SHAH ALAM: Defence Minister DSU Mohamad Hasan is in Turkiye today for a two-day official visit. In his social media post, Mohamad said that he arrived at the Istanbul Grand Airport and met on arrival by the Malaysian ambassador to the country; Consul general and the Defence Attache. He left for Ankara shortly upon arrival.
Mohamad said he was supposed to go to Cilekhan where the Malaysian Armed Forces hospital was set-up but heavy snow prevented him from travelling there today. “I will travel there tomorrow, God Willing.”
It is unclear whether his official visit was about the procurement of the LCS Batch 2. He told Parliament recently that he will be going there with Defence Ministry and RMN officials to register Malaysian interest in procuring the ships from Turkiye.
That said among the pictures Mohamad posted on his social media post was that of him meeting the president of the Turkish Defence Agency, Dr Ismail Demir. It is also interesting to note that one of officials in his delegation is the Defence Ministry Procurement division deputy-secretary-general Dr Shahrazat Ahmad.
This latest development is interesting to say the least, as two regular Malaysian Defence commenters had asked when the minister was going to Turkiye. I stated that the deal with the Turkiye may well be deferred due to the elections scheduled in the country, this May 14.
However, with the MAF field hospital in Turkiye, Mohamad has a good excuse to make the trip to Turkiye without saying he was there, on procurement business. In a statement release today (March 21, Mohamad announce the field hospital operating in Cilekhan will be gifted to Turkiye. The MAF personnel sent following the earthquake in early February will returned home on March 23.
*Updated to add the field hospital donation.
— Malaysian Defence
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Wow, good news indeed. The 2 options for the LMS that I know of from Turkey are the Ada class and the (outside chance) Dearsan 92m corvette which has been sold to Turkmenistan. Anyone know any other options?
The thing he could look for while in turkey
>TFX (as they’re looking for partner and apparently Anwar and Erdogan are buddies)
>Medium Range Air Defence System
>SSK submarine
>UCAV
>self propelled howitzer
Within two days, unlikely…
dundun,
He will only discuss things which have been approved for procurement and that only includes a corvette sized ship to fulfill the LMS requirement and possibly a SPH. It certainly won’t ‘ve a SSK for which we aren’t getting anytime soon or a UCAV for which we have no present requirement for.
Ultimately as you know; all this is not contingent on Anwar being best mates with Erdogan.
tomtom,
The MILGEM/Ada-class is too big, uses gas turbine engine & costs more than USD250 million each. The Dearsan corvette is closer to the LMS batch 2 specs that RMN released. Both have VL MICA designed into them.
Dundun,
– TFX is a fighter of F-15/F-22 size. It cannot be something that is affordable to Malaysia
– MRAD ? would prefer a missile that is of common use with both MRAD and LCS
– SSK? the STM500 design is interesting
– UCAV, can he go to see the Bayraktar Kızılelma? But we should settle our LCA and MRCA first before looking at getting UCAV like the Bayraktar Kızılelma
– SPH, well i prefer the proven CAESAR
I thought we had put a stop to this ‘Anwar and Erdogan are best buddies’ rubbish.
Dumdum “>TFX (as they’re looking for partner and apparently Anwar and Erdogan are buddies)”
Personally would have preferred Anwar goes to Washington and ask his ‘buddies’ for f35 as the hornet would reach 30 years old by 2028.
KC Wong – The Dearsan corvette is closer to the LMS batch 2 specs that RMN released. Both have VL MICA designed into them.
I think for LMS, they just enough with short range SAM / point defence SAM bcuz they aren’t main combatant ship like LCS or NGPV in 15 to 5 plan. Just enough with point defence SAM like RIM-116 RAM for their ship defence.
Tom Tom – ”I thought we had put a stop to this ‘Anwar and Erdogan are best buddies’ rubbish.”
Yeah. They’re such best buddies/chums/pals/mates it’s a wonder Turkey doesn’t deposit its gold reserves in a Bank Negara vault for safe keeping and Malaysia doesn’t name an orchid after Erdogan.
Wong – ”TFX is a fighter of F-15/F-22 size.”
Size doesn’t determine cost and a F-15 is slightly smaller than a Su-27/30. No idea what it will cost but will be cheaper than a F-35 and it’s not as if we’ll buy a whole wing’s worth.
Wong – ”But we should settle our LCA and MRCA first before looking at getting UCAV like the Bayraktar Kızılelma”
We should do a lot of things before getting a armed UAS and we should heed the lessons of Syria, the Ukraine and Nargano Karabakh in that UASs are and will be attritable; a RUSI report mentions the Ukraine having lost 90 percent of its UASs by the summer of 2022. We can’t assume that in any conflict were involved in; the opponent will not have the soft and hard kill means to neutralise UASs.
Wong – ”SPH, well i prefer the proven CAESAR”
Two things – [1] Just because it fired rounds in anger does it mean it’s ”proven” per see? Nexter claimed Caesar was proven because it had deployed to Mali; did it win any counter battery duels? Did it’s presence in Mali prove critical? Has it been proven beyond any reasonable doubt that it’s proven ‘superior” to the other SPHs operated by the Ukraine? [2] I prefer a platform in which crews don’t have to be out in the open exposed to the elements and splinter/shrapnel.
Caesar is great; well made and has a capable if highly complex FCS but ultimately it’s just another gun and how well it can perform depends on organisation, coordination with other things; the ability to detect and hit targets; etc. Also, amidst the perennial mention of ”proven”; has there been a gun/howitzer/cannon which saw combat for the first time and performed dismally due to inherent issues?
It will be done to death, no matter what we say.
Marhalim,
Off-topic, but there is a new tender for 18 ATGM-MR systems, it seems like its for new type of missiles based on the specs. could it be the turkiye OMTAS? What do you think?
Based on the specifications, the Omtas is 10kg heavier. I believed the LIG Next Raybolt ATGW may well be the leading candidate at the moment
If let say we buy ADA for LMS, what CMS it would be ? Can we use Thales Tacticos ? And how many LMS that we need actualy ? 18 ships ?
It will be Turkish CMS. The target is five ships for the moment
The Dearsan C92 corvette is not a bad fit for our LMS Batch 2. Still none too small at 92m. And adequately armed like the Ada-class. Am unclear if there’s a huge price difference between the Ada-class and the C92. Being Malaysian, the powers that be will want something that’s cheap but able to give the illusion to the Rakyat that it’s a formidable ship able to take on the CCP Coast Guard ‘and’ Navy.
@Tom Tom
For the Dearsan 92m corvette, in terms of firepower it does punches above it weights with having similar firepower to our LCS at just 1600+ tons. But it might also not tick some boxes as having lower range than even Kedah class at 3500nm, no helicopter hangar, non ‘western’ sensors and CMS and no space for a towed sonar array, maybe a moddified design would be offered instead, I might be wrong. I also not sure if RMN still wants Thales TACTICOS or even the ‘local’ CMS or not
Ada class would be a bit more flexible in moddification like changing to all diesels engine for example, it also suffers same disadvantages of lower range like Dearsan 92m.
Though assuming the Dearsan is much more cheaper than Ada, it might be choosen.
We also still have option to go for Jose Rizal class for less than usd200 million and even more cheaper so there is that.
Happy Ramadhan!