SHAH ALAM: IN my post about the RMK11, I mentioned the political considerations as one of the reasons for the retirement of RMAF Mig-29 Fulcrum fleet. Without approved funding in RMK11, the Fulcrum will simply grind out of service without any fanfare.
However as I had reported (the post is missing) during the 57th anniversary Press conference at the Kuantan air base on June 1 this year, RMAF chief Jen Tan Sri Roslan Saad refused to confirm nor deny the retirement date.
The reticence about Fulcrum exact retirement date was puzzling to say the least as the previous RMAF chief had unequivocally stated that the aircraft will be retired by the end of 2015.
The issue became more confusing when the New Straits Times the next day reported ( although the reporter stated that his story never said it) that the Government had agreed to fund the Fulcrum upgrade!
For the record the latest version of the story, available online, still contained a quote by Roslan that the Fulcrums will be upgraded. It is less sensational than the original story published on June 2, however. (My video recording of the whole Press conference clearly showed that Roslan never said such a thing).
As it was an NST report, a couple of aviation portals and even a magazine had subsequently reported that RMAF will upgrade the Fulcrums, claiming it will follow the upgrade path as proposed by Airod’s subsidiary, ATSC Sdn Bhd at LIMA 2015.
This is the Aviation Week report on the proposal:
“The aircraft proposed by Airod’s Aerospace Technology Systems Corporation, in conjunction with Malaysia’s Sukhoi Technical Centre, would receive a new high-resolution, fire-control radar; improved cockpit ergonomics; and better avionics, while the type’s airframe life would be extended to 6,000h from the current 4,000h.”
To read the full story go here.
I did not report about the proposal as I was told bluntly by several officials at the air show that a political decision had been made on the Fulcrum. No more funding period. And then came the NST on June 2!
Well anyhow, I find out recently why the retirement of the Fulcrum is a sensitive one. Apparently, Russia is putting pressure on Malaysia to cancel the retirement plan. Instead of retiring the fighters, Russia offered to upgrade “all” surviving aircraft to the same standard as the Indian Air Force Mig-29 upgrade, the same one proposed by Airod.
The IAF Fulcrum UPG among others include the the new Zhuk-M2E radar made by Phazotron-NIIR, the OLS-UEM infrared search-and-track system (IRST) similar to the Indian Navy MiG-29Ks, thermal / TV / laser imaging made by Moscow-based NPK SPP, multi-functional full-colour LCDs in the cockpit, increased fuel capacity and more powerful RD-33 series 3 turbo-jet engines.
According to reports, the new radar range has increase to 200 nautical miles and the ability to track 60 targets simultaneously and adds terrain-following mode and ground-target acquisition.
However, there is a catch to the Russian proposal. Until we come up with the actual number of aircraft to be upgraded, the Russians cannot give an exact cost of the project. And apparently we have not replied hence the Russians cannot give us a quotation (perhaps this is a way for us not to say yes or not). I believed the cost upgrading the MIGs (at least 16 airframes), will be cheaper than buying a new batch of MRCAs, of course.
Why pressure Malaysia to continue flying the Fuclrums then?. Apart from pride, the Russian apparently are miffed that Malaysia wants to retire its pride and joy halfway through its expected service life.
With MIG design bureau continue to bleed money while at the same time Rosoboronexport, the state owned arms export agency continuing to market the Fulcrum, it is imperative that they ensure one of its main users continue flying the aircraft as long as possible.
So are we going to upgrade the Fulcrum after all especially with our funding difficulties? I was told, Nyet!.
— Malaysian Defence
If you like this post, buy me an espresso. Paypal Payment
View Comments (67)
The easiest way out of this condurum is, sell them off (for peanuts pon ok)!
So we technically didn't retire it while getting rid of them at the same time.
Bangladesh once said to be interested in the fulcrums, or maybe to India in exchange of maybe 2-4 new MKM's?
Reply
AFAIK there is also no desire for more MKMs
What i gonna give conclusion they not making any decide to replace or upgrade Fulcrum yet due to funding political problem while chinese naval army making weird activity at South China Sea.
Migs
No political will.
Sana jimat sini jimat (while the gov cntinue to splash money on unneeded program).
No threat concept.
Ringgit free fall.
All and all im not suprise if the gov even decide to put our operational fighters on reserved mode. Hey. It worked 4 the south african.
No political will
No desire for more MKMs
Funding for new fighter jets delayed
Funding for upgrades for present fighter jets not confirmed
We might as well push our present Hornets ans MKMs to the extend and shorten their shelf life.
Then retire the RMAF off her fighter jet fleet. No threat, neither the IS nor the terrorists are attacking by plane.
Can't blame Eurofighter for shifting their focus to Indonesia, it looks like we are not so keen to get the planes compared to the Indonesians.
Reply
The Indonesians have been working with the Europeans ages ago mostly through tie-up Eurocopter and CASA. Now as both companies are now under the Airbus Group it goes naturally that they will try to exploit that long term relationship with the Eurofighter, which is of course comes under the same group.
Impressive to think our Migs with the upgraded capabilities. But as you conclude, it will be cheaper than to buy a new batch of MRCA but for reason to retire our Migs is partly due to high operational cost. Now, to upgrade we need funds from somewhere within the limited defence budget and to keep them flying, more allocation is needed. As for the layman me, retire the Migs is a better option.
Is there a problem with mkm? Sorry i miss a lot of posts so i kinda wondering. All i heard is that we hav spare parts problems.
It happened in South Africa because the government did not/delayed renewing the support contract with Denel. Completely different scenario and unlikely to happen here.
Events in the South China Sea will have as much bearing on the decision to retire the Fulcrums as the continued strife in Syria or the potential for another round of hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nargano Karabakh : zero.
If there is no funding for new MRCAs and RMAF is adamant about not continuing with the MiGs, then the RMAF is going to be significantly reduced in capability in the near future. So the question is, whether it is wiser to abandon the generally maligned MiGs to just rely on other assets and hope for a bright future where finances recover sufficiently for RMAF to buy what they want, or go with the more budget-friendly SLEP for the MiGs? Pressure from Russia aside, what is the potential pressure from the impending US's TPP on the MRCA?
I have to say the upgrade offer is attractive -- cheap, and the Indian Navy's Migs are impressive, not to mention weapons compatibility with the Sukhois.
I reckon RMAF is at a point where it has to decide whether it wants to continue operating a service ala the IAF ie flying aircraft made in both the West and Russia. At the moment RMAF's fast jets, if we count the Hawk, are about equal.
Apart from Geopolitics -- in particular Ukraine -- there's also the question of the RMAF's own people. The IAF's personnel are in virtually two parallel services, Western and Russian, and they seldom interchange except at higher levels of command -- it's difficult for a technician to switch from a Mirage to a Mig especially with increased sophistication of the planes. It's easier for IAF because they have a big combined fast jet fleet, so their people can go pretty far up in a particular 'line of specialty', so to speak.
Perhaps Indonesia is aiming for the license to build the Eurofighter in their backyard a.k.a Eundofighter. I maybe that is not a bad thing since it might be cheaper to buy from Indonesia than from Europe. Just SLEP the MiGs.