KUALA LUMPUR: It appears that the plan to use Sukuk (The Islamic equivalent for bonds) to raise money for the purchase of arms and defence-related infrastructure projects had been torpedoed by the Treasury.
The main reason for this I am told is that it was a bad idea in the first place to propose such financial arrangements for the arms purchases.
It was also feared that if the sukuk issuance is under subscribed it will affect other similar attempts from the Malaysian government to raise money in the open market. Yes I know LTAT may have a lot of funds but its own rules limits its investments to a small percentage of its assets.
I am guessing that Mindef will have to be content with whatever doled out to them in RMK10. With the Home Ministry asking for at least RM8 billion from RM23 billion allocation set aside for the security, one has to wonder whether how many items in the ATM wish-list will be deferred yet again…
–Malaysian Defence
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Lets hope that some of the 8 bilion requested by the Home Ministry will be used to provide better training for the PDRM and perhaps let the rank and file spend more time at the ranges shooting live rounds. Even if MINDEF gets what it wants it terms of allocations it will be interesting too see if the government is keen on warding any major deals before the next general election. Marhalim, has a firm order been signed with Eurocopter yet?
Marhalim: No they have not signed the contract with Eurocopter. I am guessing that it will be formalised once the two-year budget of RMK10 is announced probably after Raya. On whether or not any major deal will be signed before the next GE, the Army had already said its fleet of Condor and Sibmas will be obsolete in 2012…..
Pening….pening….
err i thot KDN allocation is different than the 23 billion security allocation.
Anyway, if the condor is totally obsolete bu 2012, why dont buy a few dozens of the shelf the new 8X8 from FNSS. Surely minus the investment and infra cost, it will be half the original price quoted by deftech. Plus part of condor original role IMO already taken over by the adnan and MIFV.
I thot Sibmas was going to be retired w/o replacement as the version of FNSS 8×8 shown during Def Asia has no 90mm or 105mm gun role.
Marhalim: Home Ministry allocation had always came from the Security sector which is divided into Defence and the americanised Homeland Security….
Hey, how was our new frigates and SGPV project, i suggest RMN and MOD to evaluated FREMM and how was MRSS?
Frigates? Lekiu II is deader than a dodo. Boustead gets first bite at ANY navy spending after bailing out PSC-NDSB and essentially helping to bury the scandal. “Nothing to see….move along…..”
Perhaps this is the sort of pain needed to spark a long overdue White paper on a sustainable future for the Armed Forces. Plan B is of course where we are, atrophy.
Of course Plan A needs the politicos to place the nation before selves, an order perhaps too tall for them.
Dear Fadiman,
Although I am the biggest supporter of the 2nd batch of the Lekiu-class project but I have already accept the reality that this will not come true. The Navy have have shown interest with the Type45 UK destroyer of the Daring Class as the 2nd batch base design, but the too much cost have result in the scrapping of the project. My prediction, maybe in the 11th MP or 12th MP the navy will have the chance to built more frigate.
But for the 2nd Batch of the NGPV or the Littoral Combat Ship program, I believe that there is a possibility for this to be continued.
Dear Marhalim, do you have any idea about our future soldier system which was exposed recently during the DSA 2010 by SAPURA. I wonder if they are about to change our conv camo to digital camo.
Marhalim: Everything is all quiet on the Future Soldier System although in his interview on Army Day, the former chief said that the first Future Soldier System units will be tested by mid-year. I have not heard anything about it further….
Dead as a ‘dodo’… Bit harsh as the last dodo bird was killed/died in the late 1600’s! Sad but true the Batch 2 is dead….
It all boils down to what is currently needed -frigates or MPSS’s and the need to balance the RMN’s requirements/wishlist with a limited budget and political considerations. The average ‘rakyat’ is currently more concerned about the price of sugar and sustaining themselves, not that I blame them.
I believe the RMN needs MPSS’s more urgently than frigates. Followed by UAVs and helicopters. Having said that, it would be nice if some cash was allocated to arm the Kedah class. Its not all gloomy however, the Kasturi class is getting a new CMS, electro optical sights, torp tubes, etc.
Marhalim: I guess the Kasturi need to serve until she turned 50 then….
All this fantasy talk of Darings and My-Land Warrior (a little like My Little Pony only not pink) is just too funny! Unfortunately this inanity is restricted to pundits. It kills me every time I see ‘transformasi’ and ‘penganda kekuatan’ in a over frilled PowerPoint. When you see buzzwords like that, you KNOW the writer just doesn’t have a clue.
….unfortunately this inanity is NOT restricted to pundits……
Marhalim, god forbid the Kasturi class will have to serve beyond another 15 years….
As for Syameer mentioning the Type 45 and RMN interest, I believe he could be mistaken because of a statement by a BAE systems guy some 2 years ago that some modular buildings techniques used in the Type 45 programme would be implemented for the now dead Lekiu Batch 2s. Forget the digital camo, someone should start off by making sure the suppliers of the current camo meet certain QC standards, same goes for the webbing, helmets and boots.
If the 2nd Batch Frigate from BAe were failed maybe MOD and RMN should looking for other like FREMM design from italy, i thing it more cheaper
Marhalim: The FREMM frigates based on several websites cost around USD500 million which I believed is more than the Bae System price for the Lekiu frigate but one must remember the FREMM has Aster 15s, land attack missiles and towed array sonars and new radars, its also much bigger and horror, of horrors, gas turbines.
Yes, the FREMM sounds really good but I dont think we can afford a 2-billion plus ship. One maybe but the navy needs at least another 15 more within the next 10 years. Yes I know the Kedah-class ship cost around RM1 billion each but that does not mean we can buy two-billion plus frigates……Of course a good salesman can really made a good pitch if he said the ship can be fitted with MTU diesels……
Talking about the SGPV, what do all of you think about the possibility for the Boustead to be awarded with the contract for the next batch in this upcoming MP.
Well, although I am a fan of the BaE System, but I would suggest that the Govt should opt the MEKO A-200 designation (the South African Navy’s Valour-class) for the next frigate procurement since our budget ‘besar’ sangat. At cost of USD 1.4 Billion (if I’m not mistaken) for 4 frigate of this class, it’s more reasonable than the 6 current Kedah class ships which cost more than these 4 more capable ships.
Anyway, does anyone have any idea about what will the govt plan for the armed forces in the next MP. I heard the defense allocation budget will me much smaller this time. My sources said that only appx. RM 7 billion will be allocate for procuring new assets while the rest should go for other purposes and from the RM 7 billion, half of it will be used to replenish all the war stock of the armed forces like the missiles, ammo and the rest.
Another thing, Marhalim, what is the current status of the F-5 in the air force. I heard it is being upgrade. Is it true?
Marhalim: Its no longers called SGPV, Syameer, its Littoral Combat Ship now and the chance of Boustead getting the deal is almost 100 per cent although they may only fund three ships for the RMK10. On the F5, as far as I know there is no upgrade but routine maintenaince to keep the fleet flying. I saw one taking off from Subang several days ago but did not managed to take any pictures…
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