SIK – The Malaysian Army will take follow-up action if its appointed contractor fails to deliver the first Black Hawk helicopter by the end of this month.
Army chief Tan Sri Muhammad Hafizuddeain Jantan said that the army had yet to receive any news about the delivery. This is despite the contractor previously promising to make the first delivery this month.
“We really hope they will fulfil their promise as I have said before the delivery is already late, we should have received our first aircraft in November last year.
“Now it’s already over five months, there’s still no news. So we will give them a chance till the end of April.
“If there’s still no news, we will take follow-up action through the Defence Ministry as the contract manager,” he said during a media conference at an Aidilfitri event with operations officers and staff at Gubir Camp here today.
He added that they hoped the contractor could deliver one of four Sikorsky UH-60A+ Black Hawk helicopters the Army’s Air Wing’s use this month.
“We really need the medium lift capability to conduct operations here and in the interior, and have planned to base several here (in the peninsula) and several in Sabah and Sarawak for us to provide assistance for operations there,” Hafizuddeain said, adding that the helicopters would be used by the 10th Para Brigade for jump training.
“So far, the army depends too much on the Malaysian Royal Air Force for operation transport and logistics,” he said. – April 16, 2024