French Air Force Caracal
KUALA LUMPUR: Since the announcement, Malaysian Defence have been trying to find out the real factor or factors behind the selection of the EC725 Cougar (Caracal in French service) for the Nuri Replacement Programme. The helicopter, although not the preferred RMAF choice – which is of course was and is AW101 – is a suitable aircraft for the tasks it is to be used although it does not meet the original specifications of the tender.
There is nothing wrong about this of course since other helicopters such as the Mi-17 and the Chinook were able to participate in the tender process due to the changes to the original specifications. If the original specifications were not changed only the AW101 and the S92 would meet the technical requirements, limiting the selection.
A US publication, DefenseNews, in a recent report, quoted an American defence contractor saying that the tender process was not transparent and reek of intrigue. Since only Boeing and Sikorsky were the only American participants in the tender process, it was most probable that either one of these companies representatives had made the comment.
Malaysian Defence feels that the comment was unfair from a bad loser. Why? Because one cannot find any Malaysian defence tender process that was transparent and without intrigue. Furthermore, both the American aircraft were not really in the running, the Chinook being too expensive and too large for the tasks envisioned for a Nuri replacement while the Superhawk remained a paper airplane. AgustaWestland, which has a better argument against the selection of the Cougar have kept quiet so far and is likely to remained quiet publicly for the sake of future sales.
So what was the factors behind the selection of the Cougar. So far, Malaysian Defence after talking to several people, have identified the two main factors.
1) Mahathirism. No, the Old Man was not involved in the selection process. The reason that it was the main factor behind the selection was the blind adherence to the policies and methods employed in the Mahathir era especially for defence procurement especially the saying, It is Who You Know and Not What You Know. Since Malaysian Defence understands that the contract has not been signed and things could change in the meantime, it is suffice to say that it is a lucrative farewell gift! The only variation to the Mahathirism was the fact that a tender was called for this programme, which had led to an Umno leader to damn the process as a gimmick. It is certainly wasnt cheap for those guys promoting the outsiders! Yes, the Russian birds are cheaper but then so were the Protons!
2) Price. The Cougar is cheaper than the AW101. The basic version of the French bird is probably going to cost around USD25 million while the top end CSAR bird will be around USD35 million (as pictured above). This would allow the contract price to be around RM2.1 billion although these could go higher or lower depending on the first factor cited above!
Other factors which favoured the Cougar as Malaysian Defence had written previously were Eurocopter’s large industrial presence in Malaysia and that our bird would be the same version as the ones flown by the French. The AW101 offer had been handicapped due to the “moving” specifications.
— Malaysian Defence
View Comments (21)
I fully agreed that the EC-725 still is the best choice and although AW101 would be the best choice.
I would be disappointed if the MI-17 were selected.
Nuri has served us very well and lately there were too many incident and crash that many personnel has perish and does not bode very well.
Ultimately I believe the selection of the Cougar must be made at the best interest, cost effective and suitable for the armed forces to operate.
Not only that, Euroopter will invest RM 250 mil in Malaysia as well.
Bottom line the heli must be able to serve the armed forces well and especailly the crew that putting their life in the line of duty.
Marhalim: There is some doubt about the selection process as the LOI was reportedly signed on the day Najib and Pak Lah swapped positions in the Cabinet. Who is making the biggest noise, the Mi-17 agent of course. In a hindsight they should have not modified the original specs, so only the AW101 and the S92 would have been in the tender. I know everyone are skeptical about the whole deal but really apart from the AW101 and the Cougar, they did not have any other options. If only they chucked the Mahathirism from the start, we would not be in these mess...
Anwar spoke out in parliment about the purchase. It is unknown whether he spoke out about the price tag or about the deal as a whole. It remains to be seen if the members of opposition have a better understanding of defence matters that those in power. Should the deal go through, the possibility remains that the cockpit specs may be lowered to reduce the price tag. Interestingly, in an interview Perajurit did with the French pilot who flew the Cougar at LIMA, the pilot said the only thing about the Cougar he was unhappy about was the thermal imager's resolution. Whilst prefering the Cougar over the S-92 and Mil-17, in the longer run I would be happier with a fleet of 40 odd Mil17s than 12 Cougars. For the next Malaysia Plan, budget has been allocated for an additional 15 Cougars. Lets wait and see.
Marhalim: yes the Mi-17s are cheap but where will you find the pilots to fly them. Not many will hang around if the Mi-17 was selected to replace the Nuri. Anwar spoke on why they are still buying the choppers during the troubled times, money he said should be spent on people. Of course, if he was in power, he will speed up the purchase, though it may well be an American one instead of French. One of Anwar's main supporter, Saifuddin Nasution was in MINDEF before, I believe, but as usual from what I seen and heard, the Oppo still regard defence as wasteful now as they cannot get their hands on the honey pot.
Even if we accept that the Mil agent has a case of sour grapes, the matters raised are valid and symptomatic of an opaque and unaccountable government operating in an arbitrary and improper manner. Given that the tender was first amended to allow the Cougar in and then a LOI issued before formal flight evaluations were undertaken and that the Cougar was obviously not the best value for money, plus the timing of it, leaves the decision open to charges of impropriety. Who cares if this is the way things were.... the government given a drubbing in March has not seen fit to change its ways and thus the Opposition is serving its role as the conscience of the nation in Parliament.
Eurocopter will invest RM 250 million that it took from the Malaysian taxpayer. Offsets in this country are by and large sweeties for government cronies. Their track record has been quite pathetic and their value is dubious at best.
My concern is that we are halving the chopper fleet and creating a capability gap in terms of frame availability and coverage without a plan to address this issue. The RMAF intends to abrogate its role as primary provider of rotorwing lift for the armed forces as a whole without first ensuring that the Army Air Corps is in a position to make up the shortfall. The 'CSAR' moniker for the Nuri Replacement is ultimately a sham as the birds will primarily be used as utility lifters for RMAF domestic needs.
MINDEF failed to plan for the smooth transition away from the Nuri, the single most valuable RMAF asset to the rakyat. If the RMAF favours the Cougar it needs to make it clear to the rakyat WHY since the rakyat have to pay a hefty premium. If they wrote the specs and the Mi-17 meets them all and comes in cheapest, it deserves to win. No three ways about it.
As for the pilots voting with their feet....RMAF will just have to issue a stop loss to them until they run a few busloads of recruits through flight school. They are here to serve the nation and not vice versa. I'll tell you how to motivate the airforce, for every shortfall in the rotor wing side, transfer over one zoomie. I guarantee you this will fix the problem. I would rather see our fast jets in mothballs than forego chopper support.
Simon
Marhalim: The problem I had with Mr Sour Grapes is that despite the obvious misgivings about the tender process, his main contention remained that his choppers were not selected. I wonder whether it would be the same if they had selected the Mi-17s.....
I asked the Government to be prudent in this time of Economic Crisis. Can we really afford to spent the RM 2.3 billion. What sort of Technology Transfer we are talking buying the Eueocopter. The Center at Subang is nothing but just one big hangar for people to do work. I suggest government postponed the purchase until our economy is better. No need CSAR now. Use existing Nuri as the SAR.
Take cue what the UK Government is facing in the Financial Crisis. Even they don't have dedicated CSAR for JPR. Go and read A Lack of Committment Search and Rescue CSAR Defence Helicopter Vol 27 Number 2 March /Apr 2008.
Marhalim: The CSAR role is optional, utility would be the main tasking for the NR (Nuri replacement). We have been delaying the decision to replace the Nuri for the last two decades, although the obvious need for us to do so. Yes, we can delay the procurement for the time being but the Nuri cannot be flying forever. If we delay the procurement we also need funds to ensure that the Nuri fleet can continue flying. And no matter how much upgrade we do, the Nuri fleet will need to be replaced sooner or later. I am also concerned whether or not we can afford to this during this uncertain time but we simply need to be brave unless the economy crisis turned really nasty.
One way to reduce our exposure, perhaps the procurement could be done in a multi-year basis, perhaps three aircraft per year, which would cost us some USD100 million (about RM350 million a year), instead of one lump sum.
Dear Marhalim,
Please check with the RMAF, the CSAR role is the main role for the Eurocopter. At this pont of time the RMAF is required by the Government to provide SAR, thus 24 hour coverage permanent station of the Nuri is placed in TUDM Butterworth, TUDM Kuantan, TUDM Kuching and TUDM Labuan.
If the procurement of the helicopter is for utility, might as well the Government save the money buying maybe 4 units of Cougar as dedicated CSAR and either upgrade the Nuri (mechanical and avionics), or phase out the Nuri and buy dedicated utility which ever is cheaper.If the twelve. Knowing the RMAF all the twelve will be equipped to the same standard thus why the cost of these helicopters are expensive.
I hope there is someone in the public will ask his parliamentar representative requesting for a white paper for the Government in the procuremnt of this 12 Cougar. What do you think?
Marhalim: OF course, one of the roles for the Cougar would be CSAR but as I had stated earlier unless we need to extract a pilot or soldiers from a war zone, the mission would in essence a normal SAR. The Cougar would be tasked like the Nuri as a national SAR asset and utility bird. It would be pointless to buy only four dedicated CSAR bird as they would be .laying idle all the time. As whether or not all the Cougar will be all dressed up is up to the Govt really. The services will always wanted all of its new machine to be fully kitted up due to past experiences.
shahf,
The Nuri fleet has to be replaced period. If we wait a few years for the economy to improve and then buy a replacement, the Nuris might not be flyable. Would you like to ride in a 40 year heli? What is needed is a utility heli. Forget CSAR and SAR. These are fancy terms but at the moment totally useless given the threat enviroment. Flanker, Fulcrums and PT-91s are nice and impressive to look at but are not critical to the MAFs need at present.
Numbers count! Thats why i said earlier i'd rather have 40 Mil-17s than 12 Cougars or even Merlins. Lets just hope then when cash is finally allocated for the 2nd batch of Nuri replacements, the 1st batch of 12 isn't already 10 or more years old....
Funny enough, the press didn't mention anybody moaning about the 30million ringgit allocated for the officer's mess. Or the need to order a 2nd ASTROS battery 3 years ago. And what about the Aloutte 111s, these will need replacing in 4-5 years.
Marhalim: No one moaned about the 30 million mess cause the normal cronies got the project and they had expected the dole to be pass around this time, heck its a 2 billion deal but instead it went to the Special One.....
Dear Azlan,
Why do you say the Nuri Fleet need to be replaceable. As you may well aware the RMAF Nuri is still flying nicely. Do you know if the fleet is maintained as it is in accordance with the Design, Operational, and Standard Maintenance procedure there is no problem with our Nuri. The Spare Parts, Technical Support for the S61A4 until today and for the next 10 years is Guaranteed. I emphasized Guaranteed by the US Navy. On top of that Agusta Westland Plants in Italy and UK still make considerable business in support and maintenance.
And I had and still in confident to fly in the 40 years old Nuri.
On your remarks of the need for the numbers, I don't see your point. If you talk about Heliborne Assault Operation, we are still a long way brother. For your info the Nuri economics value for the money for Malaysia especially is very good as compared to the Tons of Bricks of the Mi 17, the 4 units that Bomba has wasting the taxpayer money. Seriously. I know because.....
With regards to my point on 'numbers' what i was refering to was having enough helis to provide a decent lift capability for the army, plus being able to perform what the Nuri and Aloutte fleet has been doing, mercy missions, SAR, etc. I was not refering to 'heliborne assault operation's.
Yes, no one is disputing the Nuri fleet is still flyable and will be for a number of years. If we want to go down that road, Sikorsky can even provide a complete refurbishment [new rotors, new instrumentations, etc]. And yes, i am aware that in the long run, the Kazan Mil-17s have higher life cycle costs than the Nuri or Cougar.
in MINDEF LOI, (if u guys slalu bace, n takdengar2 kosong),
they stated that, there's safe statement like, kerajaan berhasrat and also ini hanya surat niat, pihak kerajaan tak tertakluk untuk wajib beli that thing kan?
so ,why hassle? altho mmg la usually from LOI pegi ke LOA..
Datuk KSU yg sign for LOA, kalo LOI, budak mindef pero aje buleh sign, pastu panggil meeting,
LOI = surat niat..
kecoh kan bilion2 bazir ke hape..LOA tak sign lagi kot..ni la masalah org taktau procedure, macam meesterT ,taktau kat kapal ade encryption, mmg la takde, yang brand AG crypto or omnisec ..
surat mentari ni,surat kontraktor gagal je..takut hilang kepercayaan principal..kan??
Procedurenya yang screw up. Lain negara, ada tender lepas itu ada tender award, bukan LOI. Kalo ada ape isu, boleh buat bantahan. Malaysia lain..... pilih yang suka, terus kasi LOI. Buat ape ada tender? Biarlah direct nego macam biasa.
Kontraktor memang kenalah membantah sebab proses tender ni bolot. Lain tempat, kalo keluar LOI macam ini, whole tender kena batal.
But then again maybe naz just doesn't understand or subscribe to the whole Open Tender process. The purpose of the Open Tender is to encourage vendors to participate with their best offer in a fair and open process. At the end of the exercise, a tender award is made outlining the basis of the decision. It is not always about money but it does have to give the grounds on which it is awarded so that the tender participants understand why they lost/won. In the case of the NR, MINDEF simply issued a LOI without notifying the tenderers of completion of the tender exercise and the basis of the award.
If the primary contract does not cover Government Furnished Equipment, then a lump sum is included for interface/installation work without variance on the primary contract. Of course by screwing up the contract documents, it is possible to expose the tax payer to endless price revisions (which always go up and never down).
It still doesn't address my primary problem with the NR program....too few birds.