Hang Jebat and the white elephant
On one hand, the reporter claimed that the Seawolf missile smashed into a target and on the other, the crew admitted the failure was caused by human error leaving the drone unscathed? Most probably, the reporter was prevented from being honest with his reporting.
By Lading Batagar
The echoes surrounding the loss of KD Sri Perak in 1984 in turbulent weather in South China Sea pale in comparison to that of KD Seri Inderapura. The latter caught the attention of the whole nation including myself.
Questions inevitably crop up in the minds of those who have the nation’s safety at heart.
How could the guardian of our shoreline and shipping lane lost its biggest ship in peace time and worse while berthed at the main naval base in Lumut. How will they perform in time of war?
That question reverberated throughout the country and reignited my interest which otherwise would have died a natural death.
While browsing through the internet, I stumbled upon this story carried by our mainstream media dated August 28, 2000.
“The Royal Malaysian Navy today test-fired its Seawolf, Aspide and Exocet MM40 missiles aboard its guided missile corvettes, KD Hang Jebat and KD Laksamana Tun Pusmah, during the Operasi Taming Sari 12/2000 exercise in the South China Sea.
The Seawolf surface-to-air missile and Exocet surface-to-surface missiles were fired from the KD Hang Jebat while the Aspide surface-to-air missile was unleashed by KD Laksamana Tun Pusmah.
The Seawolf, a British-made missile with an effective range of six kilometres, smashed into a target drone towed…”
No one, and myself included, will dispute the effectiveness of the French Exocet, the surface to surface missile reputed to be one of the deadliest. What we are really concerned is the ability of the two frigates to counter aerial threats.
To start with, let me quote the content of an email from a friend who was actively involved in the launching of the Seawolf missile from the frigate (not corvette as mentioned by the reporter) KD Jebat.
“The target (drone) range was one kilometer…honestly speaking, it did not hit the target not because of system problem like the one encountered by KD Rahmat but more due to human error, i.e. premature activation of the ‘SAFE FIRE’ command…”
Which of the two, the reporter or the crew, would I trust?
On one hand, the reporter claimed that the Seawolf missile smashed into a target and on the other, the crew admitted the failure was caused by human error leaving the drone unscathed? Most probably, the reporter was prevented from being honest with his reporting.
I thought the spinning machine called media have stopped dishing out misleading information especially after what RTM did with KD Rahmat in 1976.
Read more at: utuhpaloi.xbrain.biz
