Buying Second Hand Arms…

PETALING JAYA: I know many people are against buying second hand weapons for the Armed Forces – we dont want Malaysia to be the dumping grounds for lemons – but I argue its the best option for us.

Instead of spending RM8 billion to develop, test and manufacture a new 8X8 AFV and a few billions more on other important things, we should just asked the US to donate a few hundred Strykers which they are withdrawing from Iraq. The DRB plant in Pekan could be use to refurbish these vehicles with all things Malaysian which may cost us more money but the total bill may not be as high as RM8 billion.

If do not want to go with American things, there are other options of course, every one in Europe are retiring everything from frigates, tanks and APCs. Yes, I remember the Skyhawk debacle but if the programme managers are honest people and the deal are ran handled through the exporting countries defence procurement agencies, we may be able to recapitalise our armed forces with good stuff which could last another 20 years in a shorter time than buying new ones at half the price….

– Malaysian Defence

Posted in 1Malaysia | 11 Comments »

Tan Sri Ismail is the New IGP

KUALA LUMPUR: Its a developing story and I will add the link later but Tan Sri Musa Hassan is retire on Sept 12 with his deputy taking over Tan Sri Ismail taking over on Sept 13. My advice to Tan Sri Ismail? Stay for one year only, do not let them extend your contract…………………

–Malaysian Defence

Posted in 1Malaysia, PDRM | 7 Comments »

What Will They Think of Next?

KUALA LUMPUR: The story below from Bernama is self-explainatory. What boggles the mind is how and why such ideas came from anyway?
Especially when the NS is bleeding some RM500 million a year from the already meagre defence budget.
I believe it is better for us to build swimming pools at schools or enclosures along rivers to serve as pools for schools located next to rivers, lakes or seas instead of building these facilities at “specialised” location which will be empty for most of the year.

Swimming pool proposed as standard feature in all 78 NS camps

Bernama
Thursday, August 26th, 2010 17:51:00

SIBU: The National Service Training Department will suggest to the Defence Ministry and National Service Training Council for swimming pool to be made a standard feature at all the 78 camps nationwide.

Its director-general Datuk Abdul Hadi Awang Kechik said this could be a long-term measure to prevent trainees from contracting waterborne diseases like leptospirosis.

“When the situation warrants it, water-based activities can be held in the swimming pool.

“In addition, it can be used to teach trainees to swim, how to rescue drowning persons and for games like water polo,” he told reporters during a visit to the Junaco Park NS camp at Km26, Sibu-Bintulu Road, here, today.

–Malaysian Defence

Posted in 1Malaysia | 14 Comments »

No Sukuk For The Needy

KUALA LUMPUR: It appears that the plan to use Sukuk (The Islamic equivalent for bonds) to raise money for the purchase of arms and defence-related infrastructure projects had been torpedoed by the Treasury.
The main reason for this I am told is that it was a bad idea in the first place to propose such financial arrangements for the arms purchases.
It was also feared that if the sukuk issuance is under subscribed it will affect other similar attempts from the Malaysian government to raise money in the open market. Yes I know LTAT may have a lot of funds but its own rules limits its investments to a small percentage of its assets.
I am guessing that Mindef will have to be content with whatever doled out to them in RMK10. With the Home Ministry asking for at least RM8 billion from RM23 billion allocation set aside for the security, one has to wonder whether how many items in the ATM wish-list will be deferred yet again…

–Malaysian Defence

Posted in 1Malaysia, budget | 12 Comments »

Jalan Padang Tembak Transformation or Not?

KUALA LUMPUR: Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is set to launch Mindef Transformation Programme on Thursday.
No details have been released on the exact transformation of Jalan Padang Tembak yet so we will have to wait until that day to find out what is really happening.
Will there be changes to the armed forces or the transformation only involves the Kementerian ie the civilians?

I am predicting that it will mostly involved the civilians and the ministry’s website which remained a relic of the past (even with the so-called transformation)

It will be a good thing if Stride swallows up Bahagian Perolehan and become the lead agency when it comes to procurement but that will be asking too much wouldnt it?

–Malaysian Defence

Posted in 1Malaysia, Kementerian Pertahanan, LTAT, Malaysia -Armed Forces | 4 Comments »

New Army Chief (May 20,2010) Edited

Jen Muhammad Ismail

Jen Zulkifeli

KUALA LUMPUR: At noon today, Deputy Army Chief Datuk Zulkifeli Mohd Zin officially obtained his fourth star, making him the 23rd Army chief.
His ascension as the top soldier is a welcome relief to all at Jalan Padang Tembak and the army in general. His successor, Tan Sri Muhammad Ismail Jamaluddin reign was notable for his temper which was displayed to all and sundry.
The new Army chief I am told is more diplomatic than his predecessor but I will not make any assumptions until I had the opportunity to interact with him personally.
I was told that Datuk Zulkifeli reign as the army chief will be a short one, as he is tipped to become the Armed Forces chief, most probably by year end
Anyway, the Deputy Army chief post will be taken up by Malaysian National Defence University vice-chancellor, Lt-Gen Datuk Zulkifli Zainal Abidin. And the post at the university will be taken over the Joint Force Commander Datuk Alatiff Mohd Noor.

As the next post had went missing due to the hacker attack, the pictures of the hardware on display during the Order of the Day parade is now available at the Photo Gallery.

As well as the link to The Malay Mail story on the army vehicles.
–Malaysian Defence

Posted in 1Malaysia, Malaysian Defence | 2 Comments »

Say No to The AV8

The AV8Buster Logo

Why? Its not that there are cheaper solutions, which there are of course. The main reason? Its the money of course, or the lack of it.

There are other valid reasons for going against the AV8 project. The past failures of national interest programmes was to first things that come to mind.

The latest failure is the Aludra UAV project which had not benefited the armed forces at all in terms of capability and capacity. It is such failure that Mindef do not even have the stomach to sign a production contract nor the instinct to kill it off for good measure.

As usual the thing will drag on for a few years more before it will die natural death, leaving the armed forces so behind the technology curve when it comes to UAV even when other nations in the region are contemplating UCAVs!

Furthermore, the Army, as we all know, has other numerous project which are as important as the 8X8 but the lack of funds has caused these projects to be shelved.

Of course we could argue until the moon turned blue which projects are more important and necessary to the Army but one cannot deny the fact that we cannot afford the AV8 project as it stands now.

I would even argue we cannot even afford to purchase 200++ 8X8 ACV off-the shelf now as it would also cost us at least RM3 billion to get the whole lot with another RM2 billion thrown in to maintain them for the next 20 years or so.

Yes, the Menhan had said that the project may or may not cost RM8 billion but certainly we dont have the luxury to spend even half of that amount. And we are supposed to spend RM1 billion annually to develop the ACV8?

Yes the unit price could go much lower if we replace the Sibmas and Condor on one to one basis. But how do we know whether the unit price will go down even if we add another 200 vehicles to the original order?

So what next? Do we really need to replace the Condors and Sibmas? Of course we do and at the same time we must also helped our defence industry. How are we going to do it then? My solution is for us to embark an upgrade programme for the KIFV fleet bought for the Bosnian mission to the Adnan ACV standard. Done by Deftech in Pekan of course.

Since the UN paid for the KIFV, we already save almost RM1 billion in procurement costs and perhaps we need to spent only RM1 billion to upgrade these Korean imports and another RM1 billion to keep them working for at least another 15 years. I know the estimates above could be wrong but I believe this is a far fairer and cheaper solution to our needs considering our defence budget and ambitions.

Is there a way to keep the AV8 project and the other projects in the Armed Forces wish list? Of course there is. More money of course. Show me money!

– Malaysian Defence

Posted in 1Malaysia, Defence Contract, budget, commentary | 72 Comments »

Guns at the 203rd Police Day

KUALA LUMPUR: Pictured below are some of the guns that were paraded or displayed at the Police Day celebrations on March 25, 2010. The SLRs were to me the highlight of the show even with the new Bushmaster Carbines. I hope I will have the chance to shoot the SLRs soon….

SLRs on display at the Pulapol parade grounds on March 25, 2010

An up-close shot of an SLR with the serial number showing. No rock and roll switch!

Newly delivered Bushmaster Carbine on parade

–Malaysian Defence

Posted in 1Malaysia | 2 Comments »

India Purchases 12 AW101 for RM2.82 billion

KUALA LUMPUR: The story below is self-explainatory but it appears that the price that was offered by AgustaWestland for the Nuri Replacement Tender was almost spot on. I believed the price by AgustaWestland for the NRP was around RM2 billion plus while the winning bid, the Cougar was around RM1.6 billion. Of course the Cougar order is still pending due to our budgetary constraints.

As the Indian order is for the VVIP version, I am assuming that, specification wise, it is different from ours, which is for utiility and CSAR.The Indian deal may appear costlier at first glance but it includes a five-year maintainance plan and the mandatory training package. Our cheaper price for the AW101, did not include the extensive logistics package so actually the Indian purchase is cheaper than our offer price.

Strengthening AgustaWestland’s Growth Strategy For the Indian Market

15:49 GMT, March 11, 2010 AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, is pleased to announce that a contract has been signed by the Government of India for the acquisition of twelve AW101 helicopters that will perform government transport duties. The contract, valued at around € 560 million, includes an extensive five year logistic support service and initial aircrew and technician training. Over 180 AW101 helicopters have been ordered by customers around the world so far to perform a wide range of government, public service and military missions. The AW101 has logged nearly 200,000 flight hours in service in Italy, UK, Denmark, Portugal, Japan and Canada whilst delivering exceptional performance and high levels of safety.

–Malaysian Defence

Posted in 1Malaysia | 10 Comments »