KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 29): The Ministry of Defence (Mindef) has been urged to clarify its decision to award a RM187 million contract to lease four Black Hawk helicopters on a direct negotiation basis to a local air service provider.

The government's decision to award the contract to Aerotree Defence & Services Sdn Bhd in May 2023 is questionable given its lack of prior experience in government aviation procurements, said Tanah Merah MP Datuk Seri Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz, who is also a former deputy defence minister.

The first helicopter was supposed to be delivered in November last year, but the deadline was pushed to April this year. Deputy Defence Minister Adly Zahari told the Dewan Rakyat in July that Aerotree had attributed its delivery delays to the ongoing war in Ukraine, which had disrupted global supply chains and tightened approval conditions from US regulators.

Last month, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin gave Aerotree till Wednesday, Oct 30, to deliver the four Sikorsky UH-60 A+ Black Hawk helicopters to the Air Force, failing which the contract would be terminated.

“What was the rationale for awarding Aerotree a direct-negotiation contract to lease aircraft for the Ministry of Defence, given its lack of track record in this field?” the opposition MP Ikmal Hisham asked during the Supply Bill 2025 debate in Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday. .

“Why wasn’t this critical procurement conducted through an open international tender [as in previous cases] which allowed Mindef to select assets precisely tailored to the end-user’s requirements?” Ikmal Hisham added.

He also asked whether "due diligence" had been performed on Aerotree’s capabilities prior to awarding the contract, which is under a government operate, own and maintain model (GOCOM).

“Who made this decision? Was it the Ministry of Defence, or was there a directive from the Ministry of Finance in Putrajaya to award Aerotree this GOCOM contract?” he added.