SHAH ALAM: Its official, the SPH deal with Turkiye concluded through direct negotiations by the previous administration has been cancelled by the current government. In a written reply to a question by Tasek Gelugor MP, the Defence Minister said the Finance Ministry had decided on January 16 that the procurement proposal to purchase the Turkish-made SPH is cancelled.
“The Defence Ministry is currently in talks with central agency (likely the Finance ministry and the Economic Planning Unit) to conduct the procurement of the equipment through the government-to-government method,” it said without further elaboration.
The MP asked whether the Letter of Intent issued by the previous government for the purchase of the Turkish-made SPH will be continued. Air Times first reported the written reply.
Malaysian Defence has previously reported that the SPH – to be procured through direct negotiations – will be among the deals to be cancelled by the current government.
This was expected the PMX-led government had already stated that any deal – contracted or still in LOI stage – was subject to review.
Talk among the industry however that the SPH deal will be revived via an open tender. A government to government deal may well involve Turkiye though as the Yavuz SPH is manufactured by state-owned firm, MKE. The other truck mounted SPH contenders which are state owned are Nexter Systems with the Caesar and the South African Denel T-52.
— Malaysian Defence
View Comments (61)
Nora SPH is also truck based and is made by state-owned yugoimport
Maybe the ATGW money will now go to the SPH..
More importantly it has a fully enclosed gun which does away with the need for crews to be out in the open exposed to the elements and shrapnel. What the Artillery Directorate's preference is remains the question. To me; Aleksandar looks more interesting.
As I had written previously, there is no requirement for a remote turret. One requirement is that the SPH be air transportable on a C130. None of the SPH with remote turret are air transportable with our aircraft.
Yavuz maybe not as good and as proven as caesar but their base gun which is panter 155mm surely can considered as a success for MKE with hundreds of units already delivered to turkish army..got 100+ order from pakistan and also peaked the interest from the saudi..so if we cannot buy yavuz sph maybe buy 10+ panter 155mm towed to complement the G5? Or the era of towed sph are already over?
Not many current wheeled SPH that can be air transportable on a C-130 due to weight limits.
The original CAESAR with a weight around 17 tons can be flown by the C-130.
The latest CAESAR NG MkII weighs more than 22 tons due to armored cab.
Archer is 30+ tons, as is the Aleksandar.
Lightest wheeled SPH with full auto loader is the Excalibur EVA, at 20 tons. But that is just a bit over the max payload of an average C-130.
Currently the lightest SPH is the AM General Brutus, with all up weight around 15 tons.
What about the MKE Yavuz? Plenty of numbers has been bandied about, but lets take it from official MKE catalogue - 32 tons.
https://www.mkeusa.com/en-US/catalogue/vehicles/155-mm-52-cal-truck-mounted-howitzer-yavuz/52/1070
How to mitigate the issue of not being able to be airlifted by C-130? Have adequate SPH numbers in both East and West Malaysia. With the use of modern ISTAR resources such as drones for quick artillery shot correction, the SPH can be used as precision fire support, and not a mass grid destroying system. With that change, a smaller number (say 12 units each in East and West Malaysia) is adequate.
"This was expected the PMX-led government had already stated that any deal – contracted or still in LOI stage – was subject to review."
It is a good thing in order to eliminate any "fee" to middleman. If the cancelation is due to no money in the pocket than it is a bad news.
"One requirement is that the SPH be air transportable on a C130."
Caesar made by Nexter will be the frontrunner.
... - " Have adequate SPH numbers in both East and West Malaysia"
Obviously but that's not happening soon is it? There is also no firing range in East Malaysia which can accommodate live 155mm fire.
... - "With the use of modern ISTAR resources such as drones for quick artillery shot correction,"
UASs [whether "modern" or not] for target detection is been something I've been harping on for years and events in the Ukraine only cement the fact that arty units need an organic UAS capability but whether we have any such plans in the near future remains an unknown.
... - "not a mass grid destroying system"
That would be the role for unguided rounds fired from MLRSs which incidentally also need UASs organic to them. The key lesson in the Ukraine his often overlooked is not the efficacy of HIMARs per see but HIMARS with the means to soon target deep in the enemy's operational depth.
... - "With that change, a smaller number (say 12 units each in East and West Malaysia) is adequate"
"Adequate" for what exactly? Until things really get hot we unfortunately have no idea what will and won't be "adequate".
Romeo - "Caesar made by Nexter will be the frontrunner"
In many ways it always has been since Giat first offered it to us in the late 1990's and when it appeared that we'd be the first customer.
Some people are just 'asymmetric' lovers & are obsessed with prepositioning & numbers thus accept the risk of high cost & unmovable asset and thus think that Building 2 of everything be it MRO or firing range is best thing ever since slice bread.
The things is MAF had times to times show very little interest in asymmetrical and has a hard on expeditiory capabilities thus suggesting one are just pointless.
The SPH football keeps on rollin, rollin, rollin, with no end in sight. Maybe wait another 5 years, perhaps then TDM could get the Caesar they had desired for. Or maybe the new chief might just give up fighting and willing to accept whatever he is given, even if its a gun on a crate with wheels. Whichever the case the SPH has became the political football of whichever administration in power.
@hulubalang
"The latest CAESAR NG MkII weighs more than 22 tons"
There are 2 types of Caesar mounted; the 6x6 and 8x8. The former is transportable by C130, the latter is not.
"Have adequate SPH numbers in both East and West Malaysia."
The Army plan was to have an Eastern Command with mirrored setup & equipment as in the Peninsular Western Command, that means having SPHs as well, regardless whether they could be C130 portable or not.