Malaysia - Light Combat Aircraft
By late 2017 The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) was no longer seeking a multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA) and is evaluating light combat aircraft (LCA) instead. Malaysia’s Ministry of Defense issued a notice 22 June 2021 saying that it would accept bids for light combat aircraft and trainers for the air force. The three-month open tender for an initial 18 aircraft fits into the Malaysian Royal Air Force’s broader modernization effort. Pressure from China over a festering maritime sovereignty dispute added momentum to Malaysia’s drive for a more modern air force including the purchase of 36 new aircraft. The plan, dubbed Capability 55, called for getting another 18 aircraft of the same type by 2025 plus six unmanned aerial systems to improve maritime patrols. The air force’s pursuit of new hardware followed a navy modernization made public in 2017.
At present, the Southeast Asian country operated 18 BAE Hawk-108 and 208 light combat aircraft and seven Aermacchi MB-339CM trainers. British-made Hawk aircraft in the air force today are “platforms for defending the sovereignty of our nation’s air space” despite their age of 25 years at the time, chief General Tan Sri Affendi Buang said in 2019 via a Malaysia-based Sun Daily news website report. Hawks lack the payload of more modern planes, Lockman said. The aircraft model is often used for training rather than formal missions, as well. Malaysia sent Hawks to intercept the 16 Chinese planes in June 2021 to monitor their flight path.
| FA-50 | South Korea | KAI |
| JF-17 Thunder | China-Pakistan | PAC |
| L-15 | China | Hongdu |
| L-39 NG | Aero Vodochody | Czech |
| M-346 Master | Italy | Leonardo |
| T-7 Red Hawk | USA | Boeing |
| Tejas | India | HAL |
| Yak-130 | Russia | Yakolev |
Europe's MRCA makers Eurofighter and Dassault Aviation had been wooing Malaysia for almost a decade for a deal. By 2019 Kuala Lumpur was planning to buy 12 to 18 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) in a deal that could be worth more than $1 billion (€900 million). It called on various aircraft manufacturers to provide information about the capabilities of their fighter jets. Among those who have expressed an interest are Sweden's Saab Group and Italy's Leonardo. LCAs such as Saab's Gripen fighter jets are about 30% cheaper than the Rafales and Eurofighter Typhoons. Chinese JF-17s and J-10s, which are also in contention, are even cheaper.
Malaysian Defense Minister Mohamad Sabu said in May 2019 that Kuala Lumpur was considering bartering palm oil for advanced military equipment. Malaysian Defense Minister Mohamad Sabu said that Kuala Lumpur was considering bartering palm oil for advanced military equipment.
Palm oil has become a flash point in the European Union's relationship with Malaysia, the world's second-biggest exporter of palm oil. The 28-nation bloc planned to phase out palm oil from transport fuel after the European Commission concluded that palm oil cultivation, with some exceptions, caused deforestation and that its use in transport fuels could not be counted toward its renewable energy goals. The EU discredited Malaysia for deforestation, loss of biodiversity and the destruction of habitat that is critical for endangered species. The export markets for palm oil to the West are virtually closed.
Malaysia said China, Russia and Pakistan had expressed their willingness to be partly paid in palm oil for their fighter jets. This is likely to complicate matters for the RMAF, which has traditionally preferred using Western equipment, including on its Russian Sukhoi jets. Malaysia's latest attempt at barter trade could be beneficial for Russia, which has seen China walk away with many defense deals in the region and undercut Moscow's arm supplies. Russia has a long track record of swapping weapons for commodities in the region, including as part of its fighter jet deals with Indonesia and Vietnam.
Chinese jets also stood a good chance. Malaysia shared strong political and economic ties with China, which is its largest trading partner. Chinese Malaysians make up almost a quarter of the country's population. But buying Chinese jets could also be problematic for Malaysia not least because Beijing remains the country's biggest security concern in the South China Sea. There are also concerns related to difficulties in integrating Chinese jets with existing systems and weapons used by the Malaysian air force, which could lead to additional costs and also hurt the effectiveness of Malaysian defense forces. There might be a cost in terms of training and seamless information flows across existing assets.
Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry protested the 16 Chinese warplanes that were picked up by radar 111 kilometers off the coast of Borneo Island located in the South China Sea. On 02 June 2021 Malaysia’s air force deployed fighter jets to intercept the planes after they were detected by radar about 60 nautical miles (about 111.12 kilometers) off the coast of Sarawak state on Borneo island, located in the South China Sea. The planes were identified as Ilyushin iL-76 and Xian Y-20 strategic transporters flying at an altitude between 7 and 8 kilometers.
The foreign ministry called the incident “a serious threat to national sovereignty and flight safety.” “Malaysia’s stand is clear — having friendly diplomatic relations with any countries does not mean that we will compromise our national security,” Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein later said in a statement.
China’s flyby raised the urgency of bringing aircraft up to date in Malaysia, experts in the Southeast Asian country said. “That incident highlights the need for Malaysia to have more modern patrol aircraft, if anything,” said Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. “I think in general our air force equipments are really outdated.”
China’s activity by itself didn’t prompt the air force overhaul but can hardly be overlooked, said Shariman Lockman, senior foreign policy and security studies analyst with the Institute of Strategic and International Studies in Malaysia. “It’s China but it’s not China,” he said. “It’s the long-term thing. It's (been) in the plan for some time already.”
Malaysia entered a prolonged standoff in November 2020 with China over a disputed tract of sea, also near Borneo, known for undersea fossil fuel reserves. Malaysia is the more aggressive driller for oil and gas in waters where the standoff took place. Beijing claims about 90% of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer South China Sea, which extends from Borneo north to Hong Kong. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam call parts of the sea their own, and Taiwan claims most of it. Claimants prize the waterway for fisheries and fossil fuel reserves.
China is the most militarily advanced of the six governments. The others resent China’s landfilling of small islets in the sea over the past decade for military use and passing vessels through waters they call their own. Beijing cites historical usage records to back its claims including in the exclusive economic zones of other states such as Malaysia.
“It appears that the biggest conventional challenge that the Malaysian military faces from now is China’s growing presence in the form of an increasing number of naval and coast guard vessels and the Chinese newly built installations in the South China Sea,” said Fabrizio Bozzato, senior research fellow at the Tokyo-based Sasakawa Peace Foundation’s Ocean Policy Research Institute.
Malaysia’s defense ministry would look at buying the new aircraft from Europe, India, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea and the United States, according to analysts and defense media reports. Citizens in Malaysia may chafe at the bill, however, Lockman said. They would expect the government to keep pumping money into stimulus as COVID-19 caseloads prolong a severe lockdown. “Spending on stuff made abroad is not exactly a popular thing,” he said.
India’s HAL Tejas is in the race for the contract, along with several other foreign platforms.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
