SIK, April 16 — 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.
Chief of Army Gen Tan Sri Muhammad Hafizuddeain Jantan said that the army had yet to receive any news about the delivery even though the contractor had previously promised 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 a Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration event with operations officers and staff at Gubir Camp here today.
He added that they really hoped that the contractor could deliver one of four Sikorsky UH-60A+ Black Hawk helicopters for the use of the Army’s Air Wing 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,” Muhammad 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. — Bernama
