– DEFENSE SECURITY ASIA, 17 Dec 2021

In just a few weeks, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) Chief Executive Officer Prof Temel Kotil has twice visited Malaysia to meet with the country’s leaders.

During his second visit to Malaysia yesterday, Kotil met with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and DSA was almost certain that the visit was to offer the sale Turkish weapons systems to Malaysia.

His courtesy call on the Prime Minister was also accompanied by Turkish Ambassador to Malaysia Dr Merve Kavakci and MKEK Chief Executive Officer Yasin Akdere, which is one of Turkey’s largest defence companies.

What is interesting are the pictures of the meeting, as the Turkish delegation has handed over several aircraft models to the Prime Minister, including the T-129 attack helicopter model “ATAK”, the utility helicopter “GOKBEY”, the UAS-MALE system “Anka”, the FLIT aircraft /LCA “Hurjet”, basic trainer aircraft “Hurkus” and fifth generation fighter aircraft “TF-X.”

Ok about MKEK anyway, it specializes in manufacturing artillery systems for the Turkish military including either propelled or self-propelled howitzers. Is there an artillery system produced by MKEK that attracts the interest of the Malaysian Army? Ehem, ehem.

Kotil’s two visits to Malaysia were very interesting because it happened when TAI was competing in several tenders of the Ministry of Defence, such as the Fighter Lead-In Trainer/LCA (FLIT/LCA) aircraft and the Unmanned Aerial System-Medium Altitude Long Endurance (UAS-MALE).

The Ministry of Defence will announce the winners for both tenders soon.

For the FLIT/LCA tender, TAI is offering the aircraft it is developing, the “Hurjet” to the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) with technology transfer packages including installing 15 of the 18 aircraft in Malaysia.

“We (TAI) want to contribute to Malaysia’s capacity building to produce such aircraft (Hurjet) because Malaysia is seen as one of the best countries to cooperate strategically in Asia Pacific.” he told the Malaysian media during his first visit two weeks ago.

If the bid by the TAI company is successful, he said, 15 “Hurjet” aircraft will be produced in Malaysia while three more in Turkey.

Temel Kotil said the production of “Hurjet” aircraft in Malaysia was aimed at strengthening the global aviation industry in their respective regions.

He was in Malaysia to witness the opening of his first TAI-owned engineering and design center in Southeast Asia located in Cyberjaya.

As for the UAS-MALE tender, the tender was closed last year with TAI believed to offer the “TAI Anka” unmanned aircraft system which has already been tested for its effectiveness in several conflicts such as Syria, Libya and others.

The procurement of the two weapon systems will be done in the 12th Malaysian Plan (RMK12).

PM with MKEK CEO Yasin Akdere and Turkish Ambassador to Malaysia Dr Merve Kavakci.

The Ministry of Defence had advertised an international tender in August last year to procure three UAS-MALE systems (along with all related systems such as ground stations etc.) and the tender had already closed on 26 November 2020.

In total, the RMAF has a need for six UAS-MALE which it is likely to be obtained in the 12th Malaysian Plan (2021-2025) and the 13th Malaysian Plan which will be implemented in 2026-2030.

Last year, a briefing was organized by the RMAF UAS Team, Procurement Division 3 (PERO 3), Ministry of Defence in collaboration with the RMAF and the Defense Industry Division for the International Open Tender.

Dron “Anka” developed by Turkish Aerospace (TUSAS).

The briefing was attended by international companies who expressed interest in UAS-MALE to the Malaysian government.

The Government of Malaysia has approved a number of allocations under the Critical Needs Approval (Expenditure Plan (RP) -4) for the procurement of three UAS MALE Phase 1.

Among the candidates believed to participate in the international tender to supply the UAS MALE system are Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) “Anka”, Predator B (MQ-9 Reaper) from General Atomics company, Wing Loong from Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group (CAIC), Patroller from Safran and CH-4 from China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation as well as Falco from Leonardo.