A visitor named Reezo had left a message in my previous posting in my other blog highlighting the details of the Brazilian purchase of their EC725 fleet. The main aspect of this report that attracts me is the fact that the purchase price of the fleet has been corrected and is now almost triple the original reported price as shown below :
June 30/08: Brazil and France sign an agreement in principle for Eurocopter to build helicopters in the South American country via its subsidiary Helibras. Brazil’s Defense Minister Nelson Jobim reportedly said that the country intended to buy 50 “Super Cougar” models, the first of which would be delivered in 2010. The deal’s value was initially reported as $1.2 billion, but reports put the signed contract at $2.7 million equivalent.
Now since this was the main weapon of the purchase opposition in their efforts to scuttle the EC725 purchase, this report nullifies the assertation that there seemed to be something wrong with Malaysia's own proposed purchase price for our EC725 fleet. I do not want to go into a unit price comparison as this will definitely be an apple to apple comparison even if the full specifications of the two helicopters can be obtained, but the fact remains that the price off-quoted by the opposition has now been proven wrong but it seems that this fact is somehow being hidden by the opposition and our purchase now remains in limbo, either because we really do not have the money to purchase the helicopters even though it has been budgetted for that the new Minister of Defence had to announce that the Ministry has to look at new and creative ways to finance the purchase, or that the whole matter is being kept in the back burner as a convenient conflict avoidance ploy.
In the meantime, Brazil has confirmed their order to become the first export customer followed recently by Mexico that bought six units for 168 million euros for a transport version of six units while France herself has placed EUR 220 million contract for 5 more EC725 Caracal helicopters for combat search and rescue, special forces, and medium utility roles. Compare this again with the Eurocopter's bid price of Euro233.3 million for 10-12 CSAR units to Malaysia and judge for yourself if there really is anything fishy with this tender as being claimed by the opposition to the helicopter purchase that ultimately will save not only the people to be rescued but the crew that operates the new helicopters.
1 comment:
rakyat malaysia ni, sememangnya tak nampak keperluan pertahanan negara, yang mereka nampak BAZIR TU je yang dia orang nampak, baling batu je kot, jimat tak bazir,tapi sampai bila nak baling batu sampai anak cucu dan cicit ke.
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