KUALA LUMPUR: I found this tender advertised at the Mindef website today.
(Kod Bidang: 170101 atau 170199)
While Malaysian Defence understand the merit of the Hk416 over the M4 (note the spelling mistake is Mindef’s doing) but I wonder whether there is a need to float a tender for the purchase of a single type of the assault rifle. Why dont Mindef just buy it direct from H&K?
The explaination is simple of course, note the Kod Bidang: 170101 atau 170199, which meant only local companies with the correct Finance Ministry registration will be be able to compete in the tender. What does it mean? It simply means that HK has several local agents who got the appropriate registration code to bid for the tender. One agent who let his license lapsed several years ago might not be able to bid although stranger things had happened. Will they select the one with the lowest quote? Your guess is as good as mine.
The Maritime Assault Rifle designation probably mean that the guns, when purchased will be deployed by Paskau, GGK and Paskal and other units working near seas or lakes. This also probably meant that Mindef knows that M4s are not good enough for use around water which is basically the normal condition in Malaysian tropical weather. What this means for future M4 purchase is beyond me, but its a good subject for future debates!
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I think by now you should now why they don’t do international tender. the reason of what they call “tanggungjawab sosial”. spread the wealth to local companies too.
but then again, it the same faces that do the supplying…
Marhalim: I can understand the need to spread the wealth, the problem with this is of course, the mark-ups. I bet the Malaysian version will be priced at more than RM10,000 each. Hey, every one needs their Cayenne Turbo, Bentley, the new 7 series, M5s, CLS and GLs. So instead of fielding a full regiment of 416s, we end up with a company’s worth and no spares apart from whats in the box. Worse some might come up with the idea of rejuvenating the M16A1 stock with a drop-in 416 uppers and charging the government for a full rifle……
my guess is that they want to create new entrepreneur(s) in this defence industry (…hope so)
Kelantan police will receive 3,000 Walther P99s to replace their .38 Smith Wessons.
Lets also hope they get to spend more time at the shooting range.
Marhalim: Yes, I saw that news in Bernama too I had reported that the police was getting the Walthers last year….
Entrepreneurs in the defense industry? Got meh?
Its more cronypreneurship to me!
Dear Editor,
When you mentioned
“It simply means that HK has several local agents who got the appropriate registration code to bid for the tender. One agent who let his license lapsed several years ago might not be able to bid although stranger things had happened. Will they select the one with the lowest quote? Your guess is as good as mine.”
Can you please identify which party that you ‘think’ they are the local agents for H&K?
I need some information.
Marhalim: Sorry I do not have the information, I have met some of the guys in the past during trade shows, but no one was prepared to give out their numbers, I do not know their reasons, maybe they were shy.
Thanks and Regards,
Lek
entrepreneurs in the defense industry? me….. 😉
why is the government not buying HK5416 as standard rifle for all services instead of the proposal to change steyr with M4. As widely known M4 is a failure that may turn out into another fiasco like the locally produced Steyr.?
Marhalim: Your guess is as good as mine. They are not buying anymore M4s at the moment, no money…
The latest, the tender for the HK416 has been canceled. I guess they might have been reading….
Isn’t it better to start with an HK416 from the beginning rather than the M4?
Marhalim: Perhaps, the SCAR series from FN are also quite good…
HK416 and FN SCAR are excellent weapons alright, like the Magpul Masada/Bushmaster ACR and now, the Sig 556.
SME Ordnance has already inked the contract with Colt to produce M4s locally after acquiring 14,000 units from Colt LLC. I guess it comes with limitation of being restricted for domestic use only, not for export, maximum number that can be produced, etc.
If Malaysia has an R&D culture, the government would be funding interested designers/inventors to develop new upper receivers or gas piston conversion kits for the AR15 system so that our sole weapons manufacturer can modify the Colt M4 in-house to make it as reliable as the HK416.
The SIG 556 is a pseudo licensed version of the Swisarms 550-series rifle produced by SIGARMS, an American company. This was to get around the ’86 import ban on the Swiss made rifles.
The early guns were complete dogs with god awful DPMS sourced furniture and no usable irons.
Why anyone would pick a 556 over a proper Swissarms product baffles me.
The 556 is selling so well that SIGARMS is making an AR clone……
How do you develop small arms in a country that does not permit the ownership of such items?
Wake up…smell the kopi-o.