SHAH ALAM: Back in August, Malaysian Defence wrote about the tender for the upgrade of six Hercules C-130 airlifter of the Royal Malaysian Air Force. The tender is for the avionics upgrade for RMAF Hercules, with the first aircraft as the test bed for the programme.
The tender was published on August 20 and was supposed to close on October 10 but the deadline was extended to December 9. Two days after the original post was published, it was updated as industry sources told me that the indicative cost for the programme is listed at RM278 million.
That said perhaps buying second hand Js like to those retired by the UK’s Royal Air Force will be a good idea as well.
Several days after December 9, checks on the ministry’s website showed that the eight bids were made for the tender. As this is an international tender, six of the bids were made in US dollars. The other two were in Ringgit Malaysia.
The first bid is US$99.8 million (RM445 million); second, US$47.7 million (RM212 million); third US$72.4 million (RM322.76 million); fourth US$115.9 (RM516.68); fifth US$61.8 million (RM275.2 million); sixth US$65 million (RM289.77 million); seven RM264.8 (US$59.40) and eighth, RM277.9 million (US$62.81). It is likely the bids in ringgit were put by local companies. I am guessing the two are Airod Sdn Bhd and a firm with Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation Bhd (BHIC). Earlier I wrote that it was BHIC AeroServices Sdn Bhd. It will not be the company as it is a JV with Airbus.
Do note that the figures listed below are those marked on the envelopes of the bidders and the government is not bound by the lowest bid or any other bids. That said only the second, fifth, seven and eight bids are lower than the indicative cost.
Even with the eight bids, there is no guarantee work on the RMAF Hercules will go ahead. What I wrote previously still stands.
RMAF C-130 upgrade programme has been in the works for the last two decades – an LOI was even signed in 2014 but floundered for many reasons.
It is unclear whether the latest tender will lead to contract signing based on what we have seen in the past. With the plan to operate the Hercules fleet until 2040, an avionics upgrade is needed though. Malaysian Defence was told that the upgrade programme is similar to the ones planned but canceled previously.
— Malaysian Defence
View Comments (13)
@ marhalim,
I believe the indicative cost of RM278 million is for the upgrade of all 6 aircraft, not just 1.
That is an indicative cost of USD62.47 million or around USD10.41 million per aircraft, which is logical for a comprehensive upgrade.
What it would include is probably :
USD7 mil for avionics upgrade
USAF currently is implementing Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) increment two for its C-130H Hercules.
https://www.airandspaceforces.com/air-force-c-130h-upgrade/
https://www.airandspaceforces.com/app/uploads/2023/10/c-130h-2.jpg
USD3 mil for engine and propeller upgrade
Engines upgraded/modified to the series 3.5 upgrade
https://www.rolls-royce.com/products-and-services/defence/aerospace/transport-tanker-patrol-and-tactical/t56-3-5-enhancement.aspx#section-programme-updates
Another upgrade that would pay off with efficiencies is replacing the 4-bladed propeller with the 8-bladed NP2000
https://www.collinsaerospace.com/what-we-do/industries/military-and-defense/exteriors/np2000-propeller-system
https://prd-sc102-cdn.rtx.com/-/media/ca/product-assets/marketing/l/lockheed/c-130/c130-np2000-propeller-color-1920x1080.jpg
Ya, i know I was experimenting with something.
Told you...we should have gotten the RAF Js. Its more expensive to upgrade old models. Thats how the principal make you get new ones. If uogrades are cheap, users will not buy new.
Thats my experience with IBM mainframes. I assume american style marketing, its standard to push for new rather than upgrade old. They don't want to maintain too many old versions of the product.
"it will be difficult to pursue a procurement programme"
On top of political correctness, the pertinent issue of where the money is coming from from the budget. Buying will naturally come from DE which is lacking while upgrading, even if the cost is nearly same as buying, comes from the bigger OE pool. While avionics upgrades are much needed to keep them airworthy, will a reengine upgrade be on the cards considering that 2040 is still a long way ahead.
Before anyone keep harping about RAF retired Js, most of it now is already spoken for.
Turkiye has bought 12 of the remaining 14 available retired RAF C-130J.
https://www.janes.com/osint-insights/defence-news/defence/turkiye-buys-surplus-uk-c-130js-national-media-reports
There is no other countries that are disposing their C-130Js.
From our current C-130H (14 aircrafts), 5x of them probably could fly till 2035, 3x to 2040 and the youngest 6 to 2055-60.
Currently a few countries are flying Hercules that are older than 60 years old. One of the oldest flying Hercules, regularly based in Senai, Johor for oilspill response (67 years old).
Additional unwanted but have to buy due to commitments A400M units could be bought from Spain and Germany in around 2030. Spain has signalled that they are willing to release brand new ones for USD132.16 million each. Or we could ask them to sell their current used ones to us. Additional 2 A400M to increase the fleet to 6 would be a good alternative to retiring our oldest C-130H
https://alert5.com/2024/08/15/turkey-and-spain-negotiate-swapping-a400m-with-hurjet/
With C-130 being projected to fly until 2040s and even beyond, the AF really not in any rush to get more airframes considering we have plenty to go around. Just upgrade all the aircraft and then plan for their replacement in one go
>C-130J
Getting C-130J is a lateral move that benefit little and add more headache to the logistics as C-130J is practically a different aircraft to C-130H. Bangla and Philippines getting used C-130J because they don't have enough hercs to begin with and between getting used C-130J and much more ancient B/E (to only upgrade them afterwards), the choice is a no brainer. The same thing doesn't really apply to RMAF who possess airlift capability rivalring even middle power military like Pakistan or South Korea
Getting 2 more A400M would be a good idea considering how RMAF been using them. As for future Herc replacement, The AF could either replace them with smaller number of C-390 millenium or equal (or slightly larger) number of C295W. We could convert the remaining CN235 to MSA
Future Herc replacement is 30-40 years away. there is probably space transporters then.
additional A400M should be a priority as a partial replacement of our oldest hercs. adding 2 more A400M would tie nicely to the retirement of our 5 oldest hercs.
It is all unit involve?
I think before this 10 years ago Honeywell offer same thing i think
If A400M wasnt wanted, why would TUDM seek to add more their current numbers?
"If A400M wasnt wanted, why would TUDM seek to add more their current numbers?"
It wasn't wanted 10 years ago, when 14x Hercules is enough for our needs.
In the next decade, if we decide to retire our oldest Hercules, we need to replace those with something. And that something should be additional A400M as we already have those, not another different type. Right now the small number of A400M means it cannot be meaningfully used to support 10PARA, which right now still depends mainly on the Hercules for airlift.
2000
14x C-130H
2017
14x C-130H
4x A400M
2037 provisional
9x C-130H
6x A400M
"And that something should be additional A400M"
You discount the possibility that more modern generation of Hercs will not be made. If TUDM were ady satisfied with Hercs, size, capability, & overall operation, they might prefer a future 'L' or 'M' generation when comes time to replace.