Malaysia is being offered upgraded Mil Mi-17s by two rival consortia after selecting the helicopter to kick-off a long-awaited replacement programme for the air force's 36 ageing Sikorsky S-61A Nuris.
Malaysian defence minister Najib Tun Razak said in Russia last month that 10 Mi-17s would be acquired, but industry sources suggest the requirement could be for up to 40 aircraft.
Airod chairman Ahmad Johan is lobbying to win the contract because the Malaysian maintenance and modification specialist is urgently in need of work. He is pushing Mi-171s assembled at the Ulan-Ude factory in Siberia.
Sources at the Kuala Lumpur-based company say the requirement is yet to be fully defined, but the upgrade work is likely to include Western communications equipment, replacement of the rear clamshell doors with a cargo ramp, installation of a sliding main side-door and modification of the cockpit from a three- to a two-crew configuration.
The sources say there is "no requirement for the Mi-17s to have a glass cockpit at the moment".
Kazan Helicopters, with BAE Systems and Kelowna Flightcraft, is pushing the Mi-172, which features a Honeywell glass cockpit and autopilot and BAE's battlefield helicopter avionics package (Flight International, 9-15 April).
Possible offset and technology transfer options could include allowing Malaysia to licence-produce Kazan's Ansat light helicopter for sale in South-East Asia. BAE is understood to be offering Malaysian industry mission-system component manufacture and participation in software development.
Malaysia's 30-year-old Nuris are used in transport and VIP roles. The country nearly bought 40 Mi-17s in 1999, but acquired only two Mi-17-1Vs, for fire-fighting and paramilitary operations.
Source: Flight International
