SHAH ALAM: Air Times – a website concentrating on national issues with strong defence and national security feelers – has published a picture of a PUTD AgustaWestland AW109 being painted in desert camouflage.
I contacted Air Times to ask permission to reproduce the picture here and it was duly granted. As seen from the picture, the paint job -most probably at an Airod facility – looked almost complete though much work is still needed before the helicopter could undergo testing prior to its return to full flight status.
Industry sources told Malaysian Defence that the desert camouflage was an “operational requirement” from PUTD. They however declined to be specific what kind operational tasking that needed the LOH to be painted in a desert camouflage.
Since I am on shaky grounds here, I will leave it to your own imagination where the operational tasking will be. For further reading go here. Furthermore, they could turn around paint it back in the Army standard digital camo. However, from the picture above, we can assumed that once the paint job is completed, the AW109 camo will looked very similar to the livery on the two PUTD Nuri, which was unveiled at Lima 2015, earlier this year.
There is no word on however on whether the helicopter will be armed or what kind will be fitted. Hopefully its the forward firing gun and rocket pods.. It is likely also that the desert camo Aw109 is the same helicopter that crashed in Johor in early, 2014.
Perhaps I will get lucky when the desert camouflage helicopter goes on its test flight, and I am able to snap good pictures of it.
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (60)
This is pretty suss isn't it? However, maybe its for Malbatt in Lebanon.
The A-109 which crashed whilst conducting a night training sortie with an ALAT instructor was reported to have been so heavily damaged that it was considered a write off.
For missions in Lebanon it would be painted in all white UN colours, not in desert camouflage.
When is the government going to tell the rakyat about this??
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I guess we have to wait for Najib to come back from the US before we can get any answers.
TomTom, AFAIK vehicles for UN Mission usually in solid white with a big UN/NU letters painted in black. So we can safely strike out Lebanon. Does Arab military helies in desert brown color?
Lebanon my a..
Deployment? Countermeasures and warning devices please.
If indeed the A-109 is going to Yemen a flare launcher and not a gaudy desert scheme would increase its survivability. The crew would also need NVIS 9 NVGs to better enable night ops. Off course a flare launcher or any kind of counter measures will not protect against small arms fire - only tactical flying and luck will. The main danger might not be enemy action but emaffect dust and hot conditions will have on the aircraft. In a couple of months it will turn cold.
For the Somalia deployment there were initial plans for a single Alo 3 to operate with MALBATT. Operations conducted on Thai soil, which included Selamat Sawadee, saw Nuris operating from forward bases in Thailand. At least 8 Nuris were deployed to Cambodia to assist with the UN organised elections there.
OK, maybe not Lebanon, what about Iraq or Syria? After all, there are Malaysians apparently fighting with IS.
Is that special desert camo or new PUTD camo since it looks like the Nuri's camo?
Many seem to be gung-ho about Yemen so OK, I won't hedge my comments.
Where in Yemen does Malaysia's national interests lie? How do the Houthis and Ali Saleh threaten our sovereignty?
If we go in, we'll be fighting in the wrong war. The Pakistanis know this. Our generals should follow the very experienced Pakistani generals' view.
Yemen is in the midst of civil war with 3 main players: Houthi + Ali Saleh's forces are a mix of regular and irregular forces. They are battle-hardened and disciplined, although underresourced, with susbstantial support from the population in the north-western corner of the country ie Houthi country.
The Saudi effort is led by a 30 year-old 'Menhan', a lawyer, with no military experience. He's there because his father said so. All reports say the KSA top brass advise him but defer to his decisions. In effect, the whole effort is led by a guy who, had he joined, would be a senior captain in a proper army.
The Saudis are inexperienced and they're conducting the war in similar fashion to the cocked-up effort in Iraq: Air power + naval blockade + ground forces in insufficient numbers. The bombing campaign is brutal but if we look at how ibn Saud's Wahabis captured the Hijaz and Madinah -- they bombed the city and damaged the Prophet's (pbuh) tomb in the process -- we should not expect niceties about the effect on Yemenis. It's ironic that Shariff Husain's descendents are now ganging up with ibn Saud's descendents against Yemen.
The UAE is finding out the hard way the cost of their land involvement. Their armd bde is getting clobbered. The irregular Haraki are only interested in getting independence of South Yemen and are not interested in moving north into Houthi country.
The AQAP is taking advantage of the situation in the east. They'll have to be fought eventually.
There are repotts of murmurs of dissent among Saudi royals about the conduct of the king and his DM vide Yemen. For all we know the king could be removed in a palace coup.
Do we still want to be involved?
Miniguns for when we go downtown in Sanaa! It's just like Bokhara market all over again boys!!!!!