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Tender For Leasing of Army Helicopters

PUTD AW109 LOH and MD 530G LSAH at the recent Army Firepower demonstration. BTDM

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.

PUTD AgustaWestland AW109 LOH firing its minigun on the Gemas range in 2018

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.
A PUTD Nuri hauling an Oto Melara 105mm Pack Howitzer at the Firepower Exercise 2017. The helicopter like the Nuris of RMAF were retired in mid 2019.

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

One of RMAF leased AW139 flying at Butterworth airbase on February 10. Mindef

Mi-17s cannot be offered as

The landing gear shall be a retractable type with an emergency
extension mechanism

US Army Blackhawks during Keris Strike 2016. US Army photo.

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.
SF troopers fast-roping from a Nuri helicopter.

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

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Marhalim Abas: Shah Alam

View Comments (19)

    • 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.

  • 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