March
16, 2006 19:45 PM Sea Skua Missile Misfires In First Test In
Southeast Asia
LUMUT, March 16 (Bernama) -- A "Sea Skua" guided missile
misfired Thursday, in the first test conducted in Southeast Asia,
in the waters off Kuala Beruas near Pantai Remis in Perak, Chief of
Navy Admiral Datuk Ilyas Din said.
Matra BAE Dynamics of the United Kingdom, which conducted the test
for the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN), identified a technical problem
as the cause of the failure, he added.
The missile, fired at 11 am from a Super Lynx 300 attack helicopter
at a wreckage of a ship eight nautical miles away, failed to hit
its target and fell into the sea without exploding.
The company would carry out an investigation to determine the cause
of the problem in two or three days, well before the second test
that is scheduled a week from now, Ilyas told reporters on board
the RMN vessel, KD Mahawangsa, here.
The 2.5-metre-long Sea Skua weighing 1.45 kg is an all-weather, day
and night sea skimming anti-ship missile equipped with a
semi-active radar homing head that can sink a ship from a distance
of 18km.
Sea Skua missiles were used in the Gulf War of 1991 and 200 were
fired from the Lynx helicopters of the British Royal Navy.
The missiles are used by the armed forces of Brazil, Germany, South
Korea and Turkey.
Thursday's Sea Skua missile test was the first conducted in
Southeast Asia because Malaysia is the only country in the region
to purchase the missiles, the complete package of which cost 16
million pounds sterling (about RM103 million).
The agreement to purchase was made in 2001 and the supply of the
missiles to the RMN began last year.
-- BERNAMA
Blame Matra BAE Dynamics of the United Kingdom if fails.
Bless RMN if succeeds.
Why BAE suddenly appear when fails??
