SHAH ALAM: Late last year, Malaysian Defence reported that the Defence Ministry issued a request for bids for the supply, delivery, integration and commissioned of a new fire control radar optical (FCRO) for KD Jebat (pennant number 29). The advertisement for the item was published on December 26 2023, and it closed on February 8, 2024.
RMN estimates the cost of the FCRO and all the services to be RM11 million which is lower than the cost for the same equipment for KD Perak – RM15 million.
As the RFB for the Jebat has closed, now we know that three companies had qualified for the tender. It is interesting to note that two out of the three companies had bid four and five times more than the estimate price of the RMN.
The highest bid was RM58.2 million and the other is RM42.9 million. I have no idea whether these were serious bids or simply put to ensure that the RFB could go ahead. The third bid was below the estimate price of RM11 million, it came in at RM10.9 million. As it is the only bid which was under the estimate cost, it should be selected. If it meets the technical and financial specifications of course.
It must be noted that Jebat is now fitted with the Chess Dynamics Sea Eagle Fire Control Radar, Optical (FCRO) as its main fire control radar. It is likely that the new FCRO – also from Chess Dynamics – is main to replace the FCR fitted at the aft of the Jebat.
It is interesting to note that recent pictures posted by KD Kelantan showed that one of the Kedah class is also fitted with something similar to the Sea Eagle FCRO at the aft of the ship just above the Oto Melara 30mm gun. It looked very similar to Sea Eagle to my old eyes. The other Kedah class ships aft EO turrets look like the Gem Elettronica EOFCS which we got after a barter trade with the Otomat missiles.
Anyhow the other RFBs for Perak and KD Laksamana Muhammad Amin had not been decided as off checks on Eperolehan today (February 14, 2024). That said the decision could already been made but it had not been reflected on Eperolehan only. This has been done before with the FFR and super medium helicopters tender.
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (9)
Any news of potential full upgrades for the Jebat and Lekiu?. If i roughly based on what the New Zealander spend on Te Kaha and Te mana, it would be around USD 700 for 2 ships but off course they got new surface to air missile system (Sea Ceptor) among others. I believe the Lekiu and Jebat is worth the upgrades at least to replace the anti Ship Missile and maybe add VL MICA but the question is how much?
AFAIK no, things could change though.
@ marhalim
Looks like a sea eagle EOSS. If that is the case, that ship should be the KD Perak, which has this installed in 2017.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GGSLBtOWgAE49yI.jpg
As for KD Jebat, the new FCR is probably to replace the one at the rear, if that is the case, it should be the same Chess Dynamics Sea Eagle FCRO as on at the front. But the question is why? Why does KD Jebat still needs 2x FCR when the VL Seawolf missile is already inop?
off topic
today, lets us remember all the sacrifices of the Royal Malay Regiment and their officers such as Lt Adnan Saidi with the last stand at the Battle of Pasir Panjang...
Lest we forget...
The Malay Regiment showed what esprit de corps and discipline can achieve. Garrisons of posts held their ground and many of them were wiped out almost to a man.
— Lieutenant General Arthur Percival.
As of now the jebat and lekiu are our most capable combatants..But they too now considered almost obselete in term of their armament with exo block 2 and sea wolf sam.Their main and navigation radar still enough though the sea giraffe and scanter 6000 if im not mistaken..Take indonesia for example they are currently updating and upgrading their bung tomo class (practically the same ship as our lekius) with probably mica sam and tacticos cms,smart radar and vigile esm.Our lekius CMS is still nautis or already replaced by that vibrant or another CMS? care to clarify..At one hand there are the need to upgrade the lekius but at the other hand all navy money will go to LCS so yeah theres that
@ Kamal A
USD 700 mil to upgrade 2 ships is a lot of money comparatively in regards to our meagre defence allocations.
If we do have that kind of budget, I would prefer :
- USD600 mil for a Scorpene Evo
- USD100 mil to complete Gowind number 6
Any particular reason why they didnt replace the old DA-08?
I know the sea wolf isn't working anymore but come on.
kamal - ''I believe the Lekiu and Jebat is worth the upgrades at least to replace the anti Ship Missile and maybe add VL MICA but the question is how much?''
What its worth is dependent on how much we have and what else we already have on our plate which is unfilled. A decision also has to be made whether embarking on something is worth the expense and provides a good return of investment as opposed to buying new.
It's for this reason that when others were going ga-ga about the Laksamanas and the ability to do a full upgrade; I pointed out that it was not seen as worth it by the RMN given the age of the 4 ships. A bare minimum will be spent to enable to class to stay in service to perform non demanding roles; nothing more. Same was done with the FACs.
If we had the cash yes a full upgrade would be ideal but as it stands the priority is on the LCSSs and other thing. A decision was made a long time ago that the Lekuis will not get a full upgrade.
dundun - “ Any particular reason why they didnt replace the old DA-08?”
Is it inoperable?