SHAH ALAM: Time to move on from Heckler & Koch. In my post in Oct. 21. 2014, I wrote about the MMEA tender for small arms. The tender documents specifically stated that they wanted the HK416 A5s, HK UMPs and CZ pistols.
I am told the numbers are small but its instructive that as the quotation document specifically stated the type and make of the firearm, it disqualified other makes at the starting gate. It is maybe unfair to other dealers but by stating the make and model of the small arms in the official document, MMEA officials probably wanted to ensure that they will get what they wanted in the first place.
I am not sure whether they will succeed with the 416s though, as the government had stated that its partially owned SMEO will supply the assault rifles – the M4s – to all agencies, no matter whom. As even the Paskal has to make do with the M4s – with accessories of course – I do not think MMEA can get away with buying the 416s. That said stranger things had happen before so we have to wait and see
At the launch of the National Special Operations Force (NSOF) in late October, MMEA Special Operations team – Special Task (s) and Rescue (STAR) team – displayed their firearms together with the other units. On show were the Adcor Elite 5.56mm, the Colt CM901, the CZ Scorpion Evo 3 and the Blaser R93 Tactical Rifle.
The personnel at the display said the firearms were received last year. When I asked about the tender in 2014, the personnel pleaded ignorance. However checks on the MMEA 2015 Annual Report revealed that the agency had received the Colt, CZ Evo 3 and CZ P-07 pistol, the Adcor and the Denel SS-77 Mark II GPMG under a RM6.5 million program.
It did not state the numbers acquired though it did say that the firearms were distributed to all APPM units including those attached to the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCOM) while the new GPMGs were meant for two new ships, KM Satria and KM Perwira. Satria and Perwira are the two ex-Bay class patrol boats donated by Australia.
I was told recently that MMEA initially did selected the HKs as per the tender documents but later ditched them as the local agent could not get the export license to import them from Germany. Industry sources told me that HK has not been able to export their firearms to Malaysia for some years now and that was the reason, some units had purchased other weapons from other manufacturers like Belgium’ s FN Herstal and Czech Republic’s CZ.
Similarly, SwissArms from Switzerland had relied on its US-based company, SIG Sauer, to market its firearms to Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries though I have not heard of any agencies buying them here lately. I am not sure where the Blasers of the MMEA were sourced from, but its highly likely that it came from the US.
Meanwhile, apart from MMEA, PDRM special forces unit, the VAT 69 and UTK, have also faced up to reality and had moved on from HK. As reported previously, both units have adopted FN Herstal SCAR series, and Ferfrans M4s. They also got Colts from SMEO.
VAT 69 has also adopted the RPG-7 as shown at its 2016 Open day.
And it appears, other SF units in Malaysia like Paskal and Paskau have to forget about getting HKs in the near future as the German manufacturer has also given up prospects of selling its weapons to non-NATO countries. Paskal for the record, had the largest HK firearm collection during the NSOF display including the fabled XM8 Carbine.
Reuters reported on Nov. 28.
German arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch will no longer sign contracts to supply countries outside of NATO’s influence because it has become too difficult to obtain government approval for such deals, news agency DPA reported on Monday.
The company, one of the world’s best-known gunmakers, will in future only sell to countries that are democratic and free from corruption and that are members of NATO or NATO members’ partners, DPA said, citing company sources.
It said this change in strategy would rule out deals with countries such as Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Brazil, India or even NATO member Turkey.
As HK no longer wants to export its guns to most markets, it appears that once the MP5s sub guns in the Malaysian arsenals are rendered unserviceable, I guess we will have to rely on M4s or its derivatives as the primary tactical firearm. If they still want them, we may have to get copies from either Turkey or Pakistan. The CZ Evo submachine gun looked to fragile for assault team duty IMO.
–Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (32)
If that is Germany's stance..wouldn't that rule out the Eurofighter for the MRCA program as germany is among the major contributor to the consortium?
Reply
No, I have asked about this on various occasions already. If they had we will not be able to take delivery of the A400M and the Cougars. This apparently limited to small arms only. For example they sell the Taurus to South Korea and there is no problem about selling the Philippines the Sidewinders. HK can no longer sell anything to the Philippines though.
Nah it's just HK.
We bought stuff from MTU, when rheinmetall have sold tanks, armored vehicles and guns to asian,south american and african markets
On slightly related note, even philippines are looking at getting small arms from pakistan since their effort to get guns from US was blocked
If we look at the IDEAS 2016, we can see plenty of things the pakis can offer. I especially interested with modernization of ZSUs gun that could be cued via visor, similar to helmet cueing systems in attack helos. I think we can upgrade our AAAs using this technology
Also, I've watched POF (pakistan ordnance factory) mp5 review on youtube (since they also sell them to gun cray-cray american) and they were praised by basically everyone, even against legitimate HK equivalent product like SP5. No clue why they were advertised and sold as "pistol" in the US though. These are gun that offers almost the same quality (except the magazine build and final finish) as legitimate HK mp5 clones at roughly half the price
The idea of a ZSU is old stuff and making it visor aimed is not helping. It is far behind the later generations of Russian and western radar aimed guns (or gun-missile combinations) which have an anti missile capablility.
I remember several months ago, I saw a few policemen patrolling KK airport with a very short AR-15 carbine. I'm not so sure whether it's a bushmaster carbine or ferfrans scw. What i'm trying to say is i'm not very fond of the idea of using a 5.56 short carbine for patrolling in public areas, these guns are often very loud and produces a lot of muzzle flash, not a concern when you're storming a room full of hostiles but something to take into consideration when you open fire in a place crowded with civilians and shooting requires careful PID. But then again, when a person is trying to save you from terrorists you don't tend to complain on the obscene amount of noise he is making.
Reply
Its likely that the short barreled M16 type you saw were the Bushmaster 9mm sub guns bought at the same time as the carbine 5.56mm variant
As far back as 7-8 years ago the police received POF made MP-5s. POF even sent a trainer/instructor here. I heard from a good source that a few POF MP-5 also reached PASKAL. At one of the DSA's POF displayed a gaudy gold plated MP-5 along with MG-3s. Also displayed at DSA on a few occasion were unlicensed Iranian MP-5s. HK I believe stopped producing MP-5s quite a few years ago.
ZSUs, like S-60s, may be old but are very useful for the kind of conflicts were seeing now in the Middle East and Africa. Not all scenarios call for a high tech gun with anti-missile capability. I know if I had a need for an AA gun to be used in the ground role, I'd rather have ZSUs and S-60s rather than more sophisticated and harder to maintain GDFs. The Apache regiment that got mauled at Karbala - 1 downed and many others damaged - suffered at the hands of ZSUs and S-60s. The main alerting device was not radar but cell phones to warn gun crews and switching off the power grid to signal the start of the ambush.
Anas Akmal,
Controllability is an issue when barrels are too short.
Noise and blast are of course greater with a short barrel but the person whose senses are most affected by it will be the shooter!AM
Marhalim,
I'm quite positive it's a 5.56 carbine and not 9mm. Though I might be mistaken on assuming that they are on regular patrol, could be just a pair of policemen (could be UTK personnels) coming to KK for tasking. My last layover there just a few weeks ago, i've seen no security police armed thusly. It was a few days prior to a big raid on one of the immigrant slums around Penampang, so maybe the police were on heightened alert. But I digress, perhaps if the police would want to use a 5.56 carbine for public patrol, equipping them with suppressor would be better i suppose, just like those paskau chaps at LIMA.
Do we still have the license to locally produce M4?
Reply
AFAIK yes
AM,
"Noise and blast are of course greater with a short barrel but the person whose senses are most affected by it will be the shooter!"
Exactly, but in this case the one who are most at risk from the firearm and the affected senses of the shooter is the unarmed civilians. Weapon recoil is easy to get a hang on, regular trip to the range should do the trick. But opening fire in public space, with civilians running around and the muzzle flash making it difficult to get PID is tricky to say the least. I'm sure our men and women in uniform would be afforded ample training, but equipment that help make things easier would be nice.
Anas,
Maybe but PASKAU and other units use suppressors because they make shooting a gun more ''pleasant'' [less recoil] and suppressors, by suppressing the sound of a gun being fired, makes it harder for the shooter to be located.
A few months ago there was talk on the German government placing a ban on arms exports to Saudi Arabia.