[Sila maklum negara Afghanistan yang bergunung ganang itu menyukarkan lagi hubungan melalui radio. Nampak sangat British tidak begitu berminat untuk melabur sebegitu banyak dalam perang ini. Lagipun ia kini sedang dihantui oleh kemelesetan ekonomi. Kos ketenteraan yang tinggi serta kecelakaan yang tinggi akan menyebabkan Blair tumbang... - Editor]

Independent UK
3 November 2001.

Alat Radio British Yang Ketinggalan Zaman

(Army radios are utterly useless, says UK officer)

Oleh: Ken Sengupta

Angkatan tentera British telah membuat aduan betapa mereka menghadapi masalah besar untuk berkomunikasi sepanjang latihan tentera di Oman, yang dianggap sebagai satu latihan rapat untuk serangan darat Perang Afghanistan.

Seorang pegawai mendakwa sekitar 85 unit radio dalam keretakebal dan kereta perisai tidak befungsi sepanjang Exercise Saif Sareea II, membuatkan sistem komunikasi itu tidak layak digunakan untuk pertempuran.

Major Charles Heyman, seorang penganalis ketenteraan yang merupakan editor Jane's World Armies, menyebut kadar kegagalan itu sebagai 'begitu tinggi dan amat menakjubkan'.

Mejor Heyman berkata, walaupun serangan darat di Afghanistn berkemungkinan tidak memerlukan pasukan kereta kebal, kempen itu berkemungkinan memerlukan penggembelingan keretakebal secara besar-besaran apabila berakhirnya musim sejuk.

Kelengkapan radio yang telah digunakan sejak 1960-an dulu, memang patut digantikan dengan set Bowan yang bersifat hi-tech, tetapi mengikut Major Heyman, penggantian itu sengaja ditangguhkan sehingga akhir tahun depan kerana kerajaan mahu membuat beberapa penelitian lagi. (Alahai...kerajaan British pun sedar keretekebal yang masuk Afghanistan tidak akan pulang semula seperti kelengkapan Russia dulu...- penterjemah)

Semalam pegawai di kementerian pertahanan membuat pengakuan bahawa sistem komunikasi yang baru akan disediakan seandainya operasi darat di Afghanistan bermula.

Sisem Bowman memerlukan 12 tahun untuk dimajukan denan belanja sekitar 330 juta pound seterling, demikian lapuran National Audit Office. Sumber pertahanan itu menyebut, bahawa kalau pasukan Afghanistan itu dibekalkan kelengkapan itu, bererti pasukan di tempat lain akan dinafikan peluang menggunannya.

Seorang pegawai menyebutnya semalam, 'Kalaulah kita berperang hari ini, kita tidak mampu bertahan. Radio yang ada memang tidak berguna. Kadar kepupusan sungguh mengejutkan membabitakan 85 unit radio. Kalaulah saya perlu beroperasi dengan keretakebal selama seminggu, saya perlu sekurang-kurangnya tiga hingga empat set radio dan mungkin juga 10 set untuk meyakinkan diri.'

'Radio yang baru itu hanya akan siap satu tahun lagi. Kalaulah kita terpaksa berperang tahun ini ataupun tahun depan, tentu banyak masalah yang serius. Memanglah kami akan menerima bantuan, tetapi ini bererti terpaksa mengambil set yang lain daripada bahagian ketenteraan yang lain.'

Semua radio itu dikatakan boleh berfungsi di barat, tetapi mula meragam apabila kena hembusan angin berpasir di Oman.

Set radio buatan Clansman memang digunakan di keretakebal jenis Challenger 2, kereta pengangkut APC Warrior, Landrover dan trak CVRT. Hampir semua radio dalam Challengers sudah pun jahanam, mengikut lapuran pegawa yang turut serta dalam latihan operasi itu.

Tamat.

Terjemahan: SPAR

Asal:

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/
this_britain/story.jsp?story=102947

Army radios are utterly hopeless, says UK officer

War on Terrorism: Equipment

By Kim Sengupta

03 November 2001

British forces have complained about an alarming rate of failure in secure radio communications during their exercise in Oman, which is seen as a dress rehearsal for the land war in Afghanistan.

An officer claims that about 85 radios in tanks and armoured vehicles broke down during Exercise Saif Sareea II, making the system highly unreliable in combat.

Major Charles Heyman, a military analyst who is the editor of Jane's World Armies, described the failure rate as "catastrophically high, quite astonishing".

Major Heyman said that, while a land war in Afghanistan in the near future would not require armoured vehicle units, the campaign could develop into a big armoured push after the winter.

The forces involved in the exercise are using the notorious Clansman system, which is almost 40 years old, comparatively easy to intercept and known for breaking down.

The radios, which have been used since the 1960s, are due to be replaced with hi-tech Bowman sets but, Major Heyman said, their introduction had been delayed until the end of next year because the Government wanted further refinements to be made.

Ministry of Defence officials insisted yesterday that the new system would become available in the event of ground operations in Afghanistan.

The Bowman took 12 years to develop, at a cost of £330m, according to a National Audit Office report. Defence sources say supplying it to an Afghan-istan force would mean denuding other units in the army involved in vital operations.

One officer said yesterday: "If we went to war today, we would not be able to sustain it. The radios are totally and utterly hopeless. The collapse rate is shocking, 85 radios here. If I was going to spend a week on an operation in my tank, I would need at least three or four radios, and perhaps 10 to be confident.

"The new radios are a year away. If we had to go to war anywhere this year or early next, there would be a serious problem. Of course we would be supported, but it would mean stripping down the radios from the vast majority of the rest of the Army."

The radios are said to have worked reasonably well in western Europe, but were unable to cope with hot and dusty conditions in Oman.

Clansman sets are used in Challenger 2 tanks, Warrior personnel carriers, Army Land Rovers and CVRT small armoured vehicles. Virtually all the radios in the Challengers had broken down at some stage, officers taking part in the exercise said.