PETALING JAYA: BAE Systems on Tuesday hold a presentation for the media on the Eurofighter Typhoon. As expected not much was revealed about the exact specifications of the proposed RMAF Typhoon but according to its Typhoon director Malaysia Ian Malin, the aircraft for RMAF will have the same specifications as for RAF planes.
The Typhoon for RMAF will be primarily single seaters as the developers insisted that it had been designed from the scratch to be a world beater.
The Eurofighter consortium, according to Ian will continue to develop the Typhoon to ensure its relevance well into the future. Ian is the Head of Export for Typhoon for BAE Systems operating out of Warton in the UK but he will be here for 3 weeks every month to manage the programme for Malaysia.
More on this later, as more information become available. BTW, the Rafales will be definitely be here for LIMA although BAE Systems has yet to confirm the same for Typhoon. They are working hard on it so I guess you will be able to see them in action over Langkawi this December.
Now we will wait for the response from then folks from Seattle and St Louis.
–Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (44)
By defining the proposed RMAF Typhoons as a single-seater, I think Eurofighter is constraining its chances. The RMAF will continue its two-seat, two-engined preference: the Rafale and Super Hornet will thus have an inherent edge.
BTW, though, the two-seat Typhoon is not as attractive as the Rafale and SH two-seaters...
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I don't think they want to develop a full-fledged two seater as the four nation never specified such a plane. To develop one now for RMAF is uneconomical.
Marhalim,
My point exactly. Whereas the Rafale B and "F" SH have readily developed two-seat, fully missionised versions as witnessed the AdlA for the former and RAAF for the latter.
Although the game for MRCA is getting hotter nowadays, I still believe that the Super Hornet will most likely be the air force favourite contender. Yes, we all know that the RMAF always prefer two-seaters fighter and the typhoon doesn't seem can fulfill this requirement as Marhalim already said, it is uneconomical for them.
GhostriderWan,
The RMAF already has 26 twin seaters - 8 Hornets and 18 Flankers - I seriously doubt if it can scrape together enough crews to operate another twin seater.
At a reported USD 200 milliion each, just how many can we afford? If we do get the Typhoon, which will replace the Fulcrum and Tigers, we will still have to support another type, in addition to the Flankers, Hornets and Hawks. The beauty of the Super Hornet is that whatever training and support infrastructure we already have in place for the D's can be used and the 30% of the parts are common. And the million dollar or sterling question is what is the operating cost of the Typhoon for every hour flown compared to the Super Hornet? Another plus point is that we train much more regularly with the RAAF and the USN, rather than the RAF, so interoperability is another plus-point.
Maybe BAE@Brits will win this time,for the past few years GOM have no major purchases from Brits (Ruskies, Frenchies, AttaTurks and Yank have their shares). So politically speaking, now it is "time we pay our dues to the Brits". It fit nicely into the concept of satisfying major world arms producers. How about ease of support, training,interoperability issues? Nah, TUDM had been into that kind of issues before, so what?Hehe later we will see a brand new defense company coming up to serve the Typhoon (GE13 is near what?) and funds going elsewhere ala Kedah Incident.
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Aah its samo, samo...
All you need to do is find a GLC with at least RM 50 million in cash reserves.
To be fair for gov and RMAF... takes 12 T3 because of offset programme and 8 Super Hornet because of political relations... and it's will taken RM 10 billion... hehehe...
It does not matter which plane is chosen as long as the politicians don't meddle into the pool to muddy the water.
Just give the boys their choice after having made sure that the planes is the best that our limited resources can buy, the most reliable-flying instead of sitting in the shelter waiting for repairs/maintenance and can do every job given well.
Yes RMAF get cracking!
Lets just say that most of RMAF top brass are not impressed with Russian stuff. Also the American is taking this deal more seriously than usual. Believed it or not, except for the occasional shot on our own foot; we are in their good book nowadays (translation - we may get a favorable FMS deal and as for the weapon/electronic fit, just ask and we'll see).
Ym Lee,
And we can hope that one day pigs will fly.
The Super Hornet being the RMAF's favourite aside, a deal the size of the MRCA deal will inevitably be very political and will involve a whole host of factors. For the life of me, I just can't see how many Typhoons we can afford, at USD200 million each. Our joke of a defence minister has publicly said that outstanding requirements might be put on hold [again]to pay for the Typhoon. Looks like the RMN will have to wait another decade for its 2 MPSS's....
Some good news for a change....
http://www.otomelara.it/OtoMelara/EN/Corporate/Media_Centre/args/detail/details~news~news_000030.shtml/title/web_news/index.sdo
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The story about OtoMelara getting the MMEA job was announced two months back but they never announced the price. 7 million euros for 18 30mm guns thats RM30 million!