Thursday, April 10, 2008

Story behind the Army's new rockets

A 122mm JROF rocket fired from SLA's Czech-built RM-70 MBRL whizzing towards a target

Some international organizations have charged that the Sri Lanka Army bought 10,000 missiles from Slovakia against European Union laws. This is completely false. The procurement and storage of these weapons occurred outside of Slovakia, in a non EU country.

The weapons procured were 122mm Rockets for the Army's RM-70 (RaketoMet 1970) Multi-Barrel Rocket Launchers bought at $180 a piece. They are military surplus and are not missiles in the sense that they are unguided rockets.

The country formerly known as Czechoslovakia split into two countries in 1993. One country is now known as the Czech Republic while the other is known as Slovakia.

With the breakdown of the Warsaw Pact, armies of the former Communist Block were downsized. These countries had to conform to NATO regulations in order to join the European Union, hence they commenced what is called a 'Liquidation program'. In order to reduce their arsenals and to generate revenue, some of these countries frequently sell portions of that arsenal as surplus military hardware.

The Sri Lanka Army has purchased 10,000 rockets from a surplus of such weapons at a very reasonable price. Anticipating these bottlenecks, some very smart officers in the Army made plans to purchase them at a different location than the location of the original vendor. Hence these weapons are presently at an entirely different location awaiting transfer to Colombo.

18 comments:

chamal said...

Thanks for the clarification Defencewire.

'Some people' sure seem to be worried about SLA getting a large amount of ammunition for their most formidable weapons. Hope the shipment will be well guarded (in fact the best possible protection should be given) since this has been publicized more than necessary already. How did the media get news on this anyway? I thought these kind of deals were done in secret?

chamal said...

I guess this comes as a sign of increased attacks on LTTE strongholds in the near future. Maybe immediately after the 'bad weather conditions' are over.....

Rover said...

We can't even get a couple of bullets without everyone jumping up out a**

Unknown said...

mmmmmm... love to hear this sort of good news.

perein said...

"The country formerly known as Czechoslovakia split into two countries in 1993. One country is now known as the Czech Republic while the other is known as Slovakia."
Let's make sure these Army's new rockets will unit Sri Lanka.

sldf said...

In 2002 we received 120 mm rockets, RM-70 MBRLs and few T-55 tanks from the same country. However, since this news is out now we have be on high alert and security have to be tightened especially around the port. Defencenet have said in the past that MI has warned that LTTE plans to capture or destroy army MBRLs since MBRL rocket fire had caused severe damages to LTTE formations in Jaffna August 2006 and it was one of the reasons the army did not lose any of the FDLs back then.

I bet LTTE have their own stock of Chinese made 107mm Katyusha 6/12 rockets launches. They had least 2 107MM Katyushas stationed in Thoppigala last year. Not sure if they have enough stcoks of 107mm rockets now. Also I believe we did captured 2 in Thoppigala.

Peter said...

$180 a piece

Nice!

Almost 20, 000 rupees; Isn't that a teacher's monthly wage?

Pundeyeelam said...

Out of topic (OOT)

3 vehicles belongs to 3 Ministers stolen from the parliament Car park?

Any news on this?

It's a Huge Security Lapse.
So , it means even LTTE can sneak in and install a bomb or two to ministerial vehicles?

Pundeyeelam said...

Peter
By making comments like

"$180 a piece

Nice!

Almost 20, 000 rupees; Isn't that a teacher's monthly wage?"


we know vanni LTTE and Keyboard LTTE like you are Dead scared now.
10,000 rounds ...man you guys must be shiting in your pants now.
Quickly call Norway for help
No..no..better idea call india
Ayyo..!!!..appa...!! 10,000 rounds.
alfa thambi odi odi.....hah ..hah.ha

Moshe Dyan said...

it is SLOVAKIA not SLOVENIA this time!!

Slovakia was part of former Czecholslovakia but Slovenia was part of former Yugoslavia.

we purchased RM-85 MBRLs from Slovenia last year although its real manufacturer was Slovakia (and Czech republic).

in 2002 LTTE purchased a stragrering 40,000 mortars from Croatia and nobody made any noise about it

Albania is another country we can look into. they have a HUGE surplus that they destroy. subject to quality issues we may purchase those at a cheaper rate. also other warsaw pact countries now trying to join NATO are destroynig their old explosives stock.

this can be both a benefit and a threat to us.

hopefully the 10,000 "missiles" are FRAGMENTATION ROCKETS.

Moshe Dyan said...

"A 122mm JROF rocket fired from SLA's Czech-built RM-70 MBRL whizzing towards a target"

WOW. this photo is from an attack around mid 2006 if i remember right.

IntelAttack said...

"$180 a piece
Nice!
Almost 20, 000 rupees; Isn't that a teacher's monthly wage?"

So what? you suggest to put more cheaper thing (like you) to MBRL and shoot?

By the way, How much is a Suicide bomber cost? $100? $250? or $0? for LTTE.

Keep your bullshit with you! Don't post premature comments here.

IntelAttack said...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7339423.stm

Is that Tamilnet or BBC? Wow! they sound like the Official LTTE Website. Even better. No wonder why they don't put a comments section there.

Pundeyeelam said...

Hey intel attack,
You are 100% right,
Did you notice For Prabha the fat pig, BBC have put "Mr" Prabhakaran.

and check for osama bin laden on BBC, you will not find Mr. In front.

Sam Perera said...

Symon Hill the monkey seems to be poking his nose where he has no business. According to "Symon Hill" our forces does not need any weapons. For Symon Hill, LTTE is a bunch of Karate warriors we can deal with bear hands. People like Symon Hill who has less than dismal knowledge of what is happening elsewhere is all of a sudden qualified to determine what Sri Lanka needs to fight with the deadliest terrorist group in the world. Without any reservation, I would say that monkeys like Symon Hill deserves no attention to what he says.

NOLTTE=Peace said...

For $ 180 a piece, I would order not 10,000 but 50,000.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

defencewire, thank you very much for clarifying the details behind the purchase.
It is not a secret that LTTE agents willl try to find out, what we buy and when we buy etc.
But how does these kind of things leak to media?
As far as I know now the Lanka logistics Ltd. is handling all the military purchases and the deals are done directly with the respective governments.
In my point of view, it is a serious case, allowing the media personnel to know this kind of info.

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