SHAH ALAM: On November 8, Malaysian Defence wrote that the Procurement division of the Home Ministry issued two separate tenders for the supply and delivery of seven twin-engine utility and transport aircraft and five light twin engine helicopters for the police’s Air Wing.
I was told yesterday that the tender for the five twin-engine helicopters has been canceled. Checks on the Eperolehan website today confirmed the cancelation. I was not told why and as usual there is nothing on Eperolehan website to indicate the reason.
The five helicopters were likely to replace the Airbus AS355 helicopters in service – for some 30 years now – with the air wing. Apart from the helicopters, the bidder must supply two mission equipment for them.
Perhaps, the indicative cost of RM342 million for the five helicopters was too low (each helicopter should cost below RM68 million). Checks showed that the cost of a civil H135 is around US$6.1 million (RM26.7 million), Even if the helicopters were purchased for US$10 million each (RM44.5 million) – with the addition of custom avionics packages, special mission equipment, and other modifications – one would still be below the indicative cost.
Yes, the winning bidder must also train the crew and the technicians and also pay for the pre-delivery inspection, but it will not break the bank.
That said if the indicative cost or anything else were the reason for the tender to be canceled, a new one will likely be published soon.
Anyhow the indicative cost for the seven fixed wing twin-turboprop transporter is RM522 million. This means that each aircraft should cost around RM74 million or below, each. I am guessing that if you bid for the seven aircraft for around RM490 million you will be one of the favourite to win the tender. Of course your aircraft must also be like the one being sought by the air wing.
In the earlier post, I mentioned three candidates for the transporter tender. I missed one which is the Polish PZL-Meliec M28B Bryza. A Google search revealed that the single aircraft could be bought for US$3 million each.
— Malaysian Defence
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Dhruv could be a viable alternative
IMO it is cancelled as the helicopters will be 7x leased Bell 429 Globalranger, as included in the RM16.8 billion mega deal
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GZIqh2RbkAAkPik.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F61E9IIaIAAIgC4.jpg
As for the twin turboprop transporter tender, it is written that it will only accept brand-new aircrafts.
What about rebuild to brand new, 0-fatigue hour airframes with new engines, new avionics, new everything? Will it be considered as brand new too?
I do not think the bean counters will look kindly at an aircraft which looked like it is from the 1940s, no matter the technical merits.
Seems like only yesterday when a proud pilot of the Police’s Air Wing was enthusiasticly explaining about his newly delivered Squirrel at the 1st LIMA. With the attention of most people centred in the fighters; nobody was paying attention to his aircraft on static display. Fast forward a decades the Squirrels are to be retired.
@ marhalim
No i am not talking about the Basler
(also technically it cannot be entered due to the “high wing” requirement)
I am talking about this
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GcQTtFHaAAEt1HN.jpg
Can this be considered as “new”? Everything is brand new except the airframe, even that is put back to 0 hours.
Possible types within the budget
– twin otter
– skycourier (can do paradrop)?
– Let L-410 turbolet
– N219
– NC212i (biggest among the list)
– M28 skytruck
– Do228
– Y-12 (already CAAM type approved malaysia)
@ marhalim
” A Google search revealed that the single aircraft could be bought for US$3 million each ”
No
The PZL M28 Skytruck (the latest name) is around USD15 million each
https://kathmandupost.com/national/2023/02/13/us-orders-two-new-m28-skytrucks-for-nepal
They probably aren’t going to retire ecureuil outright maybe it’ll soldier on with reduced workloads
the cops didn’t have that many helo to begin with
Likely canceled as to be part of the leasing deal with ATM. We might as well lease out the need for HMAV & HMLTV and everything else. Rent-an-Army? lol😂
Not when really brand new Twin Otters are available.
Alex – “the cops didn’t have that many helo to begin with”
What is the level of their taskings? How busy are they?
When it comes to utility helicopters, why can’t Malaysia buy it from China, which is known to be cheaper than Western alternatives rather than leasing helicopters for 15-20 years? China’s Z-20 medium support helicopter is cheaper and easier to get than US black hawks for Nuri replacement.
FYI, Malaysia has bought 4 Chinese warships before under the LCS phase 1 program. Personally, when it comes to utility and support vehicles, Malaysia should buy from China since we are on a tight budget and the quality of Chinese made military vehicles are relatively good. Countries like Pakistan and Cambodia have no issues using Z-9 medium utility helicopter while Bangladesh have placed an order to buy several units.
And will these helo for pdrm can be used in a high speed chase without paying penalty? A myvi car today ran from the police from kajang to tapah & managed to ditch the car by the roadside & escaped through the jungle. Local criminals getting bolder. If a helicopter chase them it will be a different story.
Syam – ”When it comes to utility helicopters, why can’t Malaysia buy it from China, which is known to be cheaper than Western alternatives rather than leasing helicopters for 15-20 years?”
Two things.
Under the current political climate; whilst we are non aligned and have close ties with China; it’s not palatable to buy major military stuff from China.
Secondly, one has to be very discerning when it comes to Chinese stuff. They make high end stuff but they also make stuff which can be inferior in several ways; either from quality perspective or a technical one. We have long operated Western aircraft and experienced issues when we got Russian aircraft. Doubt we’d want to transition to Chinse made aircraft.
Syam – ”FYI, Malaysia has bought 4 Chinese warships before under the LCS phase 1 program. ”
We re all aware of that; thank you. It was politically expedient to buy Chinese during that period; we experienced some initial issues with the ships and we can’t integrate and certify Western stuff to the ships.
Syam – ”Countries like Pakistan and Cambodia have no issues using Z-9 medium utility helicopter while Bangladesh have placed an order to buy several units.”
Just because you haven’t read about does not mean there are ”no issues”. Also, Bangladesh and Pakistan have a long history of operating Chinese gear.
Syam – ” Malaysia should buy from China since we are on a tight budget”
Getting something cheap does not mean that in the long run it will be cheap note the nuance. Look at our fulcrums and Flankers; cheap to buy in the short term but in the long run not as cost effective in the longer term. More maintenance extensive and engines, radars and other things with a shorter TBO/MTBF. You are not the 1st to ask why we aren’t buying Chinse gear BTW.
Qamarul – ”If a helicopter chase them it will be a different story.”
Police rotary assets are used fora variety of roles.
Why the switch from single engine to twin engine transporter?
Guessing they want the safety afforded by a twin engine aircraft when flying over water. Which they had learned from flying the Beechcraft Super King Airs.
Have there been cases where one of the King Air engines had failed?
Hows about Donier 228? Mcm sesuai utk polis.
Hows about Dornier 228? Mcm sesuai utk polis.
No idea really. Even if it did there is no requirement for them – the police – to inform us about such things.
Yes, it could actually. It slipped my mind actually. A Google showed a passenger configuration 228 is around US$8.3 million (RM38 million). So seven aircraft order is still below the indicative cost. One could make some RM100 million profit actually.
I see, there was that King Air MPA that crashed so I cant recall if it was an engine failure or another.
That was a RMAF King Air. Nothing to do with the police’s one. And it was not engine failure but the failure of one of the landing gear to be deployed.