SHAH ALAM: Russian Air Force aerobatic display, the Russian Knights, is scheduled to take part in LIMA 25 this May. Personnel from the team was in Langkawi this week to see the venue of the airshow and discuss with the organisers on the logistics and technical details in taking part in the show.
The air display team took part in LIMA 2023, a surprising entry as they were not expected to be there due to the sanctions imposed on Russia in 2022. The team also took part in 2019 and 2017 editions of LIMA though this was the first time that they had conducted inspections prior to the actual show.
As for the Sukhoi Su-57, I was told that confirmation of its participation will be made after Raya. As for now, there is almost 50 per cent chance that it will take part especially with the MRCA 5G competition coming up in RMK13. What about the other 5G fighters then? We will have to wait and see.
RMAF release on the Russian Knights.
𝐋𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐍 𝐃𝐀𝐍 𝐊𝐎𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐒𝐈 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐋 𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐊𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒 𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐔𝐊 𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐊𝐒𝐈 𝐃𝐈 𝐋𝐈𝐌𝐀 ‘𝟐𝟓
Langkawi, 13 Mac 2025 – Pasukan aerobatik terkenal, Russian Knights telah mengadakan lawatan serta mesyuarat koordinasi awal di Langkawi bersama Sekretariat Aeroangkasa sebagai persiapan bagi Pameran Antarabangsa Maritim dan Aeroangkasa Langkawi 2025 (LIMA ’25). Lawatan ini bertujuan untuk meninjau lokasi serta berbincang mengenai penyediaan logistik dan persiapan teknikal sebelum acara berprestij itu berlangsung.
Ketibaan wakil pasukan Russian Knights yang dianggotai oleh juruterbang-juruterbang elit Russian Aerospace Force telah disambut oleh Ketua Staf Markas Pemerintahan Operasi Udara (MPOU), Mejar Jeneral Norli Hisham bin Alwi TUDM, selaku Ketua Sekretariat Aeroangkasa, serta wakil-wakil dari pihak penganjur LIMA ’25 dan agensi kerajaan yang terlibat. Mereka diberi taklimat mengenai persediaan pameran serta keperluan teknikal untuk persembahan udara yang dijangka menjadi salah satu acara utama pada LIMA ’25.
Menurut jurucakap Russian Knights, mereka teruja untuk kembali ke Langkawi selepas penyertaan terdahulu yang mendapat sambutan luar biasa. *”Kami menghargai jemputan ini dan berharap dapat memberikan persembahan yang lebih memukau kepada pengunjung pada LIMA ’25 nanti,”* katanya.
Selain meninjau lokasi, satu mesyuarat koordinasi bersama wakil Russian Knights anjuran Sekretariat Aeroangkasa LIMA ’25 turut diadakan bagi menyelaraskan keperluan serta membincangkan koordinasi awal bagi membantu persiapan pasukan aerobatik terkenal tersebut dalam mengadakan pertunjukan semasa LIMA ’25 nanti. Mesyuarat ini telah dipengerusikan oleh Mejar Jeneral Norli Hisham bin Alwi TUDM selaku Ketua Sekretariat Aeroangkasa LIMA ’25 dan turut disertai oleh wakil Sekretariat Induk LIMA ’25, wakil GEC selaku penganjur utama, Malaysia Airports Sdn. Bhd. (MASB) Langkawi, Pihak Berkuasa Penerbangan Awam Malaysia (CAAM), serta agensi-agensi kerajaan yang terlibat.
Dengan persiapan awal yang dilakukan, kehadiran Russian Knights pastinya akan menjadi salah satu sorotan utama dalam LIMA ’25, menarik perhatian pengunjung tempatan dan antarabangsa yang ingin menyaksikan kehebatan pasukan aerobatik elit ini.
— Malaysian Defence
I am hoping to see the KF-21 debut its first overseas airshow in Langkawi.
I remember when I first saw a Flanker up close at the first LIMA – a major “wow” moment! At LIMA 2001 I was on the flight line metres away from Anatoly Kvochur who just landed and got out of his plane. He partially took of his G suit because of the heat and was only wearing his underwear beneath it.
The Russians are realistic, they know it’s extremely unlikely they’ll get a Su-57 sale but they will try. Bringing it here also makes for good PR and politics, showing that sanctions have not completely isolated Russia.
For its part the RMAF would have to have its arm twisted very sharply, to readily agree to a Russian jet after experiences with the Fulcrum and Flankers. Issues inherent with operating Russian. There is also the fact that Russian after sales or product support leaves a lot to be desired, especially now with heavy sanctions leading to supply disruptions and the war which forces the industry to prioritise on domestic needs.
A pertinent factor is how does one operate the Su-57 on a systems centric level!? Getting approval to fit it with Link 16 and integrate its use with A Western AEW platform and radars is about as possible as us winning the Rugby World Cup. No point having a 5th gen platform whths its LO features if one is going to operate in on a platform level.
Last but now least much vaunted Russian air assets which on paper had impressive capabilities and legions of fan boy followers have underperformed in Ukraine. This suprised observers who also assumed that the VKS trained to perform an integrated strategic joint air campaign the way the West does.
Just saying.
If we are going for finlandization then there’s really no need to operate anything on a system centric level.
Quite a few things were said which were off the mark and lacked context but I believe there was no talk of “Finlandisation”.
Anyway electromagnetic radiation leaks by GBAD,ship and fighter radar changes every week or two nowadays. So getting anything other than f35 would require additional cost to purchase reconnaissance asset be it space based or airborne to collect, analysis, process and update the mission data files which allows both the awac and the jet to identify with great certainty what exactly are they detecting.
In the f35 the mission data files are upgraded and updated constantly courtesy by uncle Sam.
Zaft – “Anyway electromagnetic radiation leaks by GBAD,ship and fighter radar changes every week or two nowadays”.
Not really. Frequencies are set by the users who can and do change them but there are only so many frequencies and there are peacetime and wartime ones. This however has nothing to do with the issue of the F-35.
Zaft – “In the f35 the mission data files are upgraded and updated constantly courtesy by uncle Sam”
An element of risk always comes with buying stuff from abroad. Long before recent reports of “kill switches” on the F-35 there were reports that various French stuff had “kill switches”. Also, even if we bought the Gripen we could still be sanctioned if say we invaded Papua New Guinea or started an anthrax programme. Plus, all the components and ordnance for the Gripen only are available from the OEMs and we have no control over this.
Zaft – “the jet to identify with great certainty what exactly are they detecting”
All fighters are equipped with ESM to detect and classify anything emitting signals, e.g. radars, GPS, data links, SATCOM, etc. The 1st fighters we had with ESM was the Hawk and the RMN 1st got ESM in the 1970’s on Rahmat. In 2015 Saab reported that we bought ESM pods for UAS use but the only UASs we had them was the leased Aludra.
Technically uncle Sam updating the mission data files is more of a plus for the f35 rather than an inherent problem as without it end user would have to spend money,time and manpower doing it on their own.
Not to mention KFX,TFX like grippen run on American engine and thus uncle Sam still have a say on how the end users use it no difference to the f35.
Personally it doesn’t seem that we have a problem with US dependency, it’s just we seem to have an allergy to FMS.