PETALING JAYA: It appears that I spoke to soon about the Typhoon deal for the RMAF MRCA programme. The proposal for 20-plus Tranche 1 FOC for 10 new Tranche 3 Typhoon was just an idea being floated by the British as they geared up for the programme. And it had subsequently been shot down by the other nations that made up the Eurofighter consortium.
I was told the other nations were adamant that the British keep all of their Typhoons they want to retire because of their budget cuts. Selling those planes to other air forces, especially those outside Europe, according to the other countries would simply kill off any prospects of further Typhoon sale.
So there, its my mistake but for the British, it appears, is still interested to sell us the Typhoon albeit brand new Tranche 2s (no AESA). Tranche 2 only as they fear that they will not be able to deliver the Tranche 3 by 2015, the proposed date of the retirement of the Fulcrum fleet.
And I was reliably informed that the British did not offer anything to Najib in terms of defence equipment during his official visit. Yes, Najib did visit RAF Coningsby to have a closer look at the Typhoons stationed there but according to observers the PM was more interested in the planes of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, which include a Spitfire, a Hurricane and a Lancaster bomber.
The official visit, I was informed was more to re-establish frayed ties after years of neglect by the Blair led government. Hence there was no arms package on offer similar to what had happened back in 1988, which led to the procurement of the Hawks and Lekiu frigates. Come to think of it, the 1988 arms package was made by the British after the Old Man abandoned the Buy British Last policy, some three years earlier.
As for Lima this December, the Red Arrows have not been booked yet nor the Typhoon had been confirmed. Its cheaper to send a couple of Typhoons to Langkawi rather than the Red Arrows but anything is possible.
–Malaysian Defence
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They have allocated 8 billion for Army, may bee 7 billion for Navy and 1.7 billion for Cougar.... So it's like no new bird for RMAF until RMK 12...
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Imagination...
So neither Typhoon nor arms purchases from UK so far...IMHO it is good in terms of "tight" control on spending.
It looks like the Super Hornet remains the best option available.
Tranche 2 typhoons without AESA is not an option at all.
If we need to purchase the Typhoon, only the latest with the AESA and being a true MRCA would do. Nothing less.
Actually buying the new 6 littoral control ships is not totally prudent. We should instead arm the current OPV's to the teeth and re-equip all ships with the very latest of electronic and physical decoys to defeat the to be introduced chinese supersonic anti ship missiles. We should look at the assets that we have and get them to give us more bang for the buck.
We should enhance our anti ship capabilities including equipping our forces with coast launched anti ship missiles.
These would be especially effective in the many terrumbu's that we are occupying now and is a real challenge to defend without any depth or anywhere to go.
In the event of a fight, either we will be wiped out or we will wipe them out as there would be no way to run.
The consortium is banking on the Indian MMRCA order. So they are playing hard to get. But it forgets India has an established relationship with Dassault, the IAF being very much satisfied with the M2K. So the Rafale has more than a fighting chance there. If the Typhoon fail in India the consortium will soon be more pliable as regards its non-European export packages.
without AESA and hopefully RMAF will make a wise choice for our future MRCA..first Rafale insignia for RMAF outside French if IAF go for Typhoon..
The RBE2 radar had been in development since 1989. It was decided that the radar would receive a new phased-array antenna with full electronic scan, instead of the electro-mechanical scan employed by the Eurofighter Typhoon's Captor radar. Initially, the radar received a passive phased-array antenna, but ultimately an active electronically scanned array (AESA) will be fitted. According to French Ministry of Defense (MoD) sources, the RBE2 radar has a modest range about 100 km against fighter aircraft, but it operates in a low-probability-of-intercept (LPI) mode and is resistant to deception jamming. The Typhoon's Captor has a range of 160 km against fighters but is considered more prone to jamming and can track fewer targets. The French Air Force accepted the penalty in range reduction for the benefits of LPI and other characteristics. Moreover, in network-centric operations, a common air picture will be transmitted via the Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) to the Rafale, enabling the aircraft to make use of off-board sensors.
About RMAF MMRCA... just culculate service life for their bird at 2015... FA 18 D will be 18 years, Hawks 100/200 will be 21 years, MIG 29N 20 years and SU 30 MKM will be 8 years... so at that times only SU 30 MKM still young... RMAF truly need new bird... we hope no more SLEP for MIG 29N and Hawks 100/200 at 2015...
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Technically all of the RMAF if we considered their actual flying hours. Even the 339As still had their half of their service lives. Most of the Nuri fleet airframes still got half of their service lives, that's why they planned a SLEP...
Best fighter option as I see it:
- 36-48 F/A-18E/Fs, enough for 3-4 squadrons.
- F/A-18D (sell back to Boeing as part of F/A-18E/Fs deal)
- F-5s (retire, sell, trade, etc.)
- Hawks (SLEP, overhaul, upgrade, etc.)
- MiG-29s (retire, sell, trade, etc.)
- Su-30MKMs (plan for future SLEP, overhaul, upgrades, etc.)
Plan to purchase light fighter (Gripen or other) in the next 10-20 years. Plan to purchase Su-30MKMs replacement after that; if they are still flying at that point!
The RMAF should aim to have no more than 2 fighter types in service at any one time.
As for fighter trainers... when are we going to get our hands on New Zealands MB-339s?
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No lah Fareed. I guess I have to say this again, we don't have the money for such luxuries unless more funds are to the defence kitty.
If extra money is available it should be to buy more Flankers so we can have a squadron in Sabah.
To get extra money, retire the other combat jets in RMAF. LIF training should be done overseas with India and south africa being cheap good choices.
At the current rate of operations and procurement plans we may have the jets but no funds to fly.
We have enough of everything but not enough of anything...
My opinion now days are biased to the situation of greece, spain and italy. developed economy, with first class defence equipment but debts averaging 120% of GDP.
Though it is not apple to apple comparison to malaysia, it should serve as a good warning. At this juncture i am more attune to the following option:-
1) Either retire the Migs and hawks 200 and just have the 8 Hornet D and 18 SU 30 mkm. The savings from the retirement of the 23 aircrafts could be used to improve operation and maintenance for the 26 aircrafts on hand
2) If 26 MRCA are not operationally sufficient, try to get more legacy Hornet either c or d version if and its still economical
3) if option 2 is not viable, more flankers seems to be the answer.
I think the main problem with our bird is spare parts supplier... unless FA 18 D only RMAF will directly deal with Beoing... SU 30 MKM/ MIG 29N/Hawks 100/200 and may be Typhoons or Rafales or Gripens... they must deal with middleman... and the problem will coming... like lated sparepart/substandard sparepart/recornd parts... most importantly over price claim... that why RMAF want US made warplane...