SHAH ALAM: Ides of March. According to Wikipedia, The Ides of March is the 74th day in the Roman calendar, corresponding to March 15. It was marked by several religious observances and was notable for the Romans as a deadline for settling debts.
The deadline for settling of debts seemed appropriate in the context of Malaysian defence as the MD530G light scout attack helicopters (LSAH) are expected to arrive in country in March, (though not necessarily exactly March 15), some six years after the contract was signed.
The RMN is also getting the first two Leonardo AW139 Maritime Operations Helicopter (MOH) in March as well though that contract was signed barely two years ago. The helicopters will be based at the Kota Kinabalu naval base as with the Scaneagles UAS gifted by the US.
Another delivery expected in March (again not exactly on March 15) is the upgraded CN-235 MSA of the RMAF. The aircraft would have been here last year but delayed by the pandemic.
What about the elephant in the room then? Even though the first LCS is expected only 2025, I am guessing that work on Maharaja Lela will be restarted in March as well. Why? RMN chief Admiral Reza Sany told Malaysian Defence on January 28 in Kota Kinabalu that the Cabinet will make the decision on the mechanics of the restarting the programme within the next two weeks. He did not reveal what were the mechanics of the restart, however.
I am hearing that we may well end up with two LCS in the end. I stand to be corrected of course. What about the settling of debts then? Of course if the government decides to fund the restart of the LCS, BNS will have to pay its debts, local or foreign suppliers and I am guessing it will happened in, yes, your guess is right, March. Though again not necessarily March 15.
It is interesting to note that BNS is also in play for the LMS Batch II project. The decision on the LCS will also give us clarity on the LMS Batch II project. As mentioned in the previous post, the first three LMS Batch II is expected to be funded this year or next year. The other five is expected to be funded in the next RMK.
— Malaysian Defence
View Comments (21)
Two lcs with 6 bill already paid and another 2 3 bill for a restart? F noway..We will never recover from this scandal..Minimum rm3 bill pership or worse rm4.5 bill pership..noway just noway
@Firdaus
If I am not mistaken rm9 billion for just 2 ships including you so called restart cost. Correct me if I am wrong though. Current paid rm6 billion will get us nothing. Yes we can get 6 LCS for rm12 billion (rm2 billion each) but stopping at 2 ships will make it rm4.5 billion each just as you mentioned.
In today's forex, rm2 billion =~ usd500 million which is roughly the cost of a normal Gowind. We cannot use the 2011-2013 forex rate right now. No one wants to make a loss of 25%. Of course we also have those active SPRM cases as well.
Was wondering, initially the plan was to get 8 LMS batch 2 this RMK. Now batch 2 is split up to 2 RMK. What could have caused that? is it because of the plans for LCS? Or the LMS is getting more expensive (hopefully for good reasons) than was initially planed ? Did RMN realized that a fully armed and equipped LMS is cheaper than the gun only Kedah? Surely the main reason for splitting it to 2 RMK was money but what about the details??? This also begs the question, when will we order Kedah batch 2 with this current development?
Personally, lets spend tge 12 billion or even 14 billi to finish all those 6 ships. Oil is at all time high thus govt coffers seems to be improving. But dont stop the macc investigation and ideally bns or other local shipyard should no longer be given the task to built anything but a gun patrol craft
Luqman - ''is it because of the plans for LCS?''
Maybe. As I've long said here' issues with the LCS might have unintended long term consequences for other areas.
Luqman - ''Did RMN realized that a fully armed and equipped LMS is cheaper than the gun only Kedah?''
Firstly; the RMN knows well what it's doing. Of all the services IMO it has the most well thought out and thorough planning which takes into account all factors/angles.
Secondly, a ''fully armed and equipped LMS'' is not necessarily cheaper than a ''gun only Kedah''.... modular mission payloads and other things can account for up to 40 percent or more of the total LMS costs.
Luqman - ''when will we order Kedah batch 2 with this current development?''
he question is not ''when'' but ''if''... Follow ome Kedahs were included in the 5/15 when the RMN was under a different leadership and when the circumstances were slightly diffrent. for one, it was predicated on the LCS being delivered and follow on Kedahs were only supposed to have come after the LCSs and LMSs Batch 2s...
For the LCS, it's literally our worse project scandal yet second only after the 1MDB. I do know corruption is the main hurdle in the road for the completion but why the hell it get this worse?
Please please forget BNS. NO more projects for them. The gov must be brave enough to tender out to other local yards who have the capability to build and finish. This time decision must be based on merit alone. All our ship projects were failures. Proven
@Kamal
12billion for 6 ships? 2 billion pership? Really..Nah i dont think so..Just imagine with 2 billion we might as well ask the singaporean to build their formidable variants for us...3200 tonnes,32 vls silo now that what i call a 2 billion ships..Max pricetag i can fathom for our LCS are in the region of 1.5 to 1.6 billion pership
I second Lee Yoke Meng. No more BNS. There's hundreds of shipyards in the country. I'd wager 1 dozen or 2 are well qualified to build our upcoming LMSs or even our LCSs. I hate the very thought of another Boustead fiasco that takes the Rakyat's money as their God given right to use as they please. We should learn to trust more players, not just BNS or TH Destini or any other form of these 2. Jangan jadi macam Air Asia yang tukar nama tapi masih berhutang dengan pelanggan@ penumpang. Too many high profile conmen in Malaysia. Period.
@Azlan
"the RMN knows well what it’s doing"
You might be right. Maybe there is some valid reasons for RMN to continue building Kedah that I did not notice or can think off.
@Firdaus
"Max pricetag i can fathom for our LCS"
Sorry that is your fathom, current reality said otherwise as if we completed all 6 ships now, it would cost 2 billion at least. Buying new Gowind straight from France also price around 2 bilion each.
"with 2 billion we might as well ask the singaporean to build their formidable"
firstly we do not know what is the public cost of the formidable, secondly there is no political intention in doing so, if not we already had consider it or the SGs are not willing to sell to us.
Rather than Formidable, I would rather use that 2 billion to buy Type31 with 32-64 VLS and TAS but that's just my opinion