LANGKAWI: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak formally launched Lima 2013 today. He did not make any announcements on the GE or the contracts to be signed at the show.
Despite the commitments in Sabah, the Armed Forces namely the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) tried its best to liven up the show as does the four MRCA candidates as well as the other teams like the TNI-AU with its Jupiter aerobatic team and the Russian Knights.
Apart from still pictures, I also shot some videos of the displays but due to the slow internet connection, I am only uploading a few for today. Among the notable aircraft on the tarmac at Lima 2013 is a Super King Air owned by L3 Communications. Note that although L3 is the manufacturer of the MC-12W ISR aircraft, it is also marketing an ITAR-compliant King Air for export.
The aircraft displayed was fitted for medevac role not ISR although the pilots said it can be figured for any mission. It is equipped with extra fuel tanks on both engines and is pretty much the same as PDRM King Airs. The pilot said the aircraft can be fitted with extra stores but not weapons.
On the contract front, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told reporters that the Nuri SLEP programme will start “by this year”. The programme according to him will allow the 30-odd Nuri to be in service for the next 15 years, with the RMAF and later on the Army Air Wing.
He did not mention the cost for the SLEP project but I had been told much earlier that it would probably be around RM500 million. Zahid did say that some of the Nuri will be sold off to cover the cost of the SLEP project, which might see us operating, around 15 to 20 birds.
There is yet no definitive word on when the SGPV project will start, but it appears that it will be fitted with MTU engines (Boustead has set-up a subsidiary company together with MTU) and looks like the 57mm Bofors gun is the main (another Boustead subsidiary). No one at the Boustead wanted to confirm the missiles or radar selected but as I mentioned before it will probably be MBDA and Thales.
Anyhow, a subsidiary of Felda, Felda Prodata Systems Sdn Bhd, has teamed up with Swiss firm RUAG to offer simulator and training services system to the Armed Forces.
Prodata is one of many local companies which are trying to diversify into the defence industry. As they say the more the merrier!
–Malaysian Defence
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lee yoke meng says:
March 27, 2013 at 12:43 pm
Yes the nuri slep is a wise decision but sell off some to fund the slep?. Thats not wise in light of lahad datu. We need all the 30 odd .
We need at least 10 to 15 in both sabah n sarawak. The other 15 in peninsular for mobility purpose. If we sell n pare to the bone the next time an urgent reaction is required we will need to hire mhs but then they are not insured for combat
stanman says:
March 27, 2013 at 3:30 pm
Not if we don’t operate in a stupid manner requiring excessive heli resupply and stuff. We also have a pilot shortage thanks to the burgeoning budget airlines and a limited operational budget to keep everyone’s flying time up.
The vast bulk of the ESSCOM region is road or water accessible, certainly everything of any value. The lesson of Ops Daulat is that the bad guys can no more survive in the jungle than we can, they are not supermen. We forget this was the case with the Communists as well, once they were denied their Min Yuen logistics.
We cocked up by not evacuating and securing the villages immediately around Tanduo. By the time we moved in, they had dispersed. Undoubtedly more than a few had escaped over water while others had driven commandeered cars to Semporna, probably straight past Police checkpoints using their blue ICs.
The obvious fact is that they can offset the SLEP costs with Carson by simply offering up some airframes. Anything that does not require cash is a good thing given the other pressing shortfalls and the vast amounts of money being spent on A1skr1m.
Rotary wing MPA is about the stupidest idea evah.
nanonano says:
March 27, 2013 at 4:04 pm
I agree with lym, we still require all 30 Nuris. Cant afford to sell even one. The army needs the helos for its upcoming air assault brigade or regiment, unless we can come up with a helo producing company to supply brand new malaysian made helos to our military, it’s a different story.
Ashraf says:
March 27, 2013 at 5:51 pm
Again, it’s like another one of those contingency/ad-hoc kind of action for the helo units. The politicians never learned. As malay use to say “bila terkena baru tergadah”. It could be true as what the PKR saying, ex-military general is better fit for the defense post. The armed forces have done tremendous job of “power projection” in the LD intrusion but the politicians seem now playing “fee based” again for military assets procurements. ESSCOM is only for “syok sendiri” as sending soldiers to guard with buloh sumpit or parang kontot might as well surrender Sabah to the lunatic J.Kiram. Seems like our country is short of patriotism with the current batch of politicians.
FareedLHS says:
March 27, 2013 at 6:42 pm
The decision to sell off some of the fleet is financially motivated. As Marhalim pointed out earlier, S-61s are hot items right now. It might be the only way to fund an upgrade of the remaining aircraft. In an ideal world, yes 30 Nuris would be great, even more if we could get them, but alas it is not an ideal world. In this world, the choice is 30 old and tired Nuris or 15 modernized and like-new Nuris.
Marhalim,
Looking at the very nice pic and vid of the ‘Rajawali’ sparked a question: How long will the ‘Rajawali’ stay afloat with its flotation system deployed?
The King Air 350ER looked nice too.
Reply
No idea, I will try to find out.
yinchet says:
March 27, 2013 at 9:18 pm
well upgrading the available fleet is one of the short term option available for them.
like it not. these is the option we have now.
for long term MPA will need some times b4 it getting into our inventory.
Yes we certainly need lots of heli to support our troops movement and as well as logistic.
perhaps we should look for ec-725 utility version. but that too will only available at least 2-3 years times if we purchase it now.
upgrading our nuri now will certainly help in short term.
nimitz says:
March 30, 2013 at 9:28 pm
I agree with lym, upgrade all nuri,but deployment wise, ec725 can take up the slack for air mobility either peninsula or borneo. At least atm helis in term of numbers nuri+”rajawali” after this is back to the 60′s.