PETALING JAYA: Appended below is the full article authored by M.Ghazemy Mahmud, the editor of the ADJ in the recent edition of the Sunday Star. Ghazemy is one of the most senior local defence writer so he has the locus standi to speak on the issue at hand. Read Here
It is interesting to note however that not a single Army leadership was quoted in the article supporting the AV8 project. In contrast, the Navy chief came out with guns blazing several days after critics panned the announcement of the SGPV/LCS project.
For the record, again, I have to state that I fully support the Army’s and the Armed Forces modernisation programmes. My only caveat is that with our current budget we cannot afford costly “National Interest” programmes. Instead of these programmes, I advocate cost effective solutions for recapitalisation the MAF like buying second hand weapons from reputable sources. It may not be pretty and we may be seen as a dumping ground but we simply must face the facts that we dont have enough dough to buy or develop state of the art military systems especially those with National Interest add-ons.
Malaysian Defence on various occasions has also stated that simply rising the budget is not a quick solution to the problem as long as the current procurement set-up is maintained.
It is for this reason, in my opinion, legitimate defence procurement programmes have been the lightning rod of critics. But are we listening? Apparently not and with the Army being described as a “‘cheap multi-purpose security guards’” one fear for the future.
Re-equipping the Army
By M. GHAZEMY MAHMUD
The intensity of combat on the modern battlefield requires infantry vehicles that are mobile, survivable and lethal.
EVEN before the Government agreed to the deployment of troops for the United Nations’ peacekeeping mission in Lebanon a few years ago, military officials were concerned about the protection of our troops during their tour of duty.
But orders are orders, and the troops were deployed, backed up by a squadron of Condor armoured personnel carriers (APC) made in Germany nearly 30 years ago.
Luckily, as a further back-up, the peacekeepers were supplied with 12 newer Nyala mine-resistant vehicles by the UN.
Since the deployment, no major combat incidents have occurred with the Condors, although one vehicle toppled into a gully in the dry hilly terrain of the MALCON East operational area of Kawkaba, killing a soldier.
“The Condor is a good armoured vehicle that has seen better days, along with the heavier Belgian-made Sibmas which were ordered in the early 1980s and delivered in 1983,” said a local defence analyst.
The vehicles had seen action in the Malaysia-Thai border region, the Balkans, Somalia, Timor Leste and now, Lebanon.
Indeed, the 1993 Bakara Market battle in Mogadishu, highlighted in the Hollywood flick Black Hawk Down where scores of American soldiers were killed and wounded, displayed the vulnerabilities of armoured vehicles in modern-day battle.
Several Malaysian soldiers were also injured and one was killed in the fight when the Condors were hit with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine gun fire.
“What we are facing now is block obsolescence of our wheeled armoured vehicle fleet because the two types were procured at almost the same time to face the communist insurgency,” an army general told this writer recently.
“The threat environment has changed. New vehicles to meet present and future threats need to be acquired,” he said, adding that “our boys have to have that protection against enemy fire in a modern battle environment”.
“The requirement for new armoured vehicles has been on the table for quite some time now,” he further pointed out.
Analysts have said that despite the various upgrades through the years, the Army’s present fleet of wheeled armoured vehicles are somewhat dated.
They say the intensity of combat on the modern battlefield requires infantry vehicles that are mobile, survivable, and lethal.
Due to budgetary constraints, many armies continue to use armoured vehicles which might be considered obsolete.
But the chances of troop survival in a much older machine in modern-day battle with a well-equipped enemy is low, one analyst said.
Aware of the need to protect our troops, the Government recently decided to equip the Army with a new generation of multi-purpose armoured vehicles.
Defence contractor DRB-Hicom Defence Technologies (Deftech), a wholly-owned subsidiary of DRB-Hicom Bhd, early this month announced that it had been awarded a contract worth RM7.55bil from the Government to develop armoured vehicles based on a foreign design for the Army.
Deftech had accepted the Letter of Award dated Feb 23, 2011 from the Government to design, develop, manufacture, commission, supply and deliver 257 units of 12 variants of the 8×8 armoured wheeled vehicles.
The contract is for a period of seven years, starting 2011.
And like many local manufacturers anywhere in the world, the vehicle will be developed in collaboration with a main foreign partner, in this case Turkey.
Deftech will utilise the transfer of advanced defence technologies from its technology partners and original equipment manufacturers (OEM), research and development and local vendor development, it said.
The company also said it expected the contract to create new local OEMs through direct and indirect foreign investments and generate higher employment for the local defence industry.
Deftech had earlier said that the cost of the contract included manufacturing and other costs associated with the production of a new combat vehicle.
DRB-Hicom is one of Malaysia’s leading corporations and plays an integral role in the automotive manufacturing, assembly and distribution industry through its involvement in the passenger car and four-wheel-drive vehicle market segment, the national truck project and the national motorcycle project.
It is an open secret that the Malaysian-developed armoured personnel carrier is being built from the PARS APC produced by the FMC-Nurol Defence System (FNSS) of Turkey.
FNSS is currently one of Turkey’s Top 10 defence firms in terms of total revenue.
Turkey’s Nurol Holding, Inc. maintains a 51% controlling interest in the company.
The PARS is a new generation wheeled amphibious armoured combat vehicle designed and manufactured by FNSS for the Turkish Armed Forces, which reportedly plan to order some 1,000 units.
The vehicles can be easily transported by the Airbus A400M and the Boeing C-17 tactical transport aircraft. The Royal Malaysian Air Force is awaiting delivery of four Airbus A400M tactical airlifters.
Many types of 8×8 armoured vehicles of mostly European and Russian designs are in service in the armed forces of many countries. Even the American Stryker is based on the Swiss Piranha.
Neighbouring Singapore has also developed its Terrex armoured vehicle with foreign technology.
It was reported that the vehicle was developed by Singapore Technologies Kinetics and Irish firm Timoney.
It should be noted that this is not the first time that Deftech has designed and produced an armoured vehicle.
The company has produced an armoured vehicle known as the AV4 in a private venture costing millions of dollars.
The vehicle was intended for the Army and Police but, for some reason, it was not bought by any of these services.
FNSS’ cooperation with Malaysia is not new and the latest one can be seen as a natural progression.
Previously, the company supplied tracked armoured combat vehicles which were assembled by Deftech locally.
The ACV 300 was dubbed by the Malaysian Army as “Adnan” after the Malaysian soldier who fought the invading Japanese to his death along with his men during the Battle of Singapore in World War II.
The PARS armoured vehicle is named after a big cat, as Pars is the Turkish name for the Anatolian Leopard.
Models of the Deftech designs displayed at defence shows were dubbed AV8 but whether it will be later renamed after a big Malaysian cat remains to be seen.
Cynics may regard the Army’s programme for its next-generation wheeled armoured carrier as a wasteful exercise.
Some would say that since we are not at war with anyone and there are no more communist guerillas lurking in the jungles now, why then do we need an armed forces.
But then again, why do we need the fire extinguisher in the house when there is no fire. The current ever-changing strategic and security environment requires that vital element of insurance to ensure that stability, development and economic prosperity can continue unabated.
M. Ghazemy Mahmud is editor of “The Asian Defence Journal”.
–Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (32)
Now that u mention not a single Army leadership was quoted in the article supporting the AV8 project is really an eye opener. So far, the only talk comes from DS Zahid himself as a conduit representative for both the army and Deftech, what's the army top echelon opinion in this matter? When Tony Pua questioned the Navy with their 'overpriced' SGPV, the CoN hastily came out with a PC to clarify the project but the same didn't happen to the AV8 project. So far we only heard politicians with their talks, be it DS Zahid or Tony Pua but not from the army? Why is the silence?
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The no comment is related to the article itself. Whether or not the COA or deputy had voiced their support in other medium, I have not found it.
well said marhalim, for the 7.5 billion to be spent on the AV8 pars, they could get same number of Piranha AFV and 24 Cougar heli. or many other permutations that the mind can think of
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I am more fearful of an economic downturn rather than what could be bought with the sum of money
Yes this article is well written indeed.We as Malaysian citizens are not questioning whether we should actually make the Malaysian armed forces better but rather we are questioning whether has the money been well spent. There are many permutations in acquisition of hardware for the armed forces. We still need to pay for these hardware of course.
We should look at buying second hand hardware and the opportunity now is even better than any time before due to Many western countries are cutting down their own assets by early retirement due to the current economic situation.
For example, the British. The maritime patrol and intelligence planes are being retired. We can actually acquire 4 refurbished planes to make our intelligence gathering and electronic warfare expertise better. The US had recently offered Indonesia 22 F-16 block 30 but Indonesia must pay for the refurbishment to the block 50+ standard. With such refurbishment these second hand planes can easily last another 15 to 20 years- I would say it would be a bargain. The US army retired its entire stock of Cobra armed helicopters. Its being kept in storage but recently even the last 4 had been refurbished and sold off to Thailand. Netherlands has also been selling off most of its F-16's and they are well maintained planes too. Now they want to dispose off their maritime planes, tanks and armoured vehicles.
By buying such old equipment is not all lost for national interests.
These equipment can be refurbished at home. MMC and DRB has the capability to do it. Our Scorpions has been refurbished some years ago by local boys entirely and the project was won by some ex-navy chaps- perhaps the Navy are more technically inclined as compared to the army.
Imagine ex navy modernising army vehicles!
So it can be done. But its just a matter of do we want to pursue this road. Some may use the Skyhawks as an example to show that its not great to buy second hand. But then looking at it, the US is still using the Skyhawks for training of their pilots for dis-similar combat and even F-5s are still being used.
Its just a matter of repair and maintenance. Perhaps we must develop our capabilities more?.
Singapore is still using its F-5's until today as front line fighters.
Its a good plan to develop our own home grown repair and maintenance skills to world standard.
Whither AIROD,MMC, BRB and Boustead?
For the navy why limit the repairs to Boustead only? There are many capable local shipyards who can do a wonderful job at repairs and maintenance too. Just give them a chance
My two cents
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In my opinion there are too many shipyards already. Yes PSC last time got the deal to refurbish the Sibmas
Or maybe 257 BTR-90s, 100 T-90M, 18 Caesars SPH....
I like to quote this statement from Dzirhan Mahadzir taken from his FB page
"US FY2012 purchase of 100 Stryker AFVs=USD834 million (no maint) or RM25.3mil each, ours is RM30 mil each with 7 yr support, guess not as overpriced as some thought :D "
Is the numbers correct?
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Here is the breakdown from another website
Stryker Armored Vehicle (in US Dollars)
$834.0 million requested for 100 vehicles
$3.8 million — per unit cost
$15,196.0 million — total program cost
“Per Unit Costs” are derived by dividing total program costs by the number of systems purchased, and include both procurement and research & development funding.
I think the per unit cost must taken together with the whole programme not just the annual allocation as they use multi-year production to reduce cost. Anyways one must see the thing in a proper prospective, the Pentagon budget for Fy2012 is US533 billion! while the US Army is getting US$149 billion (for one year!). TD will be lucky if they got RM6 billion next year.
''We as Malaysian citizens are not questioning whether we should actually make the Malaysian armed forces better but rather we are questioning whether has the money been well spent.''
YM Lee, this unfortunately is more the exception rather than the norm. Due to a combination of factors - a list of mishandled, over budgeted projects by the government, opposition figures who raise issues but fail to do it in a proper manner and who largely remain ill-informed and clueless, our history [the only external threat we ever faced was almost 50 years ago from our cousins 'seberang'. Probably 8 in 10 Malaysians have not even heard of the confrontation], ''know it all'' but well intentioned NGO's - we have a large number of Malaysians who feel that defence spending is a total waste of time and a waste of publics funds.
Whist there are tonnes of surplus gear, for all the 3 services, that can be bought we also have to bear in mind the logistical and support implications of introducing certain new gear to our inventory.
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The problem with the public perception on the lack of external threat is the failure of the powers to make the proper dissemination of the issues. And coupled with "alleged scandals" that seemed to hog arms procurement and total black-out on information not even on financial and economic justification of arms procurement are making the issues more harder to explain even by the most ardent supporters. The refrain "just Trust Us We know Best" is no longer valid during this time when everyone has access for all methods of expressions.
What I have been saying all this time "We want to trust but allow us to verify first"
The Thais are buying T-84 Oplot MBTs from the Ukraine for $231.33mil USD. I still think we should have shed some money from the AV8 programme to buy more MBTs. AV8 is just to expensive to be manufactured locally. We should have just focused on it being locally assembled just like the ACV300 Adnans and allocated the funds for more PT-91M MBTs and Caesar SPHs...
Hazwan, then where will it end, given the size of the budget and the needs of the other 2 services - what about the SPH's, the additional M-4s, the sights for the M-4's, night vision, combat engineering gear, replacement for the Starburst, body armour, etc, the list is very long indeed. Procurement should be done based on what we actually need, given the threats we are most likely to face. Anyway, why do we need more MBT's when more essential items like UAV's, which have peacetime applications, remain unfunded?
True, but we are totally being out-gunned by our neighbours to the north and to the south these days, and with the Indons are eyeing to replace their "buluh runcing" for Korean K1 MBTs and KFX fighters, the situation is not good for us in the coming decade. Being out-gunned militarily in three corners will not be good for our relationships as the neighbours can easily gained the upper hand in unresolved issues with the use of "gunboat diplomacy".
Pressing for more UAVs now maybe a bit difficult as the govt are still waiting for a more capable design(and cheaper) from the Sapura and CTRM joint ventures. There doesn't seem to be much of a drive to get cheap UAVs from abroad as supporting the local industry seem to be the fad nowadays.
Speaking of sights for M4 and body armour, i do know that body armour are produced locally by a company in Malacca but mostly to be imported. ATM haven't been ordering much from them. We totally need these two equipment for the infantry. But as long as the ancient "middlemen mafia" procurement system are in placed, the govt already tight resources will continue to go down the drain and as does PR's wish for a transparency system. One can say the same for the armed forces wishlist. All for the economic benefits of the "local" people.
We have always been 'out-gun' by our neighbours in the north. Even though the RTA is and was still largely counter orientated, they always had heavier firepower - MBT's heavy artillery - than us, this was directed at Vietnam in the past and certainly not us. And the Sings down south, well the Sings wil be Sings. If you look closely at the size of Indonesia and the current state of the TNI-AD, you'll see that the TNI-AD is currently more over-extended than us and more in need of new gear. The current mordenisation of the TNI is actually over-due and quite modest, given their greater needs and is aimed at replacing current stuff that is obsolete, it does not in any way change the balance of power or give them any power projection capabilities...
But so what if our neighbours o'ut-gun' us? This doesn't change the fact that we have immediate requirements to deal with rather than keeping up with other countries.
There is a company in Melaka, British owned, that makes helmets and ballistic vests. They have exported to Mongolia, Iraq, Indonesia [the Indons asked if the 'Made in Malaysia' markings could be substituted with 'Made In Australia' markings!], etc. I know the local partner and met their main British designer. In the past, rather than buying helmets from this company, we bought a small 'Made In China' batch and they turned out to be defective.
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That's our perennial problem, its who you know and not, what you know...