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.
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.
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.
With the additional thirty mortars and carriers, the Army should be able to field them with twenty-two battalions instead of seventeen previously.
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.
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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Below is a decade-old data on TDM mortar holdings
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GOTws-JbkAAiDpm.jpg
The old 81mm mortars (do they still call them as meriam katak?) will be passed down to RS battalions since that all of them now has been redesignated as BIS?
Why they have been buying mortars and its rounds? Isnt it best to save money and upgrade other things, like say the KIFV?
nice
The Army needs everything really from weapons to ammo as well as new stuff for its vehicles.
Likely
“old” 81mm mortars keep as war reserve lah, new ones issued also to RS,commonality across BIS.
>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
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.
AFAIK they now called them Platun Mortar
Why it is called Meriam Katak?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GOVVKzvbkAAEJ76.jpg
Maybe because it is green, looked like a sitting frog, and the baseplate “hops” when rounds are put through it.
would love if the mortars to be called meriam katak like the olden days.
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.
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.
Curious, if we train mortars with live rounds or there are training rounds? I dont recall us getting them if so.
Mostly live rounds. The other option is the illuminating rounds, which are live rounds of course but only illuminates…
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
No idea
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?