SHAH ALAM: LCA updates, Tejas again? India’s Economic Times has reported that a team from the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) will be visiting Bengaluru within the next two months to evaluate the HAL Tejas LCA Mk1 . Bengaluru is of course the capital of India’s Kartanaka state where the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd LCA-Tejas plant is located.
Since February, Indian media have been reporting that Tejas was among the favourites for the RMAF LCA programme.
From Economic Times
A Malaysian Air Force team is expected to visit India soon to assess the suitability of the light combat aircraft (LCA), a locally developed system that has recently been ordered in large numbers by the Indian Air Force (IAF), as the force looks to acquire aline of new fighter jets. The Malaysian team is likely to visit Bengaluru within two months, depending on travel restrictions, and will be given a full tour of the LCA production facilities, test infrastructure as well as a demonstration of i ..
For more go here. I have no further information about this apart from the article above.
It is interesting to note however that Senior Minister and Minister of International Trade and Industry Mohamed Azmin Ali during his official visit to South Korea this week attended a dinner hosted by the Korean Aerospace Industries. Mohamed Azmin stated in his social media
I was delighted to attend the dinner hosted by the President of Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), South Korea’s leading aerospace and defence company, with global competitiveness through indomitable will and continuous efforts.
KAI has developed the Korea Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV)-II and a variety of satellites. KAI’s production include several foreign-designed aircraft via licensing arrangements and it has produced its own aircraft designs.
The President of KAI indicated support in developing human capital in the aerospace industry in Malaysia including transfer of technology and establishing a Centre of Excellence to train Malaysians in defence aerospace industry.
KAI also expressed interest to cooperate with RMAF in MRO activities. In this regard, KAI will continue discussion with RMAF.
I am not conflating the Indian news article and the senior minister posts as confirming that the LCA programme is on the move but it does indicate that industry is looking towards something definitive from Malaysia very soon or at least by year end. For my take on whats going on go here.
HT to Alert 5
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (32)
Please no Tejas for TUDM. Nothing good comes from HAL.
Even if this project is to bodek India to buy more palm oil or India want to barter tejas with palm oil then my personal answer is no.
God no
No just no..even equally as bad i'll take jf17 over tejas anytime anyday..or i'll take hongdu L15 now
Please RMAF, just get the FA-50 in great numbers to replace the F5s, Migs, Hawks n Macchis and forget the rest.
I guess both China and India are large palm oil buyers which means possibility of barter trade - palm oil for weapons.
So what is the consensus? No deal, rather go without planes than can sometimes fly (because of parts issue), or no planes at all and save the money for better times (when the budget is bigger).
Personally, rather go without planes. Seeing for example, how the SU-30 ended up being a huge resource hog because of supply chain and reliability issues - have planes that cannot fly, and need more money than anticipated to keep them flying.
Wonder whether it will be better to shrink the Su-30 fleet to 12 planes. Would it yield better operational readiness and operating costs?
Kel - “So what is the consensus?“
My view is that the RMAF already knows what it wants and the trade offs it’s willing to make. It has to factor in technical performance, costs of spares, per hourly operating costs, upgrade growth, etc, etc. Alas, it’s a political decision as to what to get.
For obvious reasons it will be the F/A-50 and M-346 which comes closest. Both have their respective advantages; both better at slightly different things. As I’m never tired of saying; buying the right platform is merely the first step.
The next step is ensuring that platform is fully integrated to operate alongside other assets. No point buying the right or most ideal platform if we’re going to operate in on a platform centric level.
Kel - “that cannot fly, and need more money than anticipated to keep them flying”
Whatever we bought; there would still be occasions when planes are not operational. From the very start we knew that the Su-30 would be resource intensive; it’s a big plane with large engines which comes with various parts/components with a lower TBO/MTBF than Western equivalents and we heavily modified it with non standard parts/components. Also some of the issues related to spares and overhauls were our fault due to funding delays.
Kel - “Would it yield better operational readiness and operating costs”
How on earth will reducing the number of airframes lead to increased readiness? As it is; at any given time several will be non operational; undergoing maintenance.
Better focus on strenghtening our GBAD's instead of wasting money on more expensive to procure and mantain jets regardless of what type
If RMAF choose the Indian or Chinese made fighter aircraft it will be catastrophe since their aerospace technology know how still in early stage level, both of them were mix with other source which from others countries. But worse come to worsen RMAF should consider Korean made FA-50 if the European or US made light fighter are expensive to get.. But Korean aircraft also influenced from European and US company.. that's consideration also must take in any account as well..
Sigh - “Better focus on strenghtening our GBAD’s”
GBADs are intended to be employed with a strong air umbrella. One is not a substitute for another
There has never been a conflict in which GBADs played a decisive role preventing air power from operating.
Far - “worse come to worsen RMAF should consider Korean made FA-50”
What do you mean “worse come to worsen”? The F/A-50 is believed to be one of the favourites and is an extremely capable and versatile platform.
.Far - “. But Korean aircraft also influenced from European and US company”
It’s a joint development between KAI and a U.S. company but so what?