This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on November 4, 2024 - November 10, 2024

By now, the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) should have decided on the status of a five-year leasing contract for four Blackhawk helicopters at a cost of RM187 million.

In mid-October, Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin, who is the minister in charge, stated that the company has to deliver the four helicopters to the Armed Forces by end-October or the contract would be terminated and alternative suppliers approached.

At the time of writing, there were no reports of the company having delivered the helicopters.

Recently, the procurement process of the leasing deal was raised in parliament. Opposition MP Datuk Seri Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz questioned the process of how the local company was chosen and its track record. Secondly, according to him, the deal was directly negotiated and did not go through an international tender.

If what Ikmal Hisham, who is a former deputy defence minister, says is true, then the Blackhawk leasing deal needs some answers even if the Armed Forces begin scouting around for an alternative supplier.

The leasing agreement was signed during the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition in May last year. It had been reported that the delivery was supposed to commence six months after the signing.

Delays are a common feature in many defence-related contracts. Take, for instance, the endless delays and massive cost overruns in the littoral combat ship (LCS) project, which have rendered it legendary among the failures in defence-related projects.

As the LCS project has shown, the procurement process tends to be obscure and oversight by Mindef on the progress of the project is poor. Even if there are matters that the Armed Forces bring to the attention of the relevant leaders, the matters tend to be taken lightly.

Coming back to the helicopter leasing deal, was any money paid to the supplier? And were the proper procurement procedures followed?

Some clarity on the matter would help assuage concerns over obscure defence-­related projects.

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