SHAH ALAM: The Defence Ministry has floated the tender for the five year leasing of four medium-lift helicopters for the Army’s Air Wing. The request for bids was published on July 5 and closes on August 11. The Army is leasing the helicopters following the retirement of the Nuri in 2019.
The notice states that
The tenderer is to provide leasing service of four (4) medium category utility helicopters and shall be State Registered and meet Directorate General Technical Airworthiness (DGTA)
state registration requirements.
Requirement for aircraft services as a platform to Tim Nukleus Rej 882 PUTD for training and operational flight duty. It shall adopt the concept Performance Base Contract (PBC) for duration of three (3) to five (5) years.
Specifications published called for a helicopter which can carry at least two crew and 10 passengers;
maximum take off load from 6,000kg to 20,000kg and endurance of four to five hours. The aircraft must be certified for day/night VFR and instrumentation to carry out IFR.
The helicopter shall be powered by at least two (2) turbine engines. The engines shall come with Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) System with manual back-up or equivalent.
The engines shall be equipped with engine chip detector. It shall have an Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) for the starting of engine, Environmental Control Systems (ECS), lighting and all pre-flight essential system. Transmission system shall be equipped with chip detector and warning system for both main gearbox and tail gearbox
Mi-17s cannot be offered as
The landing gear shall be a retractable type with an emergency
extension mechanism
Apart from normal flying, the helicopter must also be able to carry underslung, spie-rig, deck landing and search and rescue missions. The underslung gear must be able to carry up 1,814kg of load.
The winning bidder must also provide training for qualified flight instructors, pilots, co-pilots, crew, engineers and technicians. The helicopter must also be delivered six months after the Letter of Award is issued. The helicopters will be based at Kuantan as the Tim Nukleus Rej 882 is currently headquartered at the Kem Batu 10, Gambang. It is likely the helicopters will be operated from the adjacent Kuantan airbase.
— Malaysian Defence
If you like this post, buy me an espresso. Paypal Payment
View Comments (19)
MTOW between 6T to 20T? That covers a lot of helicopters!
H225M?
H225 the civil version as there is no M version available for leasing
For comnality saje its either civil version h225 assuming it meet the specification or AW139 i guess
It's not the technical specifications that matters, it's how much the bidder willing to lease the helicopters. If it's more than what RMAF paid for theirs I doubt the Finance Ministry will approve the deal
Out of curiosity, how much would be the difference between [1] leasing cost, for 5 years [2] installment cost -- assuming we sell bonds, buy the Heli cash and repay the bonds in installments, 5 years
Since this is going to be a norm, why can’t the govt appoint a few fleet management companies like they did for automobiles. One for helicopters, one for gs trucks, etc. Can be more effective in managing cashflow and asset management.
Not a financial man so I cannot say how much it will cost.
H225 or Aw139 or any others option?
Raising bonds for what is essentially a financial sunk cost expenditure is stupid. That's what taxes are for.
Bond is for something that at least has tangible monetary ROI like highway or railway service.
Perhaps the reconditioned Black Hawks will be offered as well