Malaysia to buy more 155m systems

[2RHPZ]

Malaysia to buy more 155m systems in major modernization programme

July 12 2004 at 11:59 AM

The Malaysian army is expected to buy more 155mm artillery systems as part of a major modernization programme.

The army has taken delivery of 28 South African Denel 155mm/45-cal G5 Mk 3 towed artillery systems plus ammunition, including projectiles, charges and fuzes.
These are used in conjunction with an African Defence Systems AS2000 computerised fire-control system. The prime movers for the G5s are German MAN 6x6 cross-country trucks that have been modified by local company DEFTECH for their specialist role.

The service has yet to decide whether to buy more towed weapons and/or self-propelled howitzers (SPHs). Until the G5s were delivered, the largest-calibre artillery systems in Malaysian service were 12 155mm FH-70s supplied in the early 1980s by RO Defence. BAE Systems, RO Defence, has had an agreement for some years with Malaysisn Naval Dockyard for the local assembly and eventual production of the 105mm L119 Light Gun. However, industry sources said that this project is not likely to proceed in the short term as the army focuses on 155mm artillery.
Denel could supply additional 65 Mk 3s or the more recent 155mm/52-cal system. The company is still marketing the 155mm G6 SPH but with a combat weight of 47 tonnes, this may be too heavy for the army's retirement.

A possible alternative is the more recent Denel T5, which mates the upper part of the standard G5/45-cal ordnance with an 8 * 8 cross-country chassis. Using a 155mm Base-bleed projectile, a maximum range of 39km can be achieved, which increases to 54km with the recently introduced Velocity-enhanced Long-range Artillery Projectile (V-LAP). The first T5 system was installed on a Tatra 8x8 chassis. It could, however, be fitted to a variety of other cross-country plat-forms, according to Denel. For trials purposes, the chassis has been fitted with the upper part of the latest G5 155mm/52. This is called the T5-52 and a total of 22 projectiles and charges are carried.

During the Defence Services Asia 2004 exhibition in Kuala Lumpur in April, South Korea's Samsung Techwin displayed its 155mm/52-cal K9 Thunder SPH. The K9 Thunder is staying in Malaysia for trials and demonstraŽ£ion purposes before returning to Korea.

It is understood that more than 100 K9s have been built for the Republic of Korea Army and for Turkey. Turkish weapons, given the local name of Firtina are assembled at facilities of the Turkish Land Forces Command. The weapon has also been tested in Spain.

Malaysia has taken delivery of three batches of Brazilian ASTROSII multiple rocket systems and a regiment is now fully operational with three batteries, each with six ASTROS II launchers (JDW 16 January 2002). The army has also received a quantity of Avibras AV - VBL (Viaturas Blindadas Leves) 4 x4 light armoured vehicles. These are to be used in specialised roles within the ASTROS II regiment.

Source:- Janes Defence Weekly 26th May 2004.

Christopher F Foss JDW Land Forces Editor, London

[oldsoak]

The Malaysians seem to have a plethora of systems.

[4_tune]

our current systems are extremely outdated and can hardly defy the growing needs for today's combat. that's why the goverment is making a drastic move to enhance the system's. our current defence minister is the best i've known in developing the military, the previous one has done nothing. :lol:

[Brzeczyszczykiewicz]

4_tune, as a Malaysian, what do you think about the PT-91 deal? I've heard that there are lots of critical vioces in Malaysia...

[taiaha]

The PT-91 is a good tank for Malaysia, which never had any MBTs. Perhaps later after learning the lessons of operating (not to mention developing a doctrine) the PT-91, other more advanced tanks would be bought.

[4_tune]

the decision was made because of the geo-political reason. the malaysian government decided not to depends on the weapons from one particular country where the political relationship always changing (to be exact, the U.S). so we decided to buy from country which the government has less involvement in defence equipment and does not care what are you gonna do with that thing. besides that, the georaphical environment in malaysia is quite soggy (coz it rains the whole year long) and the jungle dense with tropical jungle which is very much like where the pt-91 comes from and it can operates in the jungle very well too. that's the 2 main reasons which i remember from my reading on my local defence magazine.

by the way, the malaysian will always criticize on the goverment decision/policies on defence coz they know nothing but talking as if they know everything that is good for the country. they only know one thing, everything that is produce in america are the best (i don't deny that). but they can't think weather our government can afford it or not. the government emphasizes more on improving the people's life and not on defence. our force is only use for defence and not for offensive purpose

*hope u understand what i'm talking about, my english really sucks, sorry... :(

[crackie]

hey, 4_tune who says yr English sucks.....at least I am able to understand. Howdy a mate from Malaysia as well.

I am the odd out of the millions of M'sian standing by your comments on the PT-91 issue. It is true as well that M'sian armed forces are prepared and readied for defensive role rather than offensive & intrusive environment. A PT-91 for a start will do good for future expansion.

On my opinion, I have feeling that the armed forces will select the K-9 Thunder by Samsung Techwin for the artillery expansion program. As this piece of steel provides more crew protections compare with the others tested.

Perhaps we should just wait and see what will be unloaded at P.Klang next.

[ogukuo72]

Is the PT-91 the Main Battle Tank that Malaysia is acquiring?

If so, isn't a MBT a bit on the offensive, rather than defensive side of things?

Same for Brazilian ASTROSII multiple rocket systems.

[4_tune]

hi, there, at last another malaysian in the forum, have you read any of our local defence mag, such as tempur or perajurit where they have discussed the matter of buying our next mobile artillery the k9 from samsung. that beast has undergone a mobility and firing mission test at the Bukit Hitam and Gemas testing field. and it has perform very well in both the test. and i personally believe that the government will make a move for buying it in next defence development plan. on today's news paper, the cabinet has agreed to add another rm1.6b for to improves the weapon systems (hardware and software). according to the news also, the armed forces will obtain the SuperLynx helicopter which has the ability to carry guided missiles (the type of missiles was not mention) that can "travel" up to 40 to 50 km.

by the way, which part of malaysia did u come from? are a malay, coz i'm a malay.

[4_tune]

ugokuo72, without proper, system, no one can protect their country well. learn lessons from iraq and afghanistan. japan forces is also a defensive forces. but look at what they have to better protect their country. by the way the pt-91 tank will become our MBT. coz for the time being, we have only the scorpion, sibmas and v150 armoured car which was equiped with a 90mm gun and they a minimal protection for the crew

[crackie]

4_tune..well I am a chinese chap and I m from KL, to be exact Bt. Caves. Yes i have the mags that you mentioned that comments about the new artillery and the new troop carrier for future expansion.

As for ogukuo's questions, it can be view from two points, the defensive role and the offensive ones. During the start of war, the M'sia armed forces will emphasized on setting-up defensive perimeter and move-on to the offensive role if there is a chance to be seized. The M'sia armed forces are focusing on the combines armed warfare hence any offensive moves will not solely based on tanks but th other elements of the armed forces as well.

4-tune could be right, the M'sian armed forces might be trying to adopt the JSDF defensive doctrine.

[Michael RVR]

Is there a 'traditional' enemy for the malaysians ?

Or even a notional one. I'm curious as to they type of enemy you want to defend against :)

[crackie]

'Traditional' enemy? There will always be speculation on any national matters that somehow or rather involved our 'neighbours' that could eventually turn a diplomatic discussion into a show of force showdown.

I do not foresee any direct enemies here but the diplomatic strain will eventually cools off. Well I am not a political guy, I am not able to explain much on this but I can tell you that, Malaysia or Malaysian will try to make as much friend as possible in this world.

[moughoun]

Is there a 'traditional' enemy for the malaysians ?

Or even a notional one. I'm curious as to they type of enemy you want to defend against :)

Singapore is the one they are allway's at odd's with, plus the good old PRC on the horizon ;)

[oldsoak]

Dont think its Singapore - they might have diplomatic disagreements now and again, but they are pretty content to let things lie. Its bit of a prestige thing, I reckon. To get off or onto Singapore with tanks , you'd need to have the causeway intact or a good sealift capability, which neither side has. In the face of determined opposition, it would not be easy. The two neighbours know pretty well that its not a good idea to start on each other, especially in the light of various defence agreements etc. The Malaysians also have two very rich states of Sabah and Sarawak on the Island of Borneo. Indonesia would not mind getting its hands on if Malaysia was occupied in a punch up with Singapore.

[perdurabo]

georaphical environment in malaysia is quite soggy (coz it rains the whole year long) and the jungle dense with tropical jungle which is very much like where the pt-91 comes from and it can operates in the jungle very well too
hmm we dont have any jungles :) our weather etc are closer to NZ :)
if you are looking for 155mm we have new howitzer logistics would be simplified ... ;)
http://www.bulba.eu.org/mil/free/gp/krab.jpg
btw on the left your new tank :hug:

i read somwhere that we sell you M28 Bryza/Skytruck planes ARS800 radars for them and some other things ...

[4_tune]

thx and congratulation poland for winning the bid. we, in malaysia have been waiting for so long to own our own tank battalion :hug:. i might be wrong about the weather. sorry then. but according to the policy maker, it is the best buy they could make. it has the price to quality that we could afford. btw, we don't consider singapore as our enemy, so did with any other country. we are a small peninsular country, why should we become enemy of other when we could do business with them for a better living.

[taiaha]

Despite what one may read in the various defence discussion forums regarding Malaysia and Singapore, relations between the two countries are cordial. Don't forget the two countries are FPDA partners, plus the Aussies have a contingent at Butterworth,etc so the likelihood of war is veery slim.

[4_tune]

there is no foreign contigent in malaysia.

[taiaha]

The Aussies have a contingent at Butterworth, plus Orions etc.

[4_tune]

The Aussies have a contingent at Butterworth, plus Orions etc.

any prove to support your statement. coz as far as i know, there is no reason for any foreign forces to be here except for excercise and jungle training. there used to be a lot of commonwealth forces during the insurgencies, but there are none now. the u.k sas used to trained here and built a camp but it is at sabah or sarawak. not at butterworth.

[taiaha]

4_tune,

http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/malaysia/malaysia_brief.html

[taiaha]

. the u.k sas used to trained here and built a camp but it is at sabah or sarawak. not at butterworth.

It's in Sarawak. Guess which division in Sarawak?

[4_tune]

thanx mate about the info, never knew until you told me. btw, i'm not pretty sure which one but they had handed us a lot of help during the insurgency. our special forces too were much influenced by them. we still keep a close relationship with those boys especially in training. here's a little link about them in malaysia (used to be known as malaya) http://seals.longboys.net/sas.htm

[taiaha]

Hey 4_tune, no worries. I'm a Malaysian too for your info. Yup, our SpecOps owe a lot to the boys from 22 SAS, NZSAS, Aust. SAS, SEALs, DELTA etc. If you look at their training, uniforms (berets for example) you'd find the influences from the three Commonwealth SpecOps.

[4_tune]

woot never thought of finding any malaysian here before, now there's 3 of us, anymore malaysians here? well, which part of malaysia taiaha?

[taiaha]

Sarawak,4_tune, am currently in NZ :D

[SpikeATGM]

Singapore can be Malaysia potential enemy but she can also be malaysia potential allied.

Think of it this way, the defence of Malaysia and SIngapore are link. Threat to Malaysia will also affect Singapore directly like what happen durng WW2 vice versa. Any threat to singapore will most likely have to pass through malaysia first before reaching Singapore.

If Malaysia is invaded by another country, Singapore will not sit idle and wait for the enemy to reach johor. Singapore had sent troops to Thailand when Vietnam invaded Cambodia and she will most likely send troops to fight alonside with MAF if the similar situation arise.

[taiaha]

Singapore and Malaysia share a common history, culture, language(s) etc. All this talk about fighting one another is just silly. If Singapore was to be attacked by an aggressor than Malaysia would be attacked too, so working side by side under the auspices of the FPDA is the sensible thing.