SHAH ALAM: Have cake and eat it too. Even as big ticket items procurement have floundered due to funding difficulties, it is at least gratifying to see that the Armed Forces continue to re-stock its armouries and other stuff as well.
The amount of items bought from mortar bombs, high explosive rounds, anti tank weapons and anti-aircraft missiles maybe small but if totaled up I believed the figure for the last three years may amounted to RM1 billion or even more. And this does not include the digital camo stuff (including ponchos).
It is likely that the procurement of ordnance and other less glamorous but still important stuff, spares etc – completely new ones or restocking for legacy items – will continue even as recapitalisation of the Armed Forces remained at a stand still, as a matter of course, if not for any thing else.
Anyhow the latest acquisition, involved simulated bombs for the RMAF, specifically 100 laser guided training round (LGTR) or BDU-59B/B. The LGTR according to this website is
an inert cylindrical bomb body of 10 cm (4 in) diameter with a Paveway II guidance kit, and emulates the GBU-10( )/B, GBU-12( )/B and GBU-16( )/B live munitions. It is used by the U.S. Navy for operational Paveway II training to preserve the stockpile of live bombs and their guidance kits. The LGTR comes in several versions, including the BDU-57/B, BDU-59/B, BDU-59A/B, BDU-59B/B, BDU-60/B and BDU-60A/B (the BDU-60( )/B series is usually referred to as LGTR II). Since 1992, Lockheed Martin has delivered more than 50000 LGTRs to the U.S. Navy, and production is continuing
Like the M72 LAW, the procurement is made public when the Defence Ministry issued a tender to select the multi-modal transport operator to ship it to Malaysia from the United States.
From the tender website. The tender was published on Aug. 14.
PELANTIKAN MTO BAGI PEROLEHAN 100 UNIT LASER GUIDED TRAINING ROUNDS (LGTR) BDU-59B/B DIBAWAH KES FOREIGN MILITARY SALES (FMS) MF-P-AAZ
With a number of new laser guided bombs delivered following the completion of the 25X Capability programme of the F/A-18Ds and their employment at Lahad Datu, the additional LGTR will be handy in qualifying new crews with the weapons.
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (35)
Can that inert bomb can really punch a hole in a tank?
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Yes
Marhalim,
When you were at the Firepower Demonstration did you notice the "retired" armoured vehicles used as targets? Were they Sibmas and Condors? When vehicles are deemed to be beyond repair; I wonder what is the criteria used to decide which end up in a scrap dealer's yard and which are used as targets. Also, this time around were the DAs and foreign students from Highgate in attendance?
Both the PT-91s and A-109s were also brought back by local freight companies. I remember seeing a pic of staff with a company banner posing with a PT-91 at Port Klang.
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Yes Sibmas were old ones, this time around more Condors and a couple of Scorpion and Stormers as well. I don't think there are any hard and fast rule regarding vehicles destined as targets or scrap yard though it is likely armoured vehicles will not be sold as scrap. Yes the DAs and foreign students were there as well. I don't think no one will want to pose around with live munitions!
A few years ago a friend saw a couple of Sibmas (stripped totally bare) at a scrap dealer's yard near Ipoh. There was also a Pinzgauer. I would what happened to the V-100s/50s? Either rusting away in some camp or already disposed of I guess. Do you remember in the 1990's outside the RMAF Museum there was also a scrap yard of sorts with the tail section of a Mirage 111, parts of an F-5 and the main body of an Alo 3. All gone now.
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The parts of aircraft were those of the ones that crashed. Yes all gone now.
Speaking of scrapyards, i have seen a few of the GGK glover webb LSV in a scrapyard. Still dreaming of getting my own little pinzgauer, but the piggybank still not enough lol...
I also noticed the few stormers and scorpions in the latest firepower demo, which is quite shocking to me as we have so few of them.
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Technically, the Army and the services should only sold the vehicles after they are broken up into scrap but most units do not bother to do that hence that some are put back on the road. I believed the Pinzgauers that were sold as whole vehicles were actually those that belonged to Deftech. I could be wrong of course
When did the A109 arrived?
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I think Azlan was refering to the A109 helicopters, not the SPH. Even the TUDM ones came through the sea, one crashed during its test flight after unloading from the ship at Port Klang.
"Do you remember in the 1990’s outside the RMAF Museum there was also a scrap yard of sorts with the tail section of a Mirage 111, parts of an F-5 and the main body of an Alo 3. All gone now."
Well, right up until the museum closed in 2015 there was an Alo 3. Broken and possibly burned, but complete. There was also a jet engine, rocket pod, ejector rack and SUU-11B machine gun pod. Saw all of these many times, they were unfortunately left out in the open.
Marhalim,
Is there a reason why a contractor is sought to pick these weapons up from the States? Could not our transport aircraft be sent to pick them up? I can understand if a large military asset (eg tanks or aircraft) is to be transported by contractors.
Does the RMAF use training rounds for our air to air missiles on our fighter aircraft as well? If used, which ones are used?
Is there a new RMAF museum after the closure of the previous RMAF Museum in Sungai Besi?
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Yes they could but it will be more expensive for the RMAF to do it themselves. Yes they also used training AAM but mostly nowdays they just used the inert rounds (its cheaper) and also the DACT pods. As I posted in an earlier comment, the plan is to have a new museum in Malacca but nothing has been confirmed as no money has been allocated for the project.
Talking about the scrap yard at the old Sungai Besi air base,can anyone kindly furnish me with some information on the where about of the future Air Force Museum?I have been to the RSAF museum at Paya Lebar and the place is being managed by enthusiastic members of the air force which resulted in well maintained exhibits.Hopefully the RMAF staff who are transferred to the museum doesn't regard it as a punishment of some sort.I believe it should be a privilege.They also need to be knowledgable in the local aviation history as there are times I see some aircraft being wrongly painted.Btw do you know that the Kementah Complex is standing on an old RAF airfield?RAF Noblefield,Home to the 656 Squadron to be exact.
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The museum aircraft are now located at the former PDRM air wing base. The talk is that a new RMAF museum will be hosted at Malacca, exact location is unknown as of the moment as there is no money apparently allocated for the project.
Rozaimi,
The Singapore army, RSAF and RSN museum are all maintained by civilian contractors.
The RSAF and RSN museums are on base land, so they have one duty officer to keep an eye on the place. But they don't manage or maintain the museum itself. That said, the RSAF museum aircraft are in good shape and two years ago or so, they added a Hawkeye.
Singapore army museum is also on base land but the arrangement is different. There are no duty officers and all the ticket staff are part time civilians (it is the only museum that charges for admission). But one of them is a retired captain who served in the early days and loves to talk. He does guided tours for visiting school children and foreign military groups. He is Malay so he does not work on Friday.
"Is there a reason why a contractor is sought to pick these weapons up from the States? Could not our transport aircraft be sent to pick them up? I can understand if a large military asset (eg tanks or aircraft) is to be transported by contractors. "
Also understandable if the equipment is only a partial load on an aircraft. It will be cheaper for contractors to do it, which is why few air forces do it themselves.
Our aircraft have their own commitments too. It is not cost effective to maintain a force size that can handle every mission we have, including infrequent cargo flights like this. We should maintain a force that enough, with allowance for combat losses, to perform an "acceptable" proportion of wartime demands (because we'll never be able to perform all).