Malaysia to buy new armored personnel carriers


About 12 companies have made presentations to the Malaysian Defense Ministry for the replacement of 24 Condors for the Malbatt (Malaysian Battalion) mission in Lebanon and about 20-30 Anoas for the Army Ready Battalion which is kept ready for emergency UN peace keeping missions. It has not been decided whether the new vehicle will be a 4x4 or 6x6.
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Condor of the Malaysian army assigned to a UN mission (Picture source: Major D Swami (Retired))


The Ministry of Defense is currently in the process of calling for a tender for the supply of armored personnel carriers (APC) to replace the vehicle with a new one, Defense Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said his party would not take home the vehicles currently used by the Malaysian Battalion 850-7 (MALBATT 850-7) peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) : "We will send new ones, not because the old ones did not follow the specifications but it is in our planning and it is time for us to replace them with new ones," he said at a press conference after the Graduation Ceremony of the Armed Forces College College (MPAT) series 40/2020, at Puspahanas.

Some of these competing vehicles have been tested following their participation to DSA 2018 and some are brand new offerings, Malaysian Defence reports. The new vehicles should have been tested locally before or after DSA 2020 but the event was cancelled due to the coronavirus. The vehicle for Malbatt will be equipped with a RWS as it is one of the specifications listed by the Army. As for the type I am told it will be for a 12.7 HMG at least (which will allow the installation of a 7.62mm machine gun or an automatic grenade launcher).


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Pindad Anoa assigned to a UN mission (Picture source : TNI)