SHAH ALAM: RMN to wet lease two helicopters. RMN is looking to get two helicopters on a wet lease for Ops Benteng, the operation aimed at preventing the entry of illegal immigrants amid the Covid 19 pandemic. The request for bids was issued on July 10 and ends on July 20.
Based on the publicly available details of the RFB, the two helicopters will be contracted for 120 hours each, at least. As the helicopters are wet leased, the supplier will need to have three crews for each helicopters, one pilot and an engineer as well as two load masters. Based on the above I am assuming that no RMN personnel will be flying with the helicopters.
The helicopters will likely be controlled by the nearest RMN unit. For example, if one is based in Langkawi, its routine flying operations will be under the control of the RMN base there. It is likely that the RMN Air Wing – with only six Leonardo Lynx and six Airbus Fennec – are unable to meet the commitments of Ops Benteng daily operations, hence the need to hire commercial helicopters from private operators.
The decision to wet lease helicopters for the operations means that Ops Benteng – which is commanded by RMN Western Fleet commander Vice-Admiral Datuk Aris Adi Tan Abdullah – is not expected to end soon. The commitments to the operation is one of the reasons the Armed Forces was not keen to have LIMA 21 next year. Aris had previously told the media that the National Task Force set up for Ops Benteng needed more assets especially maritime ones to curb smuggling of illegal immigrants and cross-border crime.
I am assuming the bidders will be offering twin engine helicopters as it is likely that the aircraft selected will be flying over the seas most of the time. Anyhow I am still trying to find out what happened to the maritime utility helicopter tender issued last year.
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (33)
Gov should enquired medium general utility helicopter for ATM.
Ops benteng should actually be our normal day to day maritime security activity, not a special ops like it is right now.
Just shows how thinly spread our forces are even to cover what should be our normal peacetime maritime security operations.
120 hours is probably to cover vertical replenishment needs for the rest of the year. For tldm MUH, no need to go for high specs, used commercial AS332L super puma or AW139 would do. Additional 2-3 civilian AS355 to add to the 6 fennecs would also be helpful to reduce the strain on the fennec fleet for things like paskal support, and utility roles. Then there is also the recently announced need for 2 ASW helicopters for RMK12. I think 2 is too little, i would prefer 4 converted super lynxs, with 2 converted from existing super lynxes and additional 2 used and converted to the same standards as our super lynx plus the asw equipment. Indonesia is using dauphins as their asw heli, while the Philippines thr wildcat, with stretched budgets i dont think we could afford ASW seahawks, NH90 or Merlins.
I kinda believed that maritime utility heli tender that out last year already cancelled..its a shame considering the fund for them if im not mistaken was already approved along with fic..
Yeah medium transport helis for putd if they were to carry out the main transport duty with support from rmaf..For RMAF's Nuri replacement lets just get s70i like the philliphines..I kinda learned from some admin in military facebook page that RMAF need about 30-40 helis to operate smoothly with 20-30 for putd..
@ Firdaus
If we want to just maintain the capability provided by our Nuris, you don't need 30-40 helis with TUDM and 20-30 with PUTD.
IMO minimum requirement to cover the capability lost by the Nuri retirement would be:
18x EC725/EC225LP with TUDM
18-24x S-70A9 Blackhawk ex Aus Army for PUTD
also with the 5x MUH for TLDM.
Why used Blackhawks? For one, there are a lot of items that we need to upgrade for our army, and spending too much on helicopters will mean less budget for other things. Another is that in 10-15 years time, other vertical lift capability is being developed. Things like the Bell Valor which is planned to have the same price as a new Blackhawk (unlike the uber expensive MV-22 Ospreys). The Blackhawks should just be a stopgap until 2035-2040, when we could replace them with one of those futuristic vertical lift aircrafts. Getting brand new blackhawks now will mean needing to use them till around 2050-2060.
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48938012638_fa62fde1f8_h.jpg
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/DxpXrkDVAAEmiNP.jpg
http://i.pinimg.com/originals/0d/3f/aa/0d3faa0e0cefdb9160d61ca9d6cb5c4a.jpg
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48938012473_61549d33f4_h.jpg
http://www.helicopassion.com/images/WBL/WBL330/V280_15h.jpg
http://www.helicopassion.com/images/WBL/WBL330/V280_16h.jpg
U really loves used item huh? Sure lets us get all used item in the market and save tremendously..i guess we dont really need to increase defence budget if we only want to add used items..why dont we try to get used freedom and independence frigates from the us
18-24 used blackhawks kinda make 20-30 requirement for putd valid though..and if we indeed gonna transfer main transport duty to putd then i guess used blackhawks not gonna cut it..and another thing is caracal will cost a fortune to buy too..
@ firdaus
I dont love used. I want a lot of brand new things for our military too. You need to consider all the things that you need to get. We still need to increase our defence budget as even used items will not be affordable within our small current budget.
I am really trying to think like a defence minister, looking at the overall defence picture to 2030. This is what my plan roughly look like
https://www.malaysiandefence.com/oz-prepares-for-post-covid-world/#comment-429849
I want a lot of brand new stuff for the army. I want more AV8 Gempita, J-LTVs, HMPVs, new 105mm, 155mm and 155mm SPH Howitzers. Cyber warfare capability, electronic attack capability, latest VERA NG, new anti tank and anti aircraft missiles, JERNAS replacement, more armoured jeeps etc. etc.
I am also thinking about 20-30 years into the future, where i want our army to have the best capability for the time. I want in 2040 for our army to be flying Bell Valors, not ancient Blackhawks. Getting used blackhawks now would have zero difference in capability compared to a brand new one. To have new helicopter in 2040, we need to have worn out helicopter to replace at that time. Having young 15 year old blackhawks is not a good reason to get brand new Bell Valors for the army in 2040. Having worn out secondhand blackhawks on the other hand, would be a good excuse for a brand new vertical lift aircraft.
We dont need to actually buy additional helicopter to Caracal specs.
We just need 6 more EC225LP to add to the existing EC725 fleet to have 18 helicopters in tudm fleet.
You dont need super high spec helicopter to haul cargo, transport people, do mercy flights etc. Even french navy and air force are using EC225LP for their missions, not everything needs to be Caracal spec.
This is french navy civilian spec EC225LP
http://farm1.staticflickr.com/765/21053904692_a7659125ec_z.jpg
Ooh excuse..that old nuri not enough to be an excuse to get a new heli? Replacing old already retired nuri with some used helis looks like a smart move..not..tbh i dont really expect our army to fly fancy aircraft like valor in the future..bare minumum new aircrafts and helis is good enough for me