There was a recent tender issued by the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) last May 2020 for the provision of a Tactical Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) to be operated under Government Operate, Contractor Owned and Maintained (GOCOM) concept.
The Tactical UAS will be operated out of Melaka and is meant to provide aerial surveillance for the RMAF in its area of operation. The intensity of operation of the Tactical UAS will be between 80 flight hours to 200 flight hours each month.
This tender is a separate requirement from the current operation of mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) used for the enforcement of Movement Control Order (MCO) as well as the soon to be procured Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) which will be operated by No 11 Skn as early as the second half of 2020.
To date Tactical UAS are operated by the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) Joint Task Force 2 Command (Markas Angkatan Tugas Bersama 2 – Mk ATB 2) out of Kukusan Camp in Sandakan as well as the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN)’s No 601 Skn out of Kota Kinabalu Naval Base.
The Mk ATB 2 is known for a new requirement to replace the now decommissioned CTRM/UST Aludra Mk I/II TUAV and the Boeing/In-Situ ScanEagle TUAV which were used to conduct border protection duties as part of Ops PASIR, Ops Daulat and over Ambalat and the Spratlys.
No 601 Skn, on the other hand will be operating the ScanEagle Mk 2 TUAV out of the Navy’s shore base, offshore station, mothership/ seabase as well as surface combat vessels.
Unmanned System Technology (UST), previously a joint venture set up between Composite Technology Research Malaysia (CTRM), System Consultancy and Services (SCS) and Ikramatic have been acquired by DEFTECH which also controls the CTRM. As a result, UST is now being rebranded as DEFTECH Unmanned System while CTRM is now known as DEFTECH Aviation. Both companies are based at Melaka International Airport near Batu Berendam.
DEFTECH Unmanned System is collaborating with Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) for the RMAF’s MALE UAV program through the latter’s Anka-S Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) optimised for maritime surveillance duties.
The company is also developing a much improved Aludra Mk V TUAV which is equipped with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Electro Optic/ Infra Red (EO/IR) camera as well as Automatic Take Off and Landing (ATOL) currently operated by the Malaysian Space Agency (MySA) for classified duties.
The Aludra Mk V is a culmination of decades of developmental works that incorporate various cooperation and input – albeit at various stage of development – with South Africa, France and South Korea.
With the Aludra remain relevant for defence and security needs of Malaysia, it is likely that the country’s first operational TUAV would have been further improved and upgraded to meet the RMAF’s Tactical UAS needs and requirements.
On the other hand, DEFTECH has also collaborate with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) to further enhance the capabilities of Aludra Camar TUAV. In its current form, the Aludra Camar is a hybrid TUAV with Vertical Take Off and Landing capabilities thanks to the four rotors installed on it. The blended wing body (BWB) design coupled with composite material and construction also means that the UAV has low observable characteristics which makes it difficult to be detected by radar.
DEFTECH is also developing Wangsa 1 TUAV, a product of its colaboration with Italian airframer, Leonardo thus making it superficially similar to the Leonardo Falco TUAV.
Besides DEFTECH, the SCS is also developing the third generation of its Nyamok TUAV. Just like the Aludra, Nyamok TUAV owes much to the research undertaken by an Indonesian researcher working with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and the data gathered from wind tunnel testing by UTM. Similarly, the Nyamok 3.0 TUAV incorporates hybrid approach.
(MAF)