Eagle 150B Aircraft
The Malaysian army will soon be equipped with 'state-of-the-art' Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), DPM Najib Razak, who is also defence minister said on 21st July 2008 in Lumut.
Najib did not give an operational time frame, but only said tactical UAVs would be leased from a consortium made up of three companies, namely;
Composites Technology Research
Systems Consultancy Sdn Bhd, and
Ikramatic Sdn Bhd.,
which were said to be developing the UAV.
Najib said five units of UAV were being tested before being put to use by the army.
The UAV reportedly can fly at a speed of up to 55 knots and reach an altitude of 4,000 metres.
More white elephants to be fed and watered?
At a time when it is common to see army vehicles broken down by the sides of roads and highways, the mind boggles regarding how these UAV’s will be maintained so as to be in an every-ready operational state.
Furthermore let us hope that the lives of the public are not put at risk when these unmanned airborne vehicles are flying about, especially if Najib wants to have the UAVs used for crowd control if and when the army is roped in to police the citizens of
Money seems to be plentiful in the MOD, even at these belt-tightening times.
Malaysian Airborne Reconnaissance Vehicle is, according to Wikipedia,
"A development of the Eagle 150B aircraft as a UAV which has been designated the 'Eagle ARV System'.”
Also according to Wikipedia:
“The first system of three aircraft and a ground station has been purchased by the Malaysian government.”
Consuetudinis magna vis est
- The force of habit is great.
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