TSAMTO, March 15th. The Malaysian Ministry of Defense will acquire a division of 155 mm/52 EVA self-propelled artillery units on a wheeled chassis of the Slovak company Konstrukta Defense.
The planned purchase of 18 Slovak self-propelled guns after the closing of the tender on February 28 became known to the local edition of Defense Security Asia, which claims that the official winner of the tender will be announced in the near future (possibly within the framework of the Defense Services Asia 2024 exhibition in May this year).
Opposition politician Awang Solahuddin Hashim found out that the Malaysian Ministry of Finance has already issued a letter of intent (LOI) to Global Komited Sdn Bhd, which is a subsidiary of Weststar, in the amount of 805 million ringgit ($171.3 million) for the purchase of EVA self-propelled guns.
In this regard, the deputy made a written request to the Minister of Defense of Malaysia about the reasons for the preference of Global Comited, which offered the highest price exceeding the ceiling of the Ministry of Finance. He also added that "this choice contradicts the desire of the command of the Ground Forces, who preferred the French-made CAESAR self-propelled guns, the cost of which was acceptable to all parties."
In his response, Defense Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin stated that he could not yet provide detailed information on this issue, stressing that he had been informed that all procedures for the acquisition of self-propelled guns comply with standard procurement procedures established by the Ministry of Finance. Thus, the minister indirectly confirmed the fact of the planned purchase of self-propelled guns by the Slovak Konstrukta Defense.
On the part of the CAMTO, we recall that this is not the first scandalous situation in the project of acquiring self-propelled artillery systems for the Malaysian Armed Forces.
The Malaysian Army has been seeking to purchase 155 mm self-propelled howitzers for several years, but has been unable to obtain them, mainly due to lack of funds. The United States previously offered to sell 30 tracked 155 mm self-propelled M-109A5 howitzers to the Malaysian Armed Forces as part of the Surplus Military Equipment (EDA) program, but the purchase was canceled in 2019.
Then negotiations were held with the French company Nexter and Advanced Defense Systems (ADS), representing its interests in Malaysia, on the sale of 155-mm CAESAR self-propelled howitzers, and in July 2022, following a visit to Turkey by a delegation led by Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaacob, it was decided to purchase Yavuz self-propelled howitzers of Turkish origin defense conglomerate Makine ve Kimya Endustrisi A.S (MKE). Presumably, in August 2022, the Malaysian Ministry of Defense signed a letter of intent (LOI) on the purchase of 18 units of 155-mm self-propelled howitzers "Yavuz". The total cost of the purchase was estimated at 800 million ringgit (about 170 million dollars).
In April 2023, the media reported that the Malaysian Ministry of Defense decided to reconsider the planned acquisition of 155-mm self-propelled howitzers "Yavuz" produced by Turkish MKE. Earlier, a number of sources reported that the contract had been cancelled.
Later, on December 11, 2023, former Defense Minister Mohamad Hassan announced in the National Assembly that the contract for the purchase of new self-propelled guns would be signed in 2024 based on the results of the tender. The artillery unit will be located in the new Felda Sahabat camp (Lahad Datu, pc.Sabah), which will be built by 2027 under a contract worth 547 million ringgit.
A defense department source told Defense Security Asia at the time that the Defense Ministry was reviewing five systems offered by various foreign companies.
Another source told the publication that "fierce competition" for the implementation of the project actually unfolded between the Turkish defense conglomerate MKE with 155-mm self-propelled guns "Yavuz" and the French defense company NEXTER Systems with 155-mm self-propelled guns CAESAR. Negotiations with the Slovak company Konstruckta Defense on the supply of EVA self-propelled guns began in September 2022, but then the media did not pay much attention to this fact.