KUALA LUMPUR: Bushwhacked. Apart from the Kongsberg NSM, Malaysia has also acquired another weapon from Norway, the NAMMO M72 LAW. This was confirmed by the MTO contract for the M72s last year.
Both companies were among those which took part in the recent DSA 2018. I did not speak to the representatives of both companies though I did found out the M72s were bought to replace the Instalanza C90s.
I was told the main user of the new M72s will be the GGK though as I had seen the Instalanzas being humped by soldiers from the 10th Para I will assume that they will also get some of these one-shot disposable shoulder fired weapon. Hopefully we will see the M72 – any version – fired in the next installment of the Army Firepower exercise (the date for this year have yet to be confirmed)
As reported in the previous post, we are getting the AT and Anti-Structure versions of the M72 though no numbers were announced. As for the shoulder fired weapons in the Army, the Carl Gustaff will remain in service for the near future though I was not told whether new ones will be purchased soon. The infantry units main anti-tank weapon will remain the RPG-7 for the immediate future.
The infantry battalions support companies main AT weapon will continue to be the METIS-M while the mechanised units armed with the Bakhtar Shikan in their inventory will remained so for the moment.
There’s no immediate plans to add the Ingwe missiles apart from those procured for the Gempita.
–Malaysian Defence
There is another question that must be asked.
From what ATGM that we have, which one should we integrate with the little birds. ATGM that has been integrated with helicopters before are the ingwe and bakhtar shikan. The open architecture of MD530 fire controls should not make any integrations difficult.
I Was waiting for Javelin for PASKAL And PASKAU.
The Carl Gustav should be msintained but new ammo procured. New developments like new AT with double warheads to deal with reactive armour, hyperbaric shots, HE shots n anti personnel shots should be purchased for use by existing CG recoiless rifles
Last i checked the military had added fz rockets to its arsenal and they even had a laser guidance version
So it’s more than adequate for our md530 helo given its main role.
dundun “So it’s more than adequate for our md530 helo given its main role.”
We will use the MD530s as armed scouts and fire support platforms, not in a dedicated tank killing role. Of course ATGMs would be nice to have but it we have much more pressing priorities.
I’d like to see a wider ability for our helicopters to talk to the units they are supposed to support.
… “ATGM that has been integrated with helicopters before are the ingwe and bakhtar shikan.”
TOW has been integrated on the MD500. Ingwe was developed from TOW and Denel could probably do the integration it if we paid for it. Question is whether we want to go even further down the Ingwe path, since it has no top attack mode, unlike TOW.
Ah well.
@dundun – “Last i checked the military had added fz rockets to its arsenal and they even had a laser guidance version”
for Hornet and Hawk only
AM – ”We will use the MD530s as armed scouts and fire support platforms, not in a dedicated tank killing role.”
Very true. We bought the Little Birds to perform armed recce, surveillance, spacial forces insertion, etc. For those roles unguided rockets, MGs and mini guns will suffice. Not only is there little or no need for the Little Birds to be armed with an ATGW; it is more practical to arm them with Hellfire should there be targets that can’t be taken out with unguided rockets, MGs and mini guns.
AM – ” I’d like to see a wider ability for our helicopters to talk to the units they are supposed to support.”
We have made progress in that area. What we need are clear ROEs. A Little Bird that has detected and identified a target should have authorisation to fire without waiting for clearance for which the target might disappear. Same goes with UAS. People go gaga over the possibility of an armed UAS but first we must have clear chain of commands and a proper ROE.
On Kongsberg M-72s; Tempur first reported it years ago [the same report also included new on the Romanian RPG rounds and the Ruag ones]. It was used at Lahad Dato. At the MAF parade; the army displayed a used M-72 ”anti-structure munition” used at Lahad Dato. Marhalim posted a pic I took of it. The recent order is probably the 2nd to be made.
OMG, New federal government, what has Tun M M said about defence spending and are we u-turning back to buying Russian? Only time will tell?