SHAH ALAM: Hawks Flying High. At the TUDM media day last Thursday (May 25, 2017) at the Labuan airbase it was revealed that the two RMAF Hawk squadrons, No 6 Skn and No 15 Skn, have now settled down on their respective roles. The 6 Skn is the dedicated combat squadron while the 15 Skn is the training one.
It is for this reason, 6 Skn based at Labuan operates only the single seater BAE System Mk 208 Hawks while the 15 Skn, operates the twin seater Mk 108s from Butterworth airbase. In the past, they operated both types.
The transfer of the single seaters and twin seaters between both squadrons were done within the last two years as 6 Skn was transferred from Kuantan airbase to Labuan. The move to base the Hawks at Labuan was made following the Lahad Datu incursion in 2013.
Apart from the change of roles, the move was probably done due to the shrinking number of Hawk aircraft in RMAF following various accidents and crashes.
With the change of roles, new pilots destined for 6 Skn will be trained on the Mk 108s with the 15 Skn in Butterworth before they are posted to the Labuan-based squadron. In the past, new pilots to both squadrons trained on their own respective two-seaters before transitioning to the single seaters.
Those selected for the Sukhoi Su-30MKM or F/A=18D squadrons are trained at Pulatibang 3 in Kuantan on the Aermacchi MB339CMs.
The MK 208 is armed with Thales FZ rockets, dumb bombs and a single 30mm ADEN cannon fitted on the centreline.
As it was a media day, guests were allowed to get into the Hawk cockpit. Despite the size of the aircraft, the cockpit of the Hawk felt rather comfortable compared to the cramped F-16 cockpit which I had tried in Singapore. The Hawk cockpit however is smaller than the F-15 and the F-5s.
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (17)
Any new shelters or ground support buildings for the 6skn? Or they just reuse the facilities of the old 9skn that also uses the hawk in labuan? So all 13 flyable hawk 208 now in labuan?
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They have a new storm shelter but mostly they are reusing the old facilities. Not sure of the numbers but yes all of the 208s are now in Labuan.
About time to plan for hawk replacement rather than dreaming of MIG 29 replacement.
Any news on the Saudi Arabia lead 'donation'? I really hope it is in the form of ex-Kuwaiti F/A-18. If we can get all 40 we swallow lah... I believe the Kuwaiti hornets are of the same batch as ours, so there will be very similar and cut down on all the training required. If we can make good use of those jets it could even allow us to skip 0.5 generation of MRCA... Just my thoughts.
I believe there are 14 mk.208 airframes still in service with RMAF out of 18 that were bought.I still remember three of the crashes,the one during approach at LAB,another was at the firing range in Pahang's interior plus the one that crashed into the sea off Pahang,the fourth I can't remember where.
@ Shahrudin Esa
I would prefer the hawk+MB339 replacement first before the Mig-29 too. The MiG-29 replacement can be the ex-kuwaiti hornets.
@ Foxbat25
The fourth crash is the one during aerobatic training of the Panji Wira team. I think it was the 1st malaysian hawk crash. There is 14 airframes left but 1 was overstressed (over G) beyond repair in an air-to-air dogfight training.
Shahrudin,
There is no urgency at all to replace the Hawks as their air frames still have lots of hours left. Also, the Fulcrum replacement is intended to perform different types of roles compared to the Hawk. As such, the MRCA requirement and a future need to replace the Hawks [at minimum a decade away] are 2 different sets of requirements.
Foxbat,
A Hawk also suffered damage during a low level flight; hitting power cables. If I'm not mistaken the body of the pilot of the Hawk that went down over the South China Sea was never found. There should be at least 14 200s left and at least 3-4 100s left.
Hornet - ''I believe the Kuwaiti hornets are of the same batch as ours,''
Their was from an earlier batch. Ours were from a later batch; diverted from stocks intended originally for the USN.
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I believe there are six twin seat Hawks left. The remains of the pilot that crashed into the sea were recovered some six months after the crash. The crash plane was found after fishermen nets got snagged on the wreck.
Wow.....6 months after it crashed! Is the SOP any better now when it comes to locating pilots or planes that crash into the sea?Btw, these incidents remind me of another 'Lost but not forgotten' airman, Lt.Wahi Anuar Bin Mat Amin. 29 years passes by without the slightest clue of what really happened.
Rather than outrightly replacing the Hawks, the airforce should add more for attrition replacement with newer Hawks.
@ lalok
1st you must ask, how much is the cost of a new hawk? For the same price as the new hawk, what other fighters could you get instead? Is there any new single seater hawks now? Is the hawk wings fully stressed to carry the full weapon load during high g maneuvers? Why is the wingtip missile rails removed from most hawk 100 and 200s?
Foxbat25, I believe that they were reports that someone found the A4 wreckage by accident at the bottom of the sea. Of course, the pilot was nowhere to be found