More Mortars For The Army, Part 3

A range of Rheinmetall mortar ammunition, from left 120mm, 81mm and 60mm. The mortars has been arranged as if they are the same sizes, they are not of course. Rheinmetall.

SHAH ALAM: It appears that the Army is getting more mortars from a tender published in 2019. The tender called for the supply and delivery of 81mm mortars and fire control system -72 units – and transporter or vehicle.

We now know that the winner of the tender is Rimbun Emas Defence System Sdn Bhd though the cost of the LOA was not announced. The mortars are Spanish made Tecnesis 3000 81mm mortar and the Expal Talos fire control system. The vehicle is supplied by Cendana Auto, the 4X4 mortar carrier which all have been delivered to the Army.

Firing 81mm mortar at night. BTDM

Early last month, Malaysian Defence reported an MTO tender to ship back the mortars has been published and the number of mortars is likely 24 as 48 units had already been delivered in 2023. However, at DSA 2024, I was told the number to ship back was actually 54 as the contract to Rimbun Emas has been increased from the original 102 to 132 units.
The Technesis 3000 81mm mortar. TD

This means that mortar carriers Cendana Auto is delivering to the Army is also 132. Checks with Cendana Auto confirmed that while they had completed delivery of the previous order, they are also in the last stages of completing the additional thirty mortar carriers.
5 RMR at a recent parade. Note the Cendana Auto mortar carriers together with a single FFR vehicle which made up the regiment’s mortar platoon. Note the 81mm mortars in firing positions. 3 DIV

With the additional thirty mortars and carriers, the Army should be able to field them with twenty-two battalions instead of seventeen previously.
A mortar unit from the 10th Para Brigade preparing to fire their weapons during training in October, 2019. BTDM

Apart from the complete mortar system, Rimbun Emas also got the contract to supply 4500 81mm nine pounds (4kg) illuminating mortar rounds from a tender published in July 2023. The LOA is RM35.6 million and it was among the contracts publicly announced at DSA 2024. The mortar rounds are likely supplied from Serbia, Bosnia or Montenegro companies as they are shipped from a port in Montenegro.
On the way. BTDM

It also was awarded an LOA of RM20.8 million to supply 8000 nine pounds 81mm high explosive rounds from a tender published in December 2022. The mortar rounds are likely manufactured by Rheinmetall Denel of South Africa as they are being shipped from there.

— Malaysian Defence

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21 Comments

  1. Why they have been buying mortars and its rounds? Isnt it best to save money and upgrade other things, like say the KIFV?

  2. “old” 81mm mortars keep as war reserve lah, new ones issued also to RS,commonality across BIS.

  3. >why
    why not

    >meriam katak
    pretty sure those only applies to 51mm (and 60mm but mostly 51mm as the term came out during darurat?) mortar

  4. In the past they also called the unit with the mortars as Platun Mertak, nowdays its Platun Mortar.

    I believed the Meriam Katak name was meant for the mortars which we inherited from the British, which were the 4.2 inch (110mm mortar) which were towed by Bedford one or two tonnes trucks.

  5. Meriam Katak – “meriam yg kecil lagi pendek laras nya” – Kamus Dewan.

    I believe this is used by TD in the olden days to better communicate to its rank and file, not everyone exposed to English. With changes of times, ‘direct borrow’ from English became norm.

  6. Technically, it is wrong as the mortars in the past – the barrel of the 4.2 inch mortar (1.7 metres/5.5 feet and even the 81mm Yugo is about 1.2. They were known as meriam katak as Hulu stated as their appearance of squatting like a frog.

    One of these days, I will get a picture of the old 4.2 inch mortar in the Army service.

  7. Curious, if we train mortars with live rounds or there are training rounds? I dont recall us getting them if so.

  8. Mostly live rounds. The other option is the illuminating rounds, which are live rounds of course but only illuminates…

  9. How many BIS did army have include Ramd,RRD and RS to compliment the mortar platun,remaining from 22 BIS to get the 81mm mortar

  10. Marhalim – ”I will get a picture of the old 4.2 inch mortar in the Army service.”

    I hope so. Various pics of various things remain to be seen – the 20mm Oerlikons we got post Merdeka; the M-20s [I’ve only seen one pic in a book] and Ambrust. The Malay Regiment in WW2 had 81.2mm mortars. There are a couple of pics.

    kamal – ”Isnt it best to save money and upgrade other things, like say the KIFV?”

    By this reasoning why buy socks when you can use the cash on trousers or why spend on a phone when you can use the cash on a hot water heater?

  11. Just a question. I’m wondering why we operate the 2B14 Podnos, seeing that it’s a Soviet bloc mortar.

  12. Those are likely the ones made by Serbia which chambered them for the 81 or 82mm mortar rounds. Ours is of course chambered for the 81mm.

  13. The 2B14 was designed – according to a fast search – in the 1980’s but we bought the Yugoslav ones in the 1980’s.

    On the issue of training rounds there are very realistic mortar simulators in the market that really come close to replicating actual firings. I’ve long been curious if the Artillery School ever got a new simulator to replace one it got in 1996 as part of a “company owned but army operated” deal.

  14. P.S. The 2B14 was designed – according to a fast search – in the 1980’s but we bought the Yugoslav ones in the 1970’s. If anyone is wondering why; it had to do with the NAM thing which we joined.

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