SHAH ALAM: MPA and MALE UAVs out for tender. The Defence Ministry has published advertisements on the international tender process for two maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) and three MALE UAVs in two local newspapers yesterday. The advertisements were published in the NST and Berita Harian.
The advertisements stated that local bidders for both tenders must have a letter of authorisation from the original equipment manufacturer or systems provider/integrator for the purpose of buying the tender documents.
The tender document for the MPA will only be available for purchase on 1 September and the MALE UAV on 3 September from the Defence Ministry tender division. The closing date for submitting the MPA tender is 3 December and the MALE UAV is 26 November.
Based on the above requirements so far I will not make a guess on how many bidders will take in both tenders. As the aspirants only need an authorisation letter to be able to bid for both tenders, the numbers could go up to two dozens for each. OEMs in the past had given the authorisation to two or even three companies to present them in previous tender exercises so the number of companies could be much higher than the number of platforms being marketed or offered in the past.
Even if the tender documents are not yet published, I hazard to guess that companies that did not respond to the RFI previously could also be involved in these tender exercise.
It must be noted that the tender exercise does not necessarily mean that RMAF will get their MPAs and MALE UAVs within the next three years. And its not just technical or regulation issues, the current economic situation will probably see the procurement processes be stretched much longer as had happened in the past.
— Malaysian Defence
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Hope we will not mess this up too..how about the tender for 3 maritime utility helis that out last year? Saw aw139 appeared kd rajawali's wall..i guess rmn have chosen the aw139 by the looks of it
Ok, good news. Hope the best will be choose.
With our current predicament and budget crunch, I am against buying a brand new MPA, and would prefer if we convert our existing CN-235 with USA MSI grant plus our own budget for MPA. We cannot afford to operate 2 different MPAs in TUDM. That can be complemented by MMEA getting its own additional MPAs too, probably in the shape of King Air B200 equipped with COTS equipment to lower the cost.
As for UAV MALE, rather than having an open tender, I would prefer a G to G deal for the Bayraktar TB2. Turkey sold 12 drones and three ground command centers to Ukraine for $69 million. That cost is IMO totally affordable for us.
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Buying in penny packets. We can only hope there will be more to come, and that they will come soon enough for it to make sense to buy the same model.
MPA tender
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/EgOfQs0U4AAGB3p.jpg
Looks like it is for 2 MPA aircrafts.
MALE UAS Tender
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/EgOfQs0UEAA09U2.jpg
It is for 3 units. Does this mean 3 UAS systems, or actually 3 MALE UAS (which is usually considered as just 1 system)?
Repl
2 MPA and 3 MALE UAVs, its in the first paragraph.
So, IMHO based on the priority and the recent news lately including budget approval and tender issued I think these following procurement will take place ASAP (but its still depends on various factors) :
1) 2 MPA for RMAF
2) 3 UAV for RMAF
3) 2 MRSS/LPD/LHD for RMN
4) 3 maritime helicopter for RMN
CMIIW :)
This 2 new MPA procurement is the different program from the 2 existing CN-235 conversion to MPA under US MSI initiative right?
Reply
Yes those CN235s will be MSA only
......,
I Dissagree, Sometime it is better to buy brand New rather than Upgrade the CN-255.
Now We Hope Goverment To choose MPA like Kawasaki P1 or Swordfish, poseidon Might be too Advance for us.
For MALE UAV, Let's just hope Anka and Predator is choosen !.
Again with the local companies bidding on behalf of international makers as if they are so incapabled that they needed our 'help' in the bid, the same shenanigans as the RFI from the previous Government too.
Naw, we will never learn and doomed to repeat the same mistakes lah. Rinse and repeat.
@...
I got another alternative. Since the current TUDM B200T are with MPA gear, we could buy new CN-235 and PT could port the AMASCOS stuff into the new airframes as they are doing for our US sponsored MPAs. The B200Ts could revert as fast transports to short airstrips for TUDM or sold off. IMHO the MPA role & responsibilities should be solely under TLDM purview. They ady have a rotary air division, so they can simply expanded to include fixed wing rotary airplanes. That way, TUDM can offload their maritime patrolling duties and focused on securing our airspace & offensive power deterrence.
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Issues associated with having 2 different MPAs can be mitigated to an extent if both share a common mission suite.
.
AM,
Yes again in penny packets - 2 aircraft; another “a bit of everything but not enough of anything” situation.
In line with long-standing policy the deals are via local companies. Whether these actually add any value is the question
Whatever MPA is chosen ideally it will have mix RMAF/RMN sensor crews - we need more “jointness” especially given that resources are tight. As for the UAS I couldn’t care less what’s ordered as long as we have a right C2 set up which is not encumbered with service centric and bureaucratic issues.