SHAH ALAM: It appears that the deal to purchase the whole fleet of F/A-18 Hornets from Kuwait may well be a reality going by the latest report. Defence Minister DS Khaled Nordin met with the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Malaysia Rashed Mohamed Rashed AlSaleh at the Defence Ministry today.
Among the issues discussed were the Malaysia’s wish to procure the legacy Hornets from Kuwait once the country took delivery of Super Hornets from the US.
That said I was told that there was an intense lobbying from the local defence players to get the contract to maintain and upgrade the Kuwaiti Hornets even before the procurement is completed. The lobbying I was told was so intense that even the Kuwaiti themselves had expressed their unhappiness over it. It is likely that the cost of maintenance and upgrade will cost much more than initially expected. This is I am told is like what happened to the planned procurement of the Mark V Special Operation Craft back in 2015.
The planned procurement of the Mark V SOC was shelved as
the navy had serious misgivings about it as the cost of the In-Service Support (ISS) was deemed to be excessive
Will history repeat itself? Your guess is as good as mine.
–Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (49)
Given our history of doing things on the cheap; even if the deal proceeds I have doubts as to whether sufficient funding will be made available to sustain an extra 12-18 fast jets [which will get more resource intensive as they further age]; to get ground support gear and ordnance. As for the local companies trying to get a slice of the cake; they’re only doing what the system in place has long enabled them to do.
In short mode people are fixated with the idea of getting the airframes. I’m worried about what happens after we get them.
All Kuwaiti F/A-18 Super Hornet that ordered in 2018 already completed by Boeing and delivered to USN right? But why those aircraft not yet delivered to Kuwaiti Air Force?
Yes, all the SH ordered by Kuwait has already been delivered to the US Navy. I have no idea why they are not yet sent to Kuwait.
If I got the money I would rather speak to Kuwait and persuade them to sell us the SH to us instead of buying their old ones.
If I not wrong TEMPUR did publish the maintenance work at Kuwait is expensive than usual.
Is the RMAF really going to get all the Kuwaiti Hornets? That’s quite a few and my understanding is the USMC and Tunisia are also interested. Maybe but like 10 or so will do IMHO.
Yes as mentioned in the previous story, RMAF wants around 30 airframes with 24 for service with the rest as spares.
Seems the local defence players are shooting themselves in the foot yet again.
The 2nd hand Hornets for one may/may not be of like upgrades, so those rushing to offer their 'services' should brace themselves for any eventualities.
We probably don't want to see any repeat of the Army Black Hawk leasing fiasco infecting RMAF.
Taib - “Seems the local defence players are shooting themselves in the foot yet again”
They are looking for profit and revenue and are doing what the system allows and encourages them to do. If I was in the business; I too would be vying for some Hornet related business.
As alluded to my main concern if not so much getting the Hornets but what happens after that. It’s not as if we don’t have a history of doing things on the cheap; getting stuff but struggling with sustainability due to inadequate funding.
Tom Tom - “Maybe but like 10 or so will do IMHO”
Ok but what is this opinion based on? The number of pilots? The funds available to fly them? Also, if you were the Kuwaitis wouldn’t you want to dispose of the whole fleet; rather then selling a few and being straddled with the remainder?
Taib - “We probably don’t want to see any repeat of the Army Black Hawk leasing fiasco infecting RMAF”
We don’t but the circumstances faced with the leased Blackhawks are different compared to the issue of used Kuwaiti Hornets.
>If I got the money
then you might as well go straight to Boeing lmao.
Kuwait is selling their hornet at literal throwaway price. 33 planes for, what? less than usd150 mil? It's literally a steal. Just upgrade one squadron to our hornet standard as our go to strike platform and the the other squadron is given minimal SLEP for routine air policing/training/flyover/whatever.
>USN keeping kuwaiti hornet
that's just typical murrican behavior, like how they kept our missiles (that we bought with our taxpayers' money no less) on hostage in guam or hawaii because reasons.
with FA-50M as well as the upcoming 5th gen MRCA programme we should at least consider substituting some of the American missiles with european/turkish/korean ones
Of course, but ordering new will take at least three years to get them delivered. And if Boeing will take our order as the SH production line is closing in 2027.
The Kuwaiti SH are already stored in a hangar or two somewhere in the US and we will only need around 12 months to get the flight and ground crews to get ready for them. By the third year, the whole fleet will achieve IOC.
If we order brand new SH, it will take around five to six years (three years for delivery) to reach the IOC.
The US are not keeping the Kuwaiti SH for their own reasons, it is the Kuwaitis which is not pursuing the delivery. They have never explained why.
In the current situation which peace is going downward (Europe, middle east and SCS) and how the westerns (US and allies) are developing stronger defence. MY should think over again our defence strategi. Will diplomacy be is enough to face the future?
Even in negotiation we Will be a loser if our military strength is too weak.
Subsidies should be lower gradually as soon as possible so military budget can get more. Waiting for economy getting better maybe a bit too late.
ATM need too many and the need will be bigger if the gov stay at today policy.
Marhalim and Azlan,
My question is where the RMAF is going to get the money to operate 24 ex Kuwaiti and 8 original Hornets. There is nothing to stop the Kuwaitis from getting rid of their fleet piecemeal.
They have been waiting for these for the last 10 years so they will already know how much money and manpower is needed. It is not like something that just fell on them.