KL buys Italian copter for US$75m

spencer99 SG

KL buys Italian copter for US$75m
KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia has signed a deal with Agusta SpA of Italy to buy 11 Agusta A109 light reconnaissance helicopters worth RM286 million (US$75 million) for the army's air wing, local media reported on Thursday.

'We have waited a long time for this,' Defence Minister Najib Razak was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

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He said the helicopter can be used for reconnaissance, security operations, limited fire support, command and control functions, air observation posts as well as search and rescue.

The helicopters, equipped with 70-millimetre rockets and 20-millimetre machine guns, are expected to be delivered from Dec 2005.

When the idea of an army air wing was first mooted the focus was on procuring attack helicopters, with previous contenders for the contract being Boeing's Apache attack helicopter and the South African Rooivalk by Denel.

The contract includes technical support and training.

Malaysia recently embarked on a major arms spree, agreeing to buy Russian fighter jets for US$900 million, French submarines for $972 million, British and Russian missile systems for $364 million and Polish attack tanks worth $368 million. -- AFP

11 copters cost only USD75m including technical support and training. That is damn cheap.

IAF SG

likely there's some barter trade involved

wd1 SG

the A109's much inferior to the Apache. it doesnt have a built-in cannon, so it can carry only two of the following three: missiles rockets or a cannon pod...

unlike apache which carries all three plus air to air missiles.
apache also has much better sensors (longbow radar!!) and has better armor and is faster.

much better, therefore more ex.

strange... coz the A109's inferior to both the apache and the rooivalk. hmmm maybe they're running out of money!!

kanzer SG

the apache is an attack helicopter

the a109 is mostly for recon purposes......... so it is like apples and oranges

kopiosatu SG

they dun even have money to get spares for their jets~!

1/2 their airforce can't even fly~

kanzer SG

can you elaborate more….. which type of aircraft…. thanks

Parka SG

All this spending is fueled by fear

espanol_man SG

"11 copters cost only USD75m including technical support and training. That is damn cheap."

wah lau... US$75m is considered cheap har? good grief, i think that is a lot in RM$.... plus i doubt they really have much $$$ anyway. barter trade? does this mean by palm oil again?

"the A109's much inferior to the Apache"

i have no doubts that our AH64D/LB performs better than A109... actually, i dun really worry if our AH64 is better than A109... what i worry is whether our tanks are better than A109 and can survive a AH vs Tank encounter... mebbe we should get tanks with AA weapons?

espanol_man SG

"they dun even have money to get spares for their jets~! 1/2 their airforce can't even fly~"

yar, i heard about this too... they lack parts for their F18s and Mig29s. but dun know how true tho'.

"All this spending is fueled by fear"

Fear of us? dun need to scared lar... as long as they dun do anything stupid to provoke us and just leave our little red dot alone..., i'm sure we'll get along fine if not cordially... Wink

kanzer SG

i have read somewhere that the f-18 that was damaged in a runway accidents a few months back is not yet repaired........... therefore they have currently only at most 7 hornets at anyone time.... no $$$ to repair???? Question

espanol_man SG

kanzer : " have read somewhere that the f-18 that was damaged in a runway accidents a few months back is not yet repaired........... therefore they have currently only at most 7 hornets at anyone time.... no $$$ to repair???? "

huh? I heard from fren in RSAF that due to lack of spare parts, they can only lauch 2 F18s or 2 Mig29s at any one time... the rest will be cannibalised as spares Rolling Eyes true?

IAF SG

malicious industry gossip and backstabbing Mr. Green

paulho SG

buy more cheap russian portable sams blanket the sky.

But seriously, I agree it's not our apache I worry for, it's our tanks.

we shud modify our amx-13 to include 1 launcher per veh. Saw somewhere on internet that 1 model of amx-13 has a sam launcher.

380 russian igla for 380 amx-13 to guard rooivalk, agusta, mil-17

prob solved.

Moonstriker SG

Originally posted by espanol_man:
kanzer : [b]" have read somewhere that the f-18 that was damaged in a runway accidents a few months back is not yet repaired........... therefore they have currently only at most 7 hornets at anyone time.... no $$$ to repair???? "

huh? I heard from fren in RSAF that due to lack of spare parts, they can only lauch 2 F18s or 2 Mig29s at any one time... the rest will be cannibalised as spares Rolling Eyes true? [/b]

its RMAF not RSAF !
we don't operate the bugs nor the fulcrums

boy in blues SG

fear? of S'pore? Laughing now that's a good one.

|-|05| SG

Originally posted by espanol_man:
[b]"11 copters cost only USD75m including technical support and training. That is damn cheap."

wah lau... US$75m is considered cheap har? good grief, i think that is a lot in RM$.... plus i doubt they really have much $$$ anyway. barter trade? does this mean by palm oil again?

"the A109's much inferior to the Apache"

i have no doubts that our AH64D/LB performs better than A109... actually, i dun really worry if our AH64 is better than A109... what i worry is whether our tanks are better than A109 and can survive a AH vs Tank encounter... mebbe we should get tanks with AA weapons?

[/b]

The chopper is a multi role chopper configured for armed recon,SAR,training,transport and with some outfitting Anti tank.It can carry 4-8 TOW missiles which are average at best....nothing like our hellfire since it is wire guided and requires the choper to be in the area and thus get shot at.Also i think the launch A/C can fire 1 at a time only.The fire and forget missile was cancelled by the US army so you cant do that.Overall i think they bought it for training/recon/transport

ibtrdia SG

The Apache has still major problems that is not yet solved.

It is rarely fielded as it requires a lot of maintenace.