SHAH ALAM: Oz to redevelop RMAF Butterworth. Australia is planning to redevelop RMAF Butterworth airbase in Penang under an AUS$60 million to AUS$70 million budget. (RM218 million using the higher amount)
Australian Defence Magazine on August 25 reported on the Invitation to Register Notice which was published on the Australian Government tender website on August 8. The notice is below:
The RMAF Butterworth Infrastructure Project aims to further strengthen Australia and Malaysia’s strong and long-standing Defence relationship through the provision of infrastructure at RMAF Base Butterworth by way of foreign assistance. Investment in infrastructure demonstrates Australia’s commitment to the bi-lateral relationship with Malaysia.
The Project aims are to:
re-develop existing Malaysian Facilities which have shared use between stakeholders including Australian Defence Force, the Malaysian Ministery of Defence and the Malaysian Armed Forces; and
conduct service refresh works on Australian-leased facilities to enhance RMAF Base Butterworth’s capability.
Specifically, the Project will seek to achieve the following outcomes:
provide upgrades to increase capacity, condition and compliance of the Australian leased facilities to align with the growing operational and Australian Defence Force engineering services requirements;
provide upgrades for redeveloping the Malaysian facilities to increase the condition, capacity and compliance with the existing and future Malaysian Ministry of Defence requirements;
advance cooperation and relationships between Australian and Malaysian Governments through investment and ongoing joint operations; enhancing the capabilities and capacity of our regional partners by strengthening resilience against nature disasters and other non-traditional security threats; and delivering quality infrastructure that meets the requirements and priorities of Malaysia by promoting sustainable development and connectivity.
According to the ADM report, the work will be extensive and it is likely the two fighter squadrons there, namely No 18 Skuadron and the No. 15 Skuadron will have to move out for the duration of the upgrading work. It must be noted back in 2018, the Australian government announced an AUS$22 million funding also to upgrade the facilities used by its forces at Butterworth. Apart from RAAF, the Australian Army has a more or less permanent detachment at the airbase, the Butterworth Company.
It is likely that upgrading is part of the on-going Malaysia-Australia Defence programme. Last May, under the programme, Australia awarded a Malaysian company, Armourseal, a contract to replace the windows of the air control tower.
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (27)
Maybe we shall have asked for the 2nd hand M113s, C130s and FA-18 Super Hornets(still active but can queue first) for donation also. Hoping for the boys in Mindefs to do anything other than wasting money is proven too difficult
The problem with trying to get free second hand stuff is that there are always people who will say MY is not dumping ground for old stuff and also those whose pockets will not be filled if we got free stuff. Both exists independently though there is a group out there who are the same people. These group is the most numerous and more importantly have direct contact with the powers that be
Saw this tender in The Star newspaper few weeks ago. The tender is put out by Aussie Government so it appears that Aussie taxpayers will be footing the bill and not coming from our pockets.
Thank you Aussie Sam!
Hazone,
We have no requirement for surplus
M-113s and C-130s. We have more C-130s on strength than we actually need.
It's also not so much the "boys in MINDEF" but our politicians and their system which results in us not getting the best value for our cash.
Thank me….I am an Aussie taxpayer. It’s a bit of a disgrace Malaysia cannot upgrade such a vital piece of infrastructure itself. This plus the LCS only means malu Malaysia.
That was the reason a private company in the past had offered to buy the airbase land and replace it with a new one built some 100km away. Clearly our defence budget is too low to do any thing really. Anyhow its not malu to ask your mate for help. It's malu for not asking
I don't mind this country got free second hand stuff. Waiting for the new one prove to be time consuming. Hopeless.
No one mind really as long it meets the needs of the end users. The problem is that some people due to their personal interest have been making various claims about it
@Tom Tom
I also thank Aussie Government for ratcheting up tensions in South Asia with unilateral AUKUS. Now I wonder what is an Aussie taxpayer meddling in our affairs.
If we are asking abang aussie for some freebies then I suggest we get those tigers once their apache arrived.
No, lah, Oz is ditching the Tigers and NH90s as they are very expensive to maintain and at the same time very glitchy. Why should we take over the troubled birds then?
Don’t worry Joe, Oz will be spending less money on all things defence from now, so no more funding or financial help from Australia. There is a newly elected Labor government, and Labor traditionally cuts and limits defence spending. They are dove-ish. You will just have to for a Coalition government to return (most probably in 6-9 years) before Australia assumes a more hawkish military posture.
At the risk of asking the obvious, does this eliminate the possibility that Butterworth air base will be relocated to make way for urbanisation? There was talk about this some years back.
AUKUS - That sounds hypocritical. Malaysia has relations with the US and UK (and Australia) and yet you object to Australia doing the same.
"Aussie taxpayer" - You are surely aware that many Malaysians work overseas. My guess is this is the case.
Yes, this likely will eliminate any plans to relocate the base elsewhere. It must be noted that the RMAF had never expressed any desire or inclination to move elsewhere despite offers from the private sector. This was not the case with Sungei Besi or Simpang airbase.