TSAMTO, August 2. Most likely, the Malaysian Defense Ministry will choose a medium-altitude UAV of long flight duration (MALE class) "Anka-S" (Anka-S) of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) as part of the tender announced in 2020.
This information was confirmed to the Defense Security Asia resource by unnamed industry sources, noting that Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaacob recently visited the TAI enterprise in Ankara.
The publication believes that the Ministry of Defense of Malaysia will make an official announcement in the near future. Another option is that the military department will wait for the next LIMA exhibition and announce the conclusion of a contract during its holding.
As the publication reminds, the commander of the Malaysian Air Force, Lieutenant General Asghar Khan bin Goriman Khan, previously stated that a group of Air Force specialists in December last year completed a technical assessment of MALE-class UAVs included in the final tender list. Reports with an assessment of three types of UAVs were submitted to the procurement commission of the Ministry of Defense on January 12, 2022, March 17, 2022 and April 28, 2022, respectively. At the moment, the decision of the defense department regarding the winner of the tender is expected.
Three sets of MALE class UAVs are planned to be purchased under the 12th Malaysian Plan (2021-2025), three more - at the second stage under the 13th Malaysian Plan (2026-2030).
As TSAMTO has already reported, the Ministry of Defense of Malaysia has published announcements of international tenders within the framework of projects for the acquisition of two maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) and three complexes of medium-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles of long flight duration (MALE class) in August 2020. The ads were placed in two local media outlets, NST and Berita Harian.
The announcements indicated that local participants in both tenders must have a power of attorney from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or system supplier/integrator to purchase the tender documentation.
Tender documentation for maritime patrol aircraft was available for purchase until September 1, 2020, and MALE–class UAVs - until September 3, 2020 in the tender department of the Ministry of Defense of Malaysia. The deadline for submitting applications for participation in the tender for the supply of aircraft was set for December 3, 2020, UAVs – November 26, 2020.
By the beginning of the tender for the purchase of MALE-class UAVs, it was reported that at least three types of devices will take part in it: MQ-9B "Sea Guardian" of the American company General Atomics, "Anca-S" of Turkish Turkish Aerospace Industries and "Wing Lung 2" of Chinese AVIC. All three applicants took part in the LIMA-2019 exhibition. The American UAV performed a demonstration flight, the remaining two devices were presented in a static exposition.
It was noted that the MQ-9 "Predator" UAV is the most expensive device in the competition with a declared cost of $ 20 million per unit. Thus, the cost of a set of three UAVs of the Sea Guardian version is likely to be about $ 100 million, including a ground control station, operator training, spare parts supply and technical support.
The cost of "Wing Lung 1" is about $ 3 million. The Wing Lung 2 version will be somewhat more expensive. According to estimates, the cost of the kit will be about $ 30 million.
The cost of the Turkish set of Anka UAVS, apparently, was significantly lower than the American offer, but higher than the Chinese one.
At the LIMA-2019 exhibition, the Falco UAV of the Italian Leonardo group was also demonstrated in the form of a model. However, it is not known whether he was considered as a potential candidate.
The Anka reconnaissance and strike UAV was developed in Turkey in 2013, and was tested in combat conditions. The UAV has a maximum take-off weight of 1700 kg, is capable of carrying a payload weighing up to 350 kg. The flight time is up to 30 hours at a maximum altitude of up to 9 thousand m. The wingspan is 17.5 m with a length of about 8 m.
