Military Tuesday: Desider Magazine

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009, 12:00 amRoys0 comments

desider, the monthly corporate magazine for DE & S or Defence Equipment and Support of UK’s Ministry of Defense, offers an interesting insight into the varied and increasingly high-tech support required for any modern armed forces, from the high-profile weapon and munitions research and development to more mundane but equally important services – logistics, medical and even clothing and catering.

Some of the more interesting articles from the past issues.

The Future Carrier Class in the June 2008 issue. Two ships of this class, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, each displacing 65,000 tons, will enter service in 2014 and 2016 and remain in service for half a century thereafter.

Bulldogs, uparmoured versions of the FV430 series of vehicles which entered service in the 1960s. See June 2008 issue.

The Banshee unmanned aerial target for live gunnery training for air defence units of the Royal Marines and Royal Artillery as featured in the July 2008 issue.

The October 2008 issue shows the Royal Logistic Corps using Virtual Battlespace 2 developed by the same guys who created Armed Assault to train military vehicle commanders, drivers and gunners on convoy operations.

The procurement of the “Golden Hour” container as seen in the Nov 2008 issue, designed to transport blood products and other temperature-sensitive medical supplies

The December 2008 issue contains an article on the Commando Logistics Regiment of the Royal Marines who organize Combat Logistical Patrols of up to 150 heavy vehicles each to provide vital supplies of food, fuel, ammunition and equipment to 3rd Commando Brigade troops in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province.

In the first two months the regiment commpleted:
• 11 Combat Logistical Patrols – through some of the toughest terrain in the world.
• Transported more than 2,000 tonnes of stock and supplies
• Covered more than 3,000 miles – mainly through desert and mountains.
• Delivered 680,000 litres of vital military fuel