SHAH ALAM: Rafale, no. No deal for Rafale, that was the main thrust of the joint press conference between Prime Minister DS Najib Razak and visiting French president, Francois Hollande.
The press conference was held after Najib and Hollande hold talks in Putrajaya as part of the state visit.
From Bernama:
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Malaysia was looking into the possibility of a deal with France but not ready yet to make a decision.
“We take note of your (Rafale) success in several countries and the possibilities of that particular aircraft being a subject of cooperation and collaboration with those countries as well,” he said in a joint press conference here today with visiting French President Francois Hollande.
Hollande arrived in Malaysia yesterday for a two-day state visit to Malaysia.
Hollande said France would provide the necessary support to Malaysia in relation to the Rafale, manufactured by Dassault Aviation SA.
“I know you will be making a decision and against that background, we want to provide necessary support.
“Our ministers are already working to that effect, all I would like to say is that Rafale is the best jet in the category. We propose to discuss the prices and the specifications,” he said via a translator
Signing the Rafale was supposed to be the centrepiece of the visit but I guess it was not to be. Even the planned flypast of the Rafales and the RMAF Airbus A400M did not take place.
Instead, one of the two Rafales which came for LIMA 17 took to the rainy skies of Subang to perform a display for the French president at the Subang airbase.
Anyhow, apart from the Saudi/Kuwait aircraft, Malaysia has also been offered surplus P-3C Orions MPAs from Japan. The Defence Ministry is hoping Japan will pay for the refurbishment costs just like what happened with the two ex-Japanese Coast Guard ships donated to the Malaysian Coast Guard.
Japan paid for the RM26 million refurbishment cost of KM Pekan, the media was told at LIMA 17.
No one can tell me the cost of refurbishing the four aircraft offered but RMN chief Admiral Kamarulzaman Badaruddin said that if accepted that the Orions will be stripped of the submarine hunting equipment and no weapons will be donated as well. The other surveillance gear will be maintained.
Japan has some 81 Orions in service with its navy. These aircraft were licensed built by Kawasaki of Japan, which is manufacturing their replacements, the P-1 MPA.
The Orions are suppose to be a gap filler until we get new MPAs, that’s the reason they are trying to get them for free. If we are paying for the refurbishment, we might as well used that money to buy new MPAs.
*updated to say why we want the Orions only if it is FOC.
— Malaysian Defence
.
If you like this post, buy me an espresso. Paypal Payment
View Comments (25)
Marhalim, if accepted, those P-3 Orions would be under the navy or the air force?
Reply
Most likely air force as they're the only ones with experience in operating multi engine fixed wing aircraft
For KL residents tomorrow (29/3/2017) there will be a flypast of the Korean Air Force - Black Eagles Aerobatic Team around KLCC.
There will also be a photography competition during the special fly past in Kuala Lumpur.
Members of the public are invited to post their best photographs of the Black Eagles in Kuala Lumpur with the hash tags #BlackEagles.KR, #LIMA17 and #KementerianPertahanan. Make sure that the privacy settings are set to “public”.
"cut and paste from the star newspaper"
Reply
Yes I forgot to add this in the Rafale story
The submarine hunting equipment shouldn't be removed as it isn't considered weapon but sensors. Japan's policy of not exporting weapon is understandable, but since the said equipment isn't offensive why remove it.
Reply
The sonobouys are expensive stuff we cannot afford them. So why burden the aircraft with things we are not going to use
A silver lining is that former Japanese P-3s might be a bit younger than ex-US ones which on average are more than 40 years old. Another issue is what happens if we accept 4 P-3s courtesy of Japan? Will that be all we operate until they retire or will we still buy MPAs from elsewhere? We don't want to be in the position of having to support 3 different types of MPAs. Lots of planning involved and the P-3 [being an older design] is maintenance intensive but on paper an ideal operator of ex-Japanese P-3s would be the MMEA.
Faisal - ''The submarine hunting equipment shouldn’t be removed as it isn’t considered weapon but sensors.''
''Sensors'' to detect and enable the persecution of sub surface contacts.
before we go any futhr... rmaf shud equipt TCAS in all the c130 1st...seriously only few of our c130s can fly to the states... RMAF seriously need cash to operate its current fleet.
Reply
The stalled Hercules upgrade was supposed to include the TCAS solution. There is no need for RMAF to fly the States
Uncle... let's move on since we don't have the "duit" to buy the Rafales.
Here's a thought. Would you entertain the idea of TUDM (if we have the money just play along please) buying 8 new Super Hornets plus 2 Growlers so that would complement our Hornets to the max 18 jets.
Sell off the Migs back to Russia and in return get 8 attack helos. Possibly Kamov Alligators.
What do you think, uncle?
Sonar buoys are littered in the SCS.
Reply
Sonar buoys are not recyclable
Its all about political will..if im the pm ill put the priority on mrca,sam,mpa with subs hunting capabilities,aew aircraft..
New enlarged highway to east coast instead of railway..u can see karak highway congested every time and everybody opted to use cars not train.
Maybe we can use the Orions for 10-15 years.
When time for replacement, there will be more unmanned MPA options then.
Currently only US Global Hawk or Triton but there should be other countries producing them by then.