KUALA LUMPUR: It looks like that everybody else is still buying hardware apart from the armed forces, oh, well….BTW, MMEA accepted the first of the two Bombardier CL-415s amphibians last week.
The Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department Orders Two AW139s
AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, is pleased to announce that the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) has ordered two AW139 medium twin engine helicopters. These aircraft will be used to perform fire fighting, search and rescue, land reconnaissance and general support duties. The contract also includes conversion training for aircrew and maintenance staff which will be undertaken prior to delivery of the aircraft in the first half of 2010. The Bomba order for the AW139 follows the order placed by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency for three aircraft plus options in October 2008. The AW139s will supplement the two AgustaWestland AW109 Power helicopters that have been successfully operating with the Bomba since 2004.
The AW139, a new generation medium twin-turbine helicopter that has set new standards in the market, offers unmatched performance and safety levels and has the largest cabin in its class. State-of-the-art mission equipment and outstanding performance features enable the AW139 to accomplish the most demanding operations in the harshest weather and environmental conditions. Thanks to its powerful engines, each rated at 1252 kW (1679 shp) for take-off, the AW139 is perfectly suited to carry out demanding missions in the hot and high climatic conditions experienced in Malaysia. This order marks further success for the AW139 in the fire fighting market with orders having already been placed by the Los Angeles City Fire Department and the Gangwon Fire Department of Korea. The order book for the AW139 has now passed 430 aircraft with orders from over 100 customers located in over 40 countries. Over 200 AW139s have now been delivered and are in service performing many applications including SAR, air ambulance, fire fighting, offshore transport, VIP/corporate transport, law enforcement, scheduled passenger transport and utility transport.
AgustaWestland Malaysia Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of AgustaWestland, continues to play a major role in the Malaysian helicopter market expanding its presence and increasing its market share. In 2008 AgustaWestland Malaysia Sdn Bhd opened a new regional maintenance and support centre located at Kuala Lumpur’s Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in 2008, aimed at supporting the increasing AgustaWestland fleet and keeping closer to the growing number of customers in the region.
–Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (18)
buy more heli for the department that is not really need heli.then,when the war come to us,our air force will running like hell coz not enough heli to dispatch soldier to the battlefield.
we can always "shoot" water......
The navy took the delivery of its first sub yesterday, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman on Tuesday but it wont be here until mid-year....
Yes it seems everybody but the ATM is getting new gear. The police also received a new armoured vehicle from South Korea for use in East Timor. Whilst not claiming to be an expert, I believe the Deftech AV4 is a superior vehicle -having better performance and superior mine protection-yet was not ordered. So much for supporting the local industry.
As for the SSKs, lets hope enough cash is allocated for training. All the training received from DCN will be wasted if the 2 SSKs hardly put to sea.
Marhalim: yes, the police is getting the APCs from South Korea courtesy of ATSB. The Deftech vehicle was never pitch to the police as far as I know so it wasnt a factor in the selection process. I believed BAE Systems offered the RG12 but it was not selected. On the subs, it will be interesting to know if they had factored the operational and maintenance costs for 20 years in the budgetary plans.
I imagine there is a big price difference between 2 AW-139 Bomba versus 12 EC-725 CSAR helicopters
Marhalim: I guess so...I also believed that the other ministries were a lot smarter when buying things......
Thanks to Anwar and Pak Lah we only get a rubbish equipment for military
The subs... What I'm really interested in finding out is what sonar fit was selected. According to a report, the RMN went for a basic sonar fit. It has been reported that the Chilean boats are fitted with flank arrays, as well as the dome sonar. The next few years, it will be interesting to see how the
TNI-AL fares with its Kilos. I remember a report that said the Iranian Kilos went to sea only about 5 times the first 2 years in service due to maintena issues. Another problem the Iranians faced was that the warm waters of the Gulf was very conducive for barnacle growth, which led to assistance being provided by the Indians. For the first few years, the PLAN apparently had similar maintenance problems with their first batch of Kilos.
I think it was reported in Perajurit or Tempur that the AV4 was offered but the Police decided that the Korean vehicle was more suited. The RG12 would have been nice but I suspect was way over the budget.
Marhalim, in the current Perajurit, there's a photo of an RMN guy firing an LMG. Its definitely not a MAG 57 or a Minimi. Perhaps a South African SS77?
Marhalim: I have not seen the latest issue of Perajurit but RMN did purchased a batch of SS77 a few years ago. I had a conversation with an FN Herstal rep who bitched about the deal saying that they were trumped by the South Africans offerings.....
Apart from the price difference, buying 2 AM319s for Bomba is easier for the politicans to sell to the opposition and public than 12 Cougars. After all, with the Cougars, they will be cries like '' why do we need new helis, after all Malaysia is not at war'' or ''the Nuris can still be used for another 15 years'' [never mind the dangers of flying in bad weather ].
Just yesterday, I read in a British magazine about recent cutbacks facing the British armed forces. There was this quote: '' The government continues to gamble with the UK's national security, hoping the worse will never happen'' Sounds familiar doesn't it?
Marhalim: And that coming from a country listed as the Top 10 arms spender in the world! We are as bad as Nigeria and Zimbabwe, not only in terms of amount but intrigue in the procurement process,
DEFTECH have develop a police version of AV4 to suit the requirement of RMP. I've seen a picture of the police version in DEFTECH's advertisement on Asian Defence and Diplomacy magazine.
Upon reading January '09 edition of Perajurit about the acquisition of S5, I could not help to wonder what went wrong? Is it true that AV4 is not good enough for the RMP? How in the world we're going to be able to develop and have a credible and self-sustained local defence industries if the GOM themselves doesn't support our own local product and initiatives.
As for the issue of AW139...Owh, what the heck.. My condolence to the Air Force.
Azlan: Yes the GMPG pictured in the Perajurit issue is the SS77. The AV4 remained in development, it could not and should not be chosen for a fast-track contract to provide protection for policemen on UN duty in Timur Timur, no matter what it meant for our local defence industry, the need of our warriors trumps that off the industry.
If Deftech really wants to ensure that the AV4 it must complete the development for the next round of tenders for armoured vehicles for the police and army. There is enough time of course, I do not expect they will start procuring such vehicles within the next two years.
However, it must be stated here, like all DRB-HICOM subsidiary companies, Deftech is currently suffering the lack of leadership which started since it was taken over by the new management in 2007.