SHAH ALAM: Airbus has confirmed that they had offered the C295 MPA for the recent MPA tender which closed on December 3. The confirmation was made by Ioannis Papachristofilou, Vice President, Head of Sales Europe / Canada for Airbus Defence and Space at the virtual Trade Media Briefing 2020 which was held today.
I posted in an earlier article, that Airbus would offer the C295 MPA.
As for the MPA tender, I am going to say that it will be a three way battle pitting Leonardo (ATR 72 MPA); Airbus (C295 MPA) and PTDI (CN235-MPA).
The confirmation by Airbus seemed to indicate that the aircraft RMAF was looking for to meet the MPA mission would be a twin-engine aircraft. Interestingly, Airbus had previously declined to take part in a tender in the Philippines for a similar mission requirement with a budget of around RM450 million. The tender itself has been put on hold as they cannot find the aircraft that meet the requirements for the money allocated.
Based on this I will assume that the budget for the two MPA being sought for the RMAF is around RM600 million. It must be noted that the flyaway for a basic C295 and CN235 transport versions are listed at around US$28 million while the ATR-72 at US$26 million.
C295 MPA
It is likely that Airbus will offer the C295 with the Thales Searchmaster airborne multirole surveillance radar though publicly it has not identify the type. As for the FLIR, it may well be the FLIR Systems Star Safire 380 HD, the same one offered for the ATR72 MPA.
C295 MPA launching torpedo. Airbus
As for the mission system it will be Airbus own FIT system which it said was already integrated for ASW capabilities; acoustic, MAD and torpedo integration.
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (44)
Just to get is in a way, philippines air force also ran the number and C-295 mpa is going to cost more than ATR-72 mpa.
Also we already have experience in ATR-72 in the civilian market
Also Pakistan also choose ATR-72 MPA
Lets see if we have learned anything about rojak and having not enough of anything.
BRW it would be more interesting to know more about what subsystems that will be offered by each of the contenders (to have more insight of what TUDM wants) rather than the platform itself.
@ dundun
FYI pakistani ATR MPA is not from leonardo. No idea if the same integrator has submitted for the TUDM MPA tender.
This tender will decide either we are still repeating past mistakes by getting a bit of everything or we will learn from it by standardising as much equipment as possible in this case choosing the CN235. If past mistakes were repeated even after the armed service clearly saying they want to standardize/reduce logistics footprint, then im not surprised what will happen in the future.
The best MPA for Malaysia is whatever we can afford.
@ tom tom
Affording it is one thing
Not causing other priorities to be compromised is another.
For example, would it be okay if we get 2x of the best MPA we can afford, but it will cause us not to get the best LCA/LIFT or MALE UAV that we need?
Precisely my point! The best MPA is one Malaysia can afford to buy and operate.
Yeap, we need MPA 1st..then LCA/Lift after that MRCA...
The best MPA for Malaysia is whatever the politicians say....
I see nothing wrong with C295..The remaining CN235 still got some roles to play..Not Finalise yet wether C295 or ATR to complement 3 MSA currently in conversion process..But i do hope at least another 2 will be bought during phase 2..
Oh and i believe nuris replacement is kinda high on priority list cuz not viable to lease a number of helis for a long time..I reckon, nuris replacement will be sought after mpa, male uav phase 1 is completed, after lca batch 1 ( possibly before lca batch 1 too )