrival of the top brass. At least two Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boats took up station in the distance at 7.30am, accompanied by lightly crewed safety craft.A RMAF EC-725 Cougar or H225M now was seen making preliminary orbits of the area, as much for familiarization as to sanitize the area. A gaggle of four colourful, fast moving vessels approached the army flotilla and was brought to a halt by a swift reacting safety craft. Any speculation that these were fodder for the commandos ended when the civilian craft departed and made no further appearance.
As mentioned in the post, the 2014 demonstration was more intense as it included a company of paratroopers assaulting the beach.
The beach assault however took another dimension when it was thought to be the forerunner for a Malaysian marine force. It was not it was just a demonstration of the capabilities of the 10th Para Brigade, which is the Army’s Quick Reaction unit.
GGK long guns on display at the 2015 Army demo
That said the Army also expects most of its units on alert duty to be ready to move out within several hours of notification so its not just the QRF unit that will be able to respond to any emergencies.
A GGK RIV at the 2015 Army demo
— Malaysian Defence.
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View Comments (19)
I was wondered if Army has a Standard issue Sniper rifle, if you can ask the Army Officer Marhalim
Safran,
Since the 1990's it has been the Arctic International L-96. The L-96 however has been gradually supplemented with other types.
We know what rifles the army has but what we don't know - unfortunately - is how the snipers/sharpshooters are organised and how they fit in a particular unit's TOE.
P.S. It is the Accuracy International L-96 Arctic Warfare rifle, which has been supplemented by the AX308 from the same company.
Azlan,
I thought the AX Series were only Used by Spec-ops and 10th Para. Secondly, Did Army use SR-25 and TRG-22 ?.
AFAIK sharpshooters in BIS are found in Support Company. I can be wrong, as this info I got in 2004.
Safran,
The AX308 is also on issue to other units. Accuracy International has ceased producing the L-96 and many users have switched to the AX308. The army not too long ago displayed a TPG-1. You can see one in the pic Marhalim posted in this thread, above. It's next to the Barrett.
For BIS battalion,
The Fire support company would have
- 1 platoon of snipers
- 1 platoon of 81mm mortars
- 1 platoon of HMG and MGL on 4x4s
- 1 platoon of carl gustav or ATGM
I don't know if this is still the current mix.
- I believe it would be a section, rather than a platoon, of snipers/sharpshooters. .
- The mortar platoon traditionally had 8 tubes.
- By and large the Support Companies have GPMGs, not HMGs.
We have tripod mounted HMGs but most are vehicle mounted.
Take into account that the TOE of units can vary, i.e. some units have no RPGs, some units have no AGLs and some units no MGLs but M20A3s. Even with BIS; what a section is authorised to carry and what it actually carries can be different, depending on the circumstances. Also, when operating as part of a platoon or company, the BIS section can be augmented with extra assets for direct support, i.e. an extra LMG or even GPMGs from the Support Company.
P.S.
- Correction on my part on the HHMGs. HMGs tend to be vehicle mounted and operated by mechanised units on pintle mounts or those that have 4x4 ''weapons carriers'' as part of their Support Companies. In the case of the BIS, some units have both GPMGs and HMGs in their Support Company but not all.
- Units that have ATGWs, still have Carl Gustavs as part of their Support Company. We bought enough Carl Gustavs to equip the bulk of our battalions.
Discussions on what the BIS sections are armed with is largely a result of the 2010 photo that was released when the BIS was first unveiled - 1 Minimi, 1 Milkor and 2 RPGs. How it's currently armed I suspect may have slightly evolved since then or more accurately, how it was shown to be armed is what it's authorised to carry.
Personally I'd prefer 2 LMGs so that sections can be divided into 2 fire teams. Another problem with that in our context is that the BIS sections only have 1 Milkor. In other armies the sections will not only have a pair of LMGs [1 to each fire team] but also a pair of underslung grenade launchers [1 to each fire team]. If the BIS section is divided into 2 fire teams and is armed as shown in the 2010 pic; then it'll have 2 fire teams with varying levels of firepower. At the end of the day [like others], the decision for 8 man sections was so it could fit in a IFV. What I'm not sure is whether non BIS or non mechanised units also have 8 man sections.
Reply
The Paras also have eight men sections. It is also hilarious to see the 4X4 section try fit into their vehicle when the HMG is installed.
The support company TOE that ... mentioned is what I heard in 2012. It was an RRD battalion. To clarify, I heard the Metis-M ATGM were authorised as 3 tripod launchers and 3 mounted launchers. I also heard it was one platoon each of HMG and MGL, but am not certain.