SHAH ALAM: In September, last year, the Procurement Division of the Defence Ministry published a slew of tenders for the Army. The Army wants more 9mm pistols, heavy machine guns, light machine guns, mortars (complete set), anti-materiel rifles , 9mm ball ammo, and automatic grenade launchers.
From the previous post:
Eighty-six 12.7mm heavy machine gun is being sought and the indicative price is RM15.5 million. Fourteen bidders have qualified for the tender with the lowest price at RM14.014 million and the highest RM14.634 million.
Checks in the Finance Ministry website showed that the HMG tender was awarded to Kazakon Sdn Bhd with an LOA of RM14.086 million. Based on the bid prices above, it is likely the second or third lowest bid for the tender.
Do note since the update on Eperolehan website in mid-January, the bid prices for tenders are no longer published. Even bid prices for older tenders have been deleted from the site.
Anhow, a Google search showed Kazakon is a contractor and trading company which stated that it is the local agent for Polaris defence vehicles. It also displayed Turkish company, Mertsav, firearms at DSA 2024. Based on this is it likely that HMG to be provided by Kazakon will be the Mertsav MHMG-127, a version of the Browning M2 machine gun. If this is correct these will be the second Turkish HMG to enter service with the Army. The first is the Catnik M2 which is in service with the Malbatt contingent in Unifil. RMN also has the Catnik HMGs on its FIC Batch 2.
The 81mm mortar, complete set:
As for the 18 81mm mortar with fire control system and 4X4 truck (complete set) three bids had qualified with the lowest at RM29.682 million, RM30.45 million and RM30.6 million.
The contract was awarded to Rimbun Emas Defence Systems Sdn Bhd with an LOA of RM30.450 million (each mortar system cost some Rm1.7 million). Rimbun Emas which is the incumbent provider of 81mm mortar complete system. The mortar is the Spanish Technessis 2000 and the FCS is from Expal. It is likely the eighteen mortar carrier will be manufactured by Cendana Auto Sdn Bhd which of course had provided the same vehicles to Rimbun Emas previously.
Prima Elite Sdn Bhd is likely the sole bidder for the tender of 12.7mm sniper rifle as reported previously.
Only one bidder took part in the tender for the 12.7mm anti-materiel sniper rifle of which 19 is being sought with an indicative price of RM7.2 million. The sole bid is RM7 million plus change.
Prime Elite was awarded the contract for the tender with an LOA of RM7 million plus change. The company which had supplied the Barret M107A1 12.7mm sniper rifle will be providing 19 of the same firearms sought for the Army, each costing some RM368,421.
As for the two-hundred and ten 5.56mm light machine guns, the contract is awarded to Barincorp Sdn Bhd with the LOA of RM19.320 million. This mean the LMG cost RM92K each.
Two hundred and ten 5.56mm light machine guns are being sought with an estimated price of RM21 million. The Army currently operates various versions of the FN Minimi 5.56mm LMG. Small numbers of the HK11E LMG remained in service with RS units though. Eleven bidders have qualified for the tender with the lowest price RM10.456 million and the highest RM26 million.
As Barincorp had supplied the Army with US Ordnance 12.7mm HMG previously, it is likely that another product from the US company will be the solution for this tender, the M249 SAW. It must be noted that the USGI M249 SAW is manufactured by FN USA, a subsidiary of FN Herstal of Belgium.
The tender for 1,500 9mm combat pistols was awarded to VR Universal Sdn Bhd with an LOA of RM16.2 million. The company’s website showed that it was providing simulators for various industries from defence to transport companies.
The tender for the 1,500 9mm pistol attracted twelve bids with the lowest price set at RM13.4 million and the highest RM17.2 million. Interestingly, seven bids are the same price of RM16.2 million while five more were separated by a few hundred thousand only. The Glock 19 pistol starts as the favourite as it is the prolific in the Army’s inventory now.
It is unknown what 9mm combat pistols will be provided to the Army. For RM10,800 each it should be good enough though.
The contract for the seventy-five automatic grenade launcher was announced on February 7 with the LOA of RM13.6 million and change (RM181,333 each), was awarded to Modulasi Tetap Sdn Bhd. It is likely that the AGL will also be Turkish made though I am not sure from which from company. The current AGL is the MK 19 procured from Spain.
The AGL KPS/weapon carrier vehicles contract was awarded to High Point Worldwide Sdn Bhd. The company will also likely get the HMG weapon carrier vehicles contract as this has been the norm for such contracts in the past. The LOA is RM45.6 million, which means the cost for 80 KPS vehicles is RM570,000 each.
The contract for five million, 9mm ball ammunition was awarded to Kay R Resources (M) Sdn Bhd with an LOA of RM10.35 million, which translates to RM2.07 per each round. This is more expensive than the 9mm ammo bought by ESSCOM late last year.
*This post was updated to add the AGL and 9mm ball ammo contracts.
— Malaysian Defence.
why Denel is not participating? we have a few NTWs i believe so
The requirements called for a 12.7mm gun. The NTW is chambered for 14.7mm and 20mm round. They bought 5000 20mm HEI rounds recently. The NTW is mostly with the GGK though some mechanized units – 12 RAMD – also have them in their recon platoons.
Other than Kazakon which is bringing in a new make for the guns, the rest seems like incumbents that had supplied what the TDM bought previously.
“the bid prices for tenders are no longer published. Even bid prices for older tenders have been deleted”
Thats not good. What happen to the better transparency from this Govt?
Yes but its easier for the HMG as there are many licensed and unlicensed guns out there. Of course the unlicensed ones are cheaper.
Did a search on the Technesis 81mm mortar but the only reference I can find to it is to this site. Is Technesis the manufacturer or the name of the mortar?
Had no idea we have Mk19s from Spain. I assumed all were from Saco. The 1st batch in the 1990’s were I believe. What about the ones on the Adnan and MIFV?
The majority are from Saco but a small batch was bought from Spain, I was told. Technesis is the name of the mortar.